South Korea
A technological powerhouse and cultural exporter on the southern peninsula
South Korea is one of the great success stories of the modern world, a country that vaulted in a single generation from the ruins of war to the front rank of advanced economies. Officially the Republic of Korea, it is the home of Samsung, Hyundai, and a global cultural wave, K-pop, film, and television, that has captivated audiences far beyond Asia. Densely populated and overwhelmingly urban, with about half its people in the Seoul metropolitan area, it pairs blazing technological ambition with a deep Confucian heritage and the constant shadow of the divided peninsula.
The peninsula's southern half is mountainous, especially in the east along the Taebaek Range, with the population concentrated in the western and southern coastal plains and river valleys. The highest point is Hallasan, a shield volcano forming Jeju Island off the south coast, rising 1,947 meters. Thousands of small islands fringe the indented coastline. The climate is temperate with four distinct seasons, hot humid summers shaped by the monsoon and the occasional typhoon, and cold dry winters. Limited in natural resources, the country built its strength on human capital and manufacturing.
Emerging from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the devastation of the Korean War, South Korea endured authoritarian governments before democratizing in the late 1980s. State-guided industrialization, driven by family conglomerates known as chaebol, produced the so-called Miracle on the Han River. Today it is a vibrant democracy and a leader in semiconductors, shipbuilding, automobiles, and consumer electronics. Its soft power, exemplified by the global popularity of acts like BTS and films such as Parasite, is immense, even as it grapples with one of the world's lowest birth rates and tense relations with the North.