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3 2002 Encyclopaedia Britannica, I
22,488,000. Capitaclass="underline" Pyongyang. Ethni¬ cally, the population is almost completely Korean. Language: Korean (official). Reli¬ gions: Ch'ondogyo, traditional beliefs,
Christianity, Buddhism. Foreign missionaries were expelled during World War II. Currency: won. North Korea’s land area largely consists of moun¬ tain ranges and uplands; its highest peak is the volcanic Mount Paektu (9,022 ft [2,750 m]). North Korea has a centrally planned economy based on heavy industry (iron and steel, machinery, chemicals, and textiles) and agriculture. Cooperative farms raise crops such as rice, corn, barley, and vegetables. The country is rich in mineral resources, including coal, iron ore, and magnesite. It is a republic with one legislature; the head of state and government is the chairman of the National Defense Commission. For early history, see Korea. After the Japanese were defeated in World War II, the Soviet Union occupied Korea north of latitude 38° N; there the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established as a com¬ munist state in 1948. Seeking to unify the peninsula by force, it launched an invasion of South Korea in 1950, initiating the Korean War. UN troops intervened on the side of South Korea, and Chinese soldiers reinforced the North Korean army in the war, which ended with an armistice in 1953. Led by Kim Il-sung, North Korea became one of the most harshly regi¬ mented societies in the world, with a state-owned economy that failed to produce adequate supplies of food and consumer goods for its citizens. Under his son and successor, Kim Jong II, the country endured periods of severe food shortages from the late 1990s that caused widespread fam¬ ine. Hopes that North Korea was seeking to end its long isolation— notably through meetings between Kim and the leaders of South Korea (2000) and Japan (2002)—have been tempered by concerns over its nuclear weapons program.
Korea, South officially Republic of Korea Country, East Asia, occupying the southern half of the Korean peninsula. It is west of Japan and includes Cheju Island, located about 60 mi (97 km) south of the pen¬ insula. Area: 38,572 sq mi (99,900 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 48,294,000. Capitaclass="underline" Seoul. The population is almost entirely ethnically Korean. Language: Korean (official). Religions: Christianity (Protestant, other Christians, Roman Catholic), traditional beliefs. Buddhism, new religions, Confucianism. Currency: won. Most of South Korea’s land area consists of mountains and uplands; the densely populated lowlands are heavily cultivated for wet rice. The Naktong and Han are the principal rivers. The economy is based largely on services and manufacturing (including petrochemicals, electronic goods, and steel). South Korea is a
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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JAPAN
2002 Encyclopaedia Britapnice, Inc.
republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the presi¬ dent, assisted by the prime minister. For early history, see Korea. The Republic of Korea was established in 1948 in the por¬ tion of the Korean peninsula south of latitude 38° N, which had been occupied by the U.S. after World War II. In 1950 North Korean troops invaded South Korea, precipitating the Korean War. UN forces intervened on the side of South Korea, while Chinese troops backed North Korea in the war, which ended with an armistice in 1953. The devastated country was rebuilt with U.S. aid, and South Korea prospered in the postwar era, developing a strong export-oriented economy. It experienced an economic downturn beginning in the mid-1990s that affected many countries in the area. Efforts at reconciliation between North and South Korea, including the first-ever summit between their leaders (2000) and reunions between families from both countries, were accompanied by periods of continu¬ ing tension.
Korea Strait Channel between South Korea and southwestern Japan. Connecting the East China Sea with the Sea of Japan (East Sea), it is 120 mi (195 km) wide and is divided by the Tsushima islands at its centre. Its passage to the east is known as Tsushima Strait, site of the Battle of Tsushima (1905); to the west it is called the Western Channel.
Korean language Official language of North Korea and South Korea, spoken by more than 75 million people, including substantial communi¬ ties of ethnic Koreans living elsewhere. Korean is not closely related to any other language, though a distant genetic kinship to Japanese is now thought probable by some scholars, and an even more remote relationship to the Altaic languages is possible. Korean was written with Chinese char¬ acters to stand in various ways for Korean meanings and sounds as early as the 12th century, though substantial documentation is not evident until the invention of a unique phonetic script for it in 1443. This script, now called Hangul, represents syllables by arranging simple symbols for each phoneme into a square form like that of a Chinese character. Grammati¬ cally, Korean has a basic subject-object-verb word order and places modi¬ fiers before the elements they modify.
Korean War (1950-53) Conflict arising after the post-World War II division of Korea, at latitude 38° N, into North Korea and South Korea. At the end of World War II, Soviet forces accepted the surrender of Japa¬ nese forces north of that line, as U.S. forces accepted Japanese surrender south of it. Negotiations failed to reunify the two halves, the northern half being a Soviet client state and the southern half being backed by the U.S. In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea, and U.S. Pres. Harry Truman ordered troops to assist South Korea. The UN Security Council, minus the absent Soviet delegate, passed a resolution calling for the assistance
of all UN members in halting the invasion. At first North Korean troops drove the South Korean and U.S. forces down to the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, but a brilliant amphibious landing at Inch’on, con¬ ceived by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, turned the tide in favour of the UN troops, who advanced near the border of North Korea and China. The Chinese then entered the war and drove the UN forces back south; the front line stabilized at the 38th parallel. MacArthur insisted on voicing his objections to U.S. war aims in a public manner and was relieved of his command by Truman. U.S. Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower participated in the conclusion of an armistice that accepted the front line as the de facto boundary between the two Koreas. The war resulted in the deaths of approximately 2,000,000 Koreans, 600,000 Chinese, 37,000 Americans, and 3,000 Turks, Britons, and other nationals in the UN forces.