Out of Office #2 - South Korea

Hey, welcome to my second post in the Out of Office series. First let me just thank you for taking time to read the following post. For those interested Out of Office #1 focused on Russia and can be found here.

Overview

South Korea, as I'm sure you are aware is small nation in Eastern Asia. You will have likely heard of this country due to the tension with North Korea and possibly its recent mention in cryptocurrency news. The country has recently legalised international btc transfers and will be implementing a regulatory framework for platforms and exchanges.

Country profile

• Population - 51 million
• Area (approx) - 100,000 km²
• Primary language - Korean
• Religion - None 57%, Protestant 20%, Buddhist 16%, Catholic 7%
• Life expectancy (m) - 79.3 years
• Life expectancy (f) - 85.8 years
  As you can see, South Korea is densely populated. Not only does it have a large population over a small area, 70% of the country is mountainous. Seoul, the capital contains almost 10 million people whereas Busan (the second largest city) has a population in excess of 3 million. These sprawl as far as the eye can see and result in some awesome photos.
  

While the country is a city lovers paradise, there is also considerably natural beauty in the small mountainous nation. Examples include Daechung forest and Bukhansan mountain park.

Culture

Modern culture in South Korea is a bizarre but amazing blend of Korean heritage and capitalism with a love for tech. Koreans as a stereotype tend to be extremely hardworking, materialistic and vain. There is no denying that looks and material goods are important to all of us but South Korea takes this to an entirely new level.
They have the highest rate of cosmetic surgery on the planet (approximately 20% of women). Men are just as concerned about their appearance. Evidence of this is the men's makeup industry, which is worth an estimated $900 million per year. Additionally, they tend to live quite healthy lifestyles. For example, South Korea has one of the lowest obesity rates in the world and one of the highest life expectancy's.
Regarding tech, you likely know South Korea is home to Samsung and has the worlds fastest wireless speeds (on average) in the world. They are also world leaders in robotics. One South Korean city, Pohang actually utilises robotic prison guards while some are used as teachers.

Koreans definitely live by a work hard, play hard motto. Not only is the average working week 55 hours, Seoulites get the least amount of sleep of any major city in the world (just less than 6 hours per night). Alcohol is also a massive part Korean culture, boy can they drink, like seriously, holy ****. By stereotypes you might think Russia would consume the most hard liquor, but no, out of 200+ countries South Korea tops the list. They drink on average 14 shots per week, primarily in the form of Jinro Soju which happens to be the best selling liquor in the world and originates in South Korea. Soju is distilled from rice, and tends to be approximately 20% strength and tastes (to me) like a tolerable vodka. Seoulites in particular are true party animals, its a way of life.

Being one of the oldest countries in the world has its advantages. Considering the long history and unique blend of culture and capitalism, its no surprise South Korea has brought us many technological advancements and cultural contributions.

• Underfloor heating known as 'Ondol'.
• Iron printing press, more precise and significantly faster than previous tech.
• Regulating greenhouse, in short the temperature could be manually increased or decreased to grow various crops and plants.
• The worlds first, MP3 player, touchscreen phone and contactless smart transport card.
• A rocket launcher named the Hwacha, developed in the 16th century.
• Worlds first ironcald ships, known as 'turtle ships' way back in 1592. These were decisive in fighting the Japanese.
• Korean pop (K-Pop), while not my thing is extremely popular. Most of you will have head PSY - Gangnam style which was the most viewed video on YouTube for quiet a while, crossing 1 billion views.

See the video below if you're interested in K-Pop :)

My trip to South Korea :]

Unfortunately, I was not able to spend as long as I would like in South Korea. However, my time there will be remembered fondly. I stayed in a hostel in the city centre of Seoul.

Like most hostels, it contained everything you need (i.e. first world basics) such as WiFi, clean bed, shower, 24 hour access and of course, people to socialise with. There was also a large container in our room containing a clear liquid which, at the time I believed it to be water (to be fair its a hot country relative to home and I thought they were giving us free potable water). That evening was my first introduction to Soju and Korean BBQ.

The food was overall better than expected (I can be a fussy eater, although I did like Russian Borsch). Not a big fan of Kimchi though, although to be fair I could have tried more varieties. For those that don't know, Kimchi is a national dish consisting of various fermented veg.

Aside from partaking in the drink focused culture of Seoulites, we also went shopping and visited quite a few of the common tourist attractions. Shopping is a big deal in the South, I swear aside from drinking there other two loves are shopping and hiking. The shopping malls are huge and its not uncommon for these to be open till 4am. There is merchandise for literally anything and everything.

