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For most of the 20th century, South Korea was hardly the Land of the Morning Calm, as it has been called historically. From the Japanese occupation to the Korean War to the economic crisis in the late 1990s, life there was mostly about calamity. But the country seems determined to leave its troubles in the old century. It has entered the new millennium with renewed optimism.

South Korea's economy, the 10th largest in the world, has almost fully recovered following a record bailout by the International Monetary Fund at the end of 1997. Growth rates continue to climb, and new office towers are sprouting throughout Seoul, the country's modern capital. In its headlong rush to modernize and get ahead, South Korea has put much of its traditional heritage at risk.

Yet, despite the ever-widening gap between modern and traditional culture, there seems to be a comfortable balance between the two. These days, in any good-sized town there are fashionable areas where you can find discos, karaoke bars, coffee shops and stores selling everything from designer clothing to fresh French bread. But in these same towns you can also find an intriguing maze of traditional outdoor markets where vendors sell dried fish, ginseng and fresh vegetables as their families have done for hundreds of years.

The country's age-old search for tranquility lingers in its traditional culture, remnants of rural lifestyles, and unspoiled scenery that remain. Visitors can experience such calm at Haeinsa Temple, on mountain trails in Seoraksan National Park or while gazing at the moon from a coastal pavilion.

A very mountainous country (about 70% of its land is mountains), South Korea may look small on the map, but it is full of wonderful pockets of culture to explore. The capital, Seoul, is easily navigated without a guide—the subway system is well-marked and street signs are written in both English and Korean. Outside of the large cities, however, the countryside is best explored with a translator, since most people don't speak English (although it is widely taught in schools) and most signs are only in Korean.

Korean culture is focused on balance and harmony—the yin and yang, the hot and cold, the male and female—and the country is best seen with this mindset. The frenzy of the city contrasted with the tranquility of the countryside will give you a solid introduction to one of the world's oldest cultures.

Geography

South Korea is part of a 625-mi-/1,000-km-long and 150-mi-/240-km-wide mountainous peninsula. It is separated from China by the Yellow Sea (West Sea), from Japan by the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and from North Korea by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). (Note that most locals use the term "East Sea," and get very offended when it is referred to as the Sea of Japan.) Because much of the country's land is mountainous, only about 30% is farmable land, and most of it is located in the west and southeast.

About 3,000 islands (most of them tiny and uninhabitable) can be found off the western and southern coasts. The largest and most famous of these islands is Jeju, located about 60 mi/100 km off the southern tip of the peninsula. Known as the "Hawaii of Korea," Jeju island is a popular destination for honeymooners and tourists.

History

Perhaps the country's obsession with serenity came from its location: It has long been surrounded by powerful and intrusive neighbors. The "Three Kingdom Period" marked a time of power struggles within, but the Korean peninsula (and much of present-day Manchuria) was divided amongst the Goguryeo (37 BC-AD 668), Baekje (18 BC-AD 660) and Silla (57 BC-AD 935) kingdoms for most of the first millennium AD. The powerful Goguryeo Empire was a major dynasty and established high economic and cultural standards. However, it was conquered by Silla Kingdom, with help from the Tang Chinese in 668. Thus, the Korean peninsula was unified under one ruler for the first time.

The Unified Silla period was a time of relative peace for nearly 1,000 years, but Silla rule became fragmented into the "Later Three Kingdoms" period briefly before handing over power to the Goryeo Dynasty in 935. The Goryeo Dynasty, established in 918, is the dynasty that gave Korea its name. The dynasty ruled the peninsula for several hundred years until the Joseon Dynasty took over in 1392.

Much later, Korea was devastated by invading armies of Japan in 1592 and the Manchus in the mid-1600s. Korea responded by turning its back on the world and developing its own unique culture in isolation, becoming the "Hermit Kingdom" of Asia. Its solitude was eventually shattered by Japan, whose armies occupied the nation from 1910 until the end of World War II. Although the Japanese did improve the country's infrastructure, they proved to be harsh overlords, attempting to squelch the Korean language and culture, creating an enmity that remains today.

The postwar joy that followed liberation proved to be short-lived. By 1950, Korea was enveloped in a violent struggle for control between the U.S.-led U.N. forces supporting the government of the south and the Soviet- and Chinese-backed communist government of the north. For three years, war raged across the entire length of the peninsula, reaching a stalemate at roughly the 38th parallel.

A cease-fire was called in 1953 to end the violence of the Korean War, though no permanent peace treaty has ever been signed. (A nonaggression pact was finally reached in December 1991.) But the presence of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), the heavily fortified no-man's-land separating the two Koreas, seems to have little effect on daily life. Only a few miles/kilometers away, farmers cultivate rice in peaceful fields while housewives preserve vegetables in tile-roofed houses.

Recent world attention has focused on North Korea's moves toward developing nuclear weapons. Though North Korea's aggressive posturing occasionally raises tensions worldwide, most South Koreans tend to regard the situation as a family quarrel and pay little regard to the saber rattling from the north.

Snapshot

Potpourri

Ichon, an hour's drive southeast of Seoul, is famed for the Haegang Pottery Museum and the scores of kilns producing celadon pottery in the town. (Don't confuse Ichon with Incheon, a city northwest of Seoul where the international airport is located.)

Forty-three percent of South Koreans share just three family names—Kim, Lee and Park. The most common is Kim (21%). Married women keep their maiden name, and children take their father's family name.

Although life goes on calmly for the most part, you'll see plenty of indications that South Korea is in a state of military alert. Barbed concertina wire runs the length of some eastern beaches; highways double as landing strips; pillboxes face out to sea and tanks lie under camouflage netting along roads. Occasionally, army roadblocks slow traffic.

Koreans have a reverence for ginseng (called insam) and believe it has near-magical healing properties. Try some ginseng wine, if you get the chance.

Koreans are very proud of their unique alphabet, called han-geul. It was invented by a team of scholars in the 15th century, and each letter represents the shape of the mouth when pronouncing it. There's even a holiday (9 October) in its honor. It is considered a model language amongst linguists and contributes to Korea's 99% literacy rate.

The earthenware jars sitting outside rural homes contain homemade chili paste (called gochujang), fermented soybean paste (dwenjang) and kimchi.

Korean ceramics were so admired during the Imjin War in the 1590s that the Japanese kidnapped several thousand potters as war trophies.

Korean traditional clothing (for both men and women) is called hanbok: Women wear a long, billowing skirt with a short jacket, and men wear a jacket with loose trousers. You'll see people in brightly-colored hanbok everywhere on Lunar New Year, which falls in January or February.

Seoul is one of the most wired cities in the world. High-speed Internet access is available virtually everywhere, and the population's mobile phone usage rate is about 110% (which means practically everyone has a cell phone, and some people carry more than one).