"Republic of Korea" redirects here.

For the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, see North

Korea. For other uses, see Korea (disambiguation).
"Daehanminguk" redirects here. For the government in exile that used the same name,
see Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
Coordinates:  36°N 128°E

Republic of Korea

 대한민국/大韓民國 (Korean)

 Daehan Minguk

Flag

Emblem

Motto: 
"홍익인간"("弘益人間") (de facto)
"Hongik Ingan"
"Benefit broadly the human world"[1]

Anthem: 
"애국가"("愛國歌")
"Aegukga"
"Patriotic Song"

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National seal
국가 인감 (國家印鑑)
 Land controlled by South Korea shown in dark green; land
claimed but uncontrolled shown in light green.

Capital Seoul
and largest city 37°33′N 126°58′E

Official languages Korean (Pyojun-eo)
Korean Sign Language[2]

Official script Korean

Ethnic groups Predominantly Korean, no
official statistics[a]

Religion  56.1% No religion

(2015) [4][5]

27.6% Christianity[b]

15.5% Korean
Buddhism

0.8% Others

Demonym(s) South Korean

Korean

Government Unitary presidential
constitutional republic

• President Moon Jae-in

• Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun

• Speaker of the National Park Byeong-seug

Assembly

• Chief Justice Kim Myeong-soo

• President of the Constitutional Yoo Nam-seok

Court
 Legislature National Assembly

Establishment history

• First Kingdom c. 7th century BCE

• Declaration of Independence March 1, 1919

• Provisional Government April 11, 1919

• Independence from Japan September 2, 1945

• US administration of Korea September 8, 1945

south of the 38th parallel

• ROK established August 15, 1948

• Current constitution February 25, 1988

• Admitted to the UN September 17, 1991

• Panmunjom Declaration for April 27, 2018

Peace, Prosperity and
Reunification of the Korean
Peninsula

Area

• Total 100,363 km2 (38,750 sq mi)
(107th)

• Water (%) 0.3 (301 km2 / 116 mi2)

Population

• 2019 estimate  51,709,098[6] (27th)

• Density 507/km2 (1,313.1/sq mi) (13th)

GDP (PPP) 2020 estimate

• Total  $2.293 trillion[7] (14th)

• Per capita  $44,292[7] (24th)

GDP (nominal) 2020 estimate

• Total  $1.586 trillion[7] (10th)

• Per capita  $30,644[7] (26th)

Gini (2016)  35.7[8]
medium · 93rd

HDI (2019)  0.916[9]
very high · 23rd

Currency Korean Republic won (₩)

(KRW)
Time zone UTC+9 (Korea Standard Time)

Date format yyyy 년 m 월 d 일

yyyy. m. d. (CE)

Mains electricity 220 V–60 Hz

Driving side right

Calling code +82

ISO 3166 code KR

Internet TLD .kr

.한국

Preceded by
Fifth Republic of Korea

Republic of Korea

South Korean name

Hangul 대한민국

Hanja 大韓民國

showTranscriptions

South Korea

South Korean name

Hangul 남한

Hanja 南韓

showTranscriptions

North Korean name

Chosŏn'gŭl 남조선

Hancha 南朝鮮

showTranscriptions
 Korea

South Korean name

Hangul 한국

Hanja 韓國

showTranscriptions

North Korean name

Chosŏn'gŭl 조선

Hancha 朝鮮

showTranscriptions

South Korea (Korean: 한국/韓國, RR: Hanguk; literally 남한/南韓, RR: Namhan, or 남조선/南朝

鮮, MR: Namchosŏn in North Korean usage), officially the Republic of Korea (ROK; Korean: 대
한민국/大韓民國, RR: Daehan Minguk), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of
the Korean Peninsula, and sharing a land border with North Korea. 25 million people, around half
of the country's population of more than 51 million people, live in the Seoul Capital Area, the fifth-
largest metropolitan area in the world.
The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first
kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BCE. Following the unification of
the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in the late 7th century, Korea was ruled by
the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). The succeeding Korean
Empire was annexed into the Empire of Japan in 1910. After World War II, Korea
was divided into Soviet and American administered zones, with the latter becoming the Republic
of Korea in August 1948.
In 1950, a North Korean invasion began the Korean War and after its end in 1953, the country's
economy began to soar, recording the fastest rise in average GDP per capita in the world
between 1980 and 1990. The country largely ceased to be an authoritarian state following
the June Struggle of 1987, and is now considered among the most advanced democracies in
Asia, with high levels of press freedoms. However, corruption and political scandals remain
serious problems; all four living former South Korean presidents have been sentenced to prison
for various crimes ranging from abuse of authority to bribery and embezzlement; with two still
currently serving their sentences.[10][11][12][13][14]
South Korea is a developed country and is ranked as the seventh-highest country on the Human
Development Index in Asia. It is a member of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee,
the G20 and the Paris Club. Its economy ranks as the world's tenth-largest by nominal GDP. Its
citizens enjoy one of the world's fastest Internet connection speeds. The country is the
world's fifth-largest exporter and eighth-largest importer. South Korea was in 2017 the world's 7th
largest emitter of carbon emissions and the 5th largest emitter per capita. Since the 21st century,
South Korea has been renowned for its influential pop culture, particularly in music (K-pop), TV
dramas and cinema, a phenomenon referred to as the Korean Wave.[15][16][17][18][19]
 Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
o 2.1Ancient Korea

