South Korea

I		INTRODUCTION

South Korea, country in northeastern Asia that occupies the southern portion of the Korea Peninsula; officially known as the Republic of Korea. South Korea is bounded on the north by North Korea; on the east by the East Sea (Sea of Japan); on the southeast and south by the Korea Strait, which separates it from Japan; and on the west by the Yellow Sea. The capital and largest city is Seoul.

The nation of South Korea was established in 1948 following the post-World War II partitioning of Korea between the occupying forces of the United States in the south and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the north. After the Korean War (1950-1953), South Korea rose from devastation to become one of the world’s largest economies in the 1990s.

II

PEOPLE OF SOUTH KOREA

The population of South Korea is 49,232,844 (2008 estimate). The country’s population density of 501 persons per sq km (1,299 per sq mi) is one of the highest in the world. The majority of the population lives in the southern and western parts of the country. Most people in South Korea sport Western-style clothing, but some still wear hangbok, or traditional garments. For men, that means paji, baggy trousers tied tightly at the ankles, and a chogori, a jacket fastened with bone buttons, strings, or ribbons in neutral colors. Women and children wear clothing in bright primary colors, plus pastel pink and purple. South Koreans don traditional clothing for special occasions such as May Festival, Full Moon Festival, and Buddha's Birthday.

The annual rate of population increase in South Korea has dropped steadily from more than 3 percent in the late 1950s to 0.37 percent in 2008. Urbanization of the country has proceeded rapidly since the 1960s, with substantial migration from rural to urban areas; 81 percent of the population is now classified as urban. Following the official division of the Korea Peninsula in 1948, about 4 million people from North Korea crossed the border to South Korea. This sudden population increase was partly offset over the next 40 years by emigration from South Korea, especially to Japan and the United States. However, South Korea’s burgeoning economy and improved political climate in the early and mid-1990s slowed the high emigration rates typical of the late 1980s. Many of those who emigrated chose to return to South Korea.

A

Ethnic Groups

South Korea, like North Korea, is one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in the world. Almost all of its people are ethnically Korean. Koreans are the descendants of Neolithic people who began to migrate to the Korea Peninsula from the northeastern Asia mainland, including the Siberian region, as early as 5000 bc. These people replaced earlier Paleolithic cultures that had inhabited some areas of the peninsula for about 40,000 years. See also Stone Age.

People of Chinese descent make up the country’s largest minority group. The resident population also includes a growing number of foreign nationals, which include migrant laborers from South and Southeast Asia, as well as business people, diplomats, and other professionals from many parts of the world.

B

Language

South Korea’s national language is Korean, a distinct language that linguists have not firmly categorized in any language grouping, although it is most often included in the Altaic language family. Of all languages, Korean is most similar in grammar to Japanese. Because of a long history of contacts with China, the Korean vocabulary contains many Chinese words. Korean is written in a unique phonetic script known as Hangeul (called Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), which was introduced in 1446 under King Sejong of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910).

The Korean language did not have its own alphabet before the invention of Hangeul. Until then, the Korean language was written in a modified Chinese script. The Chinese ideographs, or characters, represent words and meanings rather than pronunciation. Because they were developed for a completely different language, they did not reflect the sounds and grammar of Korean. For this reason, King Sejong commissioned a group of scholars to invent Hangeul, a script composed of phonetic symbols that accurately represent spoken Korean. Although sophisticated, Hangeul is easily learned, as King Sejong had intended in order to increase literacy among all classes in Korea. Chinese characters remained the more prestigious, and preferred, script of the educated elite until the 20th century, when Hangeul was widely adopted in South Korea as a symbol of national identity. Today, written Korean often combines Hangeul symbols with some Chinese characters.

C

Religion

Buddhism and Christianity are the largest religions in South Korea. However, many South Koreans do not adhere to any one religion and in practice often combine different belief systems in their lives. As a result, religious distinctions are often blurred. Confucianism, more a moral philosophy than a religion, is in many ways more prominent in Korean culture than any organized religion. Confucianism was introduced from China as much as 2,000 years ago. Many of its teachings are an integral thread in the social and moral fabric of South Korea. Confucianism is evident in practices such as giving priority to education and respect to elders, as well as the performance of memorial ceremonies for ancestors.The Mahayana form of Buddhism was introduced from India by way of China in the 4th century. Successive Korean kingdoms recognized Buddhism as the official religion from the early 500s until 1392, when the Chosŏn dynasty began to promote Neo-Confucianism as the state ideology and discourage the practice of Buddhism. Today Buddhism is prevalent throughout South Korea, and there are many Buddhist monasteries and temples. Sŏn Buddhism, which emphasizes meditation, originated in China as Chan Buddhism and was eventually transferred from Korea to Japan, where it became known as Zen Buddhism.

