Portal:Korea

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The Korea Portal

Korea is a civilization and geographical area situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia, bordering China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast, with Japan situated to the southeast across the Korea Strait. It is often called the "Land of the Morning Calm".

One of the world's oldest civilizations, Korea has a recorded history dating back approximately 3,000 years. It enjoyed long periods of relative peace punctuated by foreign invasions. In 1905, Korea was occupied by Japan, becoming a colony in 1910. Following World War II, it was liberated by Soviet Union and United States troops and divided into two political entities, North Korea and South Korea.

North Korea is a communist state that is sometimes described as Stalinist and isolationist. South Korea is a capitalist liberal democracy, and its world economic ranking is 10th (based on GDP).

Korea is populated by a relatively homogeneous ethnic group, the Koreans, who speak a distinct language called Korean and use the unique script hangul.

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Korea Train Express (KTX) is South Korea's high-speed rail system. The train's technology is largely based on the French TGV system, and features top speeds of 300 km/h or more. In all, 46 trains will be built: twelve in France by Alstom, the remaining in South Korea by local manufacturers.

After 12 years of construction, the Gyeongbu Line (connecting Seoul to Busan via Daejeon and Daegu) and the Honam Line (Seoul to Gwangju and Mokpo) opened on March 31, 2004. Using high-speed track for only a part of the distance (Seoul-Daegu), the new line cuts travel time between Seoul and Busan from 260 minutes to 160 minutes; a further improvement to 116 minutes is expected in 2008, when the train shifts to run fully on high-speed tracks. Construction of the second phase linking Daegu and Gyeongju to Busan started in June 2002 and is expected to be complete by 2010.

When introduced in April 2004, KTX ridership was significantly below initial expectations. Ridership has, however, slowly been increasing. On January 9, 2006, Korail reported that average daily ridership in December 2005 had reached 104,600, an increase of almost 50%, with daily operating profit up to 2.8 billion won and financial breakeven expected by early 2007. [1] (more...)

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Hwaseong ("Brilliant Fortress") is located in Suwon, South Korea, near Seoul. It was built from 1794 to 1796. King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty constructed the fortress complex to house the remains of his father, Crown Prince Sado.

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Jang Yeong-sil was a Korean scientist and astronomer during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). He worked under the national civil service from around August 1418 to February 1450. His contributions were a part of the golden era of Korean art, literature, and science under King Sejong the Great.

Among his many contributions to Korean science was the automated water clock, pictured above.

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