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SOUTH KOREA BACKGROUND NOTES (APRIL 1991)
PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE

April 1991

Republic of Korea
PROFILE
Geography
Area: 98,500 sq. km. (38,000 sq. mi.); about the size of Indiana. Cities:
Capital--Seoul (10 million). Other major cities--Pusan (3.5 million), Taegu (2
million), Inchon (1.4 million). Terrain: Partially forested mountain ranges
separated by deep, narrow valleys; cultivated plains along the coasts,
particularly in the west and south. Climate: Temperate.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Korean(s). Population (1988): 43 million.
Annual growth rate: 1%. Ethnic groups: Korean; small Chinese minority.
Religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Shamanism, Confucianism. Language:
Korean. Education: Years compulsory--6. Number of students--11,182,000.
Attendance (1988)--of those eligible, 99% attended middle school, 94%
attended high school.  Literacy--98%. Health (1987): 1 doctor/1,000
persons. Infant mortality rate (1988)--6/1,000.  Life expectancy (1988)--men
67 yrs., women 73 yrs.  Work force
(17 million, 1988): Agriculture--21%. Industry--28%. Services--50%.

Government
Type: Republic with powers shared between the president and the
legislature. Independence: August 15, 1948. Constitution: July 17, 1948; last
revised 1987.

Branches: Executive--president (chief of state). Legislative--unicameral
National Assembly. Judicial--Supreme Court and appellate courts,
Constitutional Court.

Subdivisions: 9 provinces, 6 administratively separate cities (Seoul, Pusan,
Inchon, Taegu, Kwangju, Taejon).

Political parties: Government party--Democratic Liberal Party (DLP).
Opposition parties--New Democratic Union (NDU) and Democratic Party
(DP). Suffrage: Universal at 20.

Central government budget (1991): Expenditures--$38 billion.

Defense: $11 billion, about 4% of GNP in real terms and 29% of government
budget; about 650,000 troops.

Flag: Centered on a white field is the ancient Chinese symbol of yin and
yang; at each corner of the white field is a different trigram of black bars.

Economy
GNP (1990 est.): $224 billion. Annual growth rate (1965-86): 7%; (1986-88):
12%; (1990 est.): 9%. Per capita GNP: $5,500. Consumer price index (1990
avg. increase): 9%.

Natural resources: Limited coal, tungsten, iron ore, limestone, kaolinite, and
graphite.

Agriculture, including forestry and fisheries (9% of 1990 GNP):
Products--rice, barley, vegetables. Arable land--22% of land area.

Mining and manufacturing (35% of 1990 GNP): Textiles, footwear,
electronics, shipbuilding, motor vehicles, petrochemicals, industrial
machinery.

Trade (1990): Exports--$65 billion:  manufactures, textiles, ships, electronics,
footwear, steel. Major markets--US, Japan, European Community, Middle
East. Imports--$70 billion: crude oil, food, machinery and transportation
equipment, chemicals and chemical products, base metals and articles.
Major suppliers--Japan, US, Middle East.

Official exchange rate (December 1990): 715 won=US$1.

Fiscal year: Calendar year.

Membership in International Organizations
Official observer status at UN; active in many UN specialized agencies
(FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IMF, IMO, ITU, UNCTAD,
UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO) and
other international organizations (Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific, Geneva Conventions of 1949 for the Protection of War
Victims, Asian Development Bank, INTELSAT, the Administrative Council of
the International Telecommunications Council, International Whaling
Commission, Interparliamentary Union, INTERPOL); official observer status
in African Development Bank (member of Africa Development Fund),
International Labor Organization, and Organization of American States.

PEOPLE
Korea was first populated by a Tungusic branch of the Ural-Altaic family,
which migrated to the peninsula from the northwestern regions of Asia.
Some also settled parts of northeast China (Manchuria); Koreans and
Manchurians still show physical similarities--in their height, for example.
Koreans are racially and linguistically homogeneous, with no sizeable
indigenous minorities, except Chinese (50,000).

South Korea's major population centers are in the northwest area of
Seoul-Inchon and in the fertile southern plain. The mountainous central and
eastern areas are sparsely inhabited. Between 1925 and 1940, the
Japanese colonial administration in Korea concentrated its industrial
development efforts in the comparatively underpopulated and resource-rich
north, resulting in a considerable migration of people to the north from the
southern agrarian provinces. This trend was reversed after World War II,
when more than 2 million Koreans moved from the north to the south
following the division of the peninsula into US and Soviet military zones of
administration. This southward migration continued after the Republic of
Korea was established in 1948 and during the Korean war (1950-53). About
10% of the people in the Republic of Korea are of northern origin. With 43
million people, South Korea has one of the world's highest population
densities--much higher, for example, than India or Japan--while the
territorially larger North has about only 20 million people.  Ethnic Koreans
now residing in other countries live mostly in China (2.6 million), Japan
(700,000), the United States (1.2 million), and the Soviet Union (500,000).

