South Korea

Republic of Korea 대한민국/大韓民國 (Korean) Daehan Minguk
Flag Emblem
Motto: "홍익인간"("弘益人間")(de facto) "Hongik Ingan" "Benefit broadly the human world / Devotion to the Welfare of Humanity"^[1]
Anthem: "애국가"("愛國歌") "Aegukga" "Patriotic Song"
National seal 국가 인감 (國家印鑑)
Land controlled by South Korea shown in dark green; land claimed but uncontrolled shown in light green.
Capital and largest city	Seoul 37°33′N126°58′E / 37.550°N 126.967°E / 37.550; 126.967
Official languages	Korean (Pyojun-eo) Korean Sign Language^[2]
Official script	Korean
Ethnic groups	Predominantly Korean, no official statistics^[a]
Religion (2015)^[4]^[5]	56.1% No religion 27.6% Christianity^[b] 15.5% Korean Buddhism 0.8% Others
Demonym(s)	South Korean Korean
Government	Unitary presidential constitutional republic

• President	Moon Jae-in
• Prime Minister	Chung Sye-kyun
• Speaker of the National Assembly	Park Byeong-seug
• Chief Justice	Kim Myeong-soo
• President of the Constitutional Court	Yoo Nam-seok

Legislature	National Assembly
Establishment history

• First Kingdom	c. 7th century BCE
• Declaration of Independence	1 March 1919
• Provisional Government	11 April 1919
• Independence from Japan	15 August 1945
• US administration of Korea south of the 38th parallel	8 September 1945
• ROK established	15 August 1948
• Current constitution	25 February 1988
• Admitted to the UN	17 September 1991

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 (2018)	0.906^[9] very high · 22nd
Currency	Korean Republic won (₩) (KRW)
Time zone	UTC+9 (Korea Standard Time)
Date format	yyyy년 m월 d일 yyyy. m. d. (CE)
Mains electricity	220V–60 Hz
Driving side	right
Calling code	+82
ISO 3166 code	KR
Internet TLD	.kr .한국