The Korean Peninsula , located in Northeast Asia , is bordered on the north by China and Russia and juts toward Japan to the southeast.  The northernmost point is Yup'ojin in Onsong-gun, Hamgyongbuk-do Province , and the southernmost point is Marado island, Cheju-do Province .  

The westernmost point of Maando island in Yongch'on-gun, Pyonganbuk-do Province & the easternmost is Tokdo island in Ullung-gun, Kyongsangbukdo Province .  

The Korean Peninsula is 222,154 square kilometers, almost the same size as the UK or Romania .  The administrative area of the Republic of Korea is 99 , 392 square kilometers, slightly larger than Hungary or Portugal and a little smaller than Iceland .

The Republic of Korea is composed of nine provinces, with Seoul as the capital city.  Other metropolitan cities include Pusan , Taegu , Inch'on, Kwangju , Taejon , and Ulsan .  The landscape of the country is spectacular in its variations and about 70 percent of it is mountainous, with more than 3,000 islands dotting the coastline.  There are several major rivers in the south, one of which is the Hangang river which cuts through Seoul . 

The Koreans are one ethnic family speaking one language.  They share certain distinct physical characteristics which differentiate them from other Asian people including the Chinese and the Japanese, and have a strong cultural identity as one ethnic family.

The Korean language is spoken by more than 65 million people living on the peninsula and its outlying islands as well as 5.5 million Koreans living in other parts of the world.  The fact that all Koreans speak and write the same language has been a crucial factor in their strong national identity.  Modern Korea has several different dialects including the standard one used in Seoul and central areas, but they are similar enough that speakers/listeners do not have trouble understanding each other.

Linguistic and ethnological studies have established that the Korean language belongs to the Ural-Altaic group of Central Asia , which also includes Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish, Mongolian and Japanese.

Korean, like Japanese, also includes a rich vocabulary borrowed from Chinese in the same way many European languages includes a large number of words of Latin and Greek derivation.  Han-gul , the Korean alphabet (originally called Hunmin chong-um ) was invented in 1446 by a group of scholars under the patronage of King Sejong, and consists of 10 vowels and 14 consonants which are used to form numerous syllabic groupings.  Han-gul is easy to learn and write, which has greatly contributed to the high literary rate of Koreans.  

Korea is divided into two districts; highland and lowland.  In the highlands are the Myohyangsan and T'aebaeksan mountains, and are home to deer, roe deer, Amur goral, sable, brown bear, tiger, lynx , northern pika, water shrew, muskrat, Manchurian ring-necked pheasant, black grouse, hawk owl, pine grosbeak and the three-toed woodpecker.  The lowlands (peninsula) have a mild climate which is the habitat of black bear, river deer, mandarin vole, white-bellied black (or Tristram's) woodpecker, faiy pitta and ring-necked peasant.