South Korea Profile
History, Economy, and Foreign Relations
Korea’s population is one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogenous in the world. Except for a small Chinese community (about 20,000), virtually all Koreans share a common cultural and linguistic heritage. With 48.7 million people inhabiting an area roughly the size of Indiana, South Korea has one of the world’s highest population densities. Major population centers are located in the northwest, southeast, and in the plains south of the Seoul-Incheon area. Korea has experienced one of the largest rates of emigration, with ethnic Koreans residing primarily in China (2.4 million), the United States (2.1 million), Japan (600,000), and the…
