Tucked away in northeast Asia, Korea is a nation that boasts a fast growing economy and a lifestyle that
brings together the old and the new. Once known simply as a quiet nation in the East, the peninsula
now hardly sleeps as it pulsates with life and commerce. Numerous branch offices of international
corporations and businesses can be found throughout the country, as well as most western franchises.
Despite all such enthusiasm for modernization and globalization, Koreans still greatly value their 5,000
years of history and the Confucian philosophy that has governed the lives of their ancestors. Many
global events take place here annually, with the 2002 FIFA World Cup Soccer Games being the most recent.
The Korean Language: Hangeul
Hangeul was invented in 1443, during the reign of King Sejong. It is composed of 10 vowels and 14 consonants. Hangeul has 11 complex vowels,5 glottalized sounds, and 24 basic Hangeul letters. The chart below representsthe 24 Hangeul letters and their romanized equivalents. The Hunminjeongeum,a historical document which provides instructions to educate people using Hangeul, is registered with UNESCO as World Documentary Heritage.
UNESCO awards a ‘King Sejong Literacy Prize', every year in memory of the inventor of Hangeul.
Food
Korea was once primarily an agricultural nation, and Korea have cultivated rice as their staple food since ancient times. These days Korean cuisine is characterized by a wide variety of meat and fish dishes along with wild greens and vegetables. Various fermented and preserved food, such as kimchi(fermented spicy cabbage), jeotgal (matured seafood with salt) and doenjang (fermented soy bean paste) are notable for their specific flavor and high nutritional value.
Clothing
Women's hanbok is comprised of a wrap-around skirt and a jacket. It is often called chima-jeogori, ‘chima' being the Korean word for skirt and ‘jeogori' the word for jacket. Men's hanbok consists of a short jacket and pants, called ‘baji', that are roomy and bound at the ankles. Both ensembles may be topped by a long coat of a similar cut called ‘durumagi'. Hanbokworn today are patterned after those worn during the Confucian-oriented Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Yangban, a hereditary aristocratic class based on scholarship and official position rather than on wealth, wore brightly colored hanbok of plain and patterned silk in cold weather
and closely woven ramie cloth or other high-grade, light weight materials in warm weather. Commoners, on the other hand, were restricted by law as well as finances to bleached hemp and cotton and could only wear white, pale pink, light green, gray or charcoal colors.
About Seoul
Seoul has been the center of politics, economy, culture and transportation of Korea for six centuries. Today one quarter of the nation’s population lives in Seoul, which serves as the broadband core of all branches of knowledge. Seoul preserves numerous relics of the Joseon Dynasty. At the same time, Seoul has risen as a global landmark of modernity, with many must-see attractions
Area
The total area of Seoul is 605.52 square kilometers , or 0.6 percent of the entire country. The Hangang (River) bisects the city into two parts: northern part ( Gangbuk ) and southern one (Gangnam). The expansion of the city has been curbed since the last administrative reorganization in 1973. The lifestyles of Seoul citizens, however, have been influenced since the 1970's by to the rapid growth of satellite cities around the capital area.
Population
Seoul has a population of 10,297,004 as of the end of 2005. This accounts for about a quarter of the total national population.
