Introduction to korea

1. Introduction toIntroduction to
KoreaKorea
한국한국
조선조선
韓國韓國
朝鮮朝鮮

2. Geopolitical Location

3. Geography
Territory Size:
Roughly equal to England
Population:
South Korea: 52 million
North Korea: 25 million
Climate:
Monsoon in summer,
Cold wind in winter
Topography:
Mountainous

4. Comparison in East Asia
Size:
1/4 of Japan
Similar to Zhejiang (China)
Smaller than 1/40 of China
Population:
Japan: 127 million
Zhejiang larger than S. Korea
Shandong larger than N & S Korea

5. Cities & Provinces
Capital: Seoul (10 million)
6 Metropolitan Cities:
Busan, Incheon, Daejon, Daegu, Gwangju, Ulsan
9 Provinces: Gyeonggi, Gangwon…
Capital Region: Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi
(25 million)
-> concentration of population in capital region
Administrative Special City: Sejong

6. Aging Population

7. Economy of South Korea
1. GDP(Gross Domestic Production): 4th in Asia, 11th in the world
2. GDP per capita: $29,891 (2017), 27th
in the world
c.f. USA($59,501), Israel($40,258), UK($39,735), Japan($38,440)
3. Rapid economic development: Miracle on the Han River
4. IMF financial crisis in 1997: neoliberal reform-> widening economic gap
5. Dominance by family-owned conglomerates(chaebol)
6. Trade dependency on China & USA
7. Decline of heavy industry (shipbuilding, steel, automobiles)

9. Divided Nation
Divided in 1945
◦Potsdam Conference
◦38th
Parallel
◦Divided by USA & Soviet Union
Korean War: 1950-53
◦Military Demarcation Line
◦De-Militarized Zone
◦PRC (mainland China) assisted North Korea
◦Separation of families, transportation, communication

10. Ethnic Homogeneity
Dangun myth: Dangun(B.C. 2333) born between a heavenly
ruler and a bear, believed to be a common ancestor of all
Koreans
-Belief of a homogeneous people
-Advantageous for strong unity
-Lack of ethnic diversity
-Challenges in the globalized world

11. Korean Language (Hangul)
Hangul characters commissioned by King Sejong (1440s)
Phonetic language (c.f. Chinese: pictographic)
Easy to learn for uneducated people
Not a tonal language
Regional dialects (e.g. North & South, Kyungsang & Jeolla province)
Articulate honorific forms (noun, verb, adjective, postposition)
More than 50% of vocabulary borrowed from Chinese
Hangul-only newspapers published only since 1988

13. Religions
Ratio: Christian 20%, Buddhist 15%, Catholic 8%, No religion 56%
Animism: e.g. worship of a sacred tree
Shamanism: Mudang(Korean female shaman), Kut (Korean exorcism)
Confucianism: ancestral memorial service, primogeniture, lineage hierarchy
Daoism: Geomancy-Pungsu(wind & water, Fengshui in Chinese), “mountain in the
back & water in the front,” preference of “south facing”
Buddhism: suppressed by Confucian tradition during Joseon Dynasty, combined
with animistic folk religion
Christianity & Catholicism: popularized by Western missionaries in the 20th
century, appealing to a young generation and middle class

14. Villagers’ worship of a sacred tree

15. Daoist ideas:Daoist ideas:
Symbolism of the South Korean Flag (Tae-Symbolism of the South Korean Flag (Tae-
keuk-gi)keuk-gi)
Center is the Korean version of the Yin-Yang symbol
The four trigrams are:
☰; geon ( 건 ; 乾 ) = heaven 天
☷; gon ( 곤 ; 坤 ) = earth 地
☲; ri ( 리 ; 離 ) = sun 日
☵; gam ( 감 ; 坎 ) = moon 月

16. Festivals & Holidays
Lunar New Year (Seol-nal): Jan. 1st(lunar)
Moon Festival (Chusok): Aug. 15th(lunar)
Independence Day: Aug. 15th
National Foundation Day: Oct. 3rd
Hangul Day: Oct. 9th
Laborer’s Day: May 1th
Children’s Day: May 5th
Parents’ Day: May 8th
Teacher’s Day: May 15th