Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. It borders China to the north and west, and Russia to the east, with Mongolia situated farther to the northwest, and Japan to the east. The Korean Peninsula is divided into two separate states, North Korea and South Korea.
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea is a presidential republic in East Asia, occupying the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. Also known as the "Land of the Morning Calm", it is bordered by China to the west, Japan to the east and North Korea to the north, with which it was united until 1945. Its capital and largest city is Seoul, the world's second largest metropolitan city.
Korea is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with its foundation dating back to 2333 BC by the legendary Dangun. Archaeological research shows that the peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic.
South Korea is a major economic power and one of the wealthiest countries in Asia. It had one of the world's fastest growing economies since the 1960s, now highly developed and one of the three largest in Asia and 13th largest in the world. Forming the G20 industrial nations and the world's top ten exporters, it is a member of the United Nations, WTO, OECD, APEC, EAS and ASEAN+3, defined as a High Income Nation by the World Bank and an Advanced Economy by the IMF and CIA. A major non-NATO ally, it has the world's sixth largest armed forces and one of the ten largest defence budgets in the world. Nicknamed as an Asian tiger, it is still among the world's fastest growing developed countries and a Next Eleven state, forecasted to surpass the income per capita of Germany, UK and France in 16 years. Today, its success story is known as the "Miracle on the Han River", a role model for many developing countries.
South Korea has a strong economic, political and cultural influence in Asia and is one of the world's leading countries in science and technology. It has a very advanced and modern infrastructure and is a world leader in information technology .
Solnal (New Year's Day)--First Day of the First Month
This is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea.
Like China, Korea actually celebrates the New Year twice. While January 1st and 2nd are official holidays, most families make the cross-country voyage to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year, which falls in late January or early February. As in the West, this day sends off the past year and ushers in the new. Perhaps nobody appreciates the promise of a new start more than a Korean farmer.
For children, the most popular custom is dressing up in rainbow-colored silk hanbok and performing the sebae(New Year Bow) before all the elders of the family and wishing them pok(fortune) for the coming year. In turn, they are rewarded with golden words of advice and pocket money, the amount depending on their age and position in the family. This is one custom that is in no danger of dying out from rapid industrialization and urbanization, although its focus has shifted from paying calls of respect on elders to paying young children to be good.
Some of the other games that make this day special, but are losing ground to electronic forms of recreation, are a tug-of-war, kite-flying, see-sawing, and yut-nori, a kind of board game played with sticks.
Traditionally for girls over seven, the see-saw was their window to the world. New Year's Day used to be the only time of the year that girls could see over the courtyard walls. Nowadays, the see-saw is more a test of rhythm and balance than the social event girls looked forward to all year.
Jumping up and down on the low, flat board is devilishly more difficult than it appears. There is no fulcrum, so the momentum comes entirely from the timing of you and your partner's leaps.
(This article is excerpted from "Korean Scenes")
Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. It borders China to the north and west, and Russia to the east, with Mongolia situated farther to the northwest,
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