| |
|
|
|
Still
in it's infancy for attracting international divers,
South Korea has excellent diving and something to offer
all skill levels.
One of the most popular areas is the island of Cheju-
do, or Jeju (just off the southern coast, about an hour
flight from Seoul), The waters off Jeju boast brilliant
soft coral gardens across white sand bottoms. Because
of the volcanic nature of the island, caves and caverns
are numerous and just waiting to be explored. For more
advanced divers looking for action, check out the vertical
walls that fall straight into the depths of the abyss.
The fish life here is a unique mix of tropical and cold
water species. Octopus, lionfish, scorpion fish, grouper,
jack, butterfly fish, angelfish, boxfish, and many others
can be spotted while diving.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dive
Services
|
|
|
|
No
Current Listings
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fast
Facts
|
|
|
|
| Introduction |
Korea,
South |
|
|
After
World War II, a republic was set up in the
southern half of the Korean Peninsula while
a Communist-style government was installed
in the north. The Korean War (1950-53) had
US and other UN forces intervene to defend
South Korea from North Korean attacks supported
by the Chinese. An armistice was signed in
1953 splitting the peninsula along a demilitarized
zone at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter,
South Korea achieved rapid economic growth,
with per capita income far outstripping the
level of North Korea. In 1997, the nation
suffered a severe financial crisis from which
it continues to make a solid recovery. South
Korea has also maintained its commitment to
democratize its political processes. In June
2000, a historic first south-north summit
took place between the south's President KIM
Dae-jung and the north's leader KIM Chong-il.
In December 2000, President KIM Dae-jung won
the Noble Peace Prize for his lifelong commitment
to democracy and human rights in Asia. He
is the first Korean to win a Nobel Prize. |
|
|
Eastern
Asia, southern half of the Korean Peninsula
bordering the Sea of Japan and the Yellow
Sea |
|
|
37
00 N, 127 30 E |
|
|
Asia |
|
|
total:
98,480 sq km
land: 98,190 sq km
water: 290 sq km |
|
|
slightly
larger than Indiana |
|
|
total:
238 km
border countries: North Korea 238 km |
|
|
2,413
km |
|
|
contiguous
zone: 24 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM; between 3 NM
and 12 NM in the Korea Strait
continental shelf: not specified
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM |
|
|
temperate,
with rainfall heavier in summer than winter |
|
|
mostly
hills and mountains; wide coastal plains in
west and south |
|
|
lowest
point: Sea of Japan 0 m
highest point: Halla-san 1,950 m |
|
|
coal,
tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower
potential |
|
|
arable
land: 17%
permanent crops: 2%
other: 81% (1998 est.) |
|
|
11,590
sq km (1998 est.) |
|
|
occasional
typhoons bring high winds and floods; low-level
seismic activity common in southwest |
Environment
- current issues:
|
air
pollution in large cities; acid rain; water
pollution from the discharge of sewage and
industrial effluents; drift net fishing |
Environment
- international agreements:
|
party
to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic
Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical
Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol |
|
|
strategic
location on Korea Strait |
|
|
48.324
million (July 2002 est.) |
|
|
0-14
years: 21.4% (male 5,488,808; female 4,875,379)
15-64 years: 71% (male 17,404,645;
female 16,894,361)
65 years and over: 7.6% (male 1,434,873;
female 2,225,934) (2002 est.) |
|
|
0.85%
(2002 est.) |
|
|
14.55
births/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
|
|
6.02
deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
|
|
0
migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) |
|
|
at
birth: 1.11 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.13 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.65 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female
(2002 est.) |
|
|
7.58
deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) |
Life
expectancy at birth:
|
total
population: 74.88 years
female: 78.95 years (2002 est.)
