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South Koreans’ trending Google searches on Oct. 15, 2026, reflected a wide mix of sports, financial markets, television, crime and public policy. The Professional Billiards Association ranked first, followed by Uiseong County and 005930, the Korea Exchange ticker for Samsung Electronics.
Google’s figures are approximate search volumes rather than exact totals. Other terms in the top 10 included celebrity Ha Hee-ra, convicted killer Cho Jae-bok, basketball executive Yoo Jae-hak, the online term Inven, MLB, military service exemptions and the cable network tvN.
Professional Billiards Tour Draws Interest
The Professional Billiards Association, known as the PBA, rose to No. 1 with more than 200 searches as attention turned to the fifth event of its 2026-27 season. The tournament is scheduled for Oct. 18-26 at the PBA Stadium inside the KINTEX convention complex in Goyang, northwest of Seoul.
Each of the season’s first four tournaments produced different champions in both the men’s and women’s divisions. Cho Geon-hwi and Kim Young-won won the first two men’s events, followed by Vietnamese players Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu and Nguyen Quoc Nguyen. On the women’s LPBA tour, Kim Ga-young, Sruong Pheavy, Park Jung-hyun and Jung Soo-bin each claimed a title.
Interest centered on whether Jung could win a second consecutive tournament and whether Kim could make another attempt at her 20th career LPBA victory.
Samsung Shares Tumble
Samsung Electronics’ stock code, 005930, ranked third with more than 2,000 searches after the technology giant’s shares plunged 9.48% to close at 210,000 won. Rival chipmaker SK Hynix fell 11.06%.
The selloff followed weakness in U.S. semiconductor technology stocks and growing concerns about returns on artificial intelligence investment. Those pressures hit South Korea’s largest chip stocks especially hard, prompting more searches for their trading codes.
The benchmark Kospi fell 7.57%, while the tech-heavy Kosdaq lost 7.65%. The Korea Exchange attributed intraday trading safeguards, including a sell-side program trading curb and a marketwide circuit breaker, to the decline in U.S. semiconductor shares.
Television Appearance and Murder Sentence
Ha Hee-ra ranked fourth after she and her husband, Choi Soo-jong, discussed painful episodes from their 33-year marriage on television. The couple spoke about four miscarriages and their family history, while Ha directly addressed domestic violence rumors involving Choi.
Choi, whose mother recently died, cried while remembering her. The program recorded the highest audience rating in its time slot among cable and general programming channels.
Cho Jae-bok ranked fifth after a Daegu court sentenced him to 45 years in prison for beating his mother-in-law to death and disposing of her body in a suitcase. The court also ordered him to wear an electronic location-monitoring device for 30 years.
The court said the killing violated the victim’s right to life and betrayed the trust at the heart of a family. Judges also cited Cho’s failure to show remorse after disposing of the body.
Local Labor, Basketball and Military Policy
Uiseong County, a largely rural jurisdiction in North Gyeongsang province, ranked second. The county signed an agreement with Laos to bring in seasonal foreign workers as it seeks additional labor for local farms.
Uiseong is also competing to host one of four additional correctional facilities planned by South Korea’s Justice Ministry. Local officials have presented the project as a way to address population decline, attract residents, create jobs and stimulate the regional economy.
Basketball figure Yoo Jae-hak ranked sixth after resigning as chairman of the national basketball association’s performance improvement committee. Yoo plans to concentrate on his duties as head of game operations for the Korean Basketball League, the country’s top men’s professional league. Vice Chairman Eun Hee-seok will lead the association committee.
MLB ranked eighth with more than 1,000 searches as Korean fans followed the four teams remaining in Major League Baseball’s postseason and the race to reach the World Series.
Military service exemptions ranked ninth with more than 2,000 searches as South Korea renewed debate over benefits granted to Asian Games medalists. Most able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve in the military, making exemptions for elite athletes a closely watched public issue. A survey showing 52% support for immediately ending the Asian Games exemption drew attention.
tvN ranked 10th with more than 500 searches. The rankings and approximate volumes were based on Google Trends’ real-time data for South Korea on Oct. 15.
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