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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea.

Snippet from Wikipedia: South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It extends over the southern half of the Korean Peninsula and includes the adjacent islands. It borders North Korea to its north along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and the Sea of Japan to the east. It has a population of about 52 million, of which half live in the Seoul metropolitan area, the world's ninth most populous metropolitan area; its other major cities are Busan, Daegu, and Incheon.

The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early seventh century BC. From the mid first century BC, various polities consolidated into the rival kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. The latter eventually unified most of the peninsula for the first time in the late seventh century CE, while Balhae succeeded Goguryeo in the north. The Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) achieved lasting unification and established the basis for Korean identity. The subsequent Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) generated cultural, economic, and scientific achievements but maintained an isolationist policy from the mid-17th century. The short-lived Korean Empire (1897–1910) sought modernization and reform but was annexed in 1910 into the Empire of Japan. Japanese rule ended following Japan's surrender in World War II, after which Korea was divided into two zones: the Soviet-occupied northern zone and the United States-occupied southern zone.

After negotiations on reunification failed, the southern zone became the Republic of Korea in August 1948, while the northern zone became the Soviet-aligned Democratic People's Republic of Korea the following month. In 1950, a Soviet-backed North Korean invasion triggered the Korean War, one of the first proxy conflicts of the Cold War, which featured extensive fighting, drawing in the American-led United Nations Command and the People's Volunteer Army from China. The war ended in 1953 with an armistice with three million Koreans dead and both economies in ruins; due to the lack of a peace treaty, the Korean conflict officially continues.

South Korea endured a series of dictatorships punctuated by coups, revolutions, and violent uprisings, but also experienced a soaring economy and one of the world's fastest rises in average GDP per capita, leading to its emergence as one of the Four Asian Tigers. The June Democratic Struggle of 1987 ended authoritarian rule and led to the establishment of the current Sixth Republic.

South Korea is among the most advanced democracies in Asia. Under the 1987 constitution, it maintains a unitary presidential republic with a popularly elected, unicameral legislature, the National Assembly. South Korea is a major non-NATO ally of the United States and is regarded as a regional power in East Asia and an emerging power in global affairs. Its conscription-based armed forces rank as one of the world's strongest, engaging the second highest number of military and paramilitary personnel.

A highly developed country, South Korea's economy is the 14th largest, ranked by nominal GDP and PPP-adjusted GDP; it is the world's ninth-largest exporter and tenth-largest importer. The country performs well in metrics of education, human development, democratic governance, and innovation. South Korea is a member of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, the G20, the IPEF, and the Paris Club. It has one of the world's longest life expectances, though its population is aging rapidly, due to one of the world's lowest fertility rates.

South Korea has some of the fastest Internet connection speeds and densest high-speed railway networks. At the turn of the 21st century, the country became renowned for the Korean Wave, its globally influential pop culture, particularly in music, TV dramas, and cinema.

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Research:

• South Korea on Wiktionary
• South Korea on DuckDuckGo
• South Korea on O'Reilly
• South Korea on GitHub
• South Korea on Reddit
• South Korea on StackOverflow
• South Korea on scholar.google.com
• South Korea on YouTube

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