Week 2 - Monday (Blog Assignment Part One)

South Korea, located in East Asia below China and left of Japan, has population of 50 million. It is lower half of Korean peninsula that roughly the size of Indiana state. Although small in size, it is Asia's fourth largest economy and the world's 15th largest economy based on GDP (indicator of country's standard of living).

1. Popular Sports

- The most popular sport in Korea is soccer. The popularity of the sport spurred in 2002 when Korea and Japan co-hosted FIFA World Cup during which Korea placed 4th place.

Baseball is another sport that gained much popularity over years and Korea won the Gold Medal in baseball at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Basketball has been recently gaining much popularity as well.

*A huge crowd cheering on during 2002 World Cup

2. Music

The most popular and mainstream music in Korea is pop (more commonly known as K-pop). Unlike America where solo artists are more common, most of popular pop artists form a group; mostly boy-band or girl-group. The popularity of these K-pop group reached its peak around 2010. Just last year, Psy had his mega-hit around the world, becoming the first artist in Korea to spread his fame all around the world rather than just Asia.

*SiStar

*Girl's Generation

*JYJ

*2PM

3. Food (Traditional Food/Popular Food)

1) Bibimbap: literally means mixed rice. It is a signature Korean dish; rice mixed with

various vegetables, sliced meat, fried egg and chili pepper state.

2) Bulgogi: grilled marinated beef.

3) Kimchi: fermented Korean dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings. It contains variety of ingredients such as radish, scallion or cucumber.

4. Major Religions:

*Irreligion: 46%

*Buddhism: 24%

*Christianity (Protestantism): 18%

*Catholicism: 10%

*Other religion: 2%

5. Korean National Holidays and Traditional Customs

Name	Date	Description
Shin-jeoung (New Year)	January 1st	New year celebration
Seol-Nal (Korean New Year's Day)	1st day of lunar month	One of the most important Korea holidays
Independence Day (Sam-Il-Jeol)	March 1st	Commemorates the March 1st Movement (1919), Korean nationalists declared independence in Seoul to the world
Children's Day (Eorininal)	May 5th	The day on which to esteem the personalities of children.
Buddha's Birthday (Seok-ga-tan-shin-il)	8th day of 4th lunar month	Celebration of Buddha's birthday
Memorial Day (Hyun-choong-il)	June 6th	Commemorates the people who died during independence movement
Constitution Day (Je-heon-jeol)	July 17th	celebrates the promulgation of the Constitution of Republic of Korea in 1948
Liberation Day (Gwang-bok-jeol)	August 15	Celebration of liberation from Japan in 1945
Midautumn Festival (Chu-seok)	15th day of 8th lunar month	Celebration for good harvest. Koreans visit their hometown and have a feast of Korean traditional food
National Foundation Day	October 3	The day celebrates the foundation of Go-jo-seon, the first state of the Korea nation
Hangul Day (Han-geul-nal)	October 9th	The day commemorates the inventio and the proclamation of hangul, the native alphabet of the Korean language.

6. Popular TV Shows and Movies

1) Infinite Challenge

*most popular TV show among Korean teens and early 20s. It starts seven comedians who are considered "below average" for various reasons. They take on different challenge each week.

2) Gag Concert

*most popular comedy program that has lasted over ten years in Korea. It stars various comedians who come up with different programs. Programs change over time. It is popular among Koreans of all age.

3) Old Boy

*A very famous Korean movie based on Japanese comic. The story revolves around a man who is imprisoned without a cause for 15 years and suddenly he is released.

4) Jae-seok Yoo

*Known in Korea as MC of the nation, he is comedian and comedy show host. He is widely considered as one of the most popular comedian for all age group (from children to very old audiences). His popularity stems not only from his comic personality but his good behavior and his manner; this shows that Korean audiences desire public figures who display have good reputation and behaviors.

7. Online News Sources

1) Chosun-Il-Bo (조선일보):

http://www.chosun.com/

2) Hangook-Il-Bo (한국일보):

http://www.hankooki.com/

3) Dong-Ah-Il-Bo (동아일보)

http://www.donga.com/

8. Online Forums for Expatriates

1) The Korea Times:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/index.asp

2) The Chosun Ilbo:

http://english.chosun.com/

3) The Korea Heald:

http://www.koreaherald.com/

9. Type of Government

- Korea closely follows United States government structure in that it has semi-presidential (government has both a prime minister and a president), democratic republic. The president is the head of state and of multi-party system.

- Major Political Parties, Korea consists of two major parties (NFP and DUP) and numerous small parties.

1) Saenuri Party (New Frontier Party): conservative; 152 seats

2) Democratic United Party: liberal; 127 seats

3) Progressive Justice Party: progressive; 6 seats

4) Unified Progressive Party: progressive; 6 seats

*Park Geun-hye, South Korea's 11th, current and the first female president of Korea