3 November 2026
President Lee Jae Myung hosted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a summit at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul.
It was Erdogan's first state visit to South Korea in eight years.
The two sides signed a memorandum on nuclear project financing to back Korean firms in Türkiye's new nuclear power projects.
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) is seeking a role in the planned Sinop plant on Türkiye's Black Sea coast, which would be the country's second nuclear power plant.
The leaders also agreed to widen cooperation in defence manufacturing and infrastructure.
Lee recalled that Turkish troops fought beside South Korean forces in the 1950–53 Korean War.
The two countries also agreed to work together in forums such as MIKTA, an informal group of Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Türkiye and Australia.
Gap since Erdogan's last visit:
eight years
Planned plant:
Sinop, Black Sea coast
Why it matters for exams: Türkiye's Sinop nuclear project on the Black Sea coast, KEPCO and the Korean War (1950–53) are durable facts for international relations and history papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
KEPCO Korea Electric Power Corporation — South Korea's state-run power utility.
5 November 2026
UNESCO's evaluation body has recommended the traditional knowledge and skills of making hanji, Korea's handmade paper, for the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Hanji is made from the bark of mulberry trees, and the craft has been handed down for about a thousand years.
Cutting, steaming, boiling and peeling the bark brings a whole community together; UNESCO said the work rests on cooperation, shared responsibility and care for nature.
The final decision rests with the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The committee meets from 30 November to 5 December in Xiamen, China.
South Korea already has 23 elements on the list; the latest was jang, the culture of making fermented sauces, added in 2024.
The Korea Heritage Service recognises four artisans as hanji-making masters.
Korean elements already listed:
23
Committee session:
Nov. 30 – Dec. 5, Xiamen
Why it matters for exams: UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and the countries' listed elements are standard culture and international-organisation questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Hanji Traditional Korean paper — Handmade paper from mulberry bark.
5 November 2026
South Korea plans to widen the area covered by the Cheonghae Unit, its naval anti-piracy force off Somalia.
The revised mandate would extend operations north-east from the Gulf of Aden to waters south of Oman in the Arabian Sea, close to the Strait of Hormuz.
The operating radius would roughly double to about 1,930 km.
A P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and an explosive ordnance disposal team would be added, raising the unit's strength by 75 to 395.
The plan was approved at a vice-ministerial meeting; after Cabinet endorsement next week it goes to the National Assembly, whose consent is required.
The Cheonghae Unit has guarded merchant ships against pirates in the Gulf of Aden since March 2009.
New operating radius:
about 1,930 kilometers
First deployed:
March 2009
Why it matters for exams: The Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Aden and overseas anti-piracy missions are recurring geography and defence questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
EOD Explosive ordnance disposal — Teams that find and make safe mines and bombs.
3 November 2026
Pope Leo XIV has released his message for World Youth Day 2027, which will be held in Seoul.
The Holy See published the message, also in Korean, inviting young Catholics to bring their questions and wounds to the gathering.
The event is scheduled for 3–8 August next year, and the Pope is set to visit South Korea to preside over it.
It will be the first World Youth Day in South Korea and the second in Asia, after Manila in 1995.
South Korea will also be the first host country that does not have a Christian majority.
Organisers are preparing to host about half a million young pilgrims and have pledged to put safety first.
World Youth Day is an international gathering of Catholic youth.
Dates:
Aug. 3-8, 2027
Expected pilgrims:
half a million
Why it matters for exams: Host cities of major international gatherings such as World Youth Day, and the head of the Catholic Church, are common general-knowledge questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Holy See The jurisdiction of the Pope as Bishop of Rome — The Catholic Church's central government, based in Vatican City.
2 November 2026
President Lee Jae Myung delivered a policy speech on the 2027 budget bill at the National Assembly in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo district.
The proposed budget is KRW 820.9 trillion, 12.8% more than this year.
He called for a shift from 'growth for the few' to 'growth for all', with more support for regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area.
The government said it abolished about 2,100 programmes and restructured 6,476 others, an adjustment worth KRW 107.2 trillion.
It also turned 17 tax-expenditure items, including marriage and childbirth tax credits worth KRW 1.9 trillion, into direct spending.
The National Assembly now reviews the bill before passing it.
Proposed 2027 budget:
KRW 820.9 trillion
Increase:
12.8%
Why it matters for exams: South Korea's unicameral National Assembly, which passes the national budget, and its currency, the won, are standard country facts.
Kerala PSCUPSC
5 November 2026
South Korea's Ministry of Data and Statistics has released its 2025 report on multicultural population dynamics.
It counted 21,399 multicultural marriages, those involving a foreign national or a naturalized citizen, down 0.2% from 2024.
That is 8.9% of all marriages in the country, and the first fall in three years.
Births to multicultural families dropped 0.5% to 13,347, while divorces among such couples rose 1.4% to 8,104.
