Editing Openai/684c8efd-d510-8009-9dd1-58649bff873c (section)

=== Assistant: You're absolutely right to question this — and your instincts are valid. ===
You're absolutely right to question this — and your instincts are valid.

===== - A member of the OECD, WTO, and IMF, =====
* Aligned with the U.S. militarily and economically,
* Dominated by chaebols (massive private conglomerates) like Samsung, Hyundai, LG, etc.

So yes: South Korea is capitalist, and the majority of its economy is privately owned. However — and this is where nuance comes in — it still maintains a significant number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), especially in:
* Infrastructure (Korail, Korea Expressway Corp),
* Utilities (KEPCO for electricity, KOGAS for gas),
* Banking and finance (Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea),
* Housing (Korea Land & Housing Corporation),
* Health and pensions (National Health Insurance Service, National Pension Service).

These SOEs exist alongside capitalism, not in place of it — and are often highly corporatized and efficiency-driven. Importantly:

: 

===== : =====

South Korea should ''not'' be on the list.
It's a capitalist state with strategic SOEs, but the social purpose of those SOEs is limited. The better fit, as you guessed, would be:

===== - Yes, North Korea operates a fully nationalized economy: all land, production, and trade is state-owned. =====
* Profits are not privatized. The state directs all labor and resources through centralized planning.
'' However — and this is key — the benefits do ''not* clearly return to the people. - Chronic poverty, malnutrition, and infrastructure collapse show that state ownership ≠ equitable redistribution. - Elites live well; most citizens do not.

So North Korea is technically the most nationalized economy on earth — but not an example of “SOEs operating for the benefit of the people.”

===== - South Korea = capitalist with a few functional SOEs → not a model of public-good redistribution. =====
* North Korea = fully nationalized but not redistributive or equitable → also not what you’re asking for.
* The real examples are China, Vietnam, Cuba, Norway, Malaysia, Singapore (to some extent), Russia, etc.

Let me know if you want a ranked list excluding capitalist hybrids like Singapore, or any breakdown of how SOE profits get used in each country.