ABSTRACT
This chapter provides South Korea profiles which includes key information about the relevant corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) history, country-specific issues, trends, research, education and leading organizations. South Korea, officially called the Republic of Korea, is situated in the southern half of the Korean peninsula with a population of 48 million. South Korea has a long and volatile history. South Korea successfully hosted the 1988 Seoul Olympics. It also overcame the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The number of sustainability reports from South Korea increased almost fourfold from 11 to 42 between 2005 and 2008. Electronics, computers, utilities, and oil and gas sectors are the most active in reporting. Illegal inheritance, excessive exercise of corporate ownership, limited independence of corporate board directors, accounting fraud and stock price manipulation are issues that result in what is known as the 'Korea Discount', referring to undervalued stock prices of South Korean corporations.
