101 Facts About South Korea

greetings mama factors my name is Sam and today I'm going to be talking to you all about the best Korea South Korea you guys have been requesting South Korea for a long time now and we finally caved in proving once and for all that peer pressure's an effective means of getting exactly what you want Vonda bar but how oh how has a popular American TV show affected the Korean language what do Koreans say instead of cheese when taking a photo and what is a BTS is it bad it sounds bad oh god I've got BTS haven't I I haven't got long please just tell my girlfriend I love her and to destroy my computer that's very important that second bit anyway to enter through those questions are going to be answered so Chuck on your handbook and do a shot of soju to prepare yourself with some terrible pronunciations because you know that's my forte as we give you 101 facts about South Korea number one South Korea officially the Republic of Korea is a country in East Asia constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula which is the estanque a bit here look at it look at it number two as you can see South Korea shares a land border with its evil - a North Korea to the west is the Yellow Sea in mainland China and lying east it's sunrise across from the Sea of Japan and the career straight directly south this East China Sea which opens up to the Philippine Sea and Pacific Ocean number three the name Korea is derived from could Goryeo which was a powerful ancient kingdom that was established on and around the Korean Peninsula in 37 BC lasting for over 700 years number four the lenka Goryeo means high and clear which is nice however a slightly more poetic interpretation of then Korea is land of high mountains and sparkling streams which is also nice number five South Korea has a total land mass of around thirty eight thousand seven hundred and fifty square miles that makes South Korea roughly the same size as the u.s. state of Indiana which is now something you know you're welcome number six South Korea also includes over 3,000 islands most located off the country's ragged southern coast otherwise it that's soap sexily by far the largest of these islands is jeju located in the Korea Strait number seven South Korea lies in the North temperate zone and tends to have a humid continental and subtropical climate the country has a predominantly mountainous terrain with arable lowlands constituting only 30% of the total land area that basically means they can't grow food there number eight not only that the vast majority of South Korea's land is covered in trees a 64% of the country is forested that's tremendous a yard while I like this number 9 the human component of South Korea is comprised of an estimated 50 1.4 million people or roughly 25 point seven million people post Thanos number ten South Korea's largest city and capital is Seoul which has a population of roughly 10 million people that means that one in every five South Koreans live in the capital a further 15 million people live within the Seoul Capital Area meaning roughly half of all South Koreans live within this metropolitan area number 11 in addition roughly 2.1 million South Koreans live in the good old US of A a most lean cities like New York Chicago and Seattle the first Koreans began immigrating to the United States in 1903 more than half of which emigrated to the islands of Hawaii in order to work on sugar and pineapple plantations number 12 archeological evidence suggests that early humans first inhabited the Korean Peninsula roughly 500 now was in two years ago that's almost 500 thousand one years ago people that's a lot number 13 later on the Korean Peninsula settled by tong ducek speaking people who migrated from Manchuria and Siberia these groups formed the dominant ethnic foundation of the Korean people and spoke languages that eventually developed into modern Korean well done to them number 14 the first recognizable political state to arise in the Korean Peninsula was the code jos on the ethics ko meaning ancient this thing was hid from the later joseon dynasty which we'll get to later my impatient little darlings Kojo team was founded in two 333 BC in the north by the legendary figure of dong Geun who we set up in the offspring of a heavenly prince and female bear that have been transformed into a woman I mean sure whatever works I guess number 15 ker Jo saw mostly covered what is now North Korea and the Chinese region of Manchuria but it stands as the foundation of modern Korea so I felt it was worth mentioning one of the earliest states to forming what we now know as South Korea is the state of Jin not that kind of Jin which was established no later than the third century base a number 16 by roughly the first century bc co joseon had developed into a league of tribes in an area of atte dong and liao rivers they eventually evolved into three main rival kingdoms ko carrillo picture and Shilla this was known as the Three Kingdoms period because it was a period of time in which there were