Among foreign-origin wives, Vietnamese were the largest group at 25.3%, followed by Chinese and Thai; among husbands, Americans led at 6.8%.
Multicultural marriages:
21,399
Share of all marriages:
8.9 percent
Why it matters for exams: Demographic reports and the bodies that publish them, here South Korea's Ministry of Data and Statistics, are standard reports-and-indices questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
15 October 2026
For the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has honoured a list it calls the 100 Women Heroes, women working in farming, fishing and rural life.
About 600 women were nominated, and the only Korean on the final list is Sung Hee-jung, aged 74.
She heads the Guryongpo Fishing Village Cooperative and the Gyeongbuk Haenyeo Association in North Gyeongsang Province.
Haenyeo are Korea's women sea divers; about 1,500 of them moved from Jeju to Guryongpo in the 1960s.
The award ceremony was held at FAO headquarters in Rome on 15 October.
The culture of Jeju's haenyeo was inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2016.
Nominees:
600
Honoured:
100
Why it matters for exams: FAO, headquartered in Rome, the UN's International Years, and UNESCO-listed traditions such as Jeju's haenyeo are standard international-organisation and culture questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Haenyeo 'Sea women' of Korea — Women who free-dive for seafood.
22 October 2026
The rate-setting board of the Bank of Korea has held the country's policy rate, the Base Rate, at 3.00%.
All seven members of the board backed the decision, so there was no dissent.
The board said consumer prices are still rising at a rate of around 3%.
Consumer price inflation was 2.9% in September, and core inflation, which leaves out food and energy, was 2.8%.
The board also said growth this year and next should come out considerably higher than its August forecasts of 3.3% and 2.9%.
The Base Rate is the policy interest rate of the Republic of Korea's central bank, and it guides what banks there charge and pay.
The board said it will weigh inflation, financial imbalances tied to housing and household debt, and the effect of its two earlier rate rises, in deciding when and how fast to raise the rate further.
Base Rate:
3.00%
Consumer price inflation in September:
2.9%
Core inflation:
2.8%
August growth forecasts:
3.3% and 2.9%
Why it matters for exams: The Base Rate level and the name of the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Board are standard central-banking questions in bank and UPSC economy papers.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
Base Rate The policy interest rate of the Bank of Korea — The rate the central bank sets to steer borrowing costs across the economy.
Core inflation Price rise excluding food and energy — A measure that strips out the items whose prices jump about the most.
22 October 2026
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released fresh figures on foreign visitors to the Republic of Korea.
From January to September the cumulative count reached 17.11 million, a rise of 21.5% over the 14.08 million of the same period a year earlier.
In September alone 2.06 million foreign visitors arrived, up 21.1% from a year before.
The ministry said the running total is expected to pass last year's full-year figure of 18.94 million during October.
Tourism-sector card spending by foreign visitors reached 15.845 trillion won through September, 46.8% more than a year earlier.
The ministry, headed by Minister Chae Hwi-young, handles tourism along with culture and sport in Korea.
Arrivals through airports and seaports outside the Seoul Capital Area made up 28.2% of the total through September.
Visitors, January to September:
17.11 million
Rise over a year earlier:
21.5%
September arrivals:
2.06 million
Last year's full-year total:
18.94 million
Tourism card spending to September:
15.845 trillion won
Why it matters for exams: Which ministry publishes a country's tourism numbers, and who heads it, is the classic 'who publishes this report' question.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
MCST Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism — The Korean ministry that looks after culture, sport and tourism and publishes visitor figures.
15 October 2026
Korea opened the National Sports Museum of Korea, its first national museum devoted to sports, inside Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism runs it together with the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, and Kim Chung-bae is its director.
The building spreads from two basement levels up to the fourth floor, with permanent galleries on the second and third floors and a rooftop garden on top.
The collection holds some 70,000 sports items, kept in the basement stores when not on show.
On show are the competition uniform of Yang Jung-mo, the country's first Olympic gold medallist, the winner's medal Suh Yun-bok took at the Boston Marathon, and the boots worn by Kim Yong-sik, a pioneer of football in Korea.
The museum also displays the torch and a hoop from the Seoul Olympics opening ceremony.
Minister Chae Hwi-young attended the opening ceremony with about 150 guests.
Collection size:
Some 70,000 items
Location:
Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul
Guests at the opening:
Some 150
Why it matters for exams: A new national museum, the body that runs it and the name of Korea's first Olympic gold medallist are durable Art and Culture and Sports facts.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
KSPO Korea Sports Promotion Foundation — The public body that runs sports facilities in Korea and co-operates the new museum.
7 October 2026
South Korea's home-built rocket Nuri, also called KSLV-II, lifted off on its fifth flight at 12:25 p.m.
It flew from the second launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, in the country's south.
It carried 15 satellites: five microsatellites as the primary payload and ten CubeSats alongside them.
The five microsatellites belong to the NEONSAT constellation, which is to give high-resolution pictures of the Korean Peninsula.
