Republic of Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo which was one of the great powers in East Asia during its time, ruling most of the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, parts of the Russian Far East and Inner Mongolia under Gwanggaeto the Great. Its capital, Seoul, is a major global city and half of South Korea's 51 million people live in the Seoul Capital Area, the fourth largest metropolitan economy in the world.The Korean Peninsula was inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in the early 7th century BCE. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in 668, Korea was subsequently ruled by the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). It was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided into Soviet and U.S. zones of occupations, with the latter becoming the Republic of Korea. In 1950, a North Korean invasion led to the Korean War and after its end in 1953, the country's economy began to soar, recording the fastest rise in average GDP per capita in the world between 1980 and 1990. Authoritarian rule ended in 1987 and the country is now the most advanced democracy in Asia with the highest level of press freedom in the continent. South Korea is a member of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, the G20 and the Paris Club.
South Korea is a highly developed country and the world's 11th largest economy by nominal GDP. Its citizens enjoy the world's fastest Internet connection speeds and the longest years of tertiary education in the world, along with the world's second most equal access to quality healthcare, resulting in the third highest health adjusted life expectancy in the world. South Korea is a global leader in many technology and innovation driven fields, being the world's 5th largest exporter and 8th largest importer. Since 2014, South Korea has been named the world's most innovative country by the Bloomberg Innovation Index for 6 consecutive years.