@gavvet, it seems to be the entire ecosystem got a huge shot in the arm when UpBit entered their alliance with Bittrex and suddenly Steem and SBD became a hot thing on a Korean exchange... and then everybody else got excited about Steem (and Steemit) again.

Translate the numbers by country to percentages of the population, Steemit has by far the greatest penetration in South Korea. Compare no. 1 & 2, US and Korea... close on the chart, but the US population is 323 million vs. S. Korea 51 million... a 6-to-1 ratio.