This position contributes on the higher tensions that divide the peninsula, and both of those states declare to be the only real reputable governing administration of Korea. South Korea can be a regional energy and also a produced state, with its financial system ranked as the globe's fourteenth-biggest by GDP (PPP). Its armed forces are among the list of planet's strongest militaries, with the whole world's second-most significant standing army by armed service and paramilitary personnel. South Korea has become renowned for its globally influential popular culture, specifically in new music (K-pop) and cinema, a phenomenon often called 파라곤 the Korean Wave.
South Korea has two volcanic islandsJeju, off the peninsulas southern suggestion, and Ulleung, about 85 miles (one hundred forty km) east from the mainland from the East Seaand a small-scale lava plateau in Gangwon province.