three kingdoms I thought you've got on your own but I explained it anyway number 17 the three kingdoms were also joined by the Chi a confederacy which was a collection of city-states located on the central section to Korean Peninsula southern coast the Chi a confederacy managed to stay independent for hundreds of years throughout the three kingdoms period because it was a funky little polity that in his owned thing number 18 however the guy can better see never fully developed into a centralized Kingdom and those utter rot banks in the Shilla Kingdom eventually annexed a guy Confederacy in 562 ad packs number 19 over an 8-year period between 660 and 668 ad the kingdom of Shilla conquered and unified the Korean Peninsula with the assistance of China under the Tang Dynasty this formed the later Shilla Kingdom and for the first time created a united Korean identity number 20 however the state's rigid class system caused stagnation and unrest in later Shilla and in 892 ad the kingdom fracture this resulted in the re-emergence of the previous kingdoms Co Carrillo and Peck share in what is sensibly known as the later Three Kingdoms period because what well you known by now number 21 in 918 the leader of later coup Carrillo was ousted by two named and by the way yes this is completely legit I'm not making this up his name was Wang Khan okay Wang big space Khan anyway when Khan anyway Wang Khan went to conquer picture and Shilla unifying the country wants more under a new name the Koryo dynasty this was the first truly unified korean state in the history of the Korean Peninsula number 22 despite a brief period between eleven seventeen twelve seventeen which the government was controlled by military regime leaders and experienced several Mongol invasions Koriyama existed as an unbroken dynasty that ruled Korea for 474 years number 23 the Koryo dynasty fell in 1392 and was replaced by the Chosun dynasty which lasted with impressive 518 years that's almost 119 years people and that's math number 24 in the 1590s the Korean Peninsula was twice invaded by the Japanese in the conflict that has collectively known as the engine war Japan's forces were repelled by the ingenious military tactics of Admiral Asian chin who was never defeated at sea nor lost a single ship under his command to enemy action what allege as such admiral yi sun-shin is considered one of history's greatest naval commanders even greater perhaps than the naval commander of my heart Jennifer Lawrence yeah one expert in that way number 25 in 1897 the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country for the Kingdom of Jos onto the Empire of Korea in the misplaced hope of an auspicious future that wouldn't be completely upended only thirteen years later number twenty-six only thirteen years later however Japan finally annexed Korea in 1910 bringing the Korean Empire and its monarchy to an end the Japanese exercise strict colonial control over the Korean people and force him to speak Japanese and practice Shintoism number 27 I hope you're ready for a sad serious voice because these are dark facts people during world war ii approximately five million four hundred thousand koreans were conscripted by the japanese to alleviate a labor shortages that developed as a result of the conscription of japanese males roughly 670 thousand of these were taken to Japan where they were forced to work under appalling conditions leading to roughly 60,000 deaths it's estimated that between two hundred seventy thousand at eight hundred and ten thousand Korean forced laborers in Korea and Manchuria also died during this period number 28 the Imperial Japanese Army also abducted from their homes nearly 200-thousand women over 80 percent of whom were Korean and forced them to work as slaves for Japanese soldiers known as comfort women they were sent across China and Southeast Asia and was subjected to the brutality one would expect from forced female slaves roughly three-quarters these women died during the war number twenty-nine at the end of World War two Korea was released from the Japanese colonial rule when Japan surrendered to Soviet and US forces who occupied the northern and southern half of Korea respectively despite an initial plan to unify Korea failed negotiations and escalating Cold War hostility between the United States and Soviet Union eventually led to the establishment of two separate and ideologically distinct governments number 30 in what is known as the division of Korea a separate election held in the u.s. zone in 1948 created the pro-west Republic of Korea in southern Korea now commonly known as he gets to South Korea in the north the Soviets appointed communist Kim il-sung as the leader of North Korea which has since become infamous is pretty much the worst place on earth sorry not sorry number 31 both Koreas then pursued authoritarian repression that sent within their respective regions with each considering themselves to be the true descendant of historical Korea bit like you know in a psych ward where you get