12 h. ago ‘Deeply concerned’: South Korea vows to support citizens arrested in US raid

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung ordered all-out efforts on Saturday to respond to the arrests of hundreds of the nation’s citizens in a US immigration raid on a Hyundai Motor car battery factory. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the government had set up a team to respond to Thursday’s arrest of more than 300 Koreans at the facility in the southern state of Georgia, and that he could go to Washington to meet officials if needed. “I am deeply concerned. I feel heavy responsibility for the...

Events

34 h. ago Seoul expresses ‘concern’ over US immigration raid at Hyundai’s Georgia plant

South Korea on Friday expressed “concern and regret” over a major US immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the number of detained South Koreans as “large”, though he did not provide an exact figure. His ministry would not confirm or deny South Korean media reports saying that about 300 South Koreans were detained in Georgia on Thursday. The Atlanta...

Politics

38 h. ago Asia week ahead: Key data on China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

Asia week ahead: Key data on China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan  ING THINK economic and financial analysis | ING Think

Politics

42 h. ago Rail life story? Cartoon featuring South Korea’s Yoon returns to comics festival

A controversial cartoon featuring South Korea’s disgraced former first couple Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Keon-hee is set to be displayed in public again this month, three years after its initial showing was cut short under government pressure. Yoonsukyeolcha by Park Se-eun from Chonnam Arts High School will be included in the annual Bucheon International Comics Festival as part of a retrospective show of prize-winning works from 2021 to 2025, the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency announced on Wednesday,...

Politics

46 h. ago South Korea, Japan and US to hold defence drills on heels of China parade joined by North Korea

South Korea, Japan and US to hold defence drills on heels of China parade joined by North Korea  Reuters

Politics

62 h. ago Breaking | Chinese leader Xi holds talks with North Korea’s Kim in Beijing

Breaking | Chinese leader Xi holds talks with North Korea’s Kim in Beijing  South China Morning Post

Politics

3 d. ago North Korea's Kim and South Korean parliament speaker shake hands in Beijing

North Korea's Kim and South Korean parliament speaker shake hands in Beijing  Reuters

Politics

4 d. ago Xi reiterates support for Iran nuclear programme amid Western pressure

Chinese President Xi Jinping doubled down on his support for Iran to “safeguard its national sovereignty” and vowed to promote a widely accepted solution to the Iranian nuclear issue as Tehran faces mounting Western pressures over its nuclear programme. “China attaches importance to Iran’s repeated affirmation that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, respects Iran’s right to peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Xi told his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, according to state-owned...

Events

4 d. ago ‘It’s in their DNA’: bribery probe convulses South Korea’s Unification Church

South Korea’s Unification Church has forcefully rejected allegations that its leader, Han Hak-ja, bribed the wife of former president Yoon Suk-yeol, even as prosecutors expand a corruption investigation that threatens to expose decades of the church’s political entanglements. In a rare video address released on Sunday, Han – the widow of church founder Sun Myung-moon – denied direct involvement in any irregularities. “False information is being spread that, under my instructions, our church...

Politics

5 d. ago Japan and South Korea face record heat as climate change bites

Japan and South Korea sweltered this year through the hottest summers since records began, their weather agencies said on Monday. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as climate change creates ever more erratic weather patterns. Japan’s average temperature between June and August “was 2.36 degrees Celsius above the standard value, which marked the hottest summer since records began in 1898”, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency did not disclose what the new...

Society

5 d. ago Tesla sees exodus of South Korean retail investors as crypto’s allure rises

South Korea’s retail investors are losing faith in Tesla’s stock, ramping up their selling last month amid growing disillusionment with the electric carmaker and rising interest in cryptocurrencies. Individual investors in South Korea sold a net US$657 million of Tesla stock in August, the largest outflow since at least early 2023, according to Bloomberg calculations of depository data. Investors have instead favoured even more volatile bets such as Bitmine Immersion Technologies, seen as a...

Economics

5 d. ago Why South Korea and Japan are turning against foreign homebuyers

Government measures to deter foreign buyers from purchasing residential properties are by no means the preserve of Asian economies. In February 2024, Canada extended a nationwide ban on most foreign buyers until 2027 in an effort to curb speculation and improve affordability. In the US, a growing number of states, including Texas and Florida, have passed laws barring nationals from several countries, notably China and Russia, from acquiring land and property. Yet in the most liveable cities in...

Economics

5 d. ago South Korea’s Samsung, SK Hynix stocks sag after US revokes China chip permits

Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix slid on Monday after the Trump administration decided to make it harder for the world’s largest memory chipmakers to ship critical equipment to their giant Chinese operations. The surprise ruling deals a potential blow to their production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. While both South Korean companies have memory plants in their home market, China accounts for a major slice of their global output. Samsung sank more than 2 per cent, while...

Politics

6 d. ago The Seoul shuffle: why foreigners are loving and leaving South Korea

Seoul’s neon-lit streets regularly draw throngs of young visitors, eager to soak up the city’s reputation as the global epicentre of K-pop, TikTok trends and high-speed living. But beneath the curated image of its most famous cosmopolitan metropolis, South Korea is wrestling with a more complex demographic reality: how to integrate the growing number of foreigners who now call the country home. Today, foreign nationals account for nearly 5 per cent of the population, or around 2.73 million...

Politics

6 d. ago Life expectancy for Hong Kong women hits record, while men also get a lift

Hongkongers’ already impressive life expectancies rose further in 2024 after falling during the pandemic, with women living on average for a record 88.4 years and men for 82.8 years, census figures show. But a Census and Statistics Department report also underscored the increasing strain on the city’s public healthcare system, with the number of inpatient and day inpatient discharges and deaths in hospitals increasing by 5.8 per cent in a year. Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea have the longest...

Events

6 d. ago North Korean leader irks South and US in alliance with China

North Korean leader irks South and US in alliance with China  The Korea Times

Politics

7 d. ago South Korea Cautions Over Growing North, China, Russia Bonhomie as Kim is Set to Visit Beijing | 4K

South Korea Cautions Over Growing North, China, Russia Bonhomie as Kim is Set to Visit Beijing | 4K  News18

Politics

8 d. ago Surge in foreign demand makes dermatology South Korea’s top medical tourism draw

Foreign patients are visiting South Korea’s dermatology clinics in unprecedented numbers, making skin treatments the leading driver of medical tourism and underscoring the global reach of the country’s beauty and wellness industry. According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), 705,044 foreign nationals received dermatology treatments in 2024, a 117-fold surge compared with 2009 when just over 6,000 patients sought such care. Dermatology now accounts for 56.6 per cent of...

Politics

9 d. ago US, Japan look to halt the unstoppable rise of North Korea’s fake IT workers

The US, Japan and South Korea pledged to intensify efforts to block North Korea’s use of overseas IT workers to raise money for its weapons programmes, warning that Pyongyang’s operatives are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to evade detection. North Korean programmers, often posing as non-North Korean freelancers with fake identities and locations, are winning contracts worldwide, including in North America, Europe and East Asia, according to a joint statement issued by the three...

Politics

9 d. ago South Korea’s ‘Gangnam Style’ star Psy faces police probe over drug allegations

Psy, the South Korean pop phenomenon whose song “Gangnam Style” became a global hit in 2012, is under police investigation for allegedly obtaining prescription psychotropic drugs through intermediaries, bypassing required in-person hospital consultations. Seoul Seodaemun Police Station confirmed on Thursday that Psy – real name Park Jae-sang – and a university hospital doctor had been arrested on suspicion of violating South Korea’s medical law, according to the Yonhap news agency. The...

Events