lies the impoverished, censored, terrifying Hermit Kingdom of North Korea. On the other

end is the wealthy, hyper-successful, Westernized nation of South Korea. Of course, by comparison,

South Korea obviously comes out on top, but we wanted to see how South Korea ranks with

the rest of the world. So, how powerful is South Korea?

Well, South Korea, also known as the “Republic of Korea” is about 38 and a half thousand

square miles, which is actually surprisingly small. They’re a little smaller than the

US state of Pennsylvania, and rank about 109th in the world for area. Within this relatively

small area live about 49 million people, putting them about 17rd in the world for population

density. So what does this tightly compact mass of people do? Well, in a word, they “excel”.

South Korea is the most developed East Asian country, and one of the most highly developed

in the world. On the Human Development Index, South Korea beats out Japan as a result of

their ultra-high standard of living, level of income, education standards, and quality

of healthcare. In the 1960s, their GDP was roughly the same as that of many poor African

countries. Today they are the 14th largest economy in the world, with a GDP of 1.3 trillion

dollars. They managed this through unparalleled growth during the second half of the 20th

century, in a period called “the Miracle on the Han River”. Since then, they’ve

invested in high tech “chaebols” or conglomerate companies to further strengthen their economy.

One of the largest cell phone manufacturers on earth, Samsung, is located in South Korea,

along with shipping giant Hyundai, and electronics producer, LG. The demand for South Korea’s

yield has made them the 6th largest exporter overall. And it’s also because of this focus

on tech that South Korea boasts the world’s fastest internet speeds. However, all this

rapid industrialization also means that South Korea is one of the worst carbon emissions

polluters.

So with high marks in nearly every other regard, how does South Korea fare militarily? Even

higher. South Korea has the 7th most powerful military in the world, and is the smallest

country within the top ten list. South Korea uses its manufacturing and technology prowess

to produce highly advanced weaponry to compliment their existing US and EU made tech. Additionally,

the Republic of Korea has a strong military partnership with the US’s even stronger

military, in what is known as the ROK-US Alliance. One of Korea’s biggest reasons for having

such a powerful military is their neighbor to the North. North Korea has a long standing

habit of attempting to provoke South Korea, and the two still maintain a heavily militarized

border known as the DMZ.

So where does that leave the question at hand? Well, considering that Korea dominates most

of the world in terms of standard of living, economy, military, education, healthcare,

and technology, there is no question that the Republic of Korea is surprisingly, and

undeniably, super powerful.

Will South and North Korea ever reunite? We’ve got a video on the subject right

here.. Thanks as always for watching. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss

our next one!