Korea Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kim Young-sam and Kim Jong-pil

These three have battled it out on the Korean political scene for decades, and two of them (Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung) have served as the country's President. With Kim Dae-jung's presidency drawing to a close at the time of writing (2002), it is still an open question who will inherit their positions at the top of Korean movers and shakers.

Answer: Busan

Busan was formerly known as Pusan before the Latinisation changes introduced by the South Korean government. Busan is currently recovering from the effect of Typhoon Rusa which wrecked several facilities for the Games.

Answer: Kaesong

Unlike the North Korean "settlement" nearest to the DMZ, Kaesong is a real, populated city, which you can see on a clear day from the observation deck in the South Korean side of the DMZ. Dandong is in China.

Answer: Tangun

Tangun is said to have been born at Mount Taebaek in what is now North Korea. According to legend, his mother was a bear who had assumed human form after being instructed to fast in a cave for 100 days.

Queen Min was the "last empress" of Korea, assassinated by Japanese agents in 1895 and now the subject of a successful musical.

Yi Sun-shin is one of Korea's greatest heroes, a naval admiral famed for his defeats of the Japanese.

Chosun is the name of an ancient dynasty of Korea; it is also the name used by North Korea for "Korea" (the South uses "Hanguk").

Answer: Incheon

The Allied Forces had been driven back by the North Korean and Chinese troops to a tiny enclave around Busan when MacArthur led his famous landing at Incheon. Eventually the front settled around the 38th parallel - where Korea had originally been divided and more or less where the border is today. The war dragged on for another two years with neither side able to progress.

Answer: Tin

Kim is the most common surname - some 30% of Koreans are called this. It is followed by Lee and Park. If you meet a Korean, the chances are they will be called one of these three.

Answer: Taegukki

The South Korean national flag is probably the most philosophical flag in the world as well as (I think) one of the most attractive. The yin and yang in the centre is famous as a symbol of balance and harmony between opposites (some say it was an omen that when the flag was devised, before the division of Korea, it had as its central symbol a divided circle with the top half coloured red). Around the central yin-yang are four trigrams or "kwae" which have many symbolic meanings, including the four elements, the four seasons, the four points of the compass and various human attributes (justice, wisdom etc).

Answer: Hanja

"Hanja" means "Chinese letters"; the "Han" is the same as in "Han Chinese" and the Han river in Seoul. Han has several other meanings too; it can mean one, or great (as in the Han Nara Dang or Grand National Party, one of Korea's main political parties). Korean is a very confusing language!

"Hangeul" refers to Korea's unique system of writing, "Taehan minguk" means "republic of Korea (this is what they were all chanting in the World Cup!) and "hanbok" is traditional Korean dress.

Answer: Nikon

Korean companies are extraordinarily successful. You probably own a good many items made by Koreans, even if you don't know it - most people seem to think Samsung and Hyundai are Japanese. In Korea, these huge companies are known as "chaebol", and they have gained an astonishing level of importance in Korean society over the past 40 or so years (they were largely responsible for dragging Korea out of the grinding poverty it experienced after the Korean war: in 1960, Korea's GDP was equivalent to that of Sudan - now it is the 13th largest economy in the world). Debate about curbing the power of the chaebol is very common these days in Korea.

Answer: Jeju-do

Jeju is a fascinating litle island with beautiful beaches and scenery and a unique culture. Historically it has been one of the poorest parts of Korea but nowadays it thrives on tourism. Korea is rarely visited as a tourist destination but it is a culturally intriguing and beautiful place.