Language
Korean is a Uralic language, remotely related to Japanese, Hungarian,
Finnish, and Mongolian. Although dialects exist, the Korean spoken
throughout the peninsula is mutually comprehensible. Chinese characters
were used to write Korean before the Korean Hangul alphabet was invented
in the 15th century. These characters are still in limited use in South Korea,
but the North uses Hangul exclusively. Many older people retain some
knowledge of Japanese from the colonial period (1910-45), and most
educated Koreans can read English, which is taught in all secondary
schools.

Religion
Korea's traditional religions are Shamanism and Buddhism. Although
Buddhism has lost some influence since the 15th  century, it still commands
the greatest number of adherents of any faith--about 20% of the population.
Shamanism  (traditional spirit worship)
is still practiced in some rural areas. Although Confucianism remains the
dominant cultural influence, its religious adherents are few and tend to be
elderly. Christian missionaries arrived in Korea in the 19th century and
founded schools, hospitals, and other modern institutions throughout the
country. Today, nearly 7 million Koreans, or 16% of the population, are
Christians (about 78% Protestant)--the largest figure for any East Asian
country except the Philippines. There are estimated to be 4 million
adherents of Chondogyo, a native religion founded in the mid-19th century
that fuses elements of Confucianism and Christianity.

HISTORY
According to Korean legend, the god-king Tangun founded the Korean
nation in BC 2333, after which his descendants reigned over a peaceful
kingdom for more than a millennium. By the first century AD, the Korean
Peninsula, known as Chosun ("morning calm"), was divided into the
kingdoms of Silla, Koguryo, and Paekche. The Silla kingdom unified the
peninsula in AD 668. The Koryo dynasty (from which is derived the Western
name "Korea") succeeded the Silla kingdom in 935. The Yi dynasty, which
supplanted Koryo in 1392, lasted until the Japanese annexed Korea in 1910.


Throughout most of its history, Korea has been invaded, influenced, and
fought over by its larger neighbors. Korea was under Mongolian occupation
from 1231 until the early 14th century and was devastated by a large
number of Chinese rebel armies in 1359 and 1361; the Japanese warlord
Hideyoshi launched major invasions in 1592 and l597. In the mid-19th
century under the Yi kings, Korea adopted a closed-door policy to ward off
Western encroachment, earning Korea the name of "Hermit Kingdom."
Although the Yi Dynasty paid nominal fealty to the Chinese throne, Korea
was, in fact, independent until the late 19th century. At that time, Japanese,
Chinese, and Russian competition in Northeast Asia led to armed conflict.
Japan defeated its two competitors  and established dominance in Korea,
formally annexing it in 1910. The Japanese colonial era, which lasted until
the end of World War II, was characterized by tight control from Tokyo and
ruthless efforts to supplant Korean language and culture. Korean resistance
to such colonialism, notably in the 1919 Independence Movement, failed. At
the April 1945 Yalta Conference, the United States and the Soviet Union
agreed to establish a joint trusteeship for Korea. The trusteeship was
intended as a temporary administrative measure pending democratic
elections of a Korean government. The US proposed--and the Soviet Union
agreed--that Japanese forces surrender to US forces south of the 38th
parallel and to Soviet forces north of that line.

In the north, the Soviets initially transferred the administrative powers of the
former Japanese colonial government to "people's committees," and later
to a 5-province administrative bureau under the nationalist, Cho Man-Sik.
Cho was later purged by the Soviets for opposing the decision of allied
foreign ministers at the Moscow Conference in December 1945 for a 5-year
trusteeship, during which a Korean provisional government would prepare
for full independence.

In the south, the US military government in Korea (1945-48), headed by Lt.
Gen. John R. Hodge, was marked by uncertainty and an unclear US policy
toward Korea. The Moscow conference's decision for a trusteeship also
generated a firestorm of protest in South Korea. Trusteeship was
unacceptable to nationalist leader Syngman Rhee and other rightist Korean
leaders associated with the provisional government established in Shanghai
in 1919 by Korean nationalists living abroad. It was also opposed by groups
within southern Korea who had established local self-governing bodies after
the Japanese surrender.