o 2.2Three Kingdoms of Korea

o 2.3Unified Dynasties

o 2.4Modern history

 2.4.1Korean War
 2.4.2Post-Korean War (1960–1990)
 2.4.3Contemporary South Korea

 3Geography, climate and environment

o 3.1Geography

o 3.2Climate

o 3.3Environment

 4Government

 5Administrative divisions

 6Demographics
o 6.1Education

o 6.2Language

o 6.3Religion

o 6.4Health

 7Foreign relations
o 7.1North Korea

o 7.2China and Russia

o 7.3Japan

o 7.4European Union

o 7.5United States

 8Military
o 8.1United States contingent

o 8.2Conscientious objection

 9Economy
o 9.1Transportation, energy and infrastructure

o 9.2Tourism

o 9.3South Korean National Pension System

 10Science and technology
o 10.1Cyber security

o 10.2Aerospace engineering

o 10.3Robotics

o 10.4Biotechnology

 11Culture
o 11.1Art

o 11.2Architecture

o 11.3Cuisine

o 11.4Entertainment

o 11.5Holidays

o 11.6Sports

 12See also

 13Notes

 14References

 15Further reading

 16External links

Etymology
See also: Names of Korea

The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo, also known as Koryŏ, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

The name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the
ancient kingdom of Goguryeo, which was considered a great power of East Asia during its time,
in the 5th century as a shortened form of its name.[20][21][22][23] The 10th-century kingdom
of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo,[24][25][26][27] and thus inherited its name, which was pronounced by
the visiting Persian merchants as "Korea".[28] The modern name of Koreia, appears in the first
Portuguese maps of 1568 by João vaz Dourado as Conrai [29] and later in the late 16th century
and early 17th century as Korea (Corea) in the maps of Teixeira Albernaz of 1630.[30]
The kingdom of Goryeo was first known to the westerners still by the hand of Afonso de
Albuquerque when the conquest of Malacca in 1511 describing the peoples who traded with this
part of the world known by the Portuguese as the Gores.[31] Despite the coexistence of the
spellings Corea and Korea in 19th century publications, some Koreans believe that Imperial
Japan, around the time of the Japanese occupation, intentionally standardized the spelling
on Korea, making Japan appear first alphabetically.[32][33][34]
After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the official name for the entire
territory, though it was not universally accepted.[citation needed] The new official name has its origin in
the ancient kingdom of Gojoseon (2333 BCE). In 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official
name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk (Korean Empire). The name Daehan (Great
Han) derives from Samhan (Three Han), referring to the Three Kingdoms of Korea, not the
ancient confederacies in the southern Korean Peninsula.[35][36] However, the name Joseon was still
widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name.
Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted. There were several groups
who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the
Republic of Korea (대한민국 임시정부/大韓民國臨時政府).
Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea (대한민국/大韓民國,
 IPA: ˈtɛ̝ːɦa̠nminɡuk̚, lit. 'Great Korean People's State';  listen) was adopted as the legal English
name for the new country. However, it is not a direct translation of the Korean name.[37] As a
result, the Korean name "Daehan Minguk" is sometimes used by South Koreans as
a metonym to refer to the Korean ethnicity (or "race") as a whole, rather than just the South
Korean state.[38][37]
Since the government only controlled the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, the informal
term South Korea was coined, becoming increasingly common in the Western world. While
South Koreans use Han (or Hanguk) to refer to both Koreas collectively, North Koreans and
ethnic Koreans living in China and Japan use the term Joseon instead.

History
Main article: History of South Korea

Ancient Korea

Seokguram Grotto from the Silla era, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Balhae (violet) and Silla (blue), circa 830 CE

The oldest surviving metal movable type book, the Jikji, was printed in 1377, and Goryeo created the
world's first metal-based movable type in 1234.[39][40][41][42][43]

The Tripitaka Koreana — the Buddhist canon (Tripiṭaka) carved onto roughly 80,000 woodblocks and
stored (and still remaining) at Haeinsa, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period.[44][45] The history of

Korea begins with the founding of Joseon (also known as "Gojoseon", or Old Joseon, to
differentiate it with the 14th century dynasty) in 2333 BCE by Dangun, according to
Korea's foundation mythology.[46][47] Gojoseon was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th
century.[48] Gojoseon expanded until it controlled the northern Korean Peninsula and parts
of Manchuria. Gija Joseon was purportedly founded in the 12th century BCE, but its existence
and role have been controversial in the modern era.[47][49] In 108 BCE, the Han
dynasty defeated Wiman Joseon and installed four commanderies in the northern Korean
peninsula. Three of the commanderies fell or retreated westward within a few decades.
As Lelang commandery was destroyed and rebuilt around this time, the place gradually moved
toward Liaodong. Thus, its force was diminished and it only served as a trade center until it was
conquered by Goguryeo in 313.[50]