Republic of Korea Country Report

The Republic of Korea (henceforth Korea) is in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares a 238-kilometre border with North Korea. It occupies 100,188 square kilometres and includes about 3,000 mostly small, uninhabited islands. Korea is a mountainous country with lowlands accounting for only 30% of the total land area. The climate is temperate, with heavy rainfall in summer. As of 2019, Korea has a population of 51,709,097 million, over 90% of whom live in urban areas. Korea has recorded tremendous economic growth over the past half century, overcoming the Asian financial crisis in 1998 and the global economic crisis in 2008. However, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008, growth has slowed down. Manufacturing, particularly electronic products, passenger vehicles, and petrochemicals, dominates the Korean economy.