Korea, South

Airports

112 total, 105 usable; 61 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 17 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

93 major transport aircraft

Highways

62,936 km total (1982); 13,476 km national highway, 49,460 km provincial and local roads

Inland waterways

1,609 km; use restricted to small native craft

Merchant marine

423 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,006,481 GRT/11,658,104 DWT; includes 2 short-sea passenger, 130 cargo, 41 container, 11 refrigerated cargo, 11 vehicle carrier, 49 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 8 chemical tanker, 10 liquefied gas, 10 combination ore/oil, 143 bulk, 7 combination bulk, 1 multifunction large-load carrier

Pipelines

294 km refined products

Ports

Pusan, Inchon, Kunsan, Mokpo, Ulsan

Railroads

3,106 km operating in 1983; 3,059 km 1.435-meter standard gauge, 47 km 0.610-meter narrow gauge, 712 km double track, 418 km electrified; government owned

Telecommunications

adequate domestic and international services; 4,800,000 telephones; stations--79 AM, 46 FM, 256 TV (57 of 1 kW or greater); satellite earth stations--2 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT

Branches

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps

Defense expenditures

5% of GNP, or $10 billion (1989 est.)

Military manpower

males 15-49, 12,792,426; 8,260,886 fit for military service; 445,320 reach military age (18) annually

Agriculture

accounts for 11% of GNP and employs 21% of work force (including fishing and forestry); principal crops--rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; livestock and livestock products--cattle, hogs, chickens, milk, eggs; self-sufficient in food, except for wheat; fish catch of 2.9 million metric tons, seventh-largest in world

Aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-85), $3.9 billion

Budget

revenues $33.6 billion; expenditures $33.6 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (1990)

Currency

South Korean won (plural--won); 1 South Korean won (W) = 100 chon (theoretical)

Electricity

20,500,000 kW capacity; 80,000 million kWh produced, 1,850 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates

South Korean won (W) per US$1--683.43 (January 1990), 671.46 (1989), 731.47 (1988), 822.57 (1987), 881.45 (1986), 870.02 (1985)

Exports

$62.3 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities--textiles, clothing, electronic and electrical equipment, footwear, machinery, steel, automobiles, ships, fish; partners--US 33%, Japan 21%

External debt

$30.5 billion (September 1989)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GNP

$200 billion, per capita $4,600; real growth rate 6.5% (1989)

Imports

$61.3 billion (c.i.f., 1989); commodities--machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport equipment, textiles, organic chemicals, grains; partners--Japan 28%, US 25% (1990)

Industrial production

growth rate 3.5% (1989)

Industries

textiles, clothing, footwear, food processing, chemicals, steel, electronics, automobile production, ship building

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

5% (1989)

Overview

The driving force behind the economy's dynamic growth has been the planned development of an export-oriented economy in a vigorously entrepreneurial society. GNP increased almost 13% in both 1986 and 1987 and 12% in 1988 before slowing to 6.5% in 1989. Such a rapid rate of growth was achieved with an inflation rate of only 3% in the period 1986-87, rising to 7% in 1988 and 5% in 1989. Unemployment is also low, and some labor bottlenecks have appeared in several processing industries. While the South Korean economy is expected to grow at more than 5% annually during the 1990s, labor unrest--which led to substantial wage hikes in 1987-89--threatens to undermine noninflationary growth.

Unemployment rate

3% (1989)

Climate

temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter

Coastline

2,413 km

Comparative area

slightly larger than Indiana

Disputes

Demarcation Line with North Korea; Liancourt Rocks claimed by Japan

Environment

occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods; earthquakes in southwest; air pollution in large cities

Land boundary

238 km with North Korea

Land use

21% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 1% meadows and pastures; 67% forest and woodland; 10% other; includes 12% irrigated

Natural resources

coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower

Notes

strategic location along the Korea Strait, Sea of Japan, and Yellow Sea

Terrain

mostly hills and mountains; wide coastal plains in west and south

Territorial sea

12 nm (3 nm in the Korea Strait)

