South Korea facts

4. Words "four" and "Death" have very similar pronunciation in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese. In East Asia many buildings do not have a 4th floor. Some high-rise residential buildings omit all floor numbers with "4", e.g., 4, 14, 24, 34 and all 40–49 floors.

In Korea. There are various styles of chopsticks in different cultures. In Korea, the chopsticks are made of metal, and are paired with a spoon. There are also differences in the eating etiquette.

Taekwondo. Traditional taekwondo was established in the 1950s and 1960s in the South Korean military, and in various civilian organisations. The names and symbolism of the traditional patterns often refer to elements of Korean history, culture and religious philosophy.

At point 3. Seoul is in the northwest of South Korea by the Han River. The Han River and its surrounding area played an important role in Korean history, but is no longer actively used for navigation, because its estuary is located at the borders of the two Koreas, with civilian entry barred.

Korea. Hanbok (literally "Korean clothing") is the traditional Korean dress. Today it is worn during traditional festivals and celebrations. Traditional Korean clothing has its roots extending back at least as far as the Three Kingdoms Period (57 B.C. - 668 A.D.).

Busan. The four largest cities in South Korea are Seoul (9.8 million), Busan (3.4 million), Incheon (2.7 million) and Daegu (2.4 million).

Han River. There are four large rivers named “Han” in East Asia: two in China, one in Vietnam and one in South Korea. The largest of them is Han river in China, which is the largest tributary of Yangtze.

Hangul is one of the few alphabets that have been artificially created and have not evolved from hieroglyphics or ideograms, as has been the case with most modern writings. Words in this alphabet can be written horizontally or vertically, e.g.: 사자 (lion) and 봄 (spring).

All of the above. The Flag of South Korea has three parts: a white rectangular background, a red and blue Taeguk, symbolizing balance, in its centre, and four black trigrams selected from the original eight, one to each corner. Each trigram represents one of the four classical elements, such as virtue, celestial body or season.