Korean - Orientation

Identification. Because Korea is an ethnically homogeneous nation, there are no ethnonyms per se. There are, however, several alternative names used by outsiders as well as natives, all of which come from the names of previous states or dynasties. The name "Korea" comes from the Koryo dynasty (918-1392). "Han'guk" is an abbreviation of "Taehan Min'guk" (Republic of Korea), which is used exclusively by South Koreans. Its origin can be traced to "Taehan Che'guk" (Great Han Empire), the new name of the Yi dynasty (1392-1910) chosen in 1897. "Choson" originated from Old Choson (2333-194 B.C. ) , the first Korean state that possessed a bronze culture. The Yi dynasty was also named "Choson" and North Korea prefixed it for the name of its regime, "Choson Minjuju-ui Inmin Konghwa'guk" (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). From "Choson," meaning "morning calm and freshness," Korea acquired the epithet by which it is known, the "land of the morning calm."

Location. The Korean Peninsula and its associated islands lie between 33°06′ and 43°01′ N and between 124°11′ and 131°53′ E. Of the entire peninsula's area of 219,015 square kilometers, South Korea is 98,477 square kilometers, including islands and excluding the 1,262 square kilometers of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), about 45 percent of the entire peninsula. Korea is geomorphologically characterized by abundant hills and mountains, which occupy nearly 70 percent of its territory. Low hills, plains, and basins along the rivers are located in the south and the west, whereas the eastern slope is steep with high mountains and without significant rivers and plains. Winter is long, cold, and dry. January is the coldest month, and its average temperatures range from about 2° C in southeastern Korea to about —21 ° C in parts of the northern mountainous region. Summer is short, hot, and humid, with late monsoon rains. In the hottest month, July, temperatures average between 21 ° C and 27° C. Annual rainfall varies from year to year, and ranges from 50 centimeters in the northeastern inland region to 140 centimeters on the southern coast. About 70 percent of the annual rainfall occurs from June through September.

Demography. The population of South Korea has grown rapidly since the birth of the republic in 1948. Accelerating between 1955 and 1966, it reached 29.2 million, with an annual average growth rate of 2.8 percent; but the growth rate declined significantly during the period of 1966 to 1985, falling to an annual average of 1.7 percent. Thereafter, the annual average growth rate was less than 1 percent. As of 1 January 1989, the population of South Korea was slightly over 42.1 million. The population of North Korea for 1989 is unavailable, but it was estimated to be over 21 million in 1987. South Korea's Economic Planning Board estimates that its population will increase to between 46 and 48 million by the end of the twentieth century, with growth rates ranging between 0.9 and 1.2 percent. Since Korea is one of the world's most homogeneous nations ethnically and racially, the population of other national origins is negligible and the legal status of such aliens is mostly temporary. However, as of 1988 nearly 4 million ethnic Koreans live outside the peninsula: 1.7 million in China; 1.2 million in the United States and Canada; 680,000 in Japan; 85,000 in Central and South America; 62,000 in the Middle East; 40,000 in western Europe; 27,000 in other Asian countries; and 25,000 in Africa.

Linguistic Affiliation. Although the remote origins of the Korean language are disputed among linguists, it is generally believed that the prototype of the Korean language belongs to the Ural-Altaic Language Group and specifically to the Altaic Language Family, which includes Turkish, Mongolian, Japanese, Korean, and others. Modern Korean is descended from the language of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C. - A.D. 935). The prolonged political and cultural influence of the Chinese upon Korea had a profound impact upon the written and spoken Korean language, especially from the Confucian classics. The Japanese attempted to stifle the Korean tongue completely toward the end of their colonial rule (1910-1945), but they failed to leave more than a minimum trace of their language on Korean. Prior to the invention of Han'gul in 1446, Korean borrowed Chinese characters, using either the sounds or the meanings of certain Chinese characters. Even today, Koreans use Chinese characters alongside their own written language, as the Japanese do. Although the Korean language displays some regional variations both in vocabulary and pronunciation, there are no mutually unintelligible dialects. Variations are recognized between North and South Korea, resulting from a prolonged separation of the two Koreas.