lybdenum, lead,
hydropower

_#_Land use: arable land 21%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures
1%; forest and woodland 67%; other 10%; includes irrigated 12%

_#_Environment: occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods;
earthquakes in southwest; air pollution in large cities

_#_Notes: strategic location along the Korea Strait, Sea of Japan, and
Yellow Sea

_*_People
_#_Population: 43,134,386 (July 1991), growth rate 0.8% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 15 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: - 1 migrant/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 23 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 67 years male, 73 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 1.6 children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Korean(s); adjective--Korean

_#_Ethnic divisions: homogeneous; small Chinese minority
(about 20,000)

_#_Religion: strong Confucian tradition; vigorous Christian minority
(28% of the total population); Buddhism; pervasive folk religion
(Shamanism); Chondokyo (religion of the heavenly way), eclectic religion
with nationalist overtones founded in 19th century, claims about 1.5
million adherents

_#_Language: Korean; English widely taught in high school

_#_Literacy: 96% (male 99%, female 94%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)

_#_Labor force: 16,900,000; 52% services and other; 27% mining and
manufacturing; 21% agriculture, fishing, forestry (1987)

_#_Organized labor: about 10% of nonagricultural labor force in
government-sanctioned unions

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Republic of Korea; abbreviated ROK

_#_Type: republic

_#_Capital: Seoul

_#_Administrative divisions: 9 provinces (do, singular and plural) and
6 special cities* (jikhalsi, singular and plural); Cheju-do,
Cholla-bukto, Cholla-namdo, Ch'ungch'ong-bukto,
Ch'ungch'ong-namdo, Inch'on-jikhalsi*, Kangwon-do,
Kwangju-jikhalsi*, Kyonggi-do, Kyongsang-bukto,
Kyongsang-namdo, Pusan-jikhalsi*, Soul-t'ukpyolsi*,
Taegu-jikhalsi*, Taejon-jikhalsi*

_#_Independence: 15 August 1948

_#_Constitution: 25 February 1988

_#_Legal system: combines elements of continental European civil law
systems, Anglo-American law, and Chinese classical thought; has not
accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

_#_National holiday: Independence Day, 15 August (1948)

_#_Executive branch: presid