all these people thinking they're Jesus liber tensions continue to flare and on a 25th of June 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea sparking the Korean War the conflict which involved the United States China the Soviet Union and several other nations lasted for three years until reaching a stalemate in 1953 by which points roughly 1.2 million people had already died number 32 at this point the two Koreas agreed to create the Korean Demilitarized Zone a buffer zone between the two countries that remains the most heavily fortified border on earth the 4 kilometer wide border commonly abbreviated to dmz stretches 245 kilometers across the korean peninsula from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan number 33 in the decade since the division of Korea between 100,000 and 300,000 people have made the our decision to escape from North Korea most of whom fled to Russia or China roughly 30,000 North Koreans eventually made their way to South Korea by comparison very few South Koreans have ever defected to the north neighborhoods for as a result of the demilitarized zones creation much of the natural wildlife and rare plants along the border have remained untouched for over 60 years this has allowed unique species of plants and wild animals to flourish such that the area is now recognised as one of most well preserved areas of temperate habitat in the world number 35 though North and South Korea signed a ceasefire in 1953 the conflicts never officially ended meaning North Korea and South Korea are technically still at war however kim jeong-hoon and mu j in metal in dmz in April of 2018 officially signifying the end of the war number 36 following the Korean War South Korea struggled with political instability and autocratic governments well into the 1980s it also until a former Army general named wrote a Wu won the country's first free presidential election in 1987 following a period of military rule that South Korea finally transitioned away from its turbulent past number 37 South Korea is now a presidential Republic consisting of 17 sexy little administrative divisions of these nine properties similar to US state and ate a special or metropolitan cities number 38 in 2012 South Korea elected Park geun-hye as their first-ever female president in doing so she became the first female president popularly elected as head of state in East Asia good times number 39 however in 2017 Park geun-hye was later impeached and ultimately sentenced to 24 years in prison after she was found guilty of multiple counts of abuse of power bribery and coercion bad times number 40 both North and South Korean speak Korean Korean consists of 14 continents and 10 vowels and is written with an alphabetic writing system known as Hangul which was personally developed by King Seon the great in the 15th century prior to that Korean was written using Chinese characters number 41 in fact more than half of Korean vocabulary taught to be derived from Chinese which reflects the influence that China had on Korea over the past few thousand years or so those Chinese dudes really get around the meaning of life one of the most common ways to ask someone how they are in South Korea is to say have you eaten well I wish more people ask me that's instead of just looking at me in assuming I have all the chubs number 43 amazingly the Korean word for Swiss Army knife is make I bow Cal Cal is an entirely Korean word meaning knife but make I bow is derive from the title character of the iconic American TV series MacGyver wow this is the best fact so far big fan of this fact number 44 funnily enough the Korean phrase for light a cigarette literally translates to attach pyre to a cigarette that actually makes sense in an excruciatingly me literal sort of way number 45 the current flag of South Korea incorporates symbols and philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism with a red and blue yin-yang surrounded by four symbols representing heaven earth fire and water the flag is known as type G which literally means supreme ultimate flag number 46 the hibiscus syriacus a flowering plant species also known as the Rose of Sharon who Sharon is South Korea's national flower where it's known as mu Tong hua the flower is even mentioned in the national anthem so yeah it's a pretty important flower you guys number 47 both the tiger and rabbit are important entities of Korean folklore and have found throughout Korean folk tales and art some Koreans even say that the Korean Peninsula is shaped like a tiger and others of rabbits I mean sort of if you squint and ignore like a lot of it and add ears number 48 the most common family names in South Korea are Kim Lee and Park more than a fifth of all South Koreans in fact had the last name Kim number 49 according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development South Korea has the highest estimated national IQ in the world the country with the lowest IQ is all Wow okay nope not really in that particle devotional true but controversial moving