The Republic of Korea, or South Korea, occupies the southern half of a peninsula in the northeastern part of the Asian continent. Directly to the west of South Korea, and across the Yellow Sea, is China; the islands of Japan lie to the east. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (i.e., North Korea) shares the rest of the peninsula, which is divided at the thirty-eighth parallel. South Korea's total area is 99,237 square kilometers (38,305 square miles), which is slightly larger than Hungary or Portugal and a little smaller than Iceland or Bulgaria. Overall, South Korea is ranked 107^th in terms of geographic size out of 192 countries in 2003. Although geographically small, South Korea's population of 48.3 million in 2002 ranks it as the twenty-fifth largest country in the world. Not surprisingly, South Korea has a very high population density of 491 persons per square kilometer, which ranks eleventh among all...