Korea is unprecedented in its rate of economic and technological development. Since the 1960s, the country has effectively carried out five-year economic development plans that set the Korean economy on a relentless course of exponential growth. From 1962 to 2005, the country's GNI surged from US $2.3 billion to a staggering US $786.8 billion today. The 1997 East Asian foreign currency crisis and the 2007 financial crisis have been but temporary set-backs for the Korean economy. For example the GNI stagnated at US $340.4 in 1998 but soon began to advance again, soaring to US $955.8 billion by 2007.
Referred to as the ¡°Land of the Morning Calm,¡± Korea has an ancient culture and a profound respect for human relations that make it stand out in the region. Located at a major crossroads of Northeast Asia, between Japan and China, Korea has a population of 48.60 million (2008) and a total land area of 100,032 §´ (2008). Its modern capital of Seoul is located on the majestic Han River.
Years of rapid economic development propelled the country to be the world's 12th largest trading nation. Korea's industrial base shifted from agriculture to manufacturing and is now shifting to services and a knowledge economy. Korea is an undisputed global force in a number of industries, including automobiles, petrochemicals, electronics, shipbuilding, textiles, and steel. Korea 's GDP expanded 5.0% in 2007 and 2.5% in 2008. In absolute terms, the Korean GDP in 2007 totaled US$969.8 billion, making the country the 14th largest economy.
Since 2004, Korean-made semi-conductors, automobiles, and wireless telecom devices have accounted for over 30% of the country's total trade volume. Exports of IT products have risen every year since 1998, reaching US $82.5 billion, or 29.5% of total exports, in 2005. Major IT export items include memory chips, mobile phones, LCD monitors, PCs, and satellite broadcasting receivers. Korea 's semi-conductor industry, in particular, has achieved tremendous growth over the past two decades and is the third largest in the world.
Korea has been designated as the host country of the G20 Summit for 2010, an indication of its increasing global role. As such, it will be the first Asian country, and the first non-G8 country, ever to host the event. The decision to make the G8 Summit an annual event was made at the third G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
Korea's leading role in the new order of the world economy is clear as the first Asian country to host the event, and of course the role of Korean Ban Ki-moon as Secretary General of the UNited Nations. At the event in Pittsburgh, Korea stressed the need for international collaboration as a strategy for recovery from the current global recession. Since then, Korea has shown the speediest recovery from the recession among the OECD member countries.
Not only that, at the third C40 Large Cities Climate Summit Seoul 2009, the country became the first Asian country to preside over the round-table session, displaying its green leadership credentials as the country that proposed the Low Carbon, Green Growth strategy.
