South Korea

Split by a fearsome border, the Korean Peninsula offers the traveler a dazzling range of experiences, beguiling landscapes and 5000 years of culture and history.

South Korea is the country making up the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is surrounded by the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. Its border with North Korea is at a ceasefire line which was established at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The country has a long history that was dominated by either China or Japan until the end of World War II, at which time Korea was divided into North and South Korea.

The blue and red circle at the heart of the South Korean flag neatly symbolizes not only the divided Korean Peninsula, but also the fluid mix of ancient and modern aspects of the country officially called the Republic of Korea (ROK), where the vast majority of visitors to this part of the world will spend their time. South Korea is a dream destination for the traveller, an engaging, welcoming place where the benefits of a fully industrialized, high-tech nation are balanced alongside a reverence for tradition and the ways of old Asia.

The climate of South Korea is temperate, with cold winters and hot, wet summers. The average January temperature for Seoul, South Korea’s capital city, is 28°F, while the average August high temperature is 85°F.

Seoul is the capital and largest city in South Korea. It is considered a megacity because it has a population of over ten million people, and it is one of the largest cities in the entire world. Nearly half of the South Korea’s entire population lives in the Seoul National Capital Area (which also includes Incheon and Gyeonggi and makes it the second largest metropolitan area in the world).