Daoism (Taoism), known in Korean as To-gyo (the Way), is a mystical philosophy also introduced from China about the same time as Buddhism. Many of its principles emphasizing harmony with nature, simplicity, purity, and longevity are evident in Korean culture. Korea was officially closed to Christian missionaries until 1882, although knowledge of Christianity was evident well before then. Membership in various Christian denominations has grown considerably since the 1950s, and today South Korea is the most Christianized country in East Asia. About three-quarters of South Korea’s Christians are Protestant, while most of the remainder are Roman Catholic.

Hundreds of so-called new religions have been founded in South Korea. Most of these new religions are syncretic, meaning they blend different belief systems. One of the most prominent is the Unification Church, founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon. The oldest of the new religions is Ch’ŏndogyo (Teaching of the Heavenly Way), founded in 1860. It fuses elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity, and shamanism.Korean shamanism has its roots in the ancient cultures of northeastern Asia. It is the indigenous belief system and is recognized in South Korea as an important aspect of cultural heritage. Based in animistic beliefs, shamanism emphasizes the performance of healing and divination ceremonies (kut) by shamans (spiritual mediums) called mudang, most of whom are women. Although shamanism is not an organized religion, many South Koreans consult shamans when experiencing illness or other difficulties. In addition, shamanism’s precept that every natural object has a soul is a widely held belief in South Korea.

D

Education

One of Confucianism's legacies is a strong commitment to education. A well-educated work force takes much of the credit for South Korea's impressive progress in modernization and development since the 1950s. But education is not only economically important to the nation; it is also of utmost social importance to individuals. A South Korean's social standing depends upon graduation from an elite institution, and parents make great sacrifices to ensure that their children have all the educational advantages.

South Korea has a high literacy rate, as 98 percent of the adult population can read and write. Primary education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 14. Secondary education consists of three years of middle school and three years of high school. In the 2000 school year some 4 million pupils were enrolled annually in kindergarten and elementary schools and 4 million in middle and high schools, including vocational high schools. Private schools play an important role, especially above the primary level.

There are more than 300 institutions of higher education in the country, with a total annual enrollment of 3.2 million students. The principal universities are Korea University (founded in 1905), Seoul National University (1946), Ewha Women’s University (1886), and Yonsei University (1885), all in Seoul. Major universities, both private and public, are also located in provincial capitals.

III

ECONOMY OF SOUTH KOREA

           

South Korea’s economy was traditionally based on agriculture but experienced extraordinarily rapid industrialization beginning in the early 1960s. After the Korean War (1950-1953), economic aid, especially from the United States, was important to the economic recovery of the country. Subsequently, the government of South Korea gave priority to the development of manufacturing, which was driven by export-led growth. In the span of a generation, South Korea grew from one of the world’s poorest countries to one of its most promising industrial powers.

Since the late 1980s, the government has allowed market forces to determine economic development. Previously, the government had exerted strong influence through a series of five-year economic plans, which had promoted industrialization. To achieve the goals of these plans, the government directly intervened in the economy by offering strong incentives to businesses, regulating foreign exchange, and implementing highly centralized fiscal policies.

South Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by more than 9 percent yearly between the mid-1960s and the mid-1990s. By the mid-1990s economists referred to South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan as Asia’s “Four Tigers” because they rapidly achieved high economic growth and a standard of living among the highest in the world. Nevertheless, South Korea was one of many Asian countries that suffered economic decline during a regional economic crisis in 1997 and 1998. During the crisis, several of South Korea’s largest conglomerates, called chaebol, went bankrupt and collapsed. The economic crisis highlighted underlying structural weaknesses in South Korea’s economy. Close links between government, banks, and chaebol had allowed the conglomerates to borrow heavily from domestic financial institutions to help them finance high-risk investments. In consequence, the chaebol accrued extremely high levels of debt. The collapse of chaebol, which created a high incidence of nonperforming loans, caused havoc in the banking sector. Meanwhile, the value of the national currency plummeted, losing more than half its value by the end of 1997, and inflation and unemployment soared.

