GEOGRAPHY

Officially named the Republic of Korea, South Korea is strategically

located between the worlds second-leading importer China to the west
and fourth-place importer Japan to the east.
South Korea is located in East Asia, on the southern half of the Korean
Peninsula jutting out from the far east of the Asian land mass. The only
country with a land border to South Korea is North Korea, lying to the
north with border running along the Korean Demilitarized Zone. South
Korea is mostly surrounded by water and has coast line along three
seas. To the west is the Yellow Sea, to the south is the East China Sea,
and to the east is Ulleung-do and Liancourt Rocks in the Sea of Japan
(East Sea). Geographically, South Korea's land mass is approximately
100,032 square kilometres.

ECONOMY
According to International Monetary Funds World Economic Outlook
Database, South Koreas economic stats are:
Total Gross Domestic Product: $1.781 trillion in 2014.
Exports accounted for about 32.2% of total economic output.
Population: 50.42 million
Unemployment rate: 3.5% in 2014.
Region: OECD high income
GNI per capita (US$): 27,090
South Korea shipped US$573.1 billion worth of products around the
globe in 2014.

Busan
Harbour, the
largest port
in South
Korea

CULTURE

POLITY
South Korea has a stable government with sustainable democracy and a
healthy infrastructure.
The relationship between North Korea and South Korea is strained and is a
source of political and social controversy
Unlike some countries, South Korea didnt overeat at the debt buffet. Public
spending only accounts for about 25% of GDP, compared to 115% in
Greece and 192% in Japan. Moreover, the country is enjoying a current
account surplus, thanks to strong exports, particularly of semiconductors
and automobiles.

SOUTH KOREAS TOP 10 EXPORTS

Nicknamed the Land of the Morning Calm, exports from South Korea amounted to
US$573.1 billion during 2014 up 22.9% since 2010. South Koreas top 10 exports
accounted for 90.5% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Electronic equipment: US$138.2 billion (24.1% of total exports)

Vehicles: $73.3 billion (12.8%)
Machines, engines, pumps: $63.1 billion (11%)
Oil: $52.7 billion (9.2%)
Ships, boats: $38.3 billion (6.7%)
Medical, technical equipment: $35.9 billion (6.3%)
Plastics: $31.8 billion (5.6%)
Organic chemicals: $24.4 billion (4.3%)
Iron and steel: $24 billion (4.2%)
Iron or steel products: $12.7 billion (2.2%)

Iron or steel products were the fastest-growing among the top 10 export
categories, up 64.7% for the 5-year period starting in 2010.
In second place for improving export sales was oil which was up 61.7%
overwhelmingly led by refined petroleum.
South Korean organic chemicals posted the third-fastest gain at 45%, followed by
Korean automobile exports with its 37.2% appreciation.
The only declining categories among the top 10 South Korean exports were ships
and boats (down in value by 18%) and medical/technical equipment (down 5.1%).

SOUTH KOREAS TOP IMPORTS

Petroleum oils, liquid natural gas, integrated circuits and coal were among the
20 highest value South Korean import products in 2014 along with cell phone
parts, mid-sized diesel vehicles and solar power equipment.
South Korea is the worlds number 9 importer.

Light petroleum oils: US$21,897,149,000 (HTS code 271012)

Mid-sized automobiles (diesel engine): $3,056,597,000 (870332)
Other petroleum oils: $7,760,657,000 (271019)
Cell phone equipment parts: $5,860,128,000 (851770)
Natural gas (liquid): $31,423,901,000 (271111)
Iron ores, concentrates: $7,959,540,000 (260111)
Crude petroleum oils: $94,971,596,000 (270900)
Integrated circuits (excluding processors, controllers): $7,439,705,000
(854239)
Printed circuits: $2,583,840,000 (853400)
Corn: $2,629,308,000 (100590)
Apart from the above, Integrated circuits (processors, controllers), Other
machinery,Butanes (liquid), Miscellaneous optical devices, Integrated circuits
(memories), Photosensitive semi-conductors, photovoltaic cells and diodes,
Iron or steel scrap, etc. form a part of top 20 imports.

SOUTH KOREAS TOP IMPORT PARTNERS

China: US$145,327,744,000 (25.4% of total Korean exports)

United States: $70,597,707,000 (12.3%)
Japan: $32,247,849,000 (5.6%)
Hong Kong, China: $27,275,518,000 (4.8%)
Singapore: $23,905,656,000 (4.2%)
Vietnam: $22,332,858,000 (3.9%)
Taiwan: $15,103,475,000 (2.6%)
India: $12,785,378,000 (2.2%)
Indonesia: $11,417,042,000 (2.0%)
Mexico: $10,849,738,000 (1.9%)
Australia: $10,308,827,000 (1.8%)
Russia: $10,131,568,000 (1.8%)
Philippines: $10,046,804,000 (1.8%)
Russia: $8,921,817,000 (1.6%)
Saudi Arabia: $8,286,928,000 (1.4%)

INDIAN EXPORTS
Bilateral trade between India and Korea, Republic of

Product
code

TOTAL
'27
'76
'72
'29
'23
'52
'84
'12
'85
'90

India's
Korea,
exports to
Republic of's
Product label
Korea,
imports from
Republic of world
Value in

Value in 2014
2014
All products
47,94,855.00
525563837
Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, etc 16,55,757.00
175719552
Aluminium and articles thereof
5,05,151.00
6229697
Iron and steel
4,11,929.00
21957438
Organic chemicals
3,00,747.00
14320417
Residues, wastes of food industry, animal
fodder
2,20,832.00
2420471
Cotton
2,19,900.00
1505541
Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers, etc
1,29,179.00
48795680
Oil seed, oleagic fruits, grain, seed, fruit,
etc, nes
1,16,320.00
1862947
Electrical, electronic equipment
80,564.00
75055783
Optical, photo, technical, medical, etc
apparatus
76,687.00
17835565

DOING BUSINESS RANK:

4

The rankings are benchmarked to June 2015 and based on the average
of each economys distance to frontier (DTF) scores for the 10 topics
included in this years aggregate ranking. The distance to frontier score
benchmarks economies with respect to regulatory practice, showing the
absolute distance to the best performance in each Doing Business
indicator. An economys distance to frontier score is indicated on a scale

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