The US military government initially relied on the advice of conservative
elements but later tried to put together a moderate coalition to provide it
with a broader base of political support. In December 1946, the military
government established an interim legislative assembly to draft legislation
and appointed moderates to half the seats. (The others were indirectly
elected seats that went to rightists.) But the July 1947 assassination of a
prominent leftist in the coalition and the decision of a coalition moderate to
enter into unification talks with the north led to the demise of the coalition
effort.

The joint Soviet-American commission provided for by the Moscow
conference met intermittently in Seoul but became deadlocked over the
issue of free consultations with representatives of all Korean political groups
for establish- ment of a national government. The US submitted the Korean
question to the UN General Assembly for resolution in September 1947.

Korean Conflict
The Soviet Union and the Korean authorities in the north ignored the UN
General Assembly resolution of November 1947, which called for
UN-supervised elections throughout Korea. Elections, nonetheless, were
carried out under UN observation in the south, and on August 15, 1948, the
Republic of Korea (ROK) was established.  Syngman Rhee, became the
republic's first president. On September 9, 1948, the Soviet Union
established the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north
under Kim Il Sung, a former anti-Japanese guerrilla who served with the
Soviet Army in the Far East during World War II.

Guerrilla fighting between southern and northern  forces intensified during
1948-50. During this period, although the US provided modest military aid
to the south, it planned and executed a withdrawal of its occupation forces
which was completed by June 1949.

A year later, on June 25, 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea.
The UN, in accord with its charter, engaged in its first collective action by
establishing the UN Command (UNC), under which 16 member nations sent
troops and assistance to South Korea.  At the request of the UN Security
Council, the United States, which contributed the largest contingent, led this
international effort.

After initially falling back to the Pusan perimeter, UN forces conducted a
successful surprise landing at Inchon and rapidly advanced up the
peninsula. As the main UN force approached the Yalu River, large numbers
of Chinese "people's volunteers" intervened, forcing UN troops to withdraw
south of Seoul. The battle line seesawed back and forth until the late spring
of 1951, when a successful offensive by UN forces was halted to enhance
ceasefire negotiations prospects. The battle line thereafter stabilized north
of Seoul near the 38th parallel.

Armistice negotiations began in July 1951, but hostilities continued until July
27, 1953. On that date at Panmunjom, the military commanders of the North
Korean Army, the Chinese People's Volunteers, and the UNC signed an
armistice agreement. Neither the United States nor South Korea is a
signatory of the armistice per se, though both adhere to it through the UNC.
No comprehensive peace agreement has replaced the 1953 armistice pact,
which remains in force. Thus, a condition of belligerency still exists on the
divided peninsula. A Military Armistice Commission (MAC), composed of 10
members, five appointed by each side, supervises implementation of the
armistice.

In April 1954, an international conference on Korea met in Geneva but
ended without agreement or progress after 7 weeks of futile debate.

Postwar Developments
Syngman Rhee served as president of the Republic of Korea until April
1960, when university students forced him to step down. A caretaker
government was established, the constitution was amended, and national
elections were held in June. The opposition Democratic Party easily
defeated Rhee's Liberals, and  the new National Assembly named Chang
Myon prime minister in August.  Chang's democratic but ineffectual
government--the Second Republic--lasted until May 1961, when it was
overthrown in an army coup led by Maj. Gen. Park Chung Hee.
After 2 years of military government under Park, civilian rule was restored
with the advent of the Third Republic in 1963. Park, who had retired from
the army, was elected president (and was reelected in 1967, 1971, and
1978).

In 1972, a popular referendum approved the Yushin (revitalizing)
constitution, greatly strengthening presidential and executive branch
powers. Key provisions included indirect election of the president,
presidential appointment of one-third of the national assembly, and
presidential authority to issue decrees restricting civil liberties in times of
national emergency. Park subsequently issued several such decrees; the
best-known of these, EM-9, banned discussion of false rumors, criticism of
the constitution or advocacy of its reform, and political demonstrations by
students.

The Park era, marked by rapid industrial modernization and extraordinary
economic growth, ended with his assassination in October 1979. Prime
Minister Choi Kyu Ha assumed office briefly (the Fourth Republic),
promising a new constitution and presidential elections. In December 1979,
Maj. Gen. Chun Doo Hwan and close military colleagues removed the army
chief of staff and soon effectively controlled the government.

University student-led demonstra-tions spread in the spring of 1980. The
government declared martial law in mid-May, banned all demonstrations,
and arrested many political leaders and dissidents. Special forces units in
the city of Kwangju reacted harshly to any  who ignored the ban, setting off
a confronta-tion which left 200 civilians dead. This incident left a wound that
has proven slow to heal. By September 1980, President Choi had been
forced to resign, and General Chun, by then retired from the army, was
named president.

