World Clock / South Korea / vs Japan

🇰🇷 South Korea vs 🇯🇵 Japan

Live side-by-side comparison of government debt. Japan currently owes about 9.7× more — a gap of $9.18 trillion. Updated every second from IMF baselines.

🇰🇷
South Korea
$1,051,423,495,690
Debt-to-GDP54%
Per citizen$20,337
Per second+$1,200
VS
🇯🇵
Japan
$10,232,482,234,916
Debt-to-GDP230%
Per citizen$82,520
Per second+$4,200
In nominal terms, Japan carries the larger government debt — roughly 9.7× that of South Korea, a difference of $9.18 trillion. Note that debt-to-GDP (South Korea: 54%, Japan: 230%) is the better measure of sustainability than the raw total.
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Source: Global Debt Clock, based on the IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026, general government gross debt) and World Bank IDS.
Live data: /api/compare?a=kr&b=jp · South Korea page · Japan page