Discover South Korea

South Korea occupies the southern half of the Korean peninsula, between the Yellow Sea to the west and the East Sea to the east, in about 100,000 square kilometres — roughly the size of Iceland or Portugal — with a population above fifty million, which makes it one of the more densely settled countries on earth. Around seventy per cent of it is mountainous.

The division of the peninsula was not a Korean decision. It began on 2 September 1945, at the end of the Second World War, when the occupying powers established a Soviet zone in the north and a US zone in the south with the 38th parallel as the line. In 1948, after the United Nations failed to produce an outcome the Soviet Union would accept, UN-supervised elections were held in the US-occupied south only, and the Republic of Korea was established on 15 August 1948 with the Democratic People's Republic established in the north the same year. North Korea invaded in June 1950 and the war that followed killed around a million soldiers and an estimated 1.5 to 3 million civilians. It ended in an armistice, not a treaty, and it has never formally ended.

What the country did afterwards is the reason most people have heard of it. From one of the poorest states in Asia it became a major industrial and technological economy — cars, ships, semiconductors, consumer electronics — and then, having got rich, deliberately turned cultural production into an export industry, which is why a first-time visitor usually arrives already knowing the food, the films and the music.

It is also a young democracy. Martial law, a military coup and the Gwangju massacre are all within living memory of most adult Koreans; direct presidential elections were won by protest in June 1987, which is thirteen years after the Seoul subway opened. That sequence — dictatorship to Olympic host in a single year, 1987 to 1988 — is the compressed version of modern Korea and it explains the pace of everything else.

Practically, the country is small enough to cross in three hours by train and varied enough to be worth doing slowly: Seoul and its palaces and mountains, Gyeongju for the Silla period, Busan and the south coast, and Jeju, which is subtropical, volcanic and needs a car.

Train or plane? Train. KTX does Seoul to Busan in under three hours and Gwangju in ninety minutes; buses cover the rest. Fly only to Jeju.

What should I buy first? A T-money card. It works on subways, buses and taxis nationwide and in convenience stores.

Do I need to fill in anything before arriving? Possibly. Arrivals from designated Strict Quarantine Inspection Required Areas, including transits, must submit a health questionnaire via the Q-Code system or on paper; arrivals from Quarantine Inspection Required Areas must if they have symptoms. The lists change often. Failing to complete required screening can cost up to KRW 10 million.

Is healthcare good? Usually good but it can be expensive, and staff may not speak English outside the international clinics at the big hospitals. Bring insurance and accessible funds. And know this: if you are admitted, particularly with something serious, the hospital may ask you to bring a guardian — a bohoja — to help with washing, bathroom trips and exercise. Paid caregivers can be hired but generally do not speak English, so arrange a friend or relative in advance if admission is a possibility.

I am of Korean descent. Any risk? If you are a British male whose name appears on the Korean family register, you may be liable for military service even travelling on a British passport. Check before booking.

Can I join a protest? No. It is illegal for foreign nationals to take part in political activities in Korea. Demonstrations are common and usually peaceful, but avoid large gatherings.

How strict are the drug laws? Strict. Long jail sentences and heavy fines even for personal use of small amounts of marijuana, and British nationals have been detained solely on the basis of drug tests.

What are the emergency numbers? 112 police, 119 fire and ambulance, both with interpretation. 1330 is the 24-hour Korea Travel Hotline in several languages and handles everything including interpreting in an emergency — save it.

Why is my phone shrieking? Government emergency text alerts, sent to every phone for typhoons, floods, heat and civil emergencies. They are in Korean; the Emergency Ready app gives them in English. Sirens with vehicles stopping are a scheduled civil emergency exercise, not an attack.

When is the air bad? Spring, mainly — yellow dust plus local pollution. On high-concentration days most residents stay indoors or wear masks. The daily forecast is on every weather app.