rty (DJP), Roh Tae Woo, president, and Park Tae Chun, chairman;
opposition parties are Peace and Democracy Party (PPD), Kim Dae Jung; Korea
Reunification Democratic Party (RPD), Kim Young Sam; New Democratic Republican
Party (NDRP), Kim Jong Pil; several smaller parties

Suffrage: universal at age 20

Elections:
President--last held on 16 December 1987 (next to be held December 1992);
results--Roh Tae Woo (DJP) 35.9%, Kim Young Sam (RDP) 27.5%,
Kim Dae Jung (PPD) 26.5%, other 10.1%;

National Assembly--last held on 26 April 1988 (next to be held
April 1992);
results--DJP 34%, RPD 24%, PPD 19%, NDRP 15%, others 8%;
seats--(299 total) DJP 125, PPD 71, RPD 59, NDRP 35, others 9

Communists: Communist party activity banned by government

Other political or pressure groups: Korean National Council of Churches;
large, potentially volatile student population concentrated in Seoul; Federation
of Korean Trade Unions; Korean Veterans' Association; Federation of Korean
Industries; Korean Traders Association

Member of: ADB, AfDB, ASPAC, CCC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77,
GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, IMF,
IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, IWC--International Whaling
Commission, IWC--International Wheat Council, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO,
UNICEF, UNIDO, UN Special Fund, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO;
official observer status at UN

Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Tong-Jin PARK; Chancery at
2320 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 939-5600;
there are Korean Consulates General in Agana (Guam), Anchorage, Atlanta,
Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle;
US--Ambassador Donald GREGG; Embassy at 82 Sejong-Ro,
Chongro-ku, Seoul (mailing address is APO San Francisco 96301); telephone p82o
(2) 732-2601 through 2618; there is a US Consulate in Pusan

Flag: white with a red (top) and blue yin-yang symbol in the center; there
is a different black trigram from the ancient I Ching (Book of Changes)
in each corner of the white field

- Economy
Overview: The driving force behind the economy's dynamic growth
has been the planned development of an export-oriented economy in a
vigorously entrepreneurial society. GNP increased almost 13% in both
1986 and 1987 and 12% in 1988 before slowing to 6.5% in 1989. Such a
rapid rate of growth was achieved with an inflation rate of only 3% in the
period 1986-87, rising to 7% in 1988 and 5% in 1989. Unemployment