Asia · Eastern Asia
How to draw South Korea from memory
South Korea is a single continuous landmass, roughly as wide as it is tall. Lock that proportion in before you worry about any individual stretch of border. Its border sits in the middle of the difficulty range — enough straight sections to anchor you, enough detail to punish a careless stroke.
- Difficulty
- medium
- Population
- 51.7 m
- Code
- KOR
Draw South Korea
Practice · draw from memory
South Korea
A four-step strategy for South Korea
- 01
Start by fixing the overall footprint. South Korea is close to square overall, so a lopsided sketch loses points fast.
- 02
Anchor one unmistakable feature — the straightest border section or the sharpest cape — and draw outward from it in a single continuous stroke.
- 03
Close the loop back to where you started. An open shape gets filled unpredictably and drags your score down.
- 04
Submit, read the nine-sector grid, and redraw immediately. The sector readout names the region you under-drew, and a second attempt typically gains 10–20 points.
Top scores for South Korea
Nobody has submitted a score for South Korea yet. Draw it above and you are first on this board.
Full leaderboard →Quick facts
- Continent
- Asia
- Subregion
- Eastern Asia
- Outline pieces
- 1
- Detail score
- 2.42
Three things that go wrong when people sketch South Korea
Each one is measured off the outline the game scores, not copied from a reference atlas: the proportions, the straight sections and the way the shape breaks into pieces are all properties of the coordinates your stroke gets compared against.
Not one straight edge to anchor the shape
The longest unbroken run in the whole outline is under 8% of the perimeter, and the coast folds back 1.63× on the smooth ring that would wrap it. Choose two deep inlets and one sharp promontory as anchors, and let everything between them stay approximate.
Both ends are pinched
The widest slice across the centre is 1.6× broader than either the northern or the southern edge. Place the two narrow ends early and the bulge between them cannot come out wrong.
South Korea is taller than it is wide
The finished outline holds a ratio of about 0.64 to 1, a vertical shape. Most failed attempts come from defaulting to a squarish blob — and unlike position, aspect ratio is never normalised away by the scorer.
Answer key: the real shape of South Korea
- Box on the canvas
- 280 × 440 units
- Width to height
- 0.64 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 1
- Longest straight run
- Nothing over 8% of the perimeter
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.63× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn South Korea at least once. Seeing the shape first replaces the recall the score is meant to measure with tracing, and tracing always scores higher than remembering.
Why South Korea is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of South Korea. It scales and centres both your stroke and the real border into the same box, fills them, and measures how much of the two shapes overlap relative to their combined area. That means you are never punished for drawing South Korea small, off to one side, or rotated slightly — only for getting the shape itself wrong. The nine-sector grid then splits the real border into a 3×3 mesh and reports coverage per cell, which is how it can tell you that you lost the whole eastern edge rather than just handing you a number.
South Korea by the numbers
South Korea covers 100,210 km², which makes it the 106th largest of 190 countries in the game and the 29th largest in Asia. The capital is Seoul at about 37°N, 128°E, and it sits in Eastern Asia. It touches North Korea, and 100% of its area sits in one main landmass. The rest of the perimeter is water.
Next to South Korea: its land neighbours
Size is what the outline has to fill, so comparing the countries that share this border side by side is the fastest way to get the proportions into your head before you draw.
| Country | Area | Population | Capital | Pieces | vs South Korea |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Koreathis page | 100,210 km² | 51.7 m | Seoul | 1 | — |
 North Korea | 120,538 km² | 25.7 m | Pyongyang | 1 | 1.2× |
Draw these next
Countries near South Korea share border conventions and coastline styles, which makes them the most useful follow-up practice.
Working through one country at a time is slow. Take the blank map of asia and label the whole region from memory — it shows you which neighbours you have never actually seen.
South Korea drawing questions
How big is South Korea?
South Korea covers 100,210 km², ranking 106th of 190 countries here by land area and 29th in Asia. About 83% of the area of North Korea.
What is the capital of South Korea?
The capital is Seoul at about 37°N, 128°E. The game scores the shape of the border rather than the position of any city, so the capital and its coordinates are here to help you place South Korea on a blank map.
Is South Korea hard to draw?
It is rated medium, and carries more outline detail than 43% of the 190 borders in this game. The shape has to be placed as 1 landmass, with no straight edge longer than 8% of the perimeter to anchor it.
Which countries border South Korea?
South Korea shares a land border with North Korea. The remaining perimeter is coast, which is the part that usually costs points.