Korea Informacion General

South Korean Festivals
* Andong Mask Dance Festival (Hahoe, South Korea)
Festival Types: Cultural, Dance - Folk, Traditional
Month: October
* Boryeong Mud Festival (Boryeong City, South Korea)
Festival Types: Bizarre, Local, Party
Month: July
* Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul (Seoul, South Korea)Festival Types: Film, Film - Short
Month: September
* Green Film Festival in Seoul (Seoul, South Korea)
Festival Types: Film, Film - Documentary, Environmental
Month: May
* Hi Seoul Festival (Seoul, South Korea)
Festival Types: Cultural, Theatre, Music - Varied
Month: May
* MODAFE - InternationalModern Dance Festival (Seoul, South Korea)
Festival Types: Dance - Modern, Dance - Various Styles
Month: May
* Pusan International Film Festival (Pusan, South Korea)
Festival Types: Film
Month: October
* Seoul Fringe Festival (Seoul, South Korea)
Festival Types: Fringe, Performing Art, ComedyMonth: June
* Sol-nal - Korean New Year (South Korea)
Festival Types: New Year
Month: February
* World Latte Art Championships (Seoul, South Korea)
Festival Types: Food and Drink, Art
Month: November

Economy of South Korea
Economy
GDP (purchasing power parity in 2010): $1.459 trillion.
Real GDP growth rate: (2007) 5.1%;(2008) 2.3%; (2009) 0.2%; (2010) 6.1%.
GDP per capita (current U.S. $): (2009) $17,110; (2010) $20,757.
Unemployment rate (2010): 3.3%.
Inflation rate (consumer prices): (2008) 4.7%; (2009) 2.8%; (2010) 2.9%.
Natural resources: Coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential.
Agriculture: Products--rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit, cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs,fish. Arable land--16.58% of land area.
Industry: Electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel.
Trade (2009): Exports--$363.5 billion: semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships, petrochemicals. Imports--$323.1 billion: crude oil, food, electronics and electronic equipment, machinery, transportationequipment, steel, organic chemicals, plastics, base metals and articles. Major export markets (2009)--China (23.2%), U.S. (10.1%), Japan (5.8%), Hong Kong (5.3%), Singapore (3.6%). Major importers to South Korea (2009)--China (16.8%), Japan (15.3%), U.S. (9.0%), Saudi Arabia (6.1%), Australia (4.6%).

ECONOMY
Over the past several decades, the Republic of Korea has achieved a remarkably highlevel of economic growth, which has allowed the country to rise from the rubble of the Korean War into the ranks of the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD). Today, South Korea is the United States' seventh-largest trading partner and is the 15th-largest economy in the world.

In the early 1960s, the government of Park Chung Hee instituted sweeping economic policy changes emphasizingexports and labor-intensive light industries, leading to rapid debt-financed industrial expansion. The government carried out a currency reform, strengthened financial institutions, and introduced flexible economic planning. In the 1970s Korea began directing fiscal and financial policies toward promoting heavy and chemical industries, consumer electronics, and automobiles. Manufacturing continuedto grow rapidly in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In recent years, Korea's economy moved away from the centrally planned, government-directed investment model toward a more market-oriented one. South Korea bounced back from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis with assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but its recovery was based largely on extensive financial reforms that restored...