Opinion - The Korea Times

ED US midterms impact Korean indexes

The recent "Black Friday" for the Korean stock market brought a frantic mixture of a circuit breaker and sell-side sidecars as the main bourse fell more than 6 percent. Benchmark KOSPI heavyweights SK hynix and Samsung Electronics also took a hit, with their shares falling 10.44 percent and 6.35 percent, respectively, as investors sold in panic, driving the index below 5,000 during trading. Meanwhile, U.S. indexes that had risen immediately after last week's midterm elections also fluctated. Investors and policymakers woke up to a changed economic climate, triggered by a shift in the U.S. political landscape. Any optimism that last week's U.S. midterm elections had reaffirmed the country’s democratic values was tempered by concerns over the Democrats’ agenda to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) and restrict data center construction. A deeper concern is that these policy shifts come amid growing skepticism over whether the AI boom is actually a bubble and whether massive investments in the sector will ultimately generate profits. Other Asian stock markets, including Taiwan's, also

12h ago

JD pours water on Trump

JD pours cold water on Trump

16h ago

ED Perils of livestreamed presidency

President Lee Jae Myung has acted on his words. He launched his own YouTube channel, President’s Y, with its first episode airing Thursday. Lee spent most of the 30-minute conversation with a female interviewer making the case for his social media-driven approach to politics and explaining how his direct engagement with the public could benefit the nation. He pushed back against criticism of his outreach efforts, stressing their necessity. “Like in physical space, there are people on social media,” he said. He also reaffirmed his belief that livestreaming Cabinet meetings has more benefits than drawbacks. Had Cabinet meetings been livestreamed when his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, was in office, Lee argued, martial law might never have been declared. Lee also dismissed criticism that he spends all night writing and uploading social media posts, saying he sleeps well every night. “I have no sleep disorder. I fall asleep as soon as I close my eyes,” he said. Direct communication between the president and ordinary citizens certainly has its merits. It can make people feel that the

2d ago

ED Trump must heed US voters' message

The results of the U.S. midterm elections arrived earlier than expected here in Korea, and with a definitive outcome. The Democrats won control of Congress, seizing both the House and the Senate. The forecast for a "blue wave" changed to a "blue tsunami" in a matter of hours, according to U.S. reports, as voters signaled they wanted change. The Democrats' victory was widely viewed as a repudiation of U.S. President Donald Trump's nearly two years in office. South Koreans closely watched the race for the Senate, where the decisive powers to check presidential powers lay. Democratic candidates even won Senate races in the traditionally Republican states of Texas, Kansas and North and South Carolina. Media reports showed the electorate voting for change as they worried about the state of democracy and the economy, as rising prices stemming from Trump's war on Iran decreased the quality of life for the average U.S. constituent. An AP poll also found that most voters were concerned about government corruption, signaling a "strong desire for Congress to take a more forceful role in checking

Nov 5, 2026

ED Joint registration of taekwondo in order

South Korea, which globally popularized the martial art form of taekwondo, is waking up to find North Korea has already moved to register the sport on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List. A technical advisory body is soon expected to recommend registration of "Taekwon-Do, traditional martial art in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" for North Korea's solo application, submitted in March 2024. The final decision will be made in Xiamen, China, at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, scheduled for Nov. 30 to Dec. 5. If finalized, Seoul may be left scrambling to register taekwondo on its own. It does not have to be that way. The martial art has shared roots that predate the division of the two Koreas. There is already a precedent for joint registration, with both North and South Korea successfully collaborating on the 2018 registration of "ssireum" — a traditional Korean form of wrestling — on the UNESCO list. With only about one month remaining before the meeting in Xiamen, South Korea should revive the dor

Nov 4, 2026

[ED] Joint registration of taekwondo in order

ED North Korea's crypto heists threaten global security

North Korea’s record-breaking $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist targeting Binance poses a serious threat to global security. Since the 2010s, state-sponsored hackers have carried out malicious cyberattacks, generating illicit revenue to finance the country’s missile and nuclear programs. The Binance heist should serve as a wake-up call to the international community, highlighting the need to take North Korea’s digital asset theft seriously and develop coordinated countermeasures. The latest cryptocurrency heist has raised the alarm in South Korea. Concerned that it could be North Korea’s next target, Seoul is scrambling to strengthen its cybersecurity infrastructure against attacks by state-sponsored hackers. Officials from the Financial Services Commission and cryptocurrency exchanges met on Monday to discuss measures for protecting the country’s cryptocurrency market from attacks by TraderTraitor, an elite North Korean state-sponsored hacking group. South Korea has reason to be concerned about becoming Pyongyang’s next target. Inter-Korean relations have deteriorated despi

