South Korea
KOR · 2024 energy mix · renewables 4.5% · fossil fuels 82.5%
Threat reading 12 of 100, classified STABLE. 0 events recorded here in the last seven days, 0 in the last thirty.
That number is computed from live feeds and moves. The live monitor is where to read it as of right now.
Where its energy comes from
| Oil | 42.8% |
|---|---|
| Coal | 22.0% |
| Gas | 17.7% |
| Nuclear | 12.8% |
| Solar | 2.2% |
| Other renewables | 1.8% |
| Hydro | 0.3% |
| Wind | 0.2% |
In 2024, renewables accounted for 4.5% and fossil fuels for 82.5%. On electricity traded with its neighbours, South Korea is close to balanced on electricity trade.
Sources under one per cent of the mix are left out of the table rather than listed as a row of zeroes. Percentages are shares of a country's primary energy, not of the power it generates.
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 22 significant earthquakes and 3 tsunamis in or just off South Korea since 27.
The deadliest was the 780 magnitude 6.3 earthquake (South Korea: Kyongju), which killed 100 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 7.0, on December 27 (South Korea: Kwangju).
The most recent entry is the 11 June 2024 magnitude 4.4 earthquake (South Korea: Jeonbuk).
Across the entries that record a death toll, 151 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 780 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Kyongju | 100 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 12 August 1664 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Chonju, Chinan | 50 dead |
| 12 September 2016 | magnitude 5.4 earthquake | South Korea: Gyeongju | 1 dead, $21 million damage |
| 12 June 1681 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | South Korea: Yangyang, Sanchok | - |
| 12 September 664 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | South Korea: Kyongju | damage $5 to 25 million |
| July 89 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | South Korea: Kwangju | damage $1 to 5 million |
| December 27 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | South Korea: Kwangju | damage $5 to 25 million |
| June 510 | magnitude 6.7 earthquake | South Korea: Kyongju | damage $1 to 5 million |
| October 304 | magnitude 6.7 earthquake | South Korea: Kyongju | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 12 September 1700 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | South Korea: Chungchong | - |
| 9 December 1649 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | Yellow Sea | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 25 July 1643 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | Sea of Japan | damage under $1 million |
| 30 October 1670 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Kwangju, Sunchang, Unkyo, Kosan | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 16 July 1613 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Suwon | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 2 March 1553 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Kyongsang-do | damage $5 to 25 million |
| 24 January 1455 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Kwangju | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 123 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Kyongju | damage under $1 million |
| December 100 | magnitude 6.3 earthquake | South Korea: Kyongju | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 15 November 2017 | magnitude 5.5 earthquake | South Korea: Pohang | $76 million damage |
| 7 October 1978 | magnitude 5.0 earthquake | South Korea: Hongseong | 17 homes destroyed, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 3 July 1936 | magnitude 5.0 earthquake | South Korea | 3 homes destroyed, damage under $1 million |
| 12 September 1700 | tsunami | Yellow Sea | - |
| 9 December 1649 | tsunami | Yellow Sea | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 25 July 1643 | tsunami | Sea of Japan | damage under $1 million |
| 11 June 2024 | magnitude 4.4 earthquake | South Korea: Jeonbuk | damage $1 to 5 million |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
In the last 30 days
Our feeds placed no events in South Korea in the last 30 days. That is a statement about the feeds we read, not proof that nothing happened.
What the threat reading is made of
| Conflict | 0 |
|---|---|
| Unrest | 0 |
| Security | 0 |
| Spillover from neighbours | 22 |
| Natural hazard | 0 |
| Resilience | 87 |
Each is 0 to 100. Resilience runs the other way to the rest: a high number is a country better able to absorb a shock, not a country in more trouble.
Other countries tracked
Where the data comes from
Energy mix, 2024: Our World in Data, energy dataset (https://github.com/owid/energy-data), compiled by Pablo Rosado, Hannah Ritchie, Edouard Mathieu and Max Roser from the Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. Licence: Our World in Data's own compilation is CC BY 4.0. The underlying figures stay under their original terms: Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, U.S. EIA, Ember and The Shift Dataportal. The percentages shown here and the wording are ours. Threat reading: computed by Rift Web from the feeds listed on the sources page.