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Hi, I'm Pororo, The Little Penguin. I'm going to talk to you about my country, South Korea.

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This is the flag of South Korea. It represents universal balance.

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Here are some photos of the country!

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South Korea's geography has a lot of mountains and hills with very small coastal plains. It used to be part of the bigger Korean nation, but it split from it's northern sister after WW2.

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South Korea is located on the Korean peninsula in East Asia. Its exact coordinates are 35.9078° N, 127.7669° E. It is sandwiched between the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan, and it is also right south of North Korea.

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The capital of South Korea is Seoul. Seoul is a beautiful city right on the banks of the Han River. It was also the capital of the complete Korean nation even before the Korean War.

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South Korea is a very advanced nation. Just from looking at things like it's sanitation, mortality rates, urbanization/urban population, and life expectancy, we can see that it's easily a stage 4+ country. But, if we look at other factors like population factors, we can see a declining population. South Korea has a 0.92 birth rate, and we can see that reflected in the population pyramid. The populations of the younger generations are slowly getting smaller and smaller, while there is a somewhat large group in the middle-cohorts. All of these thing point to South Korea being one of the theoretical stage 5 countries.

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South Korea has a relatively high in-migration, with the rate growing by approximately 10% annually. This is due to it's many enticing pull factors. As we know, South Korea has a declining population. Because of this, there are many job opportunities. It is also relatively easy to move to South Korea to work as they welcome migrant workers. They also have good-paying jobs, and decent cost of living. They also have great healthcare and technology, making it a good place for immigrants.

However, South Korea also has a rather bad pollution problem. Similar to other recently industrialized East Asian countries, there is a large amount of air pollution. This can lead to health problems and quality of life concerns. All in all though, net migration is still postive.

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Korea has had a long and rich history, with which comes many different cultural periods. Korea currently follows pop culture, which would be things like K-Pop and K-Drama, but it still follows aspects from folk culture, which is influenced by Buddhism and Shintoism, both of which have had history there. We can see this in things like the ethical code. Korea also is mostly homogeneous, as it is a nation state, so it follows similar culture throughout.

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Korea has a comparatively low amount of religious people likely due to it's modernness. It is basically a 50/50 spit, with 50.7% being religious. Of those religious people, 46% are Buddhist, 39% Protestant, and 13% Catholic.

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South Korea mainly speaks Korean or Hangul, which is a Sino-Tibetan language, but English, Japanese, and Chinese are also spoken.

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Along with everything else, the ethnicity is also homogeneous. It is a nation state, so mostly everyone inside is Korean. The Koreans themselves are the natives. They've lived on that land for most of history. They have spent time as colonies though, such as during Japan's occupation.

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Korea as a whole has had many changes in borders in modern history. Directly after WW2, the US and USSR, then allies, both occupied Korea, and split it into 2 countries along the 38th parallel. However, after tensions increased, and a proxy war broke out, South and North Korea's borders changed constantly. After a stalemate, they finally settled where we have today.

South Korea's shape is compacted, as it's relatively square and has no protrusions or perforations.

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The most famous conflict is by far the Korean War, where the Communist North aided by the USSR battled the Democratic South backed by the US. The war lasted about 3 years, with a total of 5 million deaths. At the end, the total area of both countries barely changed.

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South Korea, even after the supposed "peace," still has high tensions with North Korea. The border has become a DMZ, which is a highly policed and guarded boundary. There is also the highly concerning nuclear standoff from North Korea.

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South Korea follows a democratic republic system, contrasting its northern sister. Similar to the US, it has a 3 branch system with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. Contrarily, it is a unitary state. South Korea also has an unique economic system. It's a blend of both pure free-market and socialism.

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Korea has a very unique culinary culture created by the blend of Japanese and Chinese culinary cultures. It's based off of seasonally available foods and fermentation of those foods for future use. Some famous Korean dishes are kimchi, bibimbop, bulgogi, and jjajangmyeon.

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Korea is in the temperate zone. It has a cold, dry winter and a warm, humid summer. Because of this, Korea's main crops are, of course, rice, some grains, soybeans, and citruses.

