Republic of Korea (A Red Century)

 Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk, "The Republic of Great Hán"; ROK), and commonly referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name  Korea  is derived from the  Kingdom of Goryeo, also spelled as  Koryŏ. It shares land borders with China  to the north, and oversea borders with  Japan  to the east and  China  to the west. Roughly half of the country's 76 million people reside in the metropolitan area surrounding its capital, the  Seoul Capital Area, which is the  second largest in the world  with over 25 million residents.

Korea was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period and its civilization began with the founding of Gojoseon. After the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea in 668, Korea enjoyed over a millennium of relative tranquility under dynasties lasting for centuries in which its trade, culture, literature, science and technology flourished. In 1910 it was annexed by the Japanese Empire, after whose defeat in 1945, Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. zones of occupation, with the latter becoming the Republic of Korea in 1948. Although the United Nations passed a resolution declaring the Republic to be the only lawful government of Korea, a communist regime was soon set up in the North that invaded the South in 1950, leading to the Korean War that ended de facto in 1953, with peace and prosperity settling-in thereafter.

Between 1962 and 1994, Korea's tiger economy grew at an average of 10% annually, fueled by annual export growth of 20%, in a period called the Miracle on the Han River that rapidly and successfully transformed it into a high-income advanced economy and the world's 11th largest economy by 1995. Today, Korea is the eighth largest country in international trade, a regional power with the world's 10th largest defence budget and founding member of the G-20 and APEC. Since the first free election in 1987, South Koreans have enjoyed high civil liberties and a vibrant democracy ranked second in Asia on the Democracy Index. In 2009, South Korea became the world's first former aid recipient to join the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, becoming a major donor. Its pop culture has considerable influence in Asia and expanding globally in a process called the Korean Wave.

Korea is a developed country ranked 15th in the Human Development Index, the highest in East Asia. In terms of average wage, it has Asia's highest income and the world's 10th highest income. Globally, it is one of the highest ranked countries in education, quality of healthcare, ease of doing business and job security. It is the best performing OECD country in student skills with 64% of 25–34 year old Koreans holding a tertiary education degree, the highest in the OECD. It is the world's most research and development intensive country and the most innovative country as measured by the Bloomberg Innovation Quotient. Korea is the world's seventh largest exporter and the leading exporter of flat panel displays and memory chips, driven by high-tech multinationals such as Samsung, Hyundai-Kia and LG. A highly advanced information society, South Korea has the world's fastest Internet connection speed, ranking first in e-Government, 4G LTE penetration and second in the ICT Development Index and smartphone penetration.