a republic in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula; established in 1948

a country swathed in green, prodding its stony fingers skyward, and the Koreans are a people obsessed with nature, and with mountains in particular

Richmond Hill, a U.S. Army installation

Government of Korea Ministry of Finance and Economy Korea Customs Service Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade National Statistical Office

The Republic of Korea, commonly known as South Korea or the Korea Republic (Korean: 대한민국, , ), is an East Asian state on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. To the north, it is bordered by North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), with which it was united until its division by the Soviet Union and the United States in 1945 (Two countries were supposed to temporarily occupy Korean peninsular in order to disarm the defeated Japanese army after the end of WWII, but the Cold War started between the Soviet Union and the US, and it resulted the Korean War in 1950). To the west, across the Yellow Sea, lies China, and to the southeast, across the Korea Strait, lies Japan.