South Korea is a mountainous part of the Korean Peninsula having been politically separated from North Korea after WWII due to the Cold War with US occupying South Korea while the Soviets occupied North Korea and resulting in the Korean War of 1950-53 between the two states which killed 1.2m people and resulted in a perpetual “technical state of war” as no peace treaty was ever signed
of its 51m population, 92% live in urban areas, half of whom live in high rise apartments in the capital Seoul which has 25 million pop.
the sustained economic growth since the 1960's has resulted in it becoming Asia's most advanced democracy with high government transparency, universal healthcare, freedom of religion and fundamental rights protected by the most developed rule of law in East Asia, and the world's 5th largest exporter while median household income is ranked 8th in the world.
it has a highly influential pop culture
Korea is still a homogenous mono-cultural society and Koreans will often stare at non-Koreans
there are 20 national parks and popular nature places like the Boseong Tea Fields, Suncheon Bay Ecological Park, and the first national park of Jirisan
Seoul is 37deg N latitude and longitude is similar to the West Australian border
many of its air pollution issues arise from its close proximity to China
Seoul's population on 20 million means it is noisy almost 24×7 - only time there isn't noise in the city is during Chuseok, when almost everyone heads to their family graves in the country
travel visas are not required for Australians traveling to south Korea for up to 90 days