1.
South Korea
–
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
2.
South Korean won
–
The won or the Korean Republic Won is the currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit, the jeon is no longer used for everyday transactions, and appears only in foreign exchange rates. The won is issued by the Bank of Korea, based in the capital city, the old won was a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen. It is derived from the hanja 圓, meaning currency or coin, the won was subdivided into 100 jeon, itself a cognate of the Chinese character 錢 which means money and also used as a unit of money in ancient times. The current won is written in hangul only. During the Colonial era, the won was replaced at par by the yen, in 1945 after World War II, Korea became divided, resulting in two separate currencies, both called won, for the South and the North. Both the Southern won and the Northern won replaced the yen at par, the first South Korean won was subdivided into 100 jeon. The South Korean won was pegged to the U. S. dollar at a rate of 15 won =1 dollar. A series of devaluations followed, the ones in part due to the Korean War. The pegs were, The first South Korean won was replaced by the hwan on February 15,1953 at a rate of 1 hwan =100 won, Republic of Korea Banknotes 5th Edition In 1946, the Bank of Joseon introduced 10- and 100-won notes. These were followed in 1949 by 5- and 1, 000-won notes, a new central bank, the Bank of Korea, was established on 12 June 1950, and assumed the duties of Bank of Joseon. Notes were introduced in denominations of 5,10 and 50 jeon, the 500-won notes were introduced in 1952. In 1953, a series of banknotes was issued which, although it gave the denominations in English in won, were, in fact, the won was reintroduced on June 10,1962, at a rate of 1 won =10 hwan. It became the legal tender on March 22,1975. Its ISO4217 code is KRW, at the reintroduction of the won in 1962, its value was pegged at 125 won = $US1. The following pegs operated between 1962 and 1980, On February 27,1980, efforts were initiated to lead to an exchange rate. The won was allowed to float on December 24,1997. Shortly after, the won was devalued to almost half of its value, until 1966, 10- and 50-hwan coins, revalued as 1 and 5 won, were the only coins in circulation
3.
Hapkido
–
Hapkido is a highly eclectic Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, grappling, and throwing techniques similar to those of martial arts, as well as kicks, punches. Hapkido emphasizes circular motion, redirection of force, and control of the opponent, practitioners seek to gain advantage over their opponents through footwork and body positioning to incorporate the use of leverage, avoiding the use of brute strength against brute strength. The art was adapted from Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu as it was taught by Choi Yong-Sool when he returned to Korea after World War II after having lived in Japan for 30 years. Hapkido is rendered 합기도 in the native Korean writing system known as hangul, the arts name can also however be written 合氣道 utilizing the same traditional Chinese characters which would have been used to refer to the Japanese martial art of aikido in the pre-1946 period. The current preference in Japan is for the use of a simplified second character, substituting 気 for the earlier. The character 合 hap means coordinated or joining, 氣 ki describes internal energy, spirit, strength, or power and it is most often translated as the way of coordinating energy, the way of coordinated power or the way of harmony. Although Japanese aikido and Korean hapkido share common origins, in time they have become separate. They differ significantly in philosophy, range of responses and manner of executing techniques, Choi Yong-Sool s training in martial arts is a subject of contention. It is known that Choi was sent to Japan as a boy and returned to Korea with techniques characteristic of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu. In the interview with Chin Il Chang, Choi is claimed to have adopted by Takeda Sōkaku when he was 11 years old and was given the Japanese name. He claims to have taken to Takedas home and dojo in Akita on Shin Shu mountain where he lived and trained with the master for 30 years. This is contradicted by other claims asserting that Choi was simply a worker in the home of Takeda, the meticulous enrollment and fee records of Tokimune Takeda, Takedas eldest son and Daitō-ryūs successor, do not seem to include Chois name among them. Therefore, except for claims made by Choi himself, there is evidence that Choi was the adopted son of Takeda. Stanley Pranin, then of Aiki News and now editor of the Aikidojournal, at the height of dispute, it is claimed by hapkido practitioners that Koreans were excluded from listing, though this is contradicted by Takedas records which contain other Korean names. While some commentators claim hapkido has a Japanese lineage, others state that its origins lay with indigenous Korean martial arts. Choi Yong-Sools first student, and the man whom some claim helped him develop the art of hapkido was Seo Bok-Seob, a Korean judo black belt when they met. A direct student of Choi, Chin Il Chang inherited the title of Doju in Chois personal and complete system of Hapkido on January 15,1985, on April 5,1985 Choi personally awarded Chang the only existing 10th Dan certificate in Hapkido history
4.