In October 1980, a referendum approved a new constitution, beginning the
Fifth Republic. This document retained key features of earlier ones,
including a strong executive and indirect election of the president, but
limited the chief executive to one 7-year term. Elections were held in early
1981 for a National Assembly and an electoral college; the latter elected
President Chun to a 7-year term (1981-1988).

Although martial law ended in January 1981, the government retained broad
legal powers to control dissent. An active and articulate minority of students,
intellectuals, clergy, and others remained critical of the Chun government
and demonstrated against it. Demonstrations at Inchon in May 1986 and at
Konkuk University in fall 1986 were marred by violence.

In April 1986, the president responded to a signature campaign by the
opposition New Korea Democratic Party (NKDP), which called for direct
election of the next president by amending the constitution. The NKDP soon
split into two opposition parties--Kim Dae Jung's Peace and Democracy
Party (PPD) and Kim Young Sam's Reunification Democratic Party (RDP).
They agreed on eight demands for reform including constitutional revision,
repeal or revision of onerous laws, and release of political prisoners.

President Chun, who could not succeed himself, pledged in early 1987 that
he would step down at the end of his term in February 1988. Chun
suspended all discussion of constitutional revision in June 1987, and the
ruling Democratic Justice Party approved Chun's hand-picked successor,
Roh Tae Woo. Students, and then the general public, took to the streets to
protest Chun's suspension of constitutional revision. On June 29, in a
surprise move, presidential candidate Roh Tae Woo distanced himself from
President Chun by announcing that he would implement democratic reforms
if elected. The constitution was revised in October to include direct
presidential elections and a strengthened National Assembly consisting of
299 members.

In December 1987 Roh Tae Woo won with 37% of the vote in the first direct
presidential election since 1971. The two leading opposition leaders, Kim
Dae Jung and Kim Young Sam, unable to agree on a single candidate, both
ran and lost. Kim Dae Jung, Kim Young Sam, and former prime minister
Kim Jong Pil polled 27, 28 and 10%, respectively.

The new constitution entered into force in February 1988, when President
Roh assumed office. Elections for the national assembly were held on April
26. In a stunning upset, President Roh's ruling Democratic Justice Party
(DJP) won only 34% of the popular vote, thereby losing control of the
assembly for the first time since 1952. The final count was 125 seats for the
DJP, 70 seats for Kim Dae Jung's Party for Peace and Democracy (PPD),
59 seats for Kim Young Sam's Reunification Democratic Party (RDP), 35
seats for Kim Jong Pil's New Democratic Republican Party (NDRP), and 10
for independent candidates.

The new opposition-dominated national assembly quickly challenged the
president's prerogatives. In July 1988 it turned down President Roh's choice
for chief of the Supreme Court. In the fall, the assembly conducted the first
government audit in 16 years and began televised hearings into practices
and policies of former President Chun's Fifth Republic. By late November,
Chun was forced to make a public apology to the nation, turn over his
personal wealth to the nation, and go into internal exile in a Buddhist
temple. In December, the government and the assembly for the first time
worked together to pass the budget, which the government had previously
handed down.

After months of speculation and demands from the opposition that
President Roh hold the interim assessment on his administration  that he
had promised while campaigning, Roh decided in March 1989 to postpone
the evaluation indefinitely, citing the unstable political situation. Labor,
farmer, and student unrest continued despite Roh's promises of further
reforms.

In April 1989, the government began cracking down against leftist elements
it maintained were destabilizing the country. The nation was shocked by the
deaths of seven policeman in Pusan in a confrontation with students. This
was soon followed by the illegal visit of 71-year old dissident Rev. Moon Ik
Kwan to North Korea. Rev. Moon embraced North Korean leader Kim Il
Sung while in Pyongyang and was arrested upon his return to South Korea.
In July, student activist Yim Su Kyong made an unauthorized visit to the
North to attend Pyongyang's World Youth Festival and was arrested. In
August opposition leader Kim Dae Jung was indicted in connection with
unauthorized visits to North Korea by one of his party members, Suh Kyong
Won. In October the government acknowledged that 1,315 people had been
arrested in the first 9 months of 1989, including 284 for security violations.

South Korean politics have changed dramatically because of  the 1988
legislative elections, the assembly's greater powers under the 1987
constitution, and the influence of public opinion. There has been significant
political liberalization since 1987, including freedom of the press and greater
freedoms of expression and assembly than in the past. In 1988, the
government released several hundred political prisoners and restored the
civil rights of former detainees. In 1989, the government asserted its
prerogatives to maintain public stability, raising concerns over human rights
issues.