I was pleasantly surprised by the national love of hiking. I probably shouldn't have been though, its a mountainous country after all and Bukhansan park is literally right beside Seoul. People of all ages (some in there 50's atleast) wearing neon sportswear happily climb to the top. There were many from the older generations giving us a tourists a run for our money. Its no wonder the life expectancy is so high.

Quite a bit of my touristy time was spent visiting whats referred to as The Five Grand Palaces, the largest is called Gyeongbokgung (and was also the first, built in 1395). Each is impressive, for those who would like to research these further the other names are;

• Changdeokgung
• Changgyeonggung
• Deoksugung
• Gyeonghuigung

To be honest, these palaces and the associated history are worth individual posts. However another user has already provided an in-depth article, if it interests you please click here.

Unfortunately I did not make it to the infamous demilitarized zone (DMZ). Below are some other photos from around Seoul. After which, there is a brief historical/timeline summary of South Korea for those interested.

History

This section is longer than in Out of Office #1 but to be fair the country is considerably older. For those not interested in history feel free to skip this section, I won't grudge you :).
Depending on whether you consider the founding date for Korea or South Korea the country is either one of the oldest or newest in the world. As I thoroughly enjoy history, I thought I'd include a relatively short summary for those who share an interest.

Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom was founded in 2333 BC. This makes Korea one of the few nations in the world founded BC to still be around (kind of, I guess it is split now). Gojoseon collapsed in 108 BC after a series of conflicts with the Han Dynasty (modern day China). The Three Kingdoms of Korea were founded (between 57-18 BC), Silla, Goguryeo and Baekje. These were eventually unified under the Silla dynasty in (676 AD) but later surrendered to Goryeo (935 AD).

Goryeo was eventually removed by the father of the famous Joseon dynasty in 1392 whom founded Seoul two years later. Over the next 500 years, Korea was invaded by Japan (1592), Manchuria twice (1627 and 1636), France (1866) and even had a 'misunderstanding' with the United States (1871). The reason France traveled so far was due to Korea executing French Catholic missionaries. The misunderstanding with the US resulted in two hundred Koreans and three Americans dying.

To say the 1900s were not a good time for Koreans would be a understatement. Japan annexed the peninsula in 1905 before deposing the royal family in 1910. The Japanese also banned the Korean language and attempted to convert the native population to Shinto (religion). Korea was a protectorate of Japans up until 1945 when they were forced to relinquish control.
However, Korea was not given independence, it was divided between the US and the Soviet Union. In fact, the US forcibly dissolved the 'Peoples Republic of Korea' in 1946. However, in 1948 The Republic of Korea declared independence, just two years later the Korean War began.

The Communist forces from the North invaded the South, between 1950-1953 more than two million lives were lost. The bloodshed ended in 1953 due to the Korean Armistice Agreement being signed. It is important to note while the Soviet Union supported the North, the US supported the South. It was essentially the first proxy conflict in the Cold War between the two superpowers. Shortly afterwards, South Korean soldiers actually fought along side American forces in Vietnam.

Politically, South Korea was quiet unstable, martial law was used more than once and there were various coup d'etats, / assassinations undertaken. For example, between 1980-81 martial law was declared after student demonstrations (the death toll exceeded 200 people in Gwangju alone). Just two years later the Soviet Union shot down a Korean passenger flight (that was in Soviet airspace). In short, Korea was a volatile country with opposing superpowers backing opposite sides.

Fortunately, in 1987 a successful student uprising resulted in the current leader being deposed and replaced by Roh Taw-woo who was quite liberal and ran a anti-corruption campaign. While there was still tension and the occasional skirmish between the North and South the peninsula was relatively peaceful from 1987 onward's. Key dates include;

• 1988 Seoul hosted the Olympic Games.
• 1991 Both North and South Korea joined the United Nations.
• 1993 First free parliamentary elections.
• 1997 International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided $55 billion bailout to South Korea.
• 2000 First meeting in almost fifty years between North and South Korea. This historic meeting resulted in families who had been separated for decades being able to see each other again.
• 2012 First female president.
• 2016 President impeached.
• 2017 Left-centre candidate Moon Jae-in elected in landslide victory.

For those still with me, thank you very much. Please provide constructive criticism, I'm all ways looking for feedback. Also, if you liked this post (or didn't but are interested in Russia) don't forget to check out Out of Office #1 :)

Oh and for anyone who happens to visit Doha airport in Qatar theirs a pool on the 4th floor, its amazing. Much better than waiting in a chair for hours.

Until next time, enjoy.