Conventional Long Form Name of Country: Republic of Korea
Capital City: Seoul
Type of Government: Republic
Date of Independence: 15 August 1945
National Holiday(s) [Date and Celebration]: Liberation day, 15 August 1945
Chief of State [Picture below]: Lee Myung-Bak (since 25 February 2008)
Head of Government: Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik (since 1 October 2010)
Executive Branch/Powers: The State council appointed by the President on the prime minister's recommendation. The president elected by popular vote for a single five-year term; election held on 19 December 2007, and the next wil be in 2017.
Legislative Branch/Powers: Unicameral national assembly or Gukhoe. Elections are last held on 11 April 2012 and the next one will be held in 2016.
Judicial Branch/Powers: Supreme Court (justices appointed by the president with consent of National assembly ; Constitutional Court (justices appointed by the presidential based partly on nominations by National assembly and chief justice of the court)
Suffrage: 19 years of age; universal
Ambassador to the United States: Ambassador Sung Y. Kim
Embassy in the United States: 2450 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
South Korea's consulate(s) in the United States [City&States]: Agana (Guam), Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle
United States Ambassador to South Korea: Ambassador Sung Y. Kim
South Korea Ambassador to United States: Ambassador Choi Young-Jin
South Korea's representative to the United States: Ambassador Choi Young-Jin
Location of United States Embassy: 32 Sejongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-710
Location of United States Consulates: N/A
South Korea's representative to the UN: N/A
Nation's Symbol: Taegeuk (Yin and Yang) [Picture to the right where the Korean's flag is]
The picture below portraits Lee Myung-Bak, the Chief of State of South Korea.
The picture below portrays the Head of the Government, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik.
South Korea's Flag
The taegeuk (middle in red and blue) is baed on the Yin and Yang symbol. The idea is that the universe is perfectly balance of many things such as Light and dark, Good and bad, Heaven and earth, Male and female.
The four trigrams of the South Korean flag represents things about the universe. The first one is called Geon meaning Humanity, Father, Metal, and Justice. The first one to the bottom of the left is called the "Ri" such means the sun and Autumn. The third one which is the top right one is called the Gam which means the Moon and Winter. The right bottom one is called the Gon which means Earth and Summer.