Name

: L. Pt. Santi Agustini S.

Grade

: X.4

Absent

: 32

Study

: English Language

SEOUL
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest city of Republic of
Korea. With a population of over 10 million, it is one of the world's largest cities and is by
far the most densely-populated city among OECD nations.The Seoul National Capital
Area, which includes the Incheon metropolis and most of Gyeonggi province, has 24.5
million inhabitants, and is the world's second largest metropolitan area. Almost half of
South Korea's population live in the Seoul National Capital Area, and nearly a quarter in
Seoul itself, making it the country's foremost economic, political, and cultural center.
Seoul is located on the Han River in the center of the Korean Peninsula, and was settled
in 18 B.C. when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in
what is now south-east Seoul. The city then became the capital of Korea during the
Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire. The Seoul National Capital Area is home to four
UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine
and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.
Seoul is considered to be a global city and Alpha World City. It hosted the 1988 Summer
Olympics and the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and will host the November 2010 G-20
Summit. It is one of the world's top ten financial and commercial centers, home to large
conglomerates such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia. In 2008, Seoul was named the
world's sixth most economically powerful city by Forbes.com. and 86th for quality of life
by Mercer.
Seoul is the 2010 World Design Capital and has a technologically advanced
infrastructure. Its Digital Media City has been a test-bed for some IT and multimedia
applications. Seoul was the first city to feature DMB, a digital mobile TV technology and
WiBro, a wireless high-speed mobile internet service. It has a fast, high-penetration
100Mbps fibre-optic broadband network, which is being upgraded to 1Gbps by
2012.Seoul Station houses the 350 km/h KTX bullet train and the Seoul Subway is the
third largest in the world, with over 2 billion passengers every year. Seoul is connected
via AREX to Incheon International Airport, which has consecutively been placed top in
the Airports Council International's annual Airport Service Quality Awards since 2005.