South Korea

              South Korea is known as "The Land of the Morning Calm".  That comes from the original Chinese name that was made up of 2 symbols.  The first symbol was for morning, and the second for the word calm.

              Much of South Korea (which is located on the Korean Peninsula) is mountainous, with most of the population living on the coastal plains or river valleys.

               Seoul is the capital and largest city in South Korea.

               Prior to 1960 South Korea was a poor country.  Most people farmed or fished for a living.  But then, the economy boomed and today South Korea is one of the most high tech countries in the world with about 3/4 of the population with high speed internet access.  South Korea is also developing robots.  They are looking to have a robot in every home by 2020.



                 Korea was ruled by many dynasties in the past, one of which was The Koryo, which is how Korea probably got its name.  There was also on and off control by Japan, which ended after the Japanese defeat in WWII.  This ending of Japanese rule actually led to North and South Korea because after the war the Korean Peninsula was divided in two.  The country was supposed to be reunited, but that failed and in 1948 two governments were set up where the north became a Communist government and the south became a republic.  There still is no peace treaty between the North and South.

                 Here are some of the books we used to learn about South Korea.

South Korea, Children Just Like Me

                 We enjoyed eating the Korean dish Bulgogi of which I have a recipe here, and a leftover recipe here.

                   My kids enjoyed learning about South Korea.  They were happy that we don't live there though when they read about how long the school hours there are.