South Korea 
Facts
Population: 49,044,790 (July 2007 est.).
Age structure: 0-14 years: 18.3% (male 4,714,103/female 4,262,873)
15-64 years: 72.1% (male 18,004,719/female 17,346,594)
65 years and over: 9.6% (male 1,921,803/female 2,794,698) (2007 est.).
Population growth rate: 0.394% (2007 est.).
Birth rate: 9.93 births/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Death rate: 5.99 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.08 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.106 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.038 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.688 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2007 est.).
Infant mortality rate: total: 6.05 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 6.43 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.64 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.).
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 77.23 years
male: 73.81 years
female: 80.93 years (2007 est.).
Total fertility rate: 1.28 children born/woman (2007 est.).
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2003 est.).
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 8,300 (2003 est.).
HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.).
Nationality: noun: Korean(s)
adjective: Korean.
Ethnic groups: homogeneous (except for about 20,000 Chinese).
Religions: Christian 26.3% (Protestant 19.7%, Roman Catholic 6.6%), Buddhist 23.2%, other or unknown 1.3%, none 49.3% (1995 census).
Languages: Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school.
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.9%
male: 99.2%
female: 96.6% (2002).
GDP (purchasing power parity): $1.196 trillion (2006 est.).
GDP - real growth rate: 4.8% (2006 est.).
GDP - per capita (PPP): $24,500 (2006 est.).
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3%
industry: 45%
services: 52% (2006 est.).
Labor force: 23.77 million (31 December 2006 est.).
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 6.4%
industry: 26.4%
services: 67.2% (2006 est.).
Population below poverty line: 15% (2003 est.).
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.9%
highest 10%: 25% (2005 est.).
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.2% (2006 est.).
Unemployment rate: 3.3% (December 2006 est.).
Budget: revenues: $200 billion
expenditures: $201 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.).
Agriculture - products: rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish.
Industries: electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel.
Industrial production growth rate: 8% (2006 est.).
Electricity - production: 345.2 billion kWh (2004).
Electricity - consumption: 321 billion kWh (2004).
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004).
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004).
Exports: $326 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Exports - commodities: semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships, petrochemicals.
Exports - partners: China 21.8%, US 14.6%, Japan 8.5%, Hong Kong 5.5% (2005).
Imports: $309.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.).
Imports - commodities: machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport equipment, organic chemicals, plastics.
Imports - partners: Japan 18.5%, China 14.8%, US 11.8%, Saudi Arabia 6.2% (2005).
Debt - external: $249.4 billion (30 September 2006 est.).
Economic aid - donor: ODA, $744 million (2005).
Currency (code): South Korean won (KRW).
Exchange rates: South Korean won per US dollar - 955.3 (2006), 1,024.1 (2005), 1,145.3 (2004), 1,191.6 (2003), 1,251.1 (2002).
Fiscal year: calendar year.
Statistics: C.I.A. World Factbook. Updated: July 20, 2007.
Press
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Displaying 1 to 7 of 28 items.
(Conservative), Seoul
http://www.chosun.com/
Dong Huwa News Agency
(Independent news service), Seoul
(Independent), Seoul
http://www.donga.com/
Seoul
http://www.etnews.co.kr
Seoul
http://www.fnnews.com
Han'guk Kyeongje Sinmun
Seoul
(Independent), Seoul
http://www.hankooki.com/
South Korea in the News
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Displaying 5 to 8 of 15 items.
Although the party leader, Chung Dong-young has already resigned over the election results, there is a serious danger that the ruling party itself is about to break up.
While U.S. leaders worry about the security implications of the Kim Jong Il regime's illicit activities, South Koreans have been bracing themselves for a transition that many ardently desire.
For the past 50 years, South Korea’s foreign policy had been in virtual lock step with the United States, through South Korea’s military dictatorships and first steps toward democracy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But President Roh Moo-hyun seems determined to keep the promises he made to his fervently nationalistic supporters during the 2002 election. The days of South Korea 'kowtowing' to the United States are over, he has said.
Time is against South Korea and the United States in their negotiations with North Korea, World Press Review correspondent David Scofield reports from Seoul.
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