The nation was stunned in January 1990 when the 3 political parties led by
President Roh, Kim Young Sam, and Kim Jong Pil merged to form a new
majority party, the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP). This new alliance left Kim
Dae Jung and his Party for Peace and Democracy (PPD) as the primary
opposition, since the tiny Democratic Party (DP) controlled just eight seats
in the National Assembly. In July 1990, the DLP passed several significant
bills without debate, and the PPD and the DP precipitated a legislative crisis
by announcing a boycott of the national assembly.  The PPD returned to the
assembly in November, only after getting assurances on several issues,
including greater local autonomy. In March 1990 the ROK held its first local
elections in 30 years. Further local elections were planned for June 1991,
and the trend toward greater democratization continued to gain momentum.

 Principal Government Officials
President--Roh Tae Woo
Prime Minister--Roh Jae Bong
Deputy Prime Minister; Chairman, Economic Planning Board--Lee Seung
Yun
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Lee Sang Ock
Minister of National Defense--Lee Jong Ku
Ambassador to the United States--Hyun Hong Choo
Ambassador to the UN--Roe Chang Hee
Speaker of the National Assembly--Park Jyun Kyu

Korea maintains an embassy in the United States at 2320 Massachusetts
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20008 (tel. [phone]).

ECONOMY
Over the past 25 years, the Republic of Korea's economic growth has been
spectacular. Despite the need to maintain a large military, South Korea, one
of the world's poorest countries only a generation ago, is now the United
States' seventh largest trading partner and a middle-ranking industrial
power. Lacking natural resources, Korea's greatest asset is its industrious,
literate people.

The division of the Korean peninsula in 1945 created two unbalanced
economic units. North Korea inherited most of the peninsula's mineral and
hydroelectric resources and most of the heavy industrial base built by the
Japanese. South Korea was left with a large, unskilled labor pool and most
of the peninsula's limited agricultural resources. Both north and south
suffered massive destruction in the Korean war, but an influx of refugees
added to the south's economic woes. South Korea began the postwar
period with a per capita gross national product (GNP) far below that of the
north. It received large amounts of US foreign assistance until the 1970s. All
US direct aid was stopped in 1980.

South Korea's meager mineral resources include tungsten, anthracite coal,
iron ore, limestone, kaolinite, and graphite. There is no oil, and energy is a
continuing concern for the ROK's economic planners. An ambitious
program to develop nuclear power is
well underway; Korea now has eight nuclear plants in operation, one under
construction and two planned. The nation's successful industrial growth
program began in the early 1960s, when the Park government instituted
sweeping economic reforms emphasizing exports and labor-intensive light
industries. The government also carried out a currency reform,
strengthened financial institutions, and introduced flexible economic
planning.

From 1963 to 1978, real GNP rose at an annual rate of nearly 10%, with
average real growth of more than 11% for the years 1973-78. While Korea's
national production was rising throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the annual
population growth rate declined to the current 1%, resulting in a 20-fold
increase in per capita GNP. Per capita GNP, which reached $100 for the
first time in 1963, now exceeds $4,000, or four times that of North Korea.

The political and social unrest that followed the 1979 assassination of
President Park and the effect of world economic developments, including
the drastic increase in world oil prices in 1979, triggered a severe recession
in Korea. In the early 1980s, external debt was a serious concern, peaking
at $47 billion in 1985. The economy had already recovered somewhat by
the spring of 1983 when a strengthening US economy helped stimulate
Korean economic performance. From 1986 to 1988, booming exports led
once again to high growth rates averaging 12% per year. Current account
surpluses reached a total of $14 billion by the end of 1988, at which time
foreign debt had decreased to $31 billion--18% of GNP and 44% of exports.

Korea registered bilateral trade surpluses of about  $10 billion with the US
in 1987 and 1988. In 1989, Korea's global trade and current account
surpluses and bilateral surplus with the US declined dramatically, due to a
number of factors: appreciation of the won, labor disputes, cumulative wage
increases and strong domestic demand. The surplus remained
approximately $4 billion in 1990. It has yet to be demonstrated, however,
whether a structural, lasting decline in Korea's surplus has begun.
Long-term growth prospects remain bright. External factors will remain
important. Korea continues to emphasize exports, while the quickly
expanding domestic market provides greater economy of scale. The ability
to adapt to a more open system suitable to a growing democracy and to
Korea's greater role in the world economy are important to the continued
success of the Korean economy.