5 Chronology 2012 Highlights in Korea 30 Park Geun-Hye Elected President 38 Psy’s “Gangnam Style” Gets the World Dancing 40 Yearning for a New Type of Politics Leads to the Phenomenon of Ahn Cheol-Soo 41 Corruption and Internal Strife within the Prosecution 42 Household Debt Approaches 1,000 Trillion Won, Economic Crisis Deepens 43 Sejong City Sets Sail 44 Samsung-Apple Patent Dispute 45 Ruling Saenuri Party Wins Majority in Parliamentary Elections 45 Power Transfer to Kim Jong-Un 52 North Korea’s Successful Long-Range Rocket Launch Land, Climate, Population 57 Land 59 Climate 61 Population Government 67 Overview 70 President 82 Cabinet 86 Unification 88 Diplomacy 92 Judicial Affairs and Prosecution 94 National Defense 101 Public Administration and National Police 108 National Assembly 111 Political Parties 118 Court 121 Constitutional Court 122 National Election Commission Economy 125 2012 Economic Trend 129 2012 Economic Growth 131 Prices 132 Money Supply and Finance 136 Trade and Balance of Payments 137 Public Finance 139 Taxation 142 Fair Trade 145 Economic Cooperation 149 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 156 Maritime Affairs 158 Manufacturing 163 Construction & Transportation 167 Housing & Real Estate 169 Energy and Resources 171 Information and Telecommunications 176 Financial Industry 180 Retail Industry 182 Small and Medium-sized Firms 184 Movements of Chaebol Social Affairs 187 National Life 190 Labor 193 Public Health and Drugs 195 Environment 199 Public Welfare 201 Patriots and Veteran Affairs 203 Elderly, Women and Youth 206 Consumer Protection 207 Overseas Koreans 210 Crimes 212 Accidents and Disasters Education 215 Overview 216 Education Policy 220 Current State of Pre-School Education and Primary, Middle and High Schools 221 Tertiary Education 222 Key Developments in the Education Circle Culture 226 Cultural Policy 228 Mass Communication 230 New Media 231 Publishing 232 Advertisement 234 Academia 235 Science and Technology 238 Medicine 239 Literature 240 Fine Arts 240 Music 243 Theater Plays and Musicals 244 Dance 245 Movies 247 Religion 249 Cultural Assets 251 Tourism 253 Fashion Sports 254 Overview 256 2012 London olympics 257 Professional sports 264 Other Sports & Games 267 The 93rd national sports festival 269 The 93rd national winter sports festival Provincial Government 271 Seoul Metropolitan City 274 Busan Metropolitan City 277 Daegu Metropolitan City 280 Incheon Metropolitan City 283 Gwangju Metropolitan City 286 Daejeon Metropolitan City 289 Ulsan Metropolitan City 291 Gyeonggi Province 294 Gangwon Province 297 North Chungcheong Province 299 South Chungcheong Province 301 North Jeolla Province 303 South Jeolla Province 305 North Gyeongsang Province 308 South Gyeongsang Province 311 Jeju Special Self-Governing Province 313 Sejong Special Self-Governing City 316 Chronology of Korea Korea in Brief 409 Korean History 435 Geography 437 People and Language 438 Customs 443 Korean Festivals 454 World Heritage in Korea 455 Korean Food Culture 460 The Korean Wave Documents 478 The Constitution of the Republic of Korea 494 Government Organization Act 507 Full Text of President Park Geun-hye‘s Inauguration Speech 511 Full Text of President Lee Myung-bak’s Opening Address to Nuclear Security Summit 512 Speaker Kang Chang-hee’s Opening Address of the National Assembly Plenary Session 514 Full Text of Seoul Communique at Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul 517 Full Text of South Korean Government’s Statement on North Korea’s Rocket Launch (April 13, 2012, Seoul) 518 Full Text of South Korean Government’s Statement on North Korea’s Rocket Launch(Dec. 12, 2012, Seoul) 519 Statistics Directories 551 Government Directory 562 Heads of Government and Other Organs 581 Diplomatic Directory 595 Social and Cultural Directory 637 Business Directory