Republic of Korea
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.svg) Land controlled by South Korea shown in dark green; land claimed but uncontrolled shown in light green. | |||||||
| Capital and largest city | Seoul 37°33′N 126°58′E / 37.550°N 126.967°E | ||||||
| Official languages | Korean (Pyojun-eo) Korean Sign Language[2] | ||||||
| Official script | Korean | ||||||
| Ethnic groups | Predominantly Korean, no official statistics[a] | ||||||
| Religion |
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| Demonym(s) | |||||||
| Government | Unitary presidential constitutional republic | ||||||
| Moon Jae-in | |||||||
| Chung Sye-kyun | |||||||
| Park Byeong-seug | |||||||
| Kim Myeong-soo | |||||||
| Yoo Nam-seok | |||||||
| Legislature | National Assembly | ||||||
| Establishment history | |||||||
| c. 7th century BCE | |||||||
| March 1, 1919 | |||||||
| April 11, 1919 | |||||||
• Independence from Japan | September 2, 1945 | ||||||
• US administration of Korea south of the 38th parallel | September 8, 1945 | ||||||
| August 15, 1948 | |||||||
| February 25, 1988 | |||||||
• Admitted to the UN | September 17, 1991 | ||||||
| April 27, 2018 | |||||||
| Area | |||||||
• Total | 100,363 km2 (38,750 sq mi) (107th) | ||||||
• Water (%) | 0.3 (301 km2 / 116 mi2) | ||||||
| Population | |||||||
• 2019 estimate |  51,709,098[6] (27th) | ||||||
• Density | 507/km2 (1,313.1/sq mi) (13th) | ||||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2020 estimate | ||||||
• Total |  $2.293 trillion[7] (14th) | ||||||
• Per capita | $44,292[7] (24th) | ||||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2020 estimate | ||||||
• Total | $1.586 trillion[7] (10th) | ||||||
• Per capita | $30,644[7] (26th) | ||||||
| Gini (2016) |  35.7[8]medium · 93rd | ||||||
| HDI (2019) | 0.916[9] very high · 23rd | ||||||
| Currency | Korean Republic won (₩) (KRW) | ||||||
| Time zone | UTC+9 (Korea Standard Time) | ||||||
| Date format |
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| Mains electricity | 220 V–60 Hz | ||||||
| Driving side | right | ||||||
| Calling code | +82 | ||||||
| ISO 3166 code | KR | ||||||
| Internet TLD | |||||||
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South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, and sharing a land border with North Korea. 25 million people, around half of the country's population of more than 51 million people, live in the Seoul Capital Area, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the world.