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Legal ruling tops the list
A South Korean Supreme Court decision on drunken-driving tests led the country’s Google trending searches on Oct. 25, 2026, as legal issues, international sports and severe weather competed for public attention.
The No. 1 term, “guilty,” rose after the court ruled that results from an alcohol test generally cannot be used as evidence of guilt if authorities failed to provide water for the driver to rinse their mouth beforehand. The court said the omission could violate the substance of the required testing procedure. It overturned the previous guilty verdict and sent the case back to a lower court.
Google estimated more than 100 searches for the term. The figures in the trending list are approximate and relative, meaning they do not necessarily correspond to the order of the rankings.
Cricket and an NBA bid
“Pak vs Eng,” shorthand for a cricket match between Pakistan and England, ranked second with more than 200 estimated searches. Pakistan was seeking a place in the final and the top position in the standings, while England faced a must-win situation in Lahore. Highlights from an Oct. 20 tri-series match between the teams had drawn more than 3.6 million views.
South Korean basketball player Lee Hyun-jung ranked third after leaving for the United States on Oct. 24 to pursue an NBA opportunity. Lee, a member of the South Korean national team, signed a one-year, non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract with Portland and was scheduled to join the Rip City Remix, Portland’s NBA G League affiliate, for training camp beginning Oct. 26.
Reports also highlighted Lee’s decision to pursue a U.S. career rather than accept an annual salary offer worth more than 2 billion won from Japan’s B.League.
Typhoon brings heavy rain
Typhoon Champi, identified as the season’s 30th typhoon, placed fourth with more than 1,000 estimated searches. Typhoon warnings were issued for waters south of Jeju Island and in the eastern South Sea as the storm moved north.
Rain and strong winds were forecast across Jeju and southern South Korea through the morning of Oct. 26. The storm was expected to make its closest approach to Jeju early that day before heading toward Japan and weakening into an extratropical cyclone west of Kagoshima.
Jeju received 341.5 millimeters, or about 13.4 inches, of rain over three days. Fallen trees and flooding in building basements were reported in some areas.
Military discipline, housing and health
The broad term “military” ranked fifth after a court found that reducing a service member by one rank for making insulting remarks about a superior was excessive. The court acknowledged that the comments were inappropriate but concluded that they were not serious enough to undermine the military chain of command.
Seoul’s affluent Seocho district ranked sixth amid renewed attention to South Korea’s levy on excess profits from housing reconstruction projects. With a postponement ending and the district preparing to collect the charges by year’s end, reports highlighted cases in which owners of apartments of the same 84-square-meter size faced an 1.8 billion won difference in assessments. A charge exceeding 600 million won was also cited as a potential issue for the Ichon Hangang Mansion redevelopment.
The Korean word “cha,” meaning tea in this context, ranked seventh. Interest centered on reports that regularly drinking tea was associated with an 11% lower risk of vascular disease, alongside warnings about excessive caffeine and the risks of drinking beverages at extremely high temperatures.
Busan sighting, Samsung leadership and MLB
Busan Port International Passenger Terminal generated the largest estimated search volume on the list, at more than 5,000, but ranked eighth in Google’s trending order. A marine animal nicknamed “Bukangi” reappeared about 2 kilometers from the site of its last sighting after disappearing for two days. Separately, authorities caught an oil tanker that had discharged 87 liters of oil into waters where Bukangi had been staying.
Jun Young-hyun ranked ninth as attention turned to possible leadership changes at Samsung Electronics. Searches focused on whether the company would alter the dual-role leadership structure involving Jun and Roh Tae-moon, as well as potential appointments overseeing the memory-chip and mobile-experience divisions.
“MLB” rounded out the top 10 following reports that Japanese baseball player Tetsuaki Sato, an NPB most valuable player and Triple Crown winner, would enter Major League Baseball’s posting system. Concerns expressed by Japan’s national team manager added to interest in Sato’s possible move to the United States.
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