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South Korea

South Korea: Political System

South Korea is a presidential republic with a unicameral parliament. The president is elected directly by the people every five years. He cannot be re-elected. Parliament is elected every four years. All citizens over the age of twenty have the right to vote. See AbbreviationFinder for more information about South Korea politics, and acronyms as well.

The official name of the country is:

National anthem

The national anthem of South Korea was written by Yun Chi-ho in the 19th century and set to music by Ahn Eak Tae in 1935.

In the Latin implementation of the Korean language:

National flag

The national flag (country flag) of South Korea was officially introduced on January 25, 1950. Based on flag descriptions by Countryaah.com, the colors and symbols are interpreted as follows:

- The basic color white is a symbol of purity and peacefulness and also stands for the white clothing traditionally worn by Koreans.

- The red-blue symbol is the Korean variant of the Chinese Yin and Yang, with the upper red part being called Yang and the lower blue Eum

- The symbol is surrounded by four black trigrams from the I Ching scripts (Book of Changes)

• Check top-mba-universities for public holidays, sports events, UNESCO world heritage sites and major places to visit in South Korea.

South Korea: Known People

Architects, visual artists

Seung Hyo-sang

Architect

Nam June Paik (1932-2006)

video artist. Nam June Paik was born in Seoul on July 20, 1932. He is considered the founder of video art. Nam June Paik became a US citizen and married the Japanese-American video artist Shigeko Kubota in 1977. This year he took part in documenta 6 in Kassel. He died on January 29, 2006 in Miami Beach, Florida.

Koo Bohn Chang (born 1953)

photo artist

Teyaen Henze (born 1952)

Painter. She lives and works in Germany.

Hyun-Sook Song (born 1952)

Painter

Unsoung Pai

Painter

Musician

Lee Jeong Sik

saxophonist

Chung Kyung-wha (born 1948)

violinist

Chung Myung-whun (born 1953)

conductor and pianist

Moon Suk Kang

Singer, actress, dancer, choreographer and writer

Isang Yun (1917-1995)

Composer

Kwon Ji-yong (born 1988)

Kwon Ji-yong was born on 18. Born August 1988 in Seoul. He is known as the G-Dragon. He is a pop musician, songwriter, producer and model. He is the leader and rapper of the Big Bang boy band. He also delights his audience with his shrill outfit. He is now one of the best known K-Pop artists. K-Pop is Korean-language pop music that established itself in the 1990s as an analogue to Japanese J-Pop.

Natural scientist

Chang Yong-Chil

He built the first Ungno automatic water clock in the 15th century

Mirok Li (1899-1950)

medical doctor, historian and writer.

President of the country

Syngman Rhee (1875-1965)

President of the country from July 20, 1948 to April 29, 1960

Yun Bo-seon (1897-1990)

President from August 13, 1960 to March 22, 1962

Park Chung-hee (1917-1979)

President from March 24, 1962 to October 26, 1979

Choi Kyu-ha (born 1919)

Prime Minister from 1976 to 1979 and President of South Korea from October 26, 1979 to August 16, 1980

Chun Doo-hwan (born 1931)

ruled South Korea after a military coup from September 1, 1980 to February 24,

1988.Roh Tae-woo (born 1932) was

president of the country from February 25, 1988 to February 24, 1993

Kim Young-sam (born 1927)

President from February 25, 1993 to February 24, 1998

Kim Dae-jung (1925-2009)

democratically elected President from February 25, 1998 to February 24, 2003, who attempted a policy of rapprochement with the north of the country.

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. Dae-jung died on August 18, 2009 in Seoul.

Roh Moo-hyun (1946-2009)

President of the country from February 25, 2003 to February 24, 2008

Lee Myung-bak (born 1941)

President from February 25, 2008 to February 24, 2013

Park Geun-hye (born 1952)

She has been the incumbent president of the country since February 25, 2013

More politicians

Ban Ki Moon (also Ban Ki-moon) (born 1944)

politician and diplomat. He has been the new UN Secretary General since January 1, 2007. From 2004 to 2006 he was the country's foreign minister.

He is married to his former classmate, Yoo Soon-taek, and has one son and two daughters.

Chung Un-chan (born 1947)

He was the 40th Prime Minister of South Korea from 2009 to 2010.

