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South Koreans turned to Google on Oct. 7 for updates spanning political disputes, a sharp stock market decline, professional baseball roster cuts, The Weeknd’s return to the country and several social issues. The rankings came from Google Trends’ real-time list for South Korea, with search volumes reported as Google estimates.
Political disputes put lawmaker Ju Jin-woo at No. 1
Ju Jin-woo, a lawmaker from the conservative People Power Party and a former government official, topped the list with more than 1,000 searches. Ju asked the Singapore International Film Festival to withdraw “Assassin(s)” as its opening film. All 109 lawmakers from his party also sent a letter calling for the screening to be canceled, but the festival said it would proceed as planned.
Interest in Ju also grew amid a dispute over the 1974 assassination of former first lady Yuk Young-soo. Ju said North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had acknowledged and apologized for North Korea’s role during former President Park Geun-hye’s 2002 visit to the North. Park Jie-won, a lawmaker from the liberal Democratic Party, disputed that account, saying Kim’s apology concerned the 1968 Kim Shin-jo raid rather than Yuk’s killing.
Ju drew additional attention after criticizing President Lee Jae-myung over calls from former Gyeonggi province official Lee Hwa-young’s side for parole. Ju described Lee as the country’s first president to be “threatened by a criminal.”
Market sell-off drives searches for the KOSPI and LG Electronics
The KOSPI, South Korea’s benchmark stock index, ranked third with more than 5,000 searches after closing down 137.49 points, or 1.98%, at 6,803.90. The KOSDAQ also fell below the 900 mark, closing at 898.43.
Foreign investors sold a net 2.5954 trillion won in shares, while institutional investors sold 673.9 billion won. Individual investors bought a net 2.5605 trillion won. Caution ahead of Samsung Electronics’ preliminary third-quarter results and weaker-than-expected earnings from LG Electronics weighed on the market.
LG Electronics’ KOSPI ticker, 066570, ranked fifth with more than 500 searches. The company reported third-quarter revenue of 23.827 trillion won and operating profit of 781.8 billion won, increases of 8.9% and 13.5%, respectively, from a year earlier. However, operating profit missed market expectations by 24.8%, and the stock fell 9.46% to 210,500 won. The broader Korean term for stock price ranked 10th with more than 2,000 searches.
Baseball cuts and The Weeknd’s return draw attention
Right-handed pitcher Choi Chung-yeon ranked second with more than 200 searches after the Lotte Giants, a team in South Korea’s top professional baseball league, notified him and 15 other players that they were being released. Choi joined Lotte through the league’s secondary draft but appeared in only one top-level game.
The Weeknd’s South Korean concerts ranked fourth with more than 200 searches. The singer was scheduled to perform Oct. 7 and 8 at Goyang Stadium as part of Hyundai Card’s Super Concert series, marking his first appearance in South Korea since a 2018 show at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome. Goyang officials warned residents about noise, congestion and possible safety concerns while urging concertgoers to use public transportation.
Medical emergency and human rights issues enter the rankings
Naju, a city in southwestern South Korea, ranked sixth with more than 200 searches. The Korean word for prison ranked seventh with more than 100 searches as reports focused on a joint drug inspection at Daejeon Prison, methods used to smuggle drugs into correctional facilities and thefts committed by inmates.
“Eye surgery” ranked eighth with more than 500 searches after a 27-month-old girl went into cardiac arrest under general anesthesia before a procedure at an ophthalmology hospital in Ulsan. She was transferred to intensive care, and police opened an investigation.
“Human rights group” ranked ninth with more than 500 searches. Interest centered on the Unification Ministry ending financial support for North Korean human rights organizations, which fell from 1.693 billion won for 23 groups last year to zero this year. Separately, three SK Hynix workers filed a joint occupational illness claim involving brain cancer, breast cancer and lymphoma.
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