According to Korean outlets including Etoday and Financial News, Democrats passed the 218-seat House majority and regained control after four years. The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that Democrats had secured 228 seats as of the afternoon of the 4th Korea time, and some tallies pointed to around 240. Final numbers depend on the completed count, and tallies differ between outlets.

The Senate news also favors the Democrats. Combining Newspim and Taiwanese reports, the party flipped at least six or seven Republican seats and appears to have secured a majority, but Alaska, Mississippi and others were still being counted and figures vary by report. If both chambers go to the Democrats, the Kyunghyang Shinmun noted, it would be the first time since 2006 that the opposition party took both in a midterm.

According to exit polls cited by Newspim, about 90 percent of voters named living costs as a key factor and roughly two-thirds said Trump was responsible for high prices. Financial News reported that NBC read the result as a verdict on immigration enforcement, the Iran war that has run for more than eight months, and tariffs on allies; the Democratic line that war and tariffs pushed up prices appears to have worked.

Trump: ‘If I had been on the ballot, I would have won’

According to Kukmin Ilbo and News1, Trump answered reporters on the 4th at the White House ballroom construction site and said it was ‘mostly right’ that the Iran war caused the loss, as Vice President JD Vance had argued, because it briefly raised gasoline prices. He nevertheless defended the war, saying he would make the same choice again, and said he would not replace Defense Secretary Hegseth.

On impeachment his tone was harsh. Kukmin Ilbo quoted Trump as saying that if Democrats pursue impeachment they will destroy themselves. News1 assessed that Democratic leaders are focusing on ending the Iran war and halting tariffs while keeping distance from impeachment, so hearings and checks on the budget and confirmations are likely to come first; the two-thirds Senate vote needed is another practical barrier.

What it means for Korea: tariffs and US investment

The direct variables for the Korean economy are tariffs and US investment. News Tomato summarized that last October’s deal cut the tariff on Korean goods from 25 to 15 percent in return for a 350 billion dollar investment pledge, and that three projects, a Texas gas plant, nuclear and Alaska LNG, were announced on the 1st; details are still under negotiation and could shift with the election.

A change of congressional majority does not by itself ease tariffs, however. Taiwan’s BusinessNext explained that the Section 232 semiconductor and Section 301 tariffs are driven by the executive, so Democrats can press through hearings and budget review but would find it hard to overturn them past a presidential veto. The same logic may apply to Korea, but the Korean government has not publicly confirmed this in the reports we checked.

As for North Korea diplomacy, the reports we checked contained no specific analysis. Whether the schedule of talks with Pyongyang will change has therefore not been confirmed; all that can be said is that it remains to be seen how the Democrats’ push to end the Iran war will shape US foreign strategy overall.

A third view: Taiwan sees the limits of Congress

Taiwanese media frame it differently from Seoul. The United Daily News (udn) headlined a ‘Democratic landslide’ and a ‘lesson from voters’ for Trump, while the Liberty Times focused on the cause of defeat with a headline asking whether the Iran war ruined the Republicans and noting that Trump admitted it. BusinessNext added that the semiconductor tariffs and the roughly 14 billion dollar arms sale that matter to Taiwan both depend on White House decisions, so the midterms change the strength of congressional oversight rather than the direction of the issues. Over the same election, Korea stresses ‘hopes and uncertainty on tariffs’, while Taiwan stresses that ‘executive power is unchanged’.