ABOUT KOREA

ABOUT KOREA 

 Location           

The Korean Peninsula is located in the northeast region of the Asian continent. The Korean territory consists of a peninsula that juts out to the southeast and some 3,200 islands. It borders China and Russia to the north and faces Japan across the Straits of Korea to the southeast.

Geographical coordinates

Korea is located between the latitudes of 33 and 43 degrees north and the longitudes of 124 and 132 degrees east. The east longitude of 127 degrees and 30 minutes and the north latitude of 38 degrees cross the middle of the peninsula. 
 
 
 Territory
 
The Korean Constitution declares the territory of the Republic of Korea consists of the Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands.

Area

 Total territorial area: 222,300km²
 Area of South Korea: 99,600km² (45% of the total area)

Topographical features

 The Korean Peninsula stretches north-south, but when its islands are included, the east-west span is longer. The distance from
the northernmost tip to the southernmost one is about 840km. From the easternmost part to the westernmost is roughly 1,200km.

 Seventy-five percent of the territory is composed of mountainous terrain.

 Korea’s northern and eastern regions are generally higher in altitude than other parts of the country, while the southern and
western areas are gentle in slope. Thus, the eastern and northern parts of the country are mountainous, while the western and
southern areas are mainly composed of plains. 

Mountains and rivers                     

             
 
The highest mountain in the Korean Peninsula is Mt. Baekdu (2,744m) on the northern border. The highest peak in South Korea is
on Mt. Halla (1,950m) in Jeju Island.

 Most of the rivers in Korea flow from east to west.

 The longest river on the Korean Peninsula is Aprok River (a.k.a. Yalu River, 790.7km), and the second longest one in all of Korea,
and also the longest in South Korea, is Nakdong River (525.15km). Other major rivers that measure longer than 400 kilometers
include Duman River (a.k.a. Tumen River, 431.1km) and Daedong River (450.3km) in North Korea and Han River (514.4km) and
Geum River (401.4km) in South Korea.

Borders

 The Aprok River marks the northern border to China and the Duman River to Russia.

 The East Sea stands between Korea and Japan to the east and the Yellow Sea (West Sea) separates Korea and China to the west.
The Korean Peninsula borders the Pacific Ocean to the south