About korea

Index: SOUTH KOREA

I. Government
II. Geography
III. Demographics
IV. Economy
V. Commercial relationship * Peru - South Korea *
VI. South Korea: access conditions
VII. Bibliography

SOUTH KOREA

VIII. GOVERNMENT
A. Country name
* Conventional long form: Republic of Korea
* Conventional short form: South Korea
* Local long form:Taehan-min'guk
* Local short form: Han'guk
* Abbreviation: ROK

B. Government type
* Republic

C. Capital
* Name: Seoul
* Geographic coordinates: 37 33 N, 126 59 E
* Time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

D. Administrative divisions
* 9 provinces and 7 metropolitan cities

E. Legal system
* combines elements ofcontinental European civil law systems, Anglo-American law, and Chinese classical thought; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

F. Suffrage
* 19 years of age; universal

G. Executive branch
* Chief of state: President LEE Myung-bak (since 25 February 2008)
* Head of government: Prime Minister CHUNG Un-chan (since 30 September 2009)
* Cabinet: State Councilappointed by the president on the prime minister's recommendation
* Elections: president elected by popular vote for a single five-year term; election last held 19 December 2007 (next to be held in December 2012);

H. Legislative branch
* Unicameral National Assembly or Kukhoe (299 seats; 245 members elected in single-seat constituencies, 54 elected by proportional representation; toserve four-year terms)

I. Judicial branch
* Supreme Court (justices appointed by the president with consent of National Assembly);
* Constitutional Court (justices appointed by the president based partly on nominations by National Assembly and Chief Justice of the court)

IX. GEOGRAPHY
A. Location
* Eastern Asia, southern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the Sea ofJapan and the Yellow Sea

B. Area
* Total: 99,720 sq km
* Land: 96,920 sq km
* Water: 2,800 sq km

C. Area - comparative
* Slightly larger than Indiana

D. Climate
* Temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter

E. Terrain
* Mostly hills and mountains; wide coastal plains in west and south

F. Natural resources
* Coal, tungsten,graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential

G. Land use
* Arable land: 16.58%
* Permanent crops: 2.01%
* Other: 81.41% (2005)

H. Environment - international agreements
* Party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species,Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

I. Geography - note
* Strategic location on Korea Strait

X. DEMOGRAPHICS

A. Population
* 48,508,972 (July 2009 est.)

B. Age structure
* 0-14 years: 16.8% (male 4,278,581/female 3,887,516)* 15-64 years: 72.3% (male 17,897,053/female 17,196,840)
* 65 years and over: 10.8% (male 2,104,589/female 3,144,393) (2009 est.)

C. Population growth rate
* 0.266% (2009 est.)

D. Birth rate
* 8.93 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

E. Death rate
* 5.94 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

F. Net migration rate
* -0.33 migrant(s)/1,000population (2009 est.)

G. Urbanization
* Urban population: 81% of total population (2008)
* Rate of urbanization: 0.6% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

H. Religions
* Christian 26.3% (Protestant 19.7%, Roman Catholic 6.6%), Buddhist 23.2%, other or unknown 1.3%, none 49.3% (1995 census)

I. Languages
* Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school...