on number 50 South Koreans are some of the most overworked people on earth in 2018 the South Korean government was forced to pass legislation introducing a maximum 52 hour workweek down from a punishing 68 hours previously number 51 although South Korea enjoys very high living standards suicide is a serious and widespread problem in fact South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the developed world according to the health organization number 52 South Korea boasts the world's fastest wireless speeds on the planet though with an average download speed of 33.5 megabits per second that's an it'd be three times the average speed of second place Hong Kong number 53 not only that an incredible ninety nine point two percent of all South Koreans have broadband access number fifty-four South Koreans are also some of the biggest smartphone users in the world as of 2013 seventy eight point five percent of the South Korean population had a smartphone among 1824 year olds that bigger jumps to ninety seven point seven percent hello if you're watching gang number 55 according to the South Korean National Information Agency fourteen percent of South Koreans between the ages of nine and twelve are addicted to the Internet in 2011 South Korea passed a law called the shut down law that bans anyone younger than 16 from accessing online game sites between midnight and 6:00 a.m. number 56 not only that in 1999 South Korea passed the law requiring all online shopping and banking to be done using Internet Explorer as of 2016 that law is still in place which I genuinely consider an abuse of human rights number 57 by law every South Korean man is obliged to inform 21 months of military training at the age of 28 which means sexist in 2018 but hey hey whatevs aside from those with disabilities the only South Korean men who are exempt from conscription are successful Olympic athletes and footballers number 58 South Korea has a controversial national security law which forbid citizens and showing support for North Korea in any context in 2016 a 73 year old South Korean man were sentenced to a year in prison for praising the north on his blog years previously number 59 adultery was only legalized in South Korea in 2015 prior to that the crime of cheating on one's husband or wife was punishable by up to two years in prison number 60 South Korea is known for a fairly unique practice within its criminal justice system in which people suspected of crimes had just murder are taken back to the scene of the crime where they are forced to recreate it in public not only that the media is often invited to take pictures and publish details about the crime too weird number 61 South Korea is the largest market for plastic surgery per capita in the world with some estimates suggesting that one in five women in Seoul have gone under the knife for at least one cosmetic procedure number 62 one of the most common plastic surgery procedures performed in South Korea is eyelid surgery in which the skin around the eye is reshaped to create a crease in the upper eyelid this procedure is controversial as many people suggest it's done to appeal to Western beauty standards even so the surgery so popular that some wealthy South Koreans receive double eyelid surgery on their 16th birthday number 63 South Korean men are particularly evolved when it comes to makeup with as many as one in five South Korean gents reporting to using makeup regulate in fact many South Korea spending close to 19 million u.s. dollars a year on makeup nintendo64 the national dish of South Korea is kimchi which is a combination of fermented vegetables and spice the first written description of making kimchi dates to the 13th century and today there are literally hundreds of different varieties of the dish number 65 kimchi so popular in South Korea that when taking a photo South Koreans say kimchi instead of cheese which implies that kimchi is better than cheese but it isn't because literally nothing is better than cheese number 66 although it may be shocking to other nations around the world dog meat has been eaten in South Korea for centuries and it's still served in certain Korean restaurants and street markets today however this practice has become increasingly controversial in recent decades and contrary to popular belief only a very small percentage of South Koreans have actually tried it number 67 incredibly only 3.2 percent of Koreans are overweight which makes them one of the least obese nations on the planet number 68 most popular type of alcohol in South Korea is soju a clear distilled beverage similar to babka that's traditionally made from rice wheat or barley the alcohol content of shoji varies from about 70% all about 53% and is usually consumed neat neat number 69 denizens of the nation's capital of Seoul are tied with the people of Tokyo as the most sleep-deprived city slickers in the world the inhabitants of both cities get the least amount of sleep any residents of major cities on earth at less than 6 hours of sleep a night