Nov 3, 2026

[ED] North Korea's crypto heists threaten global security

ED $1 tril. in annual exports

Korea, Asia's export powerhouse, is poised to exceed $1 trillion in annual exports this year. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on Sunday announced that exports in October reached $115.3 billion, a 93.7 percent increase year-on-year. That puts the country's total exports in the first 10 months of the year at $930 billion. This means Korea is on track to reach $1 trillion in yearly exports as early as this month, which would make it the fourth country to do so after the United States, China and Germany. "It feels only like yesterday that we celebrated exporting $10 billion," President Lee Jae Myung posted on social media. "I thank the businesspeople and the workers on the production floor who have put in their utmost efforts." With that remark, the president spoke for many of those who lived through the heyday of industrialization, which now stands at the forefront of Korea's export-led economy. The export figures even drove up Korea's gross domestic product growth for the third quarter to 1 percent, an increase from the 0.6 percent in the second quarter and exceeding the Ban

Nov 2, 2026

ED Lee's questionable view of affirmative action

President Lee Jae Myung’s anti-diversity rhetoric is doing more harm than good. His remarks about the role of migrant workers in the Korean economy at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting sparked controversy. But he did not stop there. Instead, he poured fuel on the fire. In a series of social media posts beginning Wednesday, he called for a reassessment of policies for multicultural families. His remarks have backfired. The president has become a source of concern among members of his own ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). Few have voiced their concerns publicly, but many DPK lawmakers reportedly believe Lee has gone too far and that someone needs to sound the alarm. Politicians are supposed to bring people together, not divide them. Lee, however, has done the opposite. His anti-diversity rhetoric has undermined his own political standing. Even some of his traditional support groups — particularly progressives — have begun criticizing him. Labor unions have characterized Lee’s remarks as hate speech. The Korean Federation of Trade Unions accused him of treating migrant workers like a

Nov 1, 2026

[ED] Lee's questionable view of affirmative action

ED US visa rejections risk damaging alliance with Korea

Under President Donald Trump's administration, stricter immigration policies have led to an increase in the U.S. rejecting visa applications for visitors from around the globe. It is one thing for a government to reject potentially dangerous travelers, but it is another matter when the applicants are lawmakers from allied countries whose travel is halted by a visa denial. Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and chairman of South Korea's National Assembly Defense Committee saw his visa application, submitted on Oct. 12, rejected. He planned to visit the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii from Sunday to Thursday with a delegation of members from the defense committee. "It disregards the standing of Korea’s National Assembly and undermines the mutual respect and trust that form the foundation of the U.S.-Korea alliance," Jin wrote in a Facebook post after the rejection. Former DPK chairman Rep. Jung Chung-rae also had his U.S. visa application stalled, disabling his planned visit to the United States for a parliamentary audit of Seoul's diplomatic mission. Re

Oct 30, 2026

[ED] US visa rejections risk damaging alliance with Korea

ED 4 years on, lessons still unlearned

Wounds remain fresh even four years after the deadly crowd crush in central Seoul’s multicultural Itaewon neighborhood. The tragedy claimed the lives of 159 people, mostly young Koreans and including over 25 foreign nationals, who had gathered in a sloped, narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel to celebrate Halloween on Oct. 29, 2022. Nearly 200 others were injured. The festive atmosphere suddenly gave way to collective grief. The tragedy became a watershed moment in the debate over the role of government in public safety. Police received 11 calls warning of the potential danger of surging crowds before the incident, but the warnings went unheeded. Where was the state when people were dying? The Itaewon crowd crush triggered a paradigm shift in how safety is understood. Before the tragedy, safety was often treated as an issue to be addressed through relief and recovery after an accident. In its aftermath, safety has increasingly come to be recognized as a fundamental right, one that entitles people to demand proactive government action to protect the public from preventable disasters. The Fr

Oct 29, 2026

Editorial