Both maps below show South Korea highlighted. The old Mercator map (1569) inflates South Korea about 1.5× at 36°, and the new Equal Earth map shows it at its true 100,432 km². Pan or zoom either map and the other follows, so the difference is visible at every scale.
That 1.5× inflation is why South Korea dominated old schoolbook maps and maps of the world's great powers. Hover South Korea on either map to highlight it on both at once, then compare it with Greenland.
South Korea: key figures
| True area | On the old Mercator map | Distortion vs truth |
|---|
| South Korea | 100,432 km² | 154,916 km² | 1.5× |
| Greenland | 2,166,086 km² | 25,576,494 km² | 11.8× |
| Africa | 30,370,000 km² | n/a | n/a |
Old maps drew South Korea at about 154,916 km². The truth is 100,432 km², a difference of 54% that school atlases carried for centuries.