number 7 day in Korean the word Seoul literally means capital city I'm starting to get the impression that Koreans are fairly literal people number 71 Seoul is home to Lotte world they made a recreation complex that houses the world's largest indoor theme park the complex also contains shopping malls a luxury hotel a monorail a Korean folk museum sport facilities and cinemas or as the Americans call it movie theaters number 72 tourists the South Korea are often drawn to hasten in park which is located in the northeast of the country the pain is notable for containing roughly highly stylized tattoos of you can you can see well that is which were erected to a piece of fabled virgin woman who drowned at sea it's best if you don't ask number 73 similarly the beaches of South Korea's largest island Rajesh you are home to large stone statues called da LaRue bang meaning stone grandfather these statues depicting is with balding faces and suggestively shaped hats which some have described is erm what's the word phallic it's a popular belief that if newlywed women touch the nose of these statues they will be blessed with fertility number 74 the island of Jersey was also home to hallasan a shield volcano and the tallest mountain in the country allison measures up in an impressive six thousand three hundred and eighty eight feet in height number 25 the island of jeju is also home to the han yo or see women who are female divers who hunt for sea urchins abalone and octopus without using breathing apparatus this tradition of diving dates back to the fifth century though it didn't become an exclusively female profession until the 17th century when significant numbers of men died at war number 76 in a practice it probably seems slightly odd to most Westerners roughly 60% of South Korean families use professionals to find a name for their babies based on the Chinese zodiac number 77 apparently however South Koreans need to stop fussing over name to get back to boinking according to a 2014 study commissioned by the national legislature add their current birth rate South Koreans will go extinct by 2750 yikes number 78 interestingly South Koreans may not consider themselves to be the same age as foreigners born on the very same day this is because in South Korea babies are considered a one-year-old at birth and turn 2 on the 1st of January so if a baby is born on the first photo December which I'm told does happen from time to time they'll turn to the very next day that's like cheating to me number 79 speaking of birthdays a traditional birthday dish served in South Korea is seaweed soup I think I'll stick with Colin McAteer Villa thank you very much number 81 South Koreans reached the age of 60 they are often thrown a lavish party called a1 gap which originated before the development of modern medicine when very few people live to that age it's also a significant birthday because the traditional Korean it's based on a 60-year cycle number 81 Christmas is an official holiday in South Korea as roughly a third of all South Korean to Christians however the festival apparel worn by South Korean Santa Claus isn't red but blue or even more rarely green he is also known as Santa Kulu so which means grandfather Santa number 82 in South Korea April 14th is a holiday reserved for single people who did not receive gifts on Valentine's Day the holiday is known as black day which refers to the sticky black noodles called Josh I'm yon witch 8:00 in the morning of their lack of relationships hot fatties o bleak number 83 South Korean celebrated the Harvest Moon festival known as Chuseok by traveling back to their hometowns to visit and clean the graves of their ancestors to which they bring gifts such as fine boots man I wish I was a long-dead Korean ancestor so people would bring me food number 84 originally conceived as a way to advertise mud cosmetics South Korea's annual boreal mud festival attracts millions of people from around the world every year for ten whole days among enthusiasts partake in mud marathons mud wrestling and mud photo contests as well as a nice relaxing mud massage just to you know take the edge off number 85 it's a popular belief in South Korea as well as Japan and Taiwan that one's blood type can determine a person's personality character and social compatibility this belief is so profoundly engrained into Korean culture in may even affect to whom a person decides to marry number 86 in South Korea it's commonly believed that leaving an electric fan on overnight in an unventilated room will kill anyone inside sleeping though this belief is declining amongst younger Koreans it remains a persistent superstition in Korean culture despite literally zero evidence to support it number 87 of course we can't talk about South Korea without mentioning the biggest event of 2012 Gangnam style the infectious pop song written and performed by South Korean k-pop star psy was released on July the 15th 2012 accompanied by a quirky and hilarious music video the song quickly went viral topped the