President Lee Jae Myung will not attend the NATO summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in The Hague, Netherlands. The presidential office cited domestic priorities and growing uncertainty in the Middle East. Lee had considered participating in the summit with hopes of meeting US President Donald Trump, but changed his position after the US strikes on nuclear sites in Iran. It is true that uncertainty has increased in the international situation as the US attacked Iran and Iran vowed to reta

On Friday, South Korea’s stock market crossed a threshold it had not seen in more than three years. The main bourse, Kospi, a barometer of investor sentiment as much as economic health, closed at 3,021.84, reclaiming the 3,000 mark for the first time since December 2021. For investors long resigned to an index drifting between 2,200 and 2,800, this was no ordinary trading session. Once the psychological barrier gave way mid-morning, market euphoria carried the index higher, ending a symbolic dro

South Korea has declared its ambition to become one of the world’s top three powers in artificial intelligence. The goal is bold, the funding substantial: President Lee Jae Myung has pledged 100 trillion won ($72.5 billion) to the sector. Earlier this week, Lee appointed Ha Jung-woo, a respected AI researcher formerly at Naver, as the country’s first senior presidential secretary for AI policy. A sweeping initiative, backed by public and private investment, is beginning to take shape. Alongside

South Korea's global competitiveness ranking dropped seven notches in 2025. According to the Finance Ministry on Tuesday, the latest report from the International Institute for Management Development showed South Korea ranked 27th among 69 countries surveyed. It was the largest decline since the institute announced South Korea's ranking for the first time in 1997. Last year, South Korea rose eight notches from 28th to a record high of 20th, but in a year, it returned to the level of two years ag

With the fiercest confrontation yet between Israel and Iran underway — and early signs of a shift from escalation to diplomacy — South Korea must remain vigilant to the fast-moving dynamics of the Middle East and their far-reaching impact on the global economy. What began on June 13 as targeted Israeli airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure has quickly escalated into a conflict of unprecedented intensity. “Operation Rising Lion,” as Israeli officials call it, has struck ke

The Korean housing market is showing signs of heating up. Last week, Seoul apartment sale prices rose 0.26 percent from the previous week, according to data from the Korea Real Estate Board. It was the highest weekly increase since August last year. Seoul apartment sale prices have moved up for 19 consecutive weeks. The upward trend of apartment prices in parts of Seoul is threatening to spread to areas of nearby Gyeonggi Province with large populations, such as Gwacheon and Bundang. The governm

When someone gets their fingers burned not once but twice, it is not innocence but negligence. That warning now stares South Korea in the face, as another major cyberattack lays bare the nation’s deepening digital vulnerabilities. Less than two months after a massive security breach at SK Telecom rattled public confidence, Yes24 — the country’s largest online bookstore and ticketing platform — has become the latest casualty of ransomware. The result: a five-day outage that disrupted the digital

With South Korea still recalibrating its democracy after months of political turbulence — capped last week by an early presidential election — President Lee Jae-myung has taken a quietly radical step: opening the gates of government appointments to the public. Now underway and continuing through June 16, the initiative invites South Koreans to recommend candidates for major public posts — not through party pipelines or opaque vetting committees, but via the official website of the Ministry of Pe

Three bills mandating special counsel probes into allegations involving the administration of former President Yoon Suk Yeol were enacted Tuesday following approval at a Cabinet meeting. One of the bills requires special counsels to investigate insurrection and treason charges related to Yoon's failed declaration of martial law. The second bill calls for a probe into allegations against Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee. She allegedly accepted luxury goods as bribes, manipulated stock prices and interve

Just days into his presidency, Lee Jae-myung has found himself facing an unlikely but potent symbol of economic distress: the cost of ramyeon. “Is it true,” he asked during an emergency economic meeting on Monday, “that one packet now costs 2,000 won ($1.50)?” The figure was exaggerated, but the sentiment behind the question struck a nerve. For many South Koreans, the supermarket has become the front line in a broader struggle over living costs and public trust in government. Consumer prices hav

President Lee Jae-myung will attend the summit of the Group of Seven advanced countries in Alberta, Canada, from June 15-17. It will mark Lee's debut on the stage of summit diplomacy 11 days after he took office Wednesday. South Korea is not a G7 member state but was invited to participate as an observer. The summit is an opportunity for Lee to start building confidence with leaders of the seven major countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. Particularly, his first

In the early 1990s, Japan seemed unstoppable. Decades of breakneck growth had swelled its asset wealth, and many believed the good times would never end. Then came the crash. A bursting real estate bubble ushered in what would become Japan’s “lost decades” — a prolonged era of stagnation and disillusionment. Today, a similar unease hangs over South Korea. Just days into office, President Lee Jae-myung faces a stark warning from the Bank of Korea: Without sweeping reforms, the country risks sleep

Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea was elected president on Tuesday, ending six months of turmoil stemming from his predecessor's botched attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. While South Korea has been embroiled in its own political chaos, the international situation and trade scene changed rapidly. Donald Trump was inaugurated as the president of the United States and US-China relations soured. The US, warning of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, has indicate

South Koreans went to the polls on Tuesday in what may come to be seen as one of the most pivotal elections in the nation’s modern democratic history. The June 3 vote was called after the dramatic downfall of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached and removed from office earlier this spring for attempting to invoke martial law in December 2024. Against a backdrop of economic malaise, diplomatic strain and a public weary of political dysfunction, the election became a test not only of

South Korea's exports decreased 1.3 percent to $57.27 billion from a year earlier in May. After rebounding from a 10 percent fall in January, they dropped again four months later. Outbound shipments to the US and China decreased about 8 percent each. Most analysts say that US tariffs affected South Korea's exports directly. Tariff pressure from the Donald Trump administration shows no sign of waning. Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on March 12 and raised them to 50