IV-LEG

Assignment in Government and Politics of East Asia

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), whose capital is BEIJING, is a
unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the world's most populous country, with a
population of over 1.381 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres
(3.7 million square miles), it is the world's second-largest state by land area and third- or
fourth-largest by total area. Governed by the Communist Party of HYPERLINK
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_China"China, it exercises jurisdiction
over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing,
Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing) and the Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong
and Macau, also claiming sovereignty over Taiwan. China is a great power and a major
regional power within Asia, and has been characterized as a potential superpower.

MONETARY UNIT: renminbi

POPULATION: (2016 est.) 1,377,380,000

TOTAL AREA (SQ MI): 3,696,100

URBAN-RURAL POPULATION:Urban: (2014) 54.4%/ Rural: (2014) 45.6%

LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH : Male: (2015) 73.4 years/ Female: (2015) 77.7 years
LITERACY: PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION AGE 15 AND OVER LITERATE

Male: (2015) 98.2%

Female: (2015) 94.5%
GNI PER CAPITA (U.S.$) : (2015) 7,820

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a country in East
Asiaconstituting the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang is the nation's capital
and largest city. To the north and northwest the country is bordered by China and by Russia
along the Amnok (known as the Yalu in China) and Tumen rivers; it is bordered to the south
by South Korea, with the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the
two. However, the territory is wholly claimed by the Republic of Korea according to the
constitution.
North Korea officially describes itself as a self-reliant socialist state and formally holds elections.
Critics regard it as a totalitarian dictatorship. Various media outlets have called it Stalinist
particularly noting the elaborate cult of personality around Kim Il-sungand his family. International
organizations have assessed that human rights violations in North Korea have no parallel in the
contemporary world.The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), led by a member of the ruling family,holds
power in the state and leads the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland of which all
political officers are required to be members

OFFICIAL NAME :Chosn Minjujui Inmin Konghwaguk (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT : Unitary single-party republic with one legislative house (Supreme
Peoples Assembly [687]
HEAD OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT : Kim Jong-Eun
CAPITAL: Pyngyang
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Korean
OFFICIAL RELIGION: none
MONETARY UNIT: ([new] North Korean) won (W)
POPULATION: (2016 est.) 25,281,000
TOTAL AREA (SQ MI): 47,399
TOTAL AREA (SQ KM): 122,762
URBAN-RURAL POPULATION
Urban: (2014) 60.7%
Rural: (2014) 39.3%
LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH
Male: (2015) 66.3 years
Female: (2015) 74.2 years
GNI PER CAPITA (U.S.$)
(2009) 942

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , is a sovereign state in East Asia,
constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.Officially, its territory consists of
the whole Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands, which are largely mountainous.
South Koreans lead a distinctive urban lifestyle, as half of them live in high-rises
concentrated in the Seoul Capital Area with 25 million residents The capital Seoul is the
world's sixth leading global city with the fifth largest economy and is the seventh most
sustainable city in the world.
South Korea is a technologically advanced developed country driven by a highly educated and
skilled workforce, having the world's eighth highest median household income, the highest in
Asia Globally, it ranks highly in personal safety, job security, ease of doing business and
healthcare quality, with the world's third highest health adjusted life expectancy and fourth most
efficient healthcare system. It is the world's largest spender on R HYPERLINK
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_and_development_spending"&
HYPERLINK
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_and_development_spending"D per
GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science and engineering and ranking third in the Youth
Wellbeing Index. Home of Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia, South Korea was named the world's
most innovative country for 4 consecutive years since 2014 in the Bloomberg Innovation Index
ranking first in business R HYPERLINK
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_business_R%26D_intensity"& HYPERLINK
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_business_R%26D_intensity"D intensity,
manufacturing value-added, patents filed per GDP, second in higher education efficiency and
fourth in high-tech density and researcher concentration. In 2005, it became the world's first
country to fully transition to high-speed Internet and today it has the world's fastest Internet
speed and highest smartphone ownership, ranking first in ICT Development, e-Government
and 4G LTE coverage.

OFFICIAL NAME: Taehan Minguk (Republic of Korea)

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: unitary multiparty republic with one legislative house (National
Assembly [300])
HEAD OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT: President: Moon Jae-In, Prime Minister: Lee Nak-Yon
CAPITAL: Seoul
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Korean
MONETARY UNIT: (South Korean) won (W)
POPULATION (2016 est.) 51,619,000
TOTAL AREA (SQ MI) 38,696
TOTAL AREA (SQ KM) 100,222
URBAN-RURAL POPULATION
Urban: (2014) 82.4%
Rural: (2014) 17.6%

LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

Male: (2015) 77 years
Female: (2015) 83.3 years

LITERACY: PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION AGE 15 AND OVER LITERATE

Male: (2002) 99.2%
Female: (2002) 96.6%

GNI PER CAPITA (U.S.$)

(2015) 27,440
 Japan is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the
eastern coast of the Asian mainland, and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to
the East China Sea and Taiwan in the southwest.
The kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin". can be read as ni and means sun, while
can be read as hon, or ponand means origin. Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet
"Land of the Rising Sun" in reference to its Japanese name.
Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu,
Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area
and often are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions;
Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one. The
population of 127 million is the world's eleventh largest. Japanese people make up 98.5% of Japan's
total population. Approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan.

OFFICIAL NAME: Nihon, or Nippon (Japan)

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Constitutional monarchywith a national Dietconsisting of two legislative

houses (House of Councillors [242]; House of Representatives [475])
SYMBOL OF STATE: Emperor: Akihito

HEAD OF GOVERNMENT: Prime Minister: Abe Shinzo CAPITAL : Tokyo

MONETARY UNIT: yen ()

POPULATION: (2016 est.) 126,915,000

TOTAL AREA (SQ MI): 145,898

TOTAL AREA (SQ KM): 377,873

URBAN-RURAL POPULATION

Urban: (2014) 93%

Rural: (2011) 7%

LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

Male: (2013) 80.2 years

Female: (2013) 86.6 years

LITERACY: PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION AGE 15 AND OVER LITERATE

Male: 100%
Female: 100%

GNI PER CAPITA (U.S.$)

(2015) 36,680
 Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbours
include China (officially the People's Republic of China, PRC) to the west, Japan to the
northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a
member of the United Nations, and also possesses the largest economy of any state outside
of the UN.
The island of Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines
before the 17th century, when Dutch and Spanish colonies opened the island to mass Han
immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing
dynasty, the last dynasty of China. The Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-
Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was
established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Following the Japanese
surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the
Chinese Civil War led to the ROC's loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the
ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC continued to claim to be the legitimate
government of China, its effective jurisdiction has since the loss of Hainan in 1950 been limited
to Taiwan and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its de facto
territory. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at
the United Nations until 1971, when the PRC assumed China's seat, causing the ROC to lose its
UN membership.

OFFICIAL NAME: Chung-hua Min-kuo (Republic of China)

FORM OF GOVERNMENT : multiparty republic with one legislative house (Legislative Yuan [1131])

HEAD OF STATE : President: Tsai Ing-wen

HEAD OF GOVERNMENT: Premier: Lin Chuan

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT: Taipei

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Mandarin Chinese

MONETARY UNIT: New Taiwan dollar (NT$)

POPULATION: (2016 est.) 23,507,000

TOTAL AREA (SQ MI) :13,974

TOTAL AREA (SQ KM): 36,193

URBAN-RURAL POPULATION

Urban: (2012) 59.7%

Rural: (2012) 40.3%
LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH

Male: (2014) 76.7 years

Female: (2014) 83.2 years