South Korea

Walking the policy normalization tightrope

A1

LOW RISK for enterprise

  • Economic risk

  • Business environment risk

  • Political risk

  • Commercial risk

  • Financing risk

  • Economic risk

  • Business environment risk

  • Political risk

  • Commercial risk

  • Financing risk

Last updated in February 2022.

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GDP USD1642.383bn (World ranking 12, World Bank 2019)
Population 51.7mn (World ranking 28, World Bank 2019)
Form of state Democratic Republic
Head of government Yoon Seok-youl (President)
Next elections 2027, presidential
  • Advanced economy with high per capita income
  • Sound financial sector
  • Solid external position (low external debt, ample foreign exchange reserves, etc.)
  • Strong business environment
  • Firmly established democracy
  • Geopolitical risk stemming from North Korea
  • Economic vulnerabilities due to dependency on external demand
  • Slowly improving but still weak corporate governance
  • Aging population

Trade structure by destination/origin

(% of total)

Exports Rank Imports
China 25%
1
21% China
United States 13%
2
12% Japan
Hong Kong 7%
3
11% United States
Vietnam 7%
4
5% Germany
Japan 5%
5
4% Taiwan

Trade structure by product

(% of total)

Exports Rank Imports
Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, n.e.s. 19%
1
14% Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials
Road vehicles 13%
2
13% Electrical machinery, apparatus and appliances, n.e.s.
Telecommunication and sound recording apparatus 7%
3
4% Telecommunication and sound recording apparatus
Other transport equipment 7%
4
4% Specialised machinery
Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials 5%
5
4% Metalliferous ores and metal scrap
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