A		Agriculture

Land distribution programs were carried out in South Korea in the late 1940s, creating an agricultural system composed primarily of small, owner-operated farms. The rapid industrialization of South Korea and increasing urbanization has diminished the importance of farming to the country’s economy, and the number of families dependent on agriculture for their livelihood steadily declined beginning in the 1970s.

About 17 percent of the land in South Korea is under cultivation. More than half of the agricultural land is devoted to rice, the principal food crop. Other leading crops include soybeans, red peppers, barley, cabbages, watermelons, garlic, onions, radishes, white potatoes, red beans, corn, and sweet potatoes. Many types of fruit are grown, especially apples, oranges, grapes, persimmons, pears, and peaches. Other crops include cotton, hemp, and silk. Livestock include pigs, cattle, and goats.

B

Manufacturing

The division of the Korea Peninsula in 1948 created two unbalanced economic units. North Korea held most of the natural resources and heavy industries developed during occupation by the Japanese; South Korea contained most of the agricultural resources and a large labor pool. Industrial development in the south concentrated initially on light manufacturing of export-oriented items, especially in labor-intensive industries such as textiles and apparel, footwear, and foodstuffs. Beginning in the early 1970s, however, emphasis was placed on heavy industry. In the 1980s and 1990s Korean manufacturers branched into high-technology industries, such as computer components and semiconductors. Manufacturing is dominated by chaebol, large conglomerate companies with greatly diversified interests. South Korea is an important producer of telecommunications and sound equipment and transportation equipment. Shipbuilding is a major industry. Other leading industries include the manufacture of chemicals, machinery, food products and beverages, basic metals, and textiles.

IV

HISTORY OF SOUTH KOREA

At the end of World War II in 1945, the Korea Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule, which had been in place since 1910. To fill the power vacuum, Soviet forces occupied the northern portion of the Korea Peninsula, and United States forces occupied the southern portion. This political division was considered only temporary, but subsequent reunification efforts failed. In 1948 the division became official when the Republic of Korea, backed by the United States and the United Nations (UN), was established south of the 38th parallel, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China, was established north of the same latitude. For the history of the Korea Peninsula before 1948.

The Republic of Korea, commonly known as South Korea, was proclaimed on August 15, 1948. Its first president, Syngman Rhee, was elected by a legislature that had been popularly elected in May 1948. The legislative elections were sponsored and supervised by UN representatives. Left-wing groups had boycotted these elections, and virtually all the legislators were firm anti-Communists, as was their chosen president.

A

Unstable Beginnings

The main objective of the first South Korean government was the suppression of leftist groups, some of them independent but many supported by the Communist government of North Korea. The United States, concerned about leftist guerrilla activity and the potential of invasion from North Korea, delayed withdrawing its occupation forces in South Korea until June 1949.

However, the security situation remained extremely tenuous in the Korea Peninsula. The North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung, sought to unify the Korea Peninsula under Communist rule. In June 1950 he launched a full-scale military invasion of South Korea, thereby starting the Korean War. The United States immediately gained UN Security Council support for the defense of South Korea and committed American ground troops to the war. The Korean War was ultimately one of the most destructive and deadly wars of the 20th century. Perhaps as many as 4 million Koreans died throughout the peninsula, the majority of them civilians.

During the war, South Korean president Rhee governed under martial law, and he used his power to force the legislature to adopt a constitutional amendment providing for popular election of the president. Rhee was popularly elected to a second term in 1952. In July 1953 an armistice agreement signed by the UN, North Korea, and China—South Korea refused to sign—ended the fighting of the Korean War. Without a formal peace treaty, however, North Korea and South Korea technically remained at war. Their shared border, known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), remained heavily fortified and guarded on both sides. With the consent of South Korea, the United States continued to maintain a military presence in the country.

South Korea made a slow recovery from the war. Rhee was unable to produce any significant economic development despite much aid from the United States. He easily won reelection in 1956 and 1960, but blatant manipulation of the 1960 elections led to nationwide protests that culminated in Rhee’s forced resignation on April 27, 1960. The moderate government of John M. Chang that followed Rhee’s departure implemented liberalizing reforms in many areas, but economic development still lagged. Military leaders, fearing growing instability and wary of student agitation for talks with North Korea, staged a coup on May 16, 1961.

