Geography of South Korea

1. Geography of South Korea
Dae-han-min-guk
Presenter: IBRAR
PhD Candidate
ITTP – Korea Institute Of Science and Technology

2. Introduction
 The Republic of Korea is a country is East Asia.
 It shares land borders with North Korea to
north, and oversea borders with China to the west and Japan to the east.
 The National Flag of South Korea, or Taegukgi has three parts
 A white background which represents peace and purity.
 A red and blue Taeguk, which is a red and blue Taiji yin- and yang- symbol in
the center, represents the balance of the universe.
 and four black trigrams which
represents the heaven ☰(kun),
earth ☷(kon), water ☵(kam),
fire ☲ (yi)

3. Introduction (Cont…)
South Korea’s Major Cities
•Seoul (Capital)
– Population: 10.4 million
– Main seat of Government and
commerce
– Produces 21% of GDP
•Incheon
– Population: 2.6 million
– Heavy industry, major
shipping port and
international airport
•Daegu
– Population: 2.5 million
– Textiles industry, arts hub,
government administrative
centre.
•Pusan
– Population: 3.8 million
– Heavy industry, major
shipping port
Source: http://www.geonames.org/KR/largest-cities-in-south-korea.html

4. Introduction (Cont…)
Urban Density & Land
• 70% of the Korean peninsula is
mountainous. Mountain range
stretches down the entire east coast.
• 81.5% of the national population
live in urban areas (2005).
• 52.5% of all housing were
apartments (2005)
• Most of national population live
around the Seoul to Pusan corridor.
• Land is very expensive
• 16.5% of land is arable

5. Climate
• Korea has ‘Four Seasons’
• Summer is extremely humid (80-90%) with monsoon-type rains, 22 – 30 degrees
• Winter is cold and dry with temperatures dropping to minus 10 degrees centigrade
• Best times of year for outdoor activities are Spring and Autumn.

6. Around the World
Recognizable Global Brands
• The ‘chaebol’ represent Korea’s main family-
controlled firms and powerhouse of the nation.
E.g. Samsung, LG, Kia, Daewoo, Hyundai.
• Korea’s major exports include automobiles,
petrochemicals, electronics, shipbuilding, textiles
and steel products.

7. People
• Language: Korean - Hangul-mal.
• Cuisine:
– Korean cuisine includes a lot of vegetables and fish. Meat was
often only available for nobility but now regularly served in
restaurants.
– Typical Dishes:
• Kimchi: Spicy cabbage served with most meals
• Kalbi: Marinated beef, barbecued, eaten with side dishes
• Kimchi-jiggae: A beef/kimchi casserole with rice
• Kim-bap: Similar to sushi rolls minus the fish
– Drink:
• Soju: Local lethal concoction similar to vodka.
• Rice wines: milky and very potent
• Beers

8. People & Culture
• Family life
– Families are very ‘close’ in Korea.
– Children live at home until married, unless move to a major city.
– Parents invest a lot of money in education for children.
– Respect for elders
– When married couples take traditional of homemaker and breadwinner.
– Conservative society (youth culture changing)
– Most families live in urban apartments.
• Work ethic
– All men must do national service for 2 years.
– Corporate life is a mixture of militant style business and obeying
elders.
– Very long work hours.

9. People & Culture (Cont…)
• Convenience
– Excellent and cheap public transport systems
– Supermarkets and other shopping centers provide plenty of goods
from Korea and abroad.
• Leisure
– Koreans love to eat out, be it having picnics on mountains or at
one of many restaurants.
– Hiking is a very common activity
– Walking, cycling or skating in parks
– Joining clubs (academies, sports etc.)
– Shopping
– Drinking with classmates or work colleagues

10. People & Culture (Cont…)
• Religion
– Both Christianity and Buddhism are influenced by the ideologies of
Korean Confucianism and Korean Shamanism
– Buddhism 22.8%
– Christianity 29.3%
– None 46.5%
• Festivals and Holidays
– Chuseok (추석): Families return home, often to their country homes
and pay respect to their ancestors.
– Seollal ( 설날) first day of the Korean lunar calendar

11. Education
• Koreans spend $15.3bn a year on private English lessons (SERI 2006)
• English (ESL) education market represents 1.9% GDP
• Qualifications are seen to be more important than ‘experience’.
– Elementary
– Middle School
– High School
– University (Require a reasonable level of English to be accepted)
Famous Korean Universities
• Seoul National University
• Yonsei University
• Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
• Hongik University
• Inha University
• Sogang University
• Korea University

12. Education (Cont…)
Teaching English
• New graduates from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland
and United Kingdom come to teach ESL in Korea .
• Qualified and experienced ESL teachers are employed by Universities and
organizations supporting the ESL market.
• Elementary and Middle Schools (Government run)
• Independent Academies
• Colleges/ Universities (2-3 months paid holiday a year)
• English Villages
Main employment can be found at: