Illicit drugs:
for years, from the 1970s into the 2000s, citizens of the
Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), many of them
diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad
while trafficking in narcotics, including two in Turkey in December
2004; police investigations in Taiwan and Japan in recent years have
linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and
methamphetamine, including an attempt by the North Korean merchant
ship Pong Su to deliver 150 kg of heroin to Australia in April 2003
This page was last updated on 19 December, 2006
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@Korea, South
Introduction Korea, South
Background:
Korea was an independent kingdom for much of its millennia-long
history. Following its victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905,
Japan occupied Korea; five years later it formally annexed the
entire peninsula. After World War II, a Republic of Korea (ROK) was
set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a
Communist-style government was installed in the north (the DPRK).
During the Korean War (1950-53), US troops and UN forces fought
alongside soldiers from the ROK to defend South Korea from DPRK
attacks supported by China and the Soviet Union. An armistice was
signed in 1953, splitting the peninsula along a demilitarized zone
at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter, South Korea achieved rapid
economic growth with per capita income rising to roughly 14 times
the level of North Korea. In 1993, KIM Yo'ng-sam became South
Korea's first civilian president following 32 years of military
rule. South Korea today is a fully functioning modern democracy. In
June 2000, a historic first North-South summit took place between
the South's President KIM Dae-jung and the North's leader KIM Jong
Il.
Geography Korea, South
Location:
Eastern Asia, southern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the
Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea
Geographic coordinates:
37 00 N, 127 30 E
Map references:
Asia