B

Regime of Chun Doo Hwan

In October 1979 military forces violently suppressed an antigovernment uprising in the southern cities of Busan and Masan. Later that month, President Park was assassinated by Kim Jae Kyu, the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (now known as the National Intelligence Service). Premier Choi Kyu Hah became acting president, and the government proclaimed martial law. In December army General Chun Doo Hwan staged a coup within the armed forces, seizing control as martial law commander. Chun emerged as the dominant leader in the country, overshadowing President Choi.

Demonstrations erupted in many cities demanding an end to martial law and the adoption of a new constitution. In May 1980 Chun arrested leaders of the political opposition and banned all political activity. Despite these restrictions, political dissidents staged a pro-democracy protest that developed into a massive uprising in the city of Gwangju in mid-May. During the ensuing military crackdown, army troops killed at least two hundred civilian protesters.

In August 1980 President Choi suddenly stepped down, and Chun secured the presidency by indirect vote. A new constitution, providing for a single seven-year presidential term but also retaining many of the Yushin-type control mechanisms, went into effect in April 1981. President Chun’s regime scored a diplomatic coup when the International Olympic Committee designated Seoul as the site for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games.

C

Democratic Reforms

Following a series of mass protests in June 1987, President Chun promised democratic reforms, including direct presidential elections. Voters adopted a new, democratic constitution in a referendum in October, and Roh Tae Woo, the candidate of the ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP) and a longtime supporter of Chun, was elected president in December. The new constitution took effect in February 1988.

In the 1988 elections to the National Assembly, the DJP won the most seats but failed to secure a majority. The Peace and Democracy Party (PDP) of Kim Dae Jung became the main opposition party. Later that year, South Korea hosted the Summer Olympics. In 1990 the DJP merged with two other parties to form the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP). This maneuver secured the new party an absolute majority in the legislature. In March 1991 the first local elections in 30 years were held. DLP candidates won a majority of posts.

Although some democratic reforms had taken hold in South Korea, distrust of government ran deep. Students and workers regularly staged protests and strikes from 1988 to 1991. The annual anniversary of the 1980 massacre in Gwangju was commemorated with mass demonstrations that resulted in clashes between protesters and police. Public unrest escalated in 1991 with the revelation of a government bribery scandal and the beating to death of a student protester by police. In response to weeks of widespread demonstrations precipitated by the fatal beating, the government relaxed the National Security Law and reined in police activity.

In the presidential elections of December 1992, South Koreans elected Kim Young Sam, a former political dissident who had merged his opposition party into the DLP in 1990. Soon after taking office, Kim launched an anticorruption reform program that included publicizing the assets of politicians, senior civil servants, and some judiciary and military members. Resignations followed from many people whose publicized wealth was clearly disproportionate to their income levels. In December 1993 the government agreed to open the heavily protected Korean rice market to imports. The resulting public outcry, which included violent demonstrations in Seoul, led to the resignation of Prime Minister Hwang In Sung and his cabinet, although the decision to allow rice imports was not reversed.

In late 1995 Kim’s anticorruption campaign resulted in the arrest of his predecessors, Chun and Roh. They were put on trial on charges they had accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from business interests while in office. Both former presidents were subsequently put on trial for their alleged roles in the 1979 military coup that brought Chun to power and the May 1980 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Gwangju. In 1996 Chun and Roh were convicted of mutiny, sedition, and corruption. Chun received the death sentence (reduced to life imprisonment on appeal), while Roh received 22 years in prison (reduced to 17 years on appeal). In addition, their corruption convictions required them to pay millions of dollars in fines. Meanwhile, Kim Young Sam denied allegations from the opposition that he had personally received money for his 1992 presidential campaign from Roh’s stash of illegal funds. In December 1995 Kim renamed the DLP the New Korea Party (NKP) in an effort to distance the party from its association with the military regimes of Chun and Roh.

In January 1996 Kim admitted in a televised address to the nation that before becoming president he had accepted political donations from business interests; however, he denied the funds were bribes for political favors. In late March 1996 Kim’s former aide of 20 years, Chang Hak Ro, was arrested on bribery charges, casting doubt on Kim’s anticorruption campaign just weeks before the April parliamentary elections. The NKP lost control of the National Assembly in the elections; shortly thereafter, however, it was able to recruit 11 independent legislators to regain its 150-seat majority.