This status contributes into the substantial tensions that divide the peninsula, and each states assert to get the sole legit authorities of Korea. South Korea is usually a regional electricity and a formulated nation, with its financial state ranked as the whole world's fourteenth-greatest by GDP (PPP). Its armed forces are one of the entire world's strongest militaries, with the world's 2nd-largest standing army by military services and paramilitary personnel. South Korea has actually been renowned for its globally influential pop culture, notably in music (K-pop) and cinema, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave.

Baseball and golfing are also well known. The board sport Go, regarded 파라곤 in Korea as baduk, has also been well-known for more than a millennium, initial arriving from China from the 5th century CE; baduk is played both of those casually and competitively.