South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: ????, Daehan Minguk {{audio|ko-Daehan_Minguk.ogg|listen}};), is a country located in East Asia, in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is commonly called Hanguk (Han Nation) or Namhan (South Han) by South Koreans and Namjos?n (South Chos?n) by North Korea.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of South Korea

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The Korean people

Korea's population is one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous in the world, with the only significant minority being a small Chinese community. Koreans have lived in Manchuria for many centuries, and are now a minority in China. Joseph Stalin forced thousands of ethnic Koreans residing in or near Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to relocate to the Central Asian part of the U.S.S.R., fearing Korean collaboration with the Japanese, while the majority of the Korean population in Japan was brought/kidnapped there as forced labor during the

Related Topics:
Ethnically - Linguistically - Chinese - Koreans - Manchuria - Minority in China - Joseph Stalin - Vladivostok - Khabarovsk - Central Asia - U.S.S.R. - Japan

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colonial period. Political, social and economic instability of South Korea in the past has driven many South Koreans to emigrate to foreign countries, particularly the United States and Canada. California has a large number of Koreans and Korean-Americans, numbering well over one million people. In recent years the migration levels for South Korean people leaving and returning to South Korea are relatively equal.

Related Topics:
Colonial period - United States - Canada - California - Korean-American

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The annual rate of population increase in South Korea has dropped steadily from more than 3 percent in the late 1950s to 0.38 percent in 2005 as a result of people choosing to have fewer children than in the past. Urbanization of the country has proceeded rapidly since the 1960s, with substantial migration from rural to urban areas; 85 percent of the population is now classified as urban.

Related Topics:
1950s - 2005 - Urbanization - 1960s

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Following the division of the Korean peninsula after WWII, about 4 million people from North Korea crossed the border to South Korea. This sudden population increase was partly offset over the next 40 years by emigration from South Korea, especially to the United States. However, South Korea’s burgeoning economy and improved political climate in the early and mid-1990s slowed the high emigration rates typical of the late 1980s. Many of those who emigrated chose to return to South Korea. Currently, the migration rate for South Koreans is close to zero.

Related Topics:
WWII - Emigration - United States

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There are many thousands of foreign workers in South Korea. A news article from the newspaper 'Korean Herald' (dated the sixth of June, 2005) states this:

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• "According to the ministry data, as of the end of April, the total size of the alien work force (in South Korea) stands at 378,000, 52 percent of which, or 199,000, are here illegally. "

This 378,000 figure is considered by many to be low and only represents the number of known foreign workers, illegal or not. Some estimates put the total foreign population at over half a million. Because of the high number of illegal foreign workers in South Korea, it is difficult to get exact figures on the number of foreigners.

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This large workforce and foreign population mainly comes from South Asian countries, such as India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and the Philippines. There are also many workers from the former Soviet Union countries. Many migrant workers also come from Nigeria.

Related Topics:
India - Sri Lanka - Myanmar - Philippines - Soviet Union - Nigeria

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Along with these workers from South Asia and elsewhere, there are also about 11,000 foreign ex-pat English teachers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.

Related Topics:
Ex-pat - English - United States - Canada - United Kingdom - Ireland - New Zealand - Australia - South Africa

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Cities

About 85 percent of South Koreans live in urban areas. The capital city of Seoul had 10.3 million inhabitants in 2003, making it the most populated single city (excluding greater metropolitan areas) in the world. Seoul is also the country's largest city and chief industrial center. Its density has allowed it to become one of the most "digitally-wired" cities in today's globally connected economy.

Related Topics:
Seoul - 2003

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Other major cities include Busan (3.9 million), Incheon (2.9 million), Daegu (2.65 million), Daejeon (1.48 million), Gwangju (1.38 million) and Ulsan (1.15 million). Busan is the country's principal seaport.

Related Topics:
Busan - Incheon - Daegu - Daejeon - Gwangju - Ulsan - Seaport

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Language

South Korea's national language is Korean. As with Japanese, with which it shares some grammatical features, Korean is sometimes called an isolate, and sometimes an Altaic language. Like Japanese and some other East Asian languages, Korean has historically borrowed many words from neighboring China.

Related Topics:
Korean - Japanese - Altaic language - China

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For thousands of years, a system based on borrowed Chinese characters (hanja) was used in Korea to read and write Korean. However, hanja fit poorly with the Korean language's grammar and phonetics, and was difficult to learn. A new writing system, hangul, was invented in 1446 by King Sejong the Great, with the intention to foster wider literacy among the Korean people. Hangul was promulgated in the Hunmin Jeongeum (훈민정음/訓民正音). Unlike Chinese characters, hangul is a phonetically based alphabet and can be learned very quickly. Hangul's adoption was long resisted by the Korean elite, but it is now used exclusively in North Korea. In South Korea, Chinese loan words are sometimes still written in hanja, but the strong trend is one of ever-decreasing use of hanja.

Related Topics:
Chinese characters - Hanja - Hangul - 1446 - King Sejong the Great - Hunmin Jeongeum

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In 2000 the government adopted the Revised Romanization of Korean.

Related Topics:
2000 - Revised Romanization of Korean

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Religion

According to 2003 statistics compiled by the South Korean government, about 46 percent of citizens profess to follow no particular religion. Christians account for 27.3% of the population and Buddhists 25.3%.{{ref|demrel1}}

Related Topics:
Christians - Buddhists

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Buddhism is stronger in the more conservative east of the country, namely the Yeongnam and Gangwon regions, where it accounts for more than half of the religious population. There are a number of different "schools" in Korean Buddhism, including the Seon (imported from Chan Buddhism in China, then later taught to the Japanese as Zen Buddhism). Many adherents of Buddhism combine Buddhist practice and shamanism.

Related Topics:
Yeongnam - Gangwon - Seon - Chan - China - Japanese - Zen - Shamanism

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Christianity initially got a foothold in Korea in the 19th century, then in the 1970s and early 1980s grew exponentially, and despite slower growth in the 1990s, caught up to Buddhism as a significant faith. Protestant churches including Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and Methodists make up about 19.8% of the total population, while Roman Catholics occupy about 7.4%. Christians are especially strong in the west of the country including Seoul, Gyeonggi and Honam regions. Seoul is home to Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest single church in the world.

Related Topics:
Exponentially - Presbyterians - Pentecostals - Methodists - Roman Catholics - Seoul - Gyeonggi - Honam - Yoido Full Gospel Church

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Various other religions account for about 2.5 percent of the religious population. These include the Wonbulgyo movement, which emphasizes the unity of all things. Another notable minor religion is Cheondogyo, an indigenous faith combining elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Confucianism is also small in terms of self-declared adherents, but the great majority of South Koreans, irrespective of their formal religious affiliation, are strongly influenced by Confucian values, which continue to permeate Korean culture.

Related Topics:
Wonbulgyo - Cheondogyo - Taoism - Confucianism

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