male: 71.2 years |
|
|
1.72
children born/woman (2002 est.) |
HIV/AIDS
- adult prevalence rate:
|
0.01%
(1999 est.) |
HIV/AIDS
- people living with HIV/AIDS:
|
3,800
(1999 est.) |
|
|
180
(1999 est.) |
|
|
noun:
Korean(s)
adjective: Korean |
|
|
homogeneous
(except for about 20,000 Chinese) |
|
|
Christian
49%, Buddhist 47%, Confucianist 3%, Shamanist,
Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way),
and other 1% |
|
|
Korean,
English widely taught in junior high and high
school |
|
|
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99.3%
female: 96.7% (1995 est.) |
|
|
conventional
long form: Republic of Korea
conventional short form: South Korea
local short form: none
note: the South Koreans generally use
the term "Han'guk" to refer to their
country
local long form: Taehan-min'guk
abbreviation: ROK |
|
|
republic |
|
|
Seoul |
Administrative
divisions:
|
9
provinces (do, singular and plural) and 7
metropolitan cities* (gwangyoksi, singular
and plural); Cheju-do, Cholla-bukto, Cholla-namdo,
Ch'ungch'ong-bukto, Ch'ungch'ong-namdo, Inch'on-gwangyoksi*,
Kangwon-do, Kwangju-gwangyoksi*, Kyonggi-do,
Kyongsang-bukto, Kyongsang-namdo, Pusan-gwangyoksi*,
Soul-t'ukpyolsi*, Taegu-gwangyoksi*, Taejon-gwangyoksi*,
Ulsan-gwangyoksi* |
|
|
15
August 1945 (from Japan) |
|
|
Liberation
Day, 15 August (1945) |
|
|
25
February 1988 |
|
|
combines
elements of continental European civil law
systems, Anglo-American law, and Chinese classical
thought |
|
|
20
years of age; universal |
|
|
chief
of state: President KIM Dae-jung (since
25 February 1998)
head of government: Prime Minister
YI Han-tong (since 23 May 2000)
cabinet: State Council appointed by
the president on the prime minister's recommendation
elections: president elected by popular
vote for a single five-year term; election
last held 18 December 1997 (next to be held
19 December 2002); prime minister appointed
by the president; deputy prime ministers appointed
by the president on the prime minister's recommendation
election results: KIM Dae-jung elected
president; percent of vote - KIM Dae-jung
(MDP) 40.3% (with ULD partnership), YI Hoe-chang
(GNP) 38.7%, YI In-che (NPP) 19.2% |
|
|
unicameral
National Assembly or Kukhoe (273 seats total
- 227 elected by direct, popular vote; members
serve four-year terms); note - beginning in
2004, all members will be directly elected;
possible redistricting before 2004 may affect
the number of seats in the National Assembly
elections: last held 13 April 2000
(next to be held NA April 2004)
election results: percent of vote by
party - NA%; seats by party - GNP 133, MDP
115, ULD 17, other 8; note - the distribution
of seats as of January 2002 is: GNP 136, MDP
118, ULD 15, DPP 2, independents 2 |
|
|
Supreme
Court (justices are appointed by the president
with the consent of the National Assembly) |
Political
parties and leaders:
|
Democratic
People's Party or DPP [CHO Sun, chairman];
Grand National Party or GNP [YI Hoe-chang,
president]; Millennium Democratic Party or
MDP [leader NA]; United Liberal Democrats
or ULD [KIM Chong-p'il, honorary chairman,
KIM Chong-ho, acting president]
note: on 20 January 2000, the National
Congress for New Politics or NCNP was renamed
the Millennium Democratic Party or MDP |
Political
pressure groups and leaders:
|
Federation
of Korean Industries; Federation of Korean
Trade Unions; Korean Confederation of Trade
Unions; Korean National Council of Churches;
Korean Traders Association; Korean Veterans'
Association; National Council of Labor Unions;
National Democratic Alliance of Korea; National
Federation of Farmers' Associations; National
Federation of Student Associations |
International
organization participation:
|
AfDB,
APEC, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN
(dialogue partner), Australia Group, BIS,
CCC, CP, EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IEA (observer),
IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MINURSO, NAM (guest),
NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE
(partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR,
UNIDO, UNMOGIP, UNOMIG, UNTAET, UNU, UPU,
WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC |
Diplomatic
representation in the US:
|
chief
of mission: Ambassador YANG Song-chol
chancery: 2450 Massachusetts Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20008
consulate(s) general: Anchorage, Atlanta,
Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles,
New York, San Francisco, and Seattle
consulate(s): Tamuning (Guam)
FAX: [1] (202) 387-0205
telephone: [1] (202) 939-5600 |
Diplomatic
representation from the US:
|
chief
of mission: Ambassador Thomas C. HUBBARD
embassy: 82 Sejong-ro, Chongro-ku,
Seoul 110-710
mailing address: American Embassy,
Unit 15550, APO AP 96205-0001
telephone: [82] (2) 397-4114
FAX: [82] (2) 738-8845 |
|
|
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 |
|
|
As
one of the Four Tigers of East Asia, South
Korea has achieved an incredible record of
growth. Three decades ago GDP per capita was
comparable with levels in the poorer countries
of Africa and Asia. Today its GDP per capita
is seven times India's, 17 times North Korea's,
and comparable to the lesser economies of
the European Union. This success through the
late 1980s was achieved by a system of close
government/business ties, including directed
credit, import restrictions, sponsorship of
specific industries, and a strong labor effort.
