10 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

13 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

17 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

22 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

29 h. ago 2 Koreans and a Swiss national among 16 dead in Lisbon tram crash

Portuguese authorities were investigating on Thursday what caused a Lisbon funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill, killing at least 16 people and injuring 22 when it crashed into a building. The Prosecutor General’s office said coroners had so far identified the bodies of five Portuguese, two South Koreans and one Swiss national, without disclosing further details of those killed. Portugal’s judicial police chief, Luis Neves, said there was a “high degree of certainty”...

Events

37 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

60 h. 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

3 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

4 d. ago As US adds more semiconductor hurdles, Chinese firms could seize an opportunity

China’s drive for economic self-reliance is raising the spirits and prospects of its semiconductor industry, as insiders expect more home-grown technologies after Washington revoked waivers for some foreign-owned chipmakers’ factories in China to use US technologies in their operations. The Chinese branches of South Korean chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix, as well as Intel Semiconductor (Dalian), will lose their fast-track status for compliance as “validated end-users”, meaning they will need to...

Politics

4 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

4 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

4 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

4 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

4 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

5 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

5 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

6 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

6 d. ago ‘My heart breaks’: North Korea’s Kim comforts families of fallen troops

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with the families of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine and offered condolences for their “unbearable pain”, state media said on Saturday. Pyongyang has not confirmed the number of its soldiers that died fighting for Russia, though Seoul estimates around 600, with thousands more wounded. South Korean and Western intelligence agencies have said the North sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in 2024 – primarily to the Kursk region – along...

Politics

7 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

7 d. ago China’s population decline laid bare as Shanghai school enrols only 22 pupils

A primary school in Shanghai has attracted national attention after its student body shrank to just 22 this year, highlighting the dramatic impact China’s plunging birth rate is having on the education system. Sanqiao Primary School in the Pudong New Area now has more full-time staff than pupils – with 22 children and 23 teachers – despite being located in one of China’s largest cities, according to enrolment data released on the local education authority’s website. The information was first...

Culture