Essay/Term paper: South korea

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Social Issues

South Korea

Stefan Albrecht

South Korea, officially known as the Republic of Korea, country in
northeastern Asia that occupies the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea is bounded on the north by North Korea; on the east by the Sea of
Japan; on the southeast and south by the Korea Strait, which separates it from
Japan; and on the west by the Yellow Sea. It has a total area of about 38,023 sq.
mi., including numerous offshore islands in the south and west, the largest of
which is Cheju (area, 1829 sq. km/706 sq. mi.). The state of South Korea was
established in 1948 following the post-World War II partitioning of the
peninsula between the occupying forces of the United States in the south and the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the north. The capital and largest
city of South Korea is Seoul.
In contrast to North Korea, South Korea is relatively poor in mineral
resources. The principal resources are coal (mostly anthracite), iron ore, and
graphite. Other minerals include gold, silver, copper, lead, tungsten, zinc, and
uranium. Reserves of natural gas have been discovered offshore. These minute
resources are not as depended upon by the people of South Korea as in the North.
The north is heavy in mining these resources because they have a large surplus
of them, and the north is not; they have moved on and found other economical
niches.
The population of South Korea (1995 estimate) is about 45,182,000 people.
The country's estimated population density of 1188 per sq mi is one of the
highest in the world. The majority of the population lives in the southern and
western coastal areas. The annual rate of increase has dropped steadily from
more than 3 percent in the late 1950s to 0.8 percent in the mid-1990s.
Urbanization of the country has proceeded rapidly since the 1960s, with
substantial rural to urban migration; approximately 78 percent of the population
is now classified as urban. Since the establishment of North Korea, some 4
million immigrants have crossed the border to South Korea. This increase has
been partly offset by emigration from South Korea, especially to Japan and the
United States.
The country's chief industrial center is Seoul (population, 1990,
10,612,577). Other major cities include Pusan (3,798,113), the principal
seaport; Taegu (2,229,040), center of the silk industry; Inch'ôn (1,817,919),
the major port on the Yellow Sea; and Kwangju (1,139,003), an ancient commercial
and administrative center.
South Korea's economy, traditionally based on agriculture, has, since
the early 1960s, undergone an extraordinarily rapid industrialization; the gross
domestic product (GDP) expanded by more than 9 percent yearly between the 1960s
and the early 1990s. A series of five-year economic plans begun in 1962 have
concentrated on the development of manufacturing, much of it oriented toward
exports. Economic aid, especially from the United States and Japan, was
important to the economic growth of the country, which in the span of a
generation grew from one of the world's poorest to a mid-ranking industrial
power. In the early 1990s estimated annual national budget figures showed
revenues and expenditures balanced at $48.4 billion.

Labor

In the early 1990s the total labor force was estimated at 19.8 million.
Of this figure, some 15 percent were engaged in agriculture, forestry, and
fishing; 33 percent in industry; and 52 percent in services. The principal labor
organization is the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, with a membership of more
than 1.8 million.

Agriculture

Land distribution programs were carried out after World War II (1939-
1945). With 1.6 million farms, the average cultivated land area for each is 1.3
hectares (3.2 acres). Agricultural methods remain largely traditional and
unmechanized. About 21 perceent of the land is arable, and nearly all of this
land is under cultivation. The chief crops in the early 1990s were rice (5.7
million metric tons per year), the principal food crop; onions (810,000),
potatoes (726,000); sweet potatoes (315,000); barley (315,000); maize (92,000);
and cucumbers, cabbages, and tomatoes (together totaling 567,000). An important
development has been the great expansion in the output of fruit, notably apples,
melons, peaches, and pears. Other crops include soybeans, cotton, hemp, and silk.
The estimated livestock population in the early 1990s was 5.5 million pigs, 2.5
million cattle, and 500,000 goats.

Forestry and Fishing

The forestry industry is small; roundwood removals in the early 1990s
were about 6.5 million cu m (about 230 million cu ft) per year. Since the late
1960s South Korea has become one of the world's leading fishing nations, with a
modern fleet of more than 780 deep-sea vessels. The ports of Ulsan and Masan
have been developed as deep-sea fishing bases with fish-processing plants. The
annual catch (which included pollock and oysters) in the early 1990s was some
3.3 million metric tons.

Mining

South Korea does not have extensive mineral resources. Annual output of
anthracite coal was 12 million metric tons in the early 1990s; zinc ore output
was about 43,800 metric tons. Other minerals exploited were graphite, iron ore,
lead, tungsten, gold, silver, and kaolin (a fine clay).

Manufacturing

The division of the Korean Peninsula in 1945 created two unbalanced
economic units. The north held most of the natural resources and heavy
industries developed during occupation by the Japanese; the south contained most
of the agricultural resources and a large labor pool. Industrial development in
the south concentrated initially on light manufacturing of export-oriented items,
especially in labor-intensive industries such as textiles and apparel, footwear,
and foodstuffs. Beginning in the early 1970s, however, emphasis was placed on
heavy industry. Manufacturing is dominated by chaebol, large conglomerate
companies with greatly diversified interests. Major manufactures in the early
1990s were electrical machinery, transportation equipment such as automobiles
and ships, chemical products, textiles, iron and steel, and food products. The
annual output of industrial products included passenger cars (1.5 million),
trucks (300,500), merchant ships (5.4 million gross deadweight tons), television
sets ( 16 million), fertilizer (831,100 metric tons), woven cotton fabrics
(479.5 million sq m/5.2 billion sq ft), and pig iron (21.9 million metric tons).

Energy

About 54 percent of South Korea's electric power in the early 1990s came
from conventional thermal facilities, 36 percent from nuclear installations, and
the remaining 10 percent from hydroelectric plants. Installed electricity-
generating capacity in the early 1990s was 27 million kilowatts. Annual output
of electricity was some 105 billion kilowatt-hours.

Transportation

A well-developed highway system connects the major urban centers. The
country has about 63,201 km (about 39,273 mi) of roads, including 1551 km (964
mi) of expressway. The state-owned railroad system consists of some 4137 km
(some 2571 mi) of track. The country's chief ports include Pusan, Inch'ôn,
Mokp'o, and Kunsan, and its merchant fleet numbers about 2140 vessels. Korean
Air Lines and Asiana Airlines provide both domestic and foreign service.

Communications

Mass media have assumed large importance since the 1950s. In the early
1990s about 44 million radios and 9.1 million television sets were operating in
South Korea. National daily newspapers number 23.

Currency and Banking

The unit of currency in South Korea is the won (806.8 won equal U.S.$1;
1994). The Bank of Korea is the bank of issue.

Foreign Trade

Following the disruption of trade during the Korean War (1950-1953) and
its aftermath, exports increased at the remarkable annual rate of 27.2 percent
from 1965 to 1980 and 14.7 percent from 1980 to 1988. Major imports include
industrial machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, chemical products,
transportation equipment, raw materials (such as wood and raw cotton), and
electronic components. Exports include electrical machinery, fabrics,
telecommunication and sound equipment, electronic microcircuits, clothing, ships,
automobiles, chemicals, office machines, and footwear. Annual imports in the
early 1990s were valued at $83.8 billion and exports were worth $82.2 billion.
Principal trading partners for exports were the United States, Japan, Hong Kong,
Germany, Singapore, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia; chief partners for
imports were Japan, the United States, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and
Indonesia.

To sum this up, South Korea is a very industrial, high-export country.
It has many people, so they can have huge factories and be very productive.