About Korea...
So I'm slowly learning more about the very confusing manner in which South Korea is organized. Within the country, there are 9 provinces, 6 metropolitan cities, and one "special city" (Seoul). From what I can figure out, a metropolitan city behaves in a similar manner to a province, in that its autonomous from the provinces. Also within each metropolitan city, there are administrative districts (or Gu) and sometimes counties. So within Incheon Metropolitan City (http://english.incheon.go.kr/), there are 8 districts and 2 counties. Each distict has its own administration (so mayor, police department, etc). Gus are further divided into dongs (or subdistricts). So I live in Jakjeon1-dong (there are 2) within Gyeyang-gu within Incheon Metropolitan City. This is extremely confusing to me still but its slowly starting to make sense.
There are 48 million people living in South Korea and the land mass is less than 100,000 sq. km (about the size of Indiana). Seoul itself has 10 million people living in 607 sq. kilometers. In the Seoul metropolitan area (which contains Incheon and much of Gyeonggi province or 12% of the total land mass of South Korea), there are nearly 23 million people. Incheon has a population of 2.6 million people in just under 1,000 sq. km. (so about 600 sq. mi.). Gyeyang (http://www.gyeyang.go.kr/lan_english/index.asp) is 45.6 sq. km. and has a population of almost 340,000 people (7500 people per sq. km.). The sub-district I live in is has nearly 34,000 people living in less than 1 sq. km. (hence all the high-rise apartment buildings).
The strange thing is that it very rarely seems crowded. I absolutely don't understand it. The are only 2 times that I've been somewhere and its seemed crowded...at rush hour in a subway station in Seoul and when I was out shopping on Saturday in Bupyeong. Yet how can it not be crowded with that many people living in such a small area. Wal-Mart is mind boggling to me because the Wal-Mart in Missoula was frequently way more crowded that this one is.
There are 48 million people living in South Korea and the land mass is less than 100,000 sq. km (about the size of Indiana). Seoul itself has 10 million people living in 607 sq. kilometers. In the Seoul metropolitan area (which contains Incheon and much of Gyeonggi province or 12% of the total land mass of South Korea), there are nearly 23 million people. Incheon has a population of 2.6 million people in just under 1,000 sq. km. (so about 600 sq. mi.). Gyeyang (http://www.gyeyang.go.kr/lan_english/index.asp) is 45.6 sq. km. and has a population of almost 340,000 people (7500 people per sq. km.). The sub-district I live in is has nearly 34,000 people living in less than 1 sq. km. (hence all the high-rise apartment buildings).
The strange thing is that it very rarely seems crowded. I absolutely don't understand it. The are only 2 times that I've been somewhere and its seemed crowded...at rush hour in a subway station in Seoul and when I was out shopping on Saturday in Bupyeong. Yet how can it not be crowded with that many people living in such a small area. Wal-Mart is mind boggling to me because the Wal-Mart in Missoula was frequently way more crowded that this one is.