Does 韓国 mean "South Korea" or "Korea as a whole"? When I type in in Google, I find South Korea. But when I use Google Translate, I find just Korea. I recently read a Japanese news article where they refer as South Korea (I think). So what is the right way to write "South Korea", and what will "Korea as a whole" be?

The origin of the word "Korea" is (), which was a nation that existed from 918 to 1392. In that era, North Korea and South Korea were one country.

Now, we commonly call South Korea and North Korea (). The English name of South Korea is Republic of Korea and that of North Korea is Democratic People's Republic of Korea.