Coverage tagged: South Korea (KOR)
Every story tagged to South Korea in the reporting behind our ratings, newest first. State-self-reported sources are excluded from scoring; non-anglophone coverage is surfaced in translation. Every card links to its source.
7 stories, newest first - 0 on this page in translation
South Korea's September exports hit a record $120.9bn, up 83.5% year on year with semiconductors up 263% and shipments to China surging, independently corroborating China's import demand alongside Korea's own trade strength.
Kim Jong Un commissioned a second naval destroyer and called for a more reliable fleet, as the US, South Korea and Japan launched the fourth Freedom Edge trilateral exercise with six Aegis destroyers conducting integrated ballistic-missile defence. A second destroyer is an incremental capability step and the drill is an annual iteration, so both are recorded rather than scored.
North Korea fired ~10 ballistic missiles toward the East Sea July 11, its first ballistic test since January per South Korea's JCS, days after weapons tests for the new destroyer Kang Kon slated for September commissioning. North Korea conflict held at -8 with confidence up (pattern resumed, not broken).
On July 7 a law allowing punitive damages (up to 5x proven losses) for spreading 'false information' took effect; journalist and civil-liberties groups warn of a chilling effect. South Korea press_freedom 0 to -2; civil_liberties 4 to 3.
President Lee's approval fell below 50% for the first time amid a mid-June ballot-shortage local-election crisis, offset by strong local gains and a peaceful PM transition. Korea political_stability near 2 -> 1.
Exit polls in South Korea's June 3 local elections showed President Lee Jae-myung's Democratic Party winning roughly 11 of 16 key races, consolidating his governing mandate a year after the martial-law crisis, though ballot shortages drew an election-commission apology and recount demands.
South Korea's May consumer price index rose 3.1% year on year, the highest since March 2024, driven mainly by a 24.2% jump in petroleum prices as gasoline and diesel costs surged amid the Middle East oil shock.