Chungcheongnam-do

South Chungcheong Province, or Chungcheongnam-do (abbreviated Chungnam), is a province in the west of South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the south-western half of the former Chungcheong Province and remained a province of Korea until the country's division in 1945, thereafter becoming part of South Korea. The provincial capital is Daejeon, which is separately administered as a provincial-level metropolitan city. Chungnam is South Korea's richest province, with a 2010 GDP per capita of $47,516, a level of living standard higher than that of the United States. It is by far South Korea's fastest growing region, with an average GDP growth of 9.7% in 2001-2007 that accelerated to 12.4% in 2010. Such rapid growth transformed it...