The government promoted the import of raw
materials and technology at the expense of
consumer goods and encouraged savings and
investment over consumption. The Asian financial
crisis of 1997-99 exposed certain longstanding
weaknesses in South Korea's development model,
including high debt/equity ratios, massive
foreign borrowing, and an undisciplined financial
sector. Growth plunged by 6.6% in 1998, then
strongly recovered to plus 10% in 1999 and
9% in 2000. Growth fell back to 3.3% in 2001
because of the slowing global economy, falling
exports, and the perception that much-needed
corporate and financial reforms have stalled. |
|
|
purchasing
power parity - $865 billion (2001 est.) |
|
|
3.3%
(2001 est.) |
|
|
purchasing
power parity - $18,000 (2001 est.) |
GDP
- composition by sector:
|
agriculture:
5%
industry: 44%
services: 51% (2001 est.) |
Population
below poverty line:
|
4%
(2001 est.) |
Household
income or consumption by percentage share:
|
lowest
10%: 2.6%
highest 10%: 24.8% (1998 est.) |
Distribution
of family income - Gini index:
|
31.6
(1993) |
Inflation
rate (consumer prices):
|
4.3%
(2001 est.) |
|
|
22
million (2001) |
Labor
force - by occupation:
|
services
69%, industry 21.5%, agriculture 9.5% (2001) |
|
|
3.9%
(2001) |
|
|
revenues:
$118.1 billion
expenditures: $95.7 billion, including
capital expenditures of $22.6 billion (2000) |
|
|
electronics,
automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding,
steel, textiles, clothing, footwear, food
processing |
Industrial
production growth rate:
|
1.8%
(2001 est.) |
Electricity
- production:
|
273.204
billion kWh (2000) |
Electricity
- production by source:
|
fossil
fuel: 60.63%
hydro: 1.45%
other: 0.03% (2000)
nuclear: 37.89% |
Electricity
- consumption:
|
254.08
billion kWh (2000) |
|
|
0
kWh (2000) |
|
|
0
kWh (2000) |
|
|
rice,
root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle,
pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish |
|
|
$168.3
billion (f.o.b., 2001) |
|
|
electronic
products, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles,
steel, ships; textiles, clothing, footwear;
fish |
|
|
US
21.8%, Japan 11.9%, China 10.7%, Hong Kong
6.2%, Taiwan 4.7% (2000) |
|
|
$152.3
billion (f.o.b., 2001) |
|
|
machinery,
electronics and electronic equipment, oil,
steel, transport equipment, textiles, organic
chemicals, grains |
|
|
Japan
19.8%, US 18.2%, China 8%, Saudi Arabia 6%,
Australia 3.7% (2000) |
|
|
$120.5
billion (2001) |
Economic
aid - recipient:
|
$NA |
|
|
South
Korean won (KRW) |
|
|
KRW |
|
|
South
Korean won per US dollar - 1,317.01 (January
2002), 1,290.99 (2001), 1,130.96 (2000), 1,188.82
(1999), 1,401.44 (1998), 951.29 (1997) |
|
|
calendar
year |
|
Communications
|
Korea,
South
|
Telephones
- main lines in use:
|
24
million (2000) |
Telephones
- mobile cellular:
|
28
million (September 2000) |
|
|
general
assessment: excellent domestic and international
services
domestic: NA
international: fiber-optic submarine
cable to China; the Russia-Korea-Japan submarine
cable; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat
(2 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1
Inmarsat (Pacific Ocean region) |
Radio
broadcast stations:
|
AM
104, FM 136, shortwave 5 (2001) |
|
|
47.5
million (2000) |
Television
broadcast stations:
|
121
(plus 850 repeater stations and the eight-channel
American Forces Korea Network) (1999) |
|
|
15.9
million (1997) |
|
|
.kr |
Internet
Service Providers (ISPs):
|
11
(2000) |
|
|
22.23
million (2001) |
|
Transportation
|
Korea,
South
|
|
|
total:
3,124 km
standard gauge: 3,124 km 1.435-m gauge
(661 km electrified) (2000) |
|
|
total:
87,534 km
paved: 65,388 km (including 1,996 km
of expressways)
unpaved: 22,146 km (1999) |
|
|
1,609
km
note: restricted to small native craft |
|
|
petroleum
products 455 km |
|
|
Chinhae,
Inch'on, Kunsan, Masan, Mokp'o, P'ohang, Pusan,
Tonghae-hang, Ulsan, Yosu |
|
|
total:
501 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,679,171
GRT/9,172,403 DWT
ships by type: bulk 104, cargo 160,
chemical tanker 47, combination bulk 6, container
52, liquefied gas 16, multi-functional large-load
carrier 1, passenger 3, petroleum tanker 73,
refrigerated cargo 25, roll on/roll off 5,
short-sea passenger 1, specialized tanker
3, vehicle carrier 5, includes some foreign-owned
ships registered here as a flag of convenience:
Australia 1, Bulgaria 1, China 1, Greece 1,
Japan 1, Malaysia 1, Norway 1, Panama 1, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines 1, United Kingdom
1 (2002 est.) |
|
|
102
(2001) |
Airports
- with paved runways:
|
total:
68
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 19
914 to 1,523 m: 11
under 914 m: 20 (2001)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 16 |
Airports
- with unpaved runways:
|
total:
34
914 to 1,523 m: 2
under 914 m: 32 (2001) |
|
|
203
(2001) |
|
|
Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Maritime
Police (Coast Guard) |
Military
manpower - military age:
|
18
years of age (2002 est.) |
Military
manpower - availability:
|
males
age 15-49: 14,194,960 (2002 est.) |
Military
manpower - fit for military service:
|
males
age 15-49: 8,990,488 (2002 est.) |
Military
manpower - reaching military age annually:
|
males:
394,397 (2002 est.) |
Military
expenditures - dollar figure:
|
$12.8
billion (FY00) |
Military
expenditures - percent of GDP:
|
2.8%
(FY00) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
