The split between South and North Korea after the 1953 ceasefire of the Korean War has played a critical role in the geopolitics of East Asia ever since its inception, with South Korea becoming heavily tied to the United States and the western economies, while North Korea allied itself with China, the USSR and other communist states. Despite its small size, the Republic of Korea is considered the most developed region of Asia in terms of Human Development (HDI) and with the highest annual median wage (~40,250 USD), outpacing both smaller and larger states–Japan, Singapore, China, India, etc.–in the region by many metrics, and vastly outperforming the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
Since I’m one of those people living outside of the R.O.K., in my ignorance, I refer to it as Korea. refer to South Korea as Korea and North Korea as North Korea. However, most people outside of the R.O.K. The Republic of Korea, more commonly known as South Korea, was one of the “Asian Tigers” whose rapid economic and social development in the latter 20th century was critical in the global shift towards the Pacific in economics and politics. Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Yeo Seung Bae of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK) held the 12th Korea-Brazil high-level. In short, the official term is Republic of Korea (R.O.K.).