South Korea

Blade threat at Korea's Antarctic base puts crew member under police investigation

A member of a Korean Antarctic research team threatened fellow crew members with a blade at Jang Bogo Station, raising concerns about conduct and oversight at the country's remote polar outposts. According to the Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), a winter-over station member pulled a blade on station personnel in April. Korean media reports identified the suspect, who fashioned the 30-centimeter blade from a steel sheet in the station's workshop, as a man in his 50s with a prior record of misconduct and friction with colleagues. The incident ended with no one injured after station officials separated the suspect from the group. The suspect departed last week and returned to Korea, Monday, where he is now under police investigation. His transport was secured through international cooperation, with Antarctic winter having largely grounded air operations. Jang Bogo Station, established in 2014 on Terra Nova Bay in Victoria Land in southeastern Antarctica, is Korea's second Antarctic base and its first on the Antarctic mainland, built 26 years after King Sejong Station on King George

May 12, 2026By Park Ung

Blade threat at Korea's Antarctic base puts crew member under police investigation

Politics

Top presidential aide floats 'AI national dividends'

The top presidential aide for economic policy has proposed the country should come up with a national dividend policy that returns the excess tax revenue generated by Korea's booming artificial intelligence (AI)-related industries to the public. “The fruits of the AI infrastructure era are not the outcome of individual companies alone, but are built on the industrial foundation that the entire nation has accumulated over the past half-century,” Kim Yong-beom, presidential chief of staff for policy, wrote on Facebook Monday. His remarks come as public debate grows over how and whether companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix should share their massive operating profits generated by soaring global demand for AI-related products, including high-performance memory chips. While Samsung's labor unions are threatening to strike over their demands for performance-based bonuses, similar to what SK hynix promised to its workers, there have been calls for systems similar to Kim's idea on an online anonymous forum that outsized gains of such big companies should be shared with the pub

May 12, 2026By Park Ji-won

Top presidential aide floats 'AI national dividends'

K-universities

Jeonbuk National University professor named ISEV board member at large

Professor Park Dong-jun of the School of Chemical Engineering at Jeonbuk National University was appointed a member at large on the board of directors at the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV), the university said Monday. During his two-year term until 2028, he will participate in decision-making and academic network expansion of the global research community focusing on extracellular vesicles. The university said Park’s appointment is meaningful as it was decided through a global vote of the society’s members. The society, which has over 2,000 members, is the world’s largest international academic organization for researchers and experts in the field of extracellular vesicles. Extracellular vesicles are tiny membrane-bound particles released by cells into the space outside the cell. They function as biological “messengers” that carry materials from one cell to another. ISEV aims to promote standardization and reproducibility of extracellular vesicles, exosome and ectosome research. It also seeks to advance education and international cooperation in order t

May 12, 2026By Park Yoon-bae

Jeonbuk National University professor named ISEV board member at large

Politics

Candidate registration for June 3 local elections to begin this week

Candidate registration for the upcoming local elections and parliamentary by-elections will open this week, the election watchdog said Tuesday, about three weeks before the polls widely seen as a gauge of the public's view on President Lee Jae Myung's first year in office. The National Election Commission (NEC) will receive candidacy registrations on Thursday and Friday. Official campaigning will kick off May 21 and last 13 days until the eve of the June 3 elections, with only limited forms of electioneering permitted before the official campaign period begins. Up for grabs in the local elections are mayor and governor seats in 16 metropolitan cities and provinces, along with superintendents of education and chiefs of smaller administrative units. Key contests include the mayoral races in Seoul and the traditional conservative strongholds of Daegu and Busan. The race for Seoul mayor will be mainly between incumbent Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) and candidate Chong Won-o of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), while in Busan, Park Heong-joon, the

May 12, 2026By Yonhap

Candidate registration for June 3 local elections to begin this week

Politics

Rival parties seek to woo voters with key campaign pledges ahead of local elections

Rival parties have unveiled a package of campaign pledges ahead of the local elections, with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) focusing on promoting balanced regional development and artificial intelligence, while the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is vowing efforts to improve the housing market. South Koreans will hