Seoul is Korea’s capital city and its most populous city.Today's Seoul is home to almost 11 million people and encompasses 605.58 square kilometers. It represents over 24 percent of the entire county's population. The Han River bisects the city into two parts, nothern and southern Seoul. Northern Seoul totals 298.04 §´ (49.2 %) while the southern part is 307.73 §´ (50.8 %).

Seoul had rich past history. Almost 2,000 years ago, the area of the city developed into a town and was chosen as the capital of the Baekche Kingdom (18 B.C. ~ 660 A.D.), one of the three ancient states on the Korean peninusla. The Joseon Dynasty was founded in 1392. Its founding King, Yi SongGye, decided to make the place capital of the kingdom which is now called Seoul (http://korea.ixs.net/cities/Seoul/index.aspx) . The King built Royal shrines, palace buildings, as well as a fortified wall surrounding the capital. The administrative area of the capital was broken down into five inner-wall zones. The function of these zones was comparable to today's Gus (wards).

History shows that the population of Seoul remained close to 200,000 for almost 200 years from the 1660's.However, the population began to increase toward the end of the 19th century. The city received its first cosmopolitan touches with the opening of the nation to foreign powers and the opening of foreign missions in Seoul.

The Korean War played havoc with this capital city. The city was reduced to piles of debris. Seoul was able to regain the function of national capital after the Armistice Agreement saw.The government gave it top priority to rebuild it into a modern metropolis. The Seoul Metropolitan Government was put under direct control of the Prime Minister under a special legislative measure enacted in 1962.. This act enabled Seoul to develop into an autonomous administration.

Soul has been divided into 25 “gu” or wards. Eight out of the 25 "gu" or wards have more than 500,000 residents. Songpa-gu has the biggest population of some 700,000. In contrast, Chung-ku has a population of only 176,000. In the past 600 years since Seoul became the capital of the nation in 1394, the population of Seoul has grown 110 times.

Seoul has become so important for the country that it successfully represents Korea’s business, education, and modern culture. It also offers wide range of activities for everyone, including museums and palaces, parks and mountains, and amusement parks and night clubs.

The climate of Seoul is temperate. It has four distinctive seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The yearly average temperature of Seoul is 11.8 degrees C. Temperatures in Seoul tend to fluctuate a great deal, reaching as high as 38.4 degrees C in the summer and dropping as low as -12.6 degrees C in the winter.

Seoul has been ranked among the most advanced capital cities in the world. It has the honor of hosting the Asian Games in 1986 and the Olympiad in 1988 quite successfully. With the vast urbanization and industrialization of the city over the past 30 Years, Seoul in being growing into a prosperous and thriving city.

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