East Asia
South Korea
EU Compliance · Geopolitical Risk · Sourcing Attractiveness
Market-entry intelligence →Why these scores
EU Compliance, by dimension
1 = lowest risk · methodology & sources
Geopolitical Risk, by dimension
1 = lowest risk · methodology & sources
Attractiveness, by dimension
9 = most attractive · methodology & sources
Analyst scores, last reviewed June 2026; each dimension's sources and cadence are on its methodology page.
Data layers
The EU is South Korea's #3 import source (world lens). South Korea is the EU's #21 goods supplier.
South Korea on the world stage
Total imports
$631.7bn
2024 annual
Total exports
$683.1bn
229 partners
#1 import source
China
22.1%
#1 export dest.
China
19.5%
2024 annual, UN Comtrade (HS TOTAL, all partners). Line colour: coverage (exports/imports per partner).
South Korea and the EU
EU imports from
€69.8bn
2.8% of extra-EU
EU exports to
€54.6bn
2.1% of extra-EU
EU supplier rank
EU's #21 supplier
EU trade balance
import-tilted
coverage 0.78
2025 annual totals, Eurostat COMEXT. EU trade board →
Electricity & grid
National sources · carbon from Ember
Industrial
117
EUR/MWh
Consumer
104
EUR/MWh, all-in
Grid carbon
414
gCO₂e/kWh
Renewables
10%
of generation
Wholesale 85 EUR/MWh · regulated market
Power market
● Take-or-pay / single-buyer lock-inMarket model
Single buyer (KEPCO monopoly)
Direct PPA
Limited
grid access: limited
Reserve margin
22%
Regulator
Not independent
MOTIE (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy)
KEPCO monopoly over generation, transmission, and distribution locks in a coal/nuclear policy oscillation between administrations. KEPCO carries roughly KRW 30 trillion in accumulated debt from frozen retail tariffs that…
Tracked infrastructure
86 gas plants
42.3 GW · 5 building
81 coal plants
41.2 GW · 1 building
40 wind farms
1.2 GW · 10 building
23 solar farms
1.7 GW · 8 building
26 nuclear plants
27.1 GW · 2 building
15 hydro plants
6.0 GW
3 steel plants
56,000 ktpa
4 coal mines
capacity n/a
Operating assets tracked by Global Energy Monitor (CC BY 4.0); counts are tracked facilities, not exhaustive totals. Energy overview →
Monitored ports (11)
Source: IMF PortWatch. Port count reflects monitoring coverage, not economic significance.
Demographics
UN World Population Prospects 2024 · medium variant
Median age
45.1
→ 56.7 by 2050
Fertility
0.73
below replacement
Working-age
70.2%
aged 15–64
Old-age dep.
27.5
→ 75.6 by 2050
Median age 1990–2050
Population 51.7M · peaks 2024
By 2050: -13% (45.1M)