About the Country - South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea is a presidential republic in East Asia. It occupies the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighboured by China to the west, Japan to the east and borders North Korea to the north. South Korea's capital and largest city is Seoul, the second largest metropolitan city in the world. South Korea was established in 1948 and has since been able to develop a successful democracy, which maintains a strong alliance with the US and its allies.

South Korea is a major economic power and is one of the wealthiest countries in Asia. It had one of the world's fastest growing economies since the 1960s, and is now highly developed and is the fourth largest in Asia and thirteenth largest in the world. South Korea is leading in many industries, especially science and technology. South Korea has a very advanced and modern infrastructure and is a world leader in information technology. South Korea is also home to one of the world's top five automobile producers, headed by Hyundai and Kia.

Education in South Korea is regarded crucial to success and therefore, competition is stiff in the country. A centralized administration in South Korea oversees the process for the education of children from kindergarten to third grade high school. Mathematics, science, Korean, social studies, and English are generally considered to be the most important subjects and are considered compulsory.
In Korea, English is becoming a very important subject as it is required for higher studies and more employers want their employees to known English today. With an estimated 100,000 institutes offering some form of English lessons, South Korea is now in a position, which rivals Japan as the busiest EFL teaching hotspot in the Pacific Rim.