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Even though South Korea is a very densely populated country, it only has one mega-city: its capital Seoul, with a population of just over 10 million. Seoul is also an alpha-class world city, thanks to being a cultural hub, as well as being a center of export. Being a world city, it has HQ's of world corporations and organizations. These include Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, LG, the Association of World Election Bodies, Doalnara, the Global Green Growth Institute, the International Vaccine Institute, and the World Talent Exchange and Sharing Organization.

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Seoul's biggest urban issue is its density. It has a very dense population in comparison to other places. This has led to several other issues, like congestion and overcrowding, as well as high emissions. Even further along, emissions led to the intense air pollution problem. South Korea has been implementing new policies to try and combat this, but the problem is not improving fast.

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South Korea, all in all, is fairly equal between the two sexes. Over the past few years, the gaps have rapidly closed, especially in education and employment. Pay, though, has yet to close fully, though it is making it's way there.
South Korea also has an HDI of 0.916. 0.916 is a very high HDI. It puts South Korea at 23rd in the globe. This HDI means that S Korea is a highly developed country, with a high QOL, GDP per capita, and health.

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As we established already, South Korea is a highly developed country. This is also reflected in its economic sectors, which are as follows: 1.76% in primary, 32.8% in secondary, and 57.02% in tertiary. South Korea's largest industries are as follows: electronics, automobiles, telecommunications, shipbuilding, chemicals, and steel, with the largest being electronics, and the largest export being semiconductors. All of this reflects its deindustrialization and its status as a Core country. We classify South Korea as a country because of its wealth and influence over other, smaller countries.

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As we have seen so far, South Korea is an incredible nation, a mixing pot of old and new. South Korea's long and rich culture and history are ever-present on the landscape. There are countless temples, palaces, foods, and ancient scenes that please the eye. There's also the incredibly modern culture and technology that is overlaid over everything but never obscuring. South Korea is one of the few places where you can see harmony between the two.

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The relations between South Korea and Japan have been at a historic low. Even though there always has been the tension over Japan's colonialism during WW2, South Korea recently closed down a foundation giving support to victims of sexual slavery and forced labor. They instead are ordering Japan to pay for the support instead, and they protested, saying it didn't follow treaty guidelines. More recently, trade has broken down between the two, with many different disputes. However, the two are beginning to work towards a more synergetic relationship.

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CIA. “Korea, South - The World Factbook.” The World Factbook, 5 Oct. 2022, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/korea-south.

globalEDGE. “South Korea: Introduction.” globalEDGE, globaledge.msu.edu/countries/south-korea. Accessed 18 May 2022.

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Millet, Allan. “Korean War | Combatants, Summary, Years, Map, Casualties, and Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 June 2021, www.britannica.com/event/Korean-War.

Norman, Grace. “Historical and Modern Religions of Korea.” Asia Society, 2022, asiasociety.org/education/historical-and-modern-religions-korea.

OECD. “Gender Equality: Korea Has Come a Long Way, but There Is More Work to Do.” OECD, 25 Oct. 2021, www.oecd.org/country/korea/thematic-focus/gender-equality-korea-has-come-a-long-way-but-there-is-more-work-to-do-8bb81613.

“Population of Cities in South Korea (2022).” World Population Review, 2022, worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cities/south-korea.

Shazly, Islam El. “South Korea: Culture and Tradition | GPI Translation Blog.” Globalization Partners International, 13 Mar. 2022, www.globalizationpartners.com/2017/10/09/south-korea-culture-and-tradition/#:%7E:text=Korea%20is%20greatly%20influenced%20by,to%20the%20elders%20and%20family.

The Washington Post BrandStudio. “How Korean Food Philosophy Can Help Us Reconnect.” Washington Post, 7 Feb. 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/wp/2021/06/01/feature/how-korean-food-philosophy-can-help-us-reconnect/#:%7E:text=Korean%20food%20is%20seasonally%20driven,are%20foundational%20in%20the%20winter.

Zanabazar, Altanchimeg, et al. “The Push and Pull Factors Affecting the Migration of Mongolians to the Republic of South Korea.” SHS Web of Conferences, edited by Z. Caha et al., vol. 90, 2021, p. 01023. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20219001023.