Tag - south-korea

 
 

SOUTH KOREA

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations are displayed at the Korea Exchange in Seoul on March 4.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 28, 2026
South Korea passes U.K. to become world’s eighth-largest stock market
The total market capitalization of Korean-listed companies has surged more than 45% this year to $4.04 trillion, while the U.K.’s has climbed about 3% to $3.99 trillion.
U.S. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson (center), commander of U.S. Forces Korea, walks on a pontoon bridge with U.S. and South Korean Army soldiers during a U.S.-South Korea joint river-crossing exercise, part of the annual Freedom Shield joint military training, near the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in Yeoncheon, South Korea, on March 14.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 28, 2026
Head of U.S. military in South Korea calls for ‘kill web’ linking Seoul, Tokyo and Manila
U.S. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson said the strategy seeks to fuse the strengths of Washington’s regional treaty allies into a single, networked system capable of coordinated actions.
South Korea's Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyuk speaks at an event hosted by the Research Institute of Japan in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 28, 2026
South Korean ambassador calls on Seoul and Tokyo to enhance their security ties
South Korea’s Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyuk said Seoul and Tokyo need to promote stable and innovative exchanges amid an increasingly uncertain international environment.
A plastic surgery clinic advertisement displayed in a subway station in Seoul. Of the total number of medical tourists to South Korea in 2025,the largest share (62.9%) went for dermatological treatment and 11.2% for orthopedic treatment.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2026
Number of Japanese heading to South Korea as medical tourists rises in 2025
The number of Japanese medical tourists to South Korea in 2025 stood at about 600,000, or up 36.0% from the previous year.
South Korea’s booming stock market, fueled by reforms and rising retail investment, is diverging from its slowing economy and reshaping its capitalist model.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2026
Decoupling and South Korea’s new capitalism
Now, instead of always reinvesting profits, South Korean firms are delivering more short-term value to shareholders — a change that could help keep capital in the country.
Members of the Samsung Electronics labor union hold signs reading "Change it to be transparent!" as they stage a mass rally demanding the removal of a cap on performance bonuses, outside the company's foundry and semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2026
Samsung workers protest over huge pay gap with SK Hynix amid AI chip boom
Protesters, which union organizers put at 40,000, plan to strike for 18 days from May 21 if their demands are not met.
A Republic of Korea Air Force F-15K Slam Eagles fighter plane takes off at Gunsan Air Base, South Korea, in April 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2026
South Korea’s air force apologizes after jet collision blamed on midair selfies
A report found that unplanned maneuvers for personal filming led to ⁠the collision between ​two F-15K jets during a formation flight ​near the city of Daegu in December 2021.
Vietnamese President To Lam (right) and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 23, 2026
Vietnam and South Korea ink deals on security and nuclear power
The 12 agreements, such as cooperation in developing nuclear power plants, underscore deepening industrial ties as the Iran war disrupts energy markets and global supply chains.
Tourists on the beach in Mirissa, Sri Lanka in 2022. Some hotels in South Asia have seen a sharp drop in occupancy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 21, 2026
The forces of scarcity hitting Asia may soon spread across the world
Many countries across the region are experiencing sudden jolts of disruption that they are struggling to manage.
An offering sent by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for the spring festival at Yasukuni Shrine, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 21, 2026
Takaichi risks China’s wrath with offering to Yasukuni Shrine
The prime minister’s offering of a sacred tree was made on the first day of a traditional spring festival.
A television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of North Korean missile launches, at a rail station in Seoul on Sunday.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2026
North Korea test-fires flurry of missiles, including possible sub-launched weapon
The weapons were believed to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the country's nuclear material production base and nuclear weapons institute, at an undisclosed location in North Korea, in this photo released in January 2025.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 18, 2026
Seoul says it is unaware of U.S. protest over minister’s remarks on North Korea nuclear site
South Korea said Chung Dong-young’s public remarks about a North Korean nuclear facility at Kusong were based on publicly available ⁠information.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 17, 2026
Takaichi to skip Yasukuni visit during spring festival
Takaichi has rarely missed visiting the Shinto shrine during its spring and autumn festivals, including while serving as internal affairs minister and in other Cabinet posts.
Crude oil buyers in Japan led the charge to purchase May-loading cargoes from the U.S. early in the month, along with South Korean, Singapore and Thai processors.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2026
Asia relying on U.S. crude to replace Middle East supply
U.S. exports of oil, including crude and refined products, reached a record 13 million barrels a day last week, government data showed.
Johnny Somali received a prison sentence of six months with 20 days detention after repeated acts of disturbing the public in South Korea.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 15, 2026
‘Nuisance streamer’ Johnny Somali sentenced to six months in prison
The 25-year-old American influencer received a prison sentence from a South Korean court for repeated acts of disturbing the public.
Pedestrians cross Enghelab Square in Tehran, near a billboard showing Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader, in the Iranian capital on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2026
The Indo-Pacific price of a hasty war with Tehran
The allies are not abandoning the U.S.; they are recoiling from a war that lacks a defined strategy.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung speaks during his new year news conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on Jan. 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 11, 2026
South Korea president clashes with Israel on rights and disinformation claims
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday accused Israel of failing to “reflect” on allegations of rights abuses by its forces, after Israel decried him for amplifying social media “disinformation.”
A wolf that went missing after escaping from its enclosure in O-world zoo roams in the zoo premises in Daejeon, South Korea, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 10, 2026
Runaway wolf in South Korea inspires meme coin and presidential concern
Neukgu, a roughly two-year-old ​male wolf weighing about 35 kilograms, appears ‌to have ‌slipped out of the O-World zoo in Daejeon ​on Wednesday morning by burrowing under a fence.
A Trident II D5 missile is test-launched from the Ohio-class U.S. ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska off the coast of California in March 2018.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 9, 2026
How soon would ‘friendly’ proliferation become unfriendly?
If the U.S. wouldn’t mind if some allies, like Japan or South Korea, make the nuclear leap, then why shouldn’t others?
Gwanghwamun Square, the venue of BTS’ comeback concert, in Seoul on March 21. Seoul-based startup Galaxy is trying to disrupt K-pop’s traditional idol system — a model built on years of recruiting, training and managing human performers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 8, 2026
AI K-Pop startup Galaxy aims for IPO in Seoul and New York
The goal of the company, which is preparing for what could be the first overseas listing by a K-pop agency, is to create content without the constraint of human performers.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival