About Korea
General Information
Contents
Official Name of the Country
Official Name: Republic of Korea
Common name: South Korea
Location, Area
Korea is located in the northeastern peninsula in Asia. The area of its territory is 100,188.1 km2. The Korean Peninsula is adjacent to China with its boundary along the Yalu River to its northwestern side, and shares its boundary with China and Russia along the Tumen River to its northeastern side. Surrounded by the sea in three sides, Korea's western coast is called the West Sea, eastern coast is called the East Sea and the southern coast is called the Southern Sea.
Korea's southern and western regions are mainly flatland while eastern and northern regions are mountainous. The Tae Baek Mountains is located along the Korean Peninsula's eastern coast and is also called the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range. Korea's representative islands are Jeju-do, Geoje-do, Jin-do and Ulleung-do. Jeju and Ulleung Islands are formed through volcano activities. Korea's Yellow Sea coast and southern coast are rias coast, and the tidal difference is big. (Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)
Population
The total population of Korea is 51,635,256 (as of November 2018) and 9,784,112 reside in Seoul. The population density is 509/km2 (as of November 1, 2015) and is the world's top 2 among countries that have a population of over 10 million. (Source: Ministry of the Government Administration and Home Affairs, CIA, Statistics Korea)
Flag (Taegeukgi)
Taegeukgi is composed of a taegeuk (blue/red) and four trigram of divination (gun: sky; gon: earth; gam: water; lee: fire). It was selected as the national flag during the emperor Gojong 20 years (1883). The red area in the Taegeuk pattern represents nobility and yang (positive) and the blue area represents hope and yin (negative principle in nature). Being located in each corner, gun, gon, gam and lee, symbolized sky, earth, water and fire; and achieve harmony with Taegeuk in the center.
National Flower (Mugunghwa)
The national flower of Korea is called the Mugunghwa, also known as the Rose of Sharon in western countries. The Mugunghwa is distributed all over Korea and it blooms from July to October. Once it blooms, it lasts at least for 100 days. Mugunghwa means 'blooming eternally!'
Currency
The currency unit of Korea is Won (₩) and issued in 6 kinds of coins and 4 types of bills.
