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Seoul () is the capital and largest city of South Korea. With a population of over 10 million, it is one of the world's largest cities and the second largest mega city in the world.Thomas Brinkhoff, www.citypopulation.de; South Korea, The registered population of the South Korean provinces and urban municipalities Registered population 2007-12-31. Retrieved on 2008-12-31. The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the major port city of Incheon and satellite towns in Gyeonggi-do, has 24.5 million inhabitants????:??? ?? ?? ?? and is the world's second largest metropolitan area.R.L. Forstall, R.P. Greene, and J.B. Pick, "Which are the largest? Why published populations for major world urban areas vary so greatly", City Futures Conference, (University of Illinois at Chicago, July 2004) Table 5 (p.34) Almost half of South Korea's population live in the Seoul National Capital Area, and nearly a quarter in Seoul itself, making it the country's chief economic, political, and cultural center.

Located on the Han River in the center of the Korean Peninsula, Seoul has been an important settlement for over two thousand years, with its history dating back to 18 BC, when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. The city then became the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area includes four UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul's historical attractions and the Korean wave phenomenon is making the city a popular tourist destination; it received nearly 5 million tourists in 2007, more than double that of Tokyo, Athens and Sydney.

Seoul's influence in business, international trade, politics, technology, education and entertainment all contribute to its role as a leading global city.http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4509&page=1 It is considered to be an Alpha World City, ranking 9th in the 2008 Global Cities Index. Seoul is the iconic city of the Miracle on the Han River and hosted landmark international events such as the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It is one of the world's top ten financial and commercial centers,http://www.citymayors.com/economics/financial-cities.html home to some of the world's largest conglomeratesSee List of companies by revenue. such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia. In 2005, the Seoul National Capital Area generated a total GDP of over $460 billion,http://stats.oecd.org/OECDregionalstatistics/indexTL3.html larger than the economies of Finland, New Zealand and Norway combined.GDP (purchasing power parity) (2005) by country In 2008, Seoul was named the world's sixth most economically powerful city by Forbes.com, ahead of Paris and Los Angeles.http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/15/economic-growth-gdp-biz-cx_jz_0715powercities_slide_7.html?thisSpeed=15000

Seoul has one of the world's most technologically advanced infrastructures and is often called the "Tech capital of the world".http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/tech-capitals-of-the-world/2007/06/16/1181414598292.html The Digital Media City in Mapo is the world's first complex for high-tech technologies and a test-bed for futuristic IT and multimedia applications.http://dmc.seoul.go.kr/english/jsp/about/overview.jsp Today, Seoul is the only city in the world featuring DMB, a digital mobile TV technology and WiBro, a wireless high-speed mobile internet service, as well as a 100Mbits fibre-optic broadband network, which is being upgraded to 1Gbps by 2012.http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/02/south-koreans-could-see-1gbps-web-connections-by-2012/ Seoul Station houses 350 km/h KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway is the third largest in the world, with over 2 billion passengers every year.See Metro systems by annual passenger rides. Seoul is connected to Incheon International Airport via AREX, which has been consecutively rated as the world's best airport by ACI since 2006.

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK) (, ) and often referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. Also known as the "Land of the Morning Calm", it is neighbored by China to the west and Japan to the east, bordering North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest metropolitan city in the worldR.L. Forstall, R.P. Greene, and J.B. Pick, "Which are the largest? Why published populations for major world urban areas vary so greatly", City Futures Conference, (University of Illinois at Chicago, July 2004) - Table 5 (p.34)

and a major global city.http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4509&page=1

South Korea lies in a temperate climate region with a predominantly mountainous terrain. Its territory covers a total area of 100,032 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million, making it one of the most densely populated regions in the world.Population density calculated using surface area and population figures from [http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=L03].

South Korea is a presidential republic consisting of 16 administrative divisions. Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied as early as the Lower Paleolithic period.Ancient civilizationshttp://www.opm.go.kr/warp/webapp/content/view?meta_id=english&id=35 Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BCE by Dangun. Following the unification of Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 CE, Korea went through the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910. After liberation and division, South Korea was established in 1948 as a democracy. Following the Korean War, the South Korean economy grew significantly, transforming the country into a major global economy.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/322280/South-Korea/34997/Economic-and-social-developments This is known as the Miracle on the Han River and the country became one of the Four Asian Tigers.

South Korea is a developed country and a full democracy. It is a High-income OECD member, having the fourth largest economy in Asia and the 15th largest in the world. South Korea is the world leader in innovation among major economiesAs ranked by the International Innovation Index, and a leader in technologically advanced goods such as electronics, automobiles, ships, machinery, petrochemicals and robotics, headed by Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia. It is a member of the United Nations, WTO, OECD and G-20 major economies. It is also a founding member of APEC and the East Asia Summit, and a major non-NATO ally of the United States. In the 21st century, there has been increased interest in Korean culture throughout Asia.http://www.korea.net/news/news/NewsView.asp?serial_no=20061127020&part=106&SearchDay=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-11/21/content_393440.htm

The Korean War refers to the warfare between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea) begun 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July 1953.

The war occurred consequent to both countries aggressively attempting Korean national?peninsular reunification under their respective governments ? because the immediate months before open warfare were occupied with escalating armed clashes at the 38th Parallel border, and the attempted negotiations for all-Korea elections. The negotiations ceased when the North Korean Army invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. The United States and allies intervened for the South. After a rapid South Korean counter-attack, the Chinese Army intervened for North Korea, deciding the war towards an armistice that approximately restored the original boundary between the Koreas. Since then, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice on 27 May 2009.http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5goGcm6AL4tHyTt3gp1PUV6rNu9fA

Although referred to as a civil war gone awry, other geopolitical factors count. Each country was sponsored by an external power, thus political obligations facilitated a civil war's metamorphosing into an hegemonic proxy war of the Russo?American Cold War (1945?91). The term Korean War also describes the clashes before and since the war.

North Korea, officially the 'Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK') (Hangul: ???????????, Chos?n Minjuju?i Inmin Konghwaguk), is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer area between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok River and the Tumen River form the border between North Korea and China. A section of the Tumen River in the extreme north-east is the border with Russia.

The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan following the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. It was divided into Soviet and American occupied zones in 1945, following the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations-supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. Both North and South Korea claimed sovereignty over the peninsula as a whole, which led to the Korean War of 1950. A 1953 armistice ended the fighting; however, the two countries are officially still at war with each other, as a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991. On May 26, 2009, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice.

North Korea is a single-party state under a united front led by the Korean Workers Party.

The country's government styles itself as following the Juche ideology of self-reliance, developed by Kim Il-sung, the country's former leader. Juche became the official state ideology when the country adopted a new constitution in 1972, though Kim Il-sung had been using it to form policy since at least as early as 1955. North Korea claims to be a socialist republic, but is widely considered by the outside world to be a de facto totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship.

North Korea ranked in last place (167, lower is better) The current leader is Kim Jong-il, son of the late Eternal President Kim Il-sung.

Pyongyang () is the capital and largest city of North Korea, located on the Taedong River. According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388.United Nations Statistics Division; Preliminary results of the 2008 Census of Population of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea conducted on 1-15 October 2008 (pdf-file) Retrieved on 2009-03-01.

The city was split from the South P'y?ngan province in 1946. It is administered as a directly-governed city (chikhalsi), on the same level as provincial governments, not a special city (teukbyeolsi) as Seoul is in South Korea. Some sources, mostly older and South Korean, refer to P'y?ngyang as a special city.