Total area

98,480 km2; land area: 98,190 km2

Administrative divisions

9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and 6 special cities* (jikhalsi, singular and plural); Cheju-do, Cholla-bukto, Cholla-namdo, Ch'ungch'ong-bukto, Ch'ungch'ong-namdo, Inch'on-jikhalsi*, Kangwon-do, Kwangju-jikhalsi, Kyonggi-do, Kyongsang-bukto, Kyongsang-namdo, Pusan-jikhalsi*, Soul-t'ukpyolsi*, Taegu-jikhalsi*, Taejon-jikhalsi

Capital

Seoul

Communists

Communist party activity banned by government

Constitution

25 February 1988

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Tong-Jin PARK; Chancery at 2320 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 939-5600; there are Korean Consulates General in Agana (Guam), Anchorage, Atlanta, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle; US--Ambassador Donald GREGG; Embassy at 82 Sejong-Ro, Chongro-ku, Seoul (mailing address is APO San Francisco 96301); telephone [82] (2) 732-2601 through 2618; there is a US Consulate in Pusan

Executive branch

president, prime minister, deputy prime minister, State Council (cabinet)

Flag

white with a red (top) and blue yin-yang symbol in the center; there is a different black trigram from the ancient I Ching (Book of Changes) in each corner of the white field

Independence

15 August 1948

Judicial branch

Supreme Court Chief of State--President ROH Tae Woo (since 25 February 1988); Head of Government--Prime Minister KANG Young Hoon (since 5 December 1988); Deputy Prime Minister CHO Soon (since 5 December 1988)

Legal system

combines elements of continental European civil law systems, Anglo-American law, and Chinese classical thought; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral National Assembly

Long-form name

Republic of Korea; abbreviated ROK

Member of

ADB, AfDB, ASPAC, CCC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, IWC--International Whaling Commission, IWC--International Wheat Council, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNIDO, UN Special Fund, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO; official observer status at UN

National holiday

Independence Day, 15 August (1948)

Other political or pressure groups

Korean National Council of Churches; large, potentially volatile student population concentrated in Seoul; Federation of Korean Trade Unions; Korean Veterans' Association; Federation of Korean Industries; Korean Traders Association

Political parties and leaders

major party is government's Democratic Justice Party (DJP), Roh Tae Woo, president, and Park Tae Chun, chairman; opposition parties are Peace and Democracy Party (PPD), Kim Dae Jung; Korea Reunification Democratic Party (RPD), Kim Young Sam; New Democratic Republican Party (NDRP), Kim Jong Pil; several smaller parties

Suffrage

universal at age 20 President--last held on 16 December 1987 (next to be held December 1992); results--Roh Tae Woo (DJP) 35.9%, Kim Young Sam (RDP) 27.5%, Kim Dae Jung (PPD) 26.5%, other 10.1%; National Assembly--last held on 26 April 1988 (next to be held April 1992); results--DJP 34%, RPD 24%, PPD 19%, NDRP 15%, others 8%; seats--(299 total) DJP 125, PPD 71, RPD 59, NDRP 35, others 9

Type

republic

Birth rate

20 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate

6 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Ethnic divisions

homogeneous; small Chinese minority (about 20,000)

Infant mortality rate

23 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Labor force

16,900,000; 52% services and other; 27% mining and manufacturing; 21% agriculture, fishing, forestry (1987)

Language

Korean; English widely taught in high school

Life expectancy at birth

66 years male, 73 years female (1990)

Literacy

over 90%

Nationality

noun--Korean(s); adjective--Korean

Net migration rate

- 1 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Organized labor

about 10% of nonagricultural labor force in government-sanctioned unions

Population

43,045,098 (July 1990), growth rate 0.8% (1990)

Religion

strong Confucian tradition; vigorous Christian minority (28% of the total population); Buddhism; pervasive folk religion (Shamanism); Chondokyo (religion of the heavenly way), eclectic religion with nationalist overtones founded in 19th century, claims about 1.5 million adherents

Total fertility rate

1.6 children born/woman (1990)