n.
City (pop., 2000: 9,853,972), capital of South Korea since 1946, with the administrative status of a province.
Located on the Han River near the centre of the Korean peninsula, Seoul was the capital of the Chos 014F; n dynasty (13941910) and the centre of Japanese rule of Korea (191045). During the Korean War it was the capital of the U.S. military government and suffered extensive damage; it has been largely rebuilt since 1953. In 1988 it was the site of the Summer Olympic Games . The commercial, cultural, and industrial heart of South Korea, it is a centre of higher education, with several universities, including Seoul National University (1946).