Hangul
–
The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul in South Korea and as Chosŏngŭl/Chosŏn Muntcha in North Korea is the alphabet that has been used to write the Korean language since the 15th century. It was created during the Joseon Dynasty in 1443 by King Sejong the Great, in South Korea, Hangul is used primarily to write the Korean language as using Hanja in typical Korean writing had fallen out of common usage during the late 1990s. In its classical and modern forms, the alphabet has 19 consonant and 21 vowel letters, however, instead of being written sequentially like the letters of the Latin alphabet, Hangul letters are grouped into blocks, such as 한 han, each of which transcribes a syllable. That is, although the syllable 한 han may look like a single character, each syllabic block consists of two to six letters, including at least one consonant and one vowel. These blocks are arranged horizontally from left to right or vertically from top to bottom. Each Korean word consists of one or more syllables, hence one or more blocks, of the 11,172 possible Hangul syllables, the most frequent 256 have a cumulative frequency of 88. 2%, with the top 512, it reaches 99. 9%. The modern name Hangul was coined by Ju Sigyeong in 1912, han meant great in archaic Korean, and geul is the native Korean word for script. Taken together, then, the meaning is great script, as the word han had also become one way of indicating Korea as a whole the name could also potentially be interpreted as Korean script. Korean 한글 is pronounced, and in English as /ˈhɑːn. ɡʊl/ or /ˈhɑːŋɡʊl/, when used as an English word, it is often rendered without the diacritics, hangul, and it is often capitalized as Hangul, as it appears in many English dictionaries. Hankul in the Yale romanization, a system recommended for technical linguistic studies, North Koreans call it Chosŏngŭl, after Chosŏn, the North Korean name for Korea. Because of objections to the names Hangeul, Chosŏngŭl, and urigeul by Koreans in China, until the early 20th century, Hangul was denigrated as vulgar by the literate elite, who preferred the traditional hanja writing system. They gave it such names as these, Achimgeul, in the original Hanja, it is rendered as 故智者不終朝而會，愚者可浹旬而學。 Gugmun Eonmun Amgeul. Am is a prefix that signifies a noun is feminine Ahaetgeul or Ahaegeul Hangul was promulgated by Sejong the Great, the Hall of Worthies, a group of scholars who worked with Sejong to develop and refine the new alphabet, is often credited for the work. The project was completed in late December 1443 or January 1444, the publication date of the Hunmin Jeong-eum, October 9, became Hangul Day in South Korea. Its North Korean equivalent, Chosongul Day, is on January 15, various speculations about the creation process were put to rest by the discovery in 1940 of the 1446 Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye. This document explains the design of the consonant letters according to articulatory phonetics, to assuage this problem, King Sejong created the unique alphabet known as Hangul to promote literacy among the common people. However, it entered popular culture as Sejong had intended, being used especially by women, the late 16th century, however, saw a revival of Hangul, with gasa literature and later sijo flourishing. In the 17th century, Hangul novels became a major genre, by this point spelling had become quite irregular
5.
Seoul
–
The Seoul Capital Area houses up to half of the countrys population of 50.22 million people with 678,102 international residents. Situated on the Han River, Seouls history stretches back more than two years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, in 2015, it was rated Asias most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis. In 2014, the citys GDP per capita of $39,786 was comparable to that of France and Finland. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, Seoul is the worlds most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwCs Cities of Opportunity report. It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi, Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the worlds best airport nine years in a row by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has built in Seoul and become the OECDs tallest in 2016. Its Lotte Cinema houses the worlds largest cinema screen, Seouls COEX Mall is the worlds largest underground shopping mall. Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games,1988 Summer Olympics,2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, a UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. The city has known in the past by the names Wirye-seong, Hanju. During Japans annexation in Korea, Hanseong was renamed to Keijō by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja 漢, in reality, the ancient name of Seoul, Hanseong, originally had the meaning of big or vast. Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning city, which is believed to be derived from the word Seorabeol, which originally referred to Gyeongju. Unlike most place names in Korea, Seoul has no corresponding hanja, on January 18,2005, Seoul government officially changed its official Chinese language name to Shouer from the historic Hancheng, of which use is becoming less common. Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, a wall just outside Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century
6.
Vivek Oberoi
–
Vivek Oberoi is an Indian film actor known for his works exclusively in Bollywood. He made his Hindi film debut with Ram Gopal Varmas super-hit Company and his performance in the film earned him Filmfare Awards for Best Male Debut and Best Supporting Actor. He later featured in notable films which include Saathiya, Masti, Yuva, Kaal, Omkara. He performed lead antagonist in Krrish 3 and he is also starred in biographical films such as Maya Dolas in Shootout at Lokhandwala, Paritala Ravindra in Rakta Charitra, and Muthappa Rai in Rai. Suresh Oberoi was not an actor at the time of his marriage and he would later join Film and Television Institute of India. Vivek did his schooling from Hyderabad Public School and later went on to study at Mayo College, thereafter, he attended Mithibai College, Juhu. At an actors workshop in London he was spotted by the director of New York University who took Vivek to New York, Vivek also worked as a script writer in India. Oberoi made his debut with Ram Gopal Varmas film Company and he received Filmfare Awards for Best Debut as well as Best Supporting Actor. He then starred in the films, Road and Dum. In Dum, he played the role of a man trying to become a part of Indian police, next, he starred in Saathiya directed by Shaad Ali. The film was a big hit at the box office and earned him a Filmfare nomination in the Best Actor category and he starred in a comedy Masti. In 2004, he starred in Yuva. In 2005 he acted the character in the film Kisna. In 2006, he appeared in Omkara, an adaptation of Shakespeares play Othello and he played the character of Kesu, based on the character Michael Cassio in the original play. After seeing Oberois performance, Gulzar congratulated him and he performed to the song Apun Ke Saath, produced for the film by Vikas Kohli, at the 2008 International Indian Film Academy Awards. In 2009, he played a role in the movie Kurbaan. In 2010, he appeared in Prince, which failed to receive a response from the audience despite initial box office success. In the same year, he appeared in Ram Gopal Varmas Rakht Charitra, here he played the role of a Telugu politician Paritala Ravi
