| Republic of Korea | ||||||
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| Motto 홍익인간 (Korean) Benefit All Mankind | ||||||
| Anthem 애국가 (Korean) Patriotic Song | ||||||
 South Korean territory before the invasion
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| Capital | Seoul | |||||
| Demonym | South Korean Korean | |||||
| Government | Unitary presidential constitutional republic | |||||
| President | Park Geun-hye | |||||
| Prime Minister | Hwang Kyo-ahn | |||||
| Legislature | National Congress | |||||
| • | Upper house | Senate | ||||
| • | Lower house | House of Representatives | ||||
| History | ||||||
| • | First Republic Proclaimed | 15 August 1948 | ||||
| • | Korean War | 1950 - 1953 | ||||
| • | Treaty of Unification | 10 August 2017 | ||||
| Area | 100,210 km² (38,691 sq mi) | |||||
| Population | ||||||
| • | est.2017 | 53,223,857 | ||||
| Density | 531.1 /km² (1,375.6 /sq mi) | |||||
| Currency | South Korean won (₩) | |||||
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; hanja: 大韓民國; RR: Daehanminguk), was a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.
The name Korea was derived from the ancient Kingdom of Goguryeo, also known as Koryŏ. Highly urbanized at 93.12% (7/2017), South Koreans led a distinctive urban lifestyle; half of them lived in high-rises, concentrated in the Seoul Capital Area with 26.12 million residents and formerly the world's sixth leading global city with the fourth largest economy. Three-quarters of South Korea was mountainous, which made it a popular winter sport destination in Asia and was supposed to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, however this has been changed to Paris after the war.
The earliest Korean pottery dated back to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing at 1st century BC. One of them, Goguryeo, ruled Northeast China, parts of Russia and Mongolia under Gwanggaeto the Great. Since their unification into Silla and Balhae in the 7th century, Korea enjoyed over a millennium of relative tranquility under long lasting dynasties with innovations like Hangul, the unique alphabet created by Sejong the Great in 1446, enabling anyone to easily learn to read and write. Its rich and vibrant culture left 17 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910 due to its strategic and central location, after whose surrender in 1945, it was divided into North and South Korea. A North Korean invasion led to the Korean War (1950–53). Peace has since mostly continued up until the beginning of war, with the two having agreeed to work peacefully for reunification, and the South having solidified peace as a regional power with the world's former 10th largest defence budget.