Goh Kun (born 1938)

Prime Minister from 1997 to 1998 and from 2003 to 2004

Han Myung-sook (born 1944)

Prime Minister from 2006 to 2007

Han Duck-soo (born 1949)

He was South Korean Prime Minister

Han Seung-soo (born 1936)

politician and diplomat from 2007 to 2009. He was Prime Minister of South Korea

Kim Hwang-sik (born 1948) from February 29, 2008 to September 28, 2009, a

judge and politician. From October 1, 2010 to February 26, 2013 he was Prime Minister of the country of

Jung Hong-won (born 1944)

. Since February 26, 2013, he has been the 42nd Prime Minister of South Korea

Writer and poet

Yun Seondo (1587-1671)

poet

Ch'oe Yun (born 1953)

author

Hwang Sok-yong (born 1943)

author. Among other things, he wrote "The Far Garden" and "The Story of Mr. Han".

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982)

Writer

Jo Kyung-ran (born 1969)

author

Ko Un (born 1933)

poet and writer. Among other things, he wrote "The Stars Above the Land of the Fathers" and "A Day Full of Wind".

Actors, directors

Chang Dong Lee (born 1954)

Director. One of his films is "Oasis" from 2002. Jae-eun Jeong (born 1969) director. Among other things, he shot "Take care of my cat".

Kwon-Taek Im (born 1936)

Director

Kim Di-Duk (born 1960)

Director. He shot "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring", "The Isle", "Address unknown" and "Bad Guy", among others.

Kang Je-Gyu (born 1962)

Director Sandra Oh (born 1971) actress. You could see her in "Sideways" and "Under the Tuscan Sun" Bae Yong-jun (born 1972) actor

Lee Eun-joo (1980-2005) film

actress. Among other things, she played in "The Scarlet Letter". Park Chan-wook (born 1963) director

Athlete

Ahn Hyun-soo (born 1985)

short track runner. He won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Jin Sun-yu (born 1988) is a

short track runner. She won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Lee Hyung-taik (born 1976), tennis player

Park Young-seok (1963-2001)

Park Young-seok climbed all eight-thousanders from 1993 to 2001 and reached the South Pole in 2004 and the North Pole in 2005. He and two companions died at the end of October 2011 on Annapurna (8.091 m)

Ryu Seung Min (born 1982)

table tennis player. He won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Ha Tae-kwon (born 1975)

badminton player. He and his partner Kim Dong-moon (born 1975) won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Oh Eun-Sun (born 1966)

extreme mountaineer. By March 2010 she had conquered 13 of the total of 14 eight-thousanders. In May 2010 she had conquered her last eight-thousander - the 8.091 m high Annapurna.

This makes her the first woman to have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders.

Theologians and philosophers

Nicholas Cardinal Cheong-Jin-Suk (born 1931)

Archbishop of Seoul David Yonggi Cho (born 1936) Pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest Christian community in the world

Others

Sohyi Kim (born 1965)

celebrity chef

Franziska Rhee-Donner (1900-1992)

Austrian wife of Dr. Rhee (former President of South Korea)

Frank Cho (born 1971)

comic artist

South Korea: animals

Mammals

There are almost 80 species of mammals in South Korea. Large mammals such as tigers, leopards, and black bears were common throughout the Korean peninsula. But they have practically disappeared from South Korea through deforestation and poaching.

Predators such as lynxes and wild cats as well as the Madarin field mouse, deer, weasels and hamsters are even more common.

Seals and fur seals live on the coast. Whales are also sighted every year.

Reptiles

Amphibians and 25 reptile species.

There are 14 known amphibians and 25 reptile species in Korea.

In the 1970s, the red-eared turtle was imported mainly for religious rituals. She felt quite comfortable in the new environment and multiplied rapidly. Although officially banned from Korea in 2001, it still occupies most of the freshwater habitats and devours vast amounts of plant material. Other turtles are exported as food or as pets.

A genus of lizards is named after the South Korean city of Tegu and has representatives in all tropical and subtropical countries on earth. The Korean tegu is brown with yellowish spots all over the body.

Korean salamander is one of the lungless salamanders. These breathe through the skin and represent the largest family of amphibians.

Red-bellied toads are kept as uncomplicated aquarium animals in many countries.

Snakes (non-poisonous)

None of the eight species of the rat snake (Ptyas) occurs in South Korea - contrary to numerous other representations.

Poisonous animals

The tiger snake (Rhabdophis tigrinus) - also known as Yamakagashi - is poisonous but normally not fatal.

The bite of the thorn finger sac spider is painful. It becomes a little over 1.5 cm in size and is milky brown in color and its chelicerae are relatively thick and reddish.

The female builds a sack of spider silk in which she guards her offspring.

Ants

The ants are closely related to wasps, but the German species do not trigger any allergic reactions. It is different with a species that occurs in Korea, whose name can be translated as "thick-jawed ant".

It grows to over 1.5 cm, is black and - as the name suggests - has a large bite apparatus. Although the sting is painful, it will not cause serious problems for non-allergy sufferers.