charts in 30 countries around the world and on the 21st of December Gangnam Seoul became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views which this one will - right guys number 88 indeed the explosive South Korean cultures throughout the world has been dubbed hey you meaning the flow of Korea the sorely missed q comments anger sounds a liberal cakwe former president brock obama even referred to this during a visit South Korea in March of 2012 number 89 in 2012 a prison in the South Korean city of Pohang became the first in the world to introduce robotic prison guards the bolts are equipped with 3d depth cameras a 2-way communication system and software capable of identifying certain human behavior patterns allowing them to effectively conduct patrols through prison corridors our biet under human supervision numbered 90 South Korea it's also home to u Edo Full Gospel Church which boasts the largest congregation on the planet with over eight hundred and thirty thousand members as of 2016 sadly the church faces at the cloning convocation after its founder David Young dicho received a three-year suspended sentence for embezzling 12 million dollars in church funds awkward number 91 somewhat hurtfully in South Korea a unmarried person is often referred to as a big baby it's a weird but sure okay number 92 many Korean homes have heated floors a tradition called on doll meaning warm stone which states all the way back to 1000 BC more than 90 percent of houses in South Korea have modern floor heating allowing people to eat sleep and watch TV on the warm floor number 98 taxis in South Korea and literally color-coded according to the level of service offered a gray or white taxi will offer a basic service for the qualified for potentially inexperienced driver whereas luxury cars with experienced drivers are painted black like Rolling Stones songs number 94 South Korea's national sport is Taekwondo which had developed in the 1940s and 50s out of Chinese martial arts like karate and the indigenous Korean martial arts like tachyon soo bahk and Guam being number 95 shehram is a korean form of racing that can be traced all the way back to 37 BC starting as competition between villages before it developed into a fully fledged martial art today shiron matches are held in stadiums and quite often televised number 96 baseball is one of the most popular sports in South Korea where it's known as yah goo there are in fact a number of interesting differences between Yahoo and american-style baseball for instance teams are named after corporations like Samsung Kia not cities baseball in Korea is also accompanied by cheerleaders which is usually weirdly not the case in United States number 97 interestingly basically the only recent baseball even exists in South Korea it's because of dictator general shouldn't do harm we established the Korean baseball organization in 1981 as a way to pacify the people of South Korea who kept protesting his regime and attempting to revolt still he ended up in prison anyway like old chap number 98 a popular pastime in South Korea is kite flying on the last day of the new moon before the Lunar New Year it's a tradition to let go of your kites in the hope your bad luck will float away with them number 99 another popular sports in South Korea is ten pin bowling which was introduced to the country by American GIs during the Korean War good god it's number a hundred Oh since the game launched in 1988 nearly half of all copies of the American military science strategy game Starcraft one of the best selling games in history had been sold in South Korea 101 the world's oldest existing astronomical laboratory known as sharm song day Observatory is located in Jiangsu South Korea where it was built during the mid six hundreds the name of the structure from song day means stargazing platform in Korean so that was 101 facts about South Korea which one did you enjoy the most let me know in the comments down below did I miss any let me know in the comments down below did I I mean I almost effing II did but mispronounce anything let me know in the comment down below while you're down there give this video a like and subscribe to below in fact to get them done too already so you can get even more this kind of thing in your newsfeed every damn week for the rest of either your life on my life in the meantime here are two videos you're gonna really dig I know you very well so I know you're gonna like him bye

Channel: 101Facts

Views: 166,765

Keywords: 101 facts, 101, 101facts, south korea, south korea facts, facts about south korea, korea, korean music, korean movies, k pop, bts, north korea south korea, north korea, Kimchi, korean food, seoul, korea history, south korea history, joseon dynasty, korea dmz, pohang, taekwondo, korea kite flying, Moon Jae-in, gwangju, daegu, incheon, gangnam style, psy, national anthem, vs germany, 2018, documentary, asian games, football, idol

Id: bLpYSGe4cAw

Length: 26min 55sec (1615 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 06 2018