The target was a sun-synchronous orbit about 575 kilometres above the Earth.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute said every payload reached orbit as planned except one CubeSat, PERSAT02, which failed to deploy.
Nuri is a three-stage launcher built with Korean technology, and this flight was the country's first launch of the year.
Satellites carried:
15
Primary payload:
Five microsatellites
Target orbit:
Sun-synchronous, about 575 km
Launch site:
Naro Space Center, Goheung
Why it matters for exams: Nuri's other name KSLV-II and the Naro Space Center are the kind of launcher-and-launch-site pairs asked in Science and Technology.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
KSLV-II Korea Space Launch Vehicle II — The official designation of the Nuri rocket, Korea's first fully home-built launcher.
CubeSat A very small satellite built in standard cube units — Cheap, light satellites often flown as extra payload on a larger mission.
4 October 2026
The Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, closed with a ceremony in Nagoya after a fortnight of competition.
South Korea again took third place in the medal standings, with 39 gold, 43 silver and 68 bronze.
China headed the table with 169 golds and Japan came second with 83.
That left Korea's gold gap with Japan the widest it has ever been, and its gold count short of the 40 to 45 it had aimed for.
India finished fourth with 85 medals in all - 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze.
The Games had opened on 19 September and ran until 4 October.
Doha in Qatar will host the next edition in 2030.
South Korea's rank:
Third
South Korea's medals:
39 gold, 43 silver, 68 bronze
China's golds:
169
India's total:
85 medals (21 gold, 27 silver, 37 bronze)
Why it matters for exams: Who topped the Asian Games medal table, the host country and the next host city are standard Sports questions in every exam.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
OCA Olympic Council of Asia — The body that governs the Asian Games and picks its host cities.
28 September 2026
Korea and the ASEAN countries met in Singapore for the second official round of talks on upgrading the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.
The round ran for four days.
The Korean team was led by Park Geun-oh, Director General for Trade Agreement Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.
The two sides worked through improvements across thirteen negotiating areas.
Among them are digital trade, rules on where a good is counted as originating, protection of intellectual property, and supply chains for critical minerals.
The existing agreement is old: its Agreement on Trade in Goods took effect in 2007.
Both sides are aiming at rules of a higher standard than those in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, to which both are parties.
Negotiating areas:
13
Venue:
Singapore
Goods agreement in force since:
2007
Why it matters for exams: ASEAN's full form, where its Secretariat sits and the year the Korea-ASEAN goods agreement took effect are the durable trade facts here.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations — A ten-member grouping of Southeast Asian countries with its Secretariat in Jakarta.
MOTIR Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources — The Korean ministry that negotiates the country's trade agreements.
Background
South Korea's Navy set a launch ceremony this week for a new submarine named after Seo Hui, a diplomat of the Goryeo Dynasty.
Goryeo ruled a reunified Korea from 918 to 1392.
The English name 'Korea' comes from the name Goryeo.
Before it, the Three Kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla had divided the peninsula and Manchuria, and Silla unified Korea from 668 until it broke apart in 935.
Goryeo was followed by the Joseon Dynasty.
Today South Korea's capital is Seoul and its language is Korean.
Goryeo rule:
918-1392
Why it matters for exams: The origin of the name 'Korea' in the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) and Korea's Three Kingdoms are classic world-history questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
At this week's summit in Seoul, President Lee Jae Myung recalled that Turkish troops fought alongside South Korean forces in the Korean War.
The war lasted from 1950 to 1953 and killed up to three million people.
Türkiye was among the countries that sent troops to fight on the South's side.
Fighting stopped with an armistice in July 1953, but no peace agreement followed, and a demilitarised zone still divides the two Koreas.
The two leaders described their bond as friendship forged in blood, a phrase rooted in that shared war.
War years:
1950-53
Why it matters for exams: The Korean War (1950–53) and the countries that fought in it are a standard modern world-history question.
Kerala PSCUPSC
Background
Behind the decision to hold Korea's Base Rate at 3.00% sits a standing set of facts worth learning.
The Bank of Korea is the central bank of the Republic of Korea and has its head office in Seoul.
It issues the country's currency, the won.
Rate decisions are not taken by the Governor alone but by the Monetary Policy Board, which has seven members.
The board meets through the year and states its reasoning in a published monetary policy decision.
Hyun Song Shin was nominated as Governor of the Bank of Korea while he was at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, where he led its monetary and economic work.
Under Korean practice a confirmation hearing in the National Assembly comes before the President formally appoints a Governor.
Central bank:
Bank of Korea, Seoul
Rate-setting body:
Monetary Policy Board, seven members
Currency:
Won
Why it matters for exams: The Monetary Policy Board, the won and the current Governor of the Bank of Korea are the standing central-banking facts an examiner can ask any year.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
BIS Bank for International Settlements — The Basel-based bank for central banks, where the present Bank of Korea Governor worked before.