In shallow sea water, care should be taken not to step on scorpion fish. These animals look like a rock covered in algae when they lurk for prey. The venom in their back spines is fatal in most cases.

Birds

There are 25 species of geese, ducks and swans. There are also 8 herons, 12 birds of prey, 12 tern, 28 gull and tern species.

There are also various species of bunting, swallow, warbler and thrush.

One of the larger Korean birds is the white-naped crane. It is almost four feet tall and occurs in swarms of up to 2,000 animals. He winters in Korea. An unusually large buzzard with a body length of 1 m is native here. The female is only 75 cm tall and lacks the distinctive, maroon stripe on the breast. The flying buzzard has white wings with black tips. The Tristrams woodpecker is very rare. With a body length of 45 cm, it is a large woodpecker and wears black plumage with white wings and belly, with a red crown. All three species are among the 20 species of birds that are protected throughout Korea.

Particularly noteworthy is the magpie, which is the national bird of South Korea. It becomes up to 45 cm long, has black and white plumage that can turn green or purple in the sunlight.

Insects, spiders

There are almost 12,000 species of insects in South Korea.

Many of them are beetle species such as stag beetles, rhinoceros and longhorn beetles. Whereby the Asian longhorn beetle can cause serious forest damage in case of mass occurrences.

At night one often sees "fireflies", which should correctly be called fireflies, since the "worms" are beetle larvae. In addition to the beetles, there are around 90 species of butterflies and 10 types of bugs.

The golden silk spider is widespread in tropical areas. It gets its name because its nets shimmer golden in the sunlight. The Korean version has a leg span of approx. 17 cm and builds nets with a diameter of 1.5 m and more. Their legs are striped black and yellow and their cylindrical abdomen is spotted silver and yellow. She is big but anything but aggressive. The male rarely reaches a leg span of more than 2 cm.

Underwater world

There are 130 species of fish in the sea around South Korea. Many of them use the Korean Wadden Sea as a children's pool and invite countless migratory birds to stop by.

The fish species bream, stone fish, sea bass, yellowtail fish, mackerel, flounder and anchovies are offered for consumption. Anchovies, as well as shrimp, crabs and lobsters, often end up raw on the plate. The salp is also eaten in Korea. It belongs to the tunicates, sits firmly on the ground. They can appear in bright colors and mostly tend to be transparent.

In addition to fish such as frog fishermen, sea hares, there are colorful sea slugs, bright red cardinal shrimp and various types of starfish and hedgehogs.

Whales are spotted offshore annually and are unfortunately still hunted.

The gray nurse shark is the largest representative of the nurse sharks. With the blue shark, he identifies two of Korea's numerous shark species.

South Korea: plants

Trees

About two thirds of the country is covered by mixed forest, which unfortunately was cut down in many places because of the need for firewood, so that the coniferous forest with Korean pines and spruces can no longer only be found in the higher elevations. The tree species are similar to those in Germany: oak, maple, birch, beech, elm, poplar, cedar and aspen. Willows, chestnuts, ash trees and plane trees can also be found. The Asian cherry tree growing there has pink flowers in contrast to the European one. Bamboo, bay leaves and evergreen oaks are also found on the south coast.

Crops

In Korea's agriculture, there is a lot of experimentation with genetic engineering methods, especially with rice and maize , in order to get rid of plant diseases such as rice tan and Bakanae disease. Both are fungal infections that can spread through rice seeds and are classified as devastating.

Medicinal plants

The best ginseng is said to come from South Korea. Scientific studies show that ginseng can increase physical and mental performance in stressed people. However, it has not been proven that this effect occurs in healthy people.

Other plants

Various species of rhododendrons can be found across the country , as well as azaleas, holly, daphne, and hydrangeas, which, with their large inflorescences, can come in all tones between pink and blue. The national flower is the Mugunghwa, in German Sharonrose. It has a large flower with five pink petals that are red at their origin. The pollen counts and scars protrude from the red center like a long, yellow nose.

Poisonous plants

In Asia widespread is the Asian pokeweed. This perennial perennial can be recognized by its green or reddish stalks, egg-shaped leaves and white flowers arranged in clusters that appear between May and August. The black, chambered fruits ripen between June and October. The young leaves of the plant are cooked as a vegetable, but the seeds are used as snail protection.

The young leaves of the Asian butterbur are also eaten cooked, while the roots are poisonous.

The tree of life is popularly planted as an ornamental shrub all over the world. Its leaves contain essential oils and thujone, which can be fatal if ingested orally. Just touching the tips of the branches can cause a rash. The tree of life can be recognized by its multi-branched, fingered leaves. It grows up to 15 m high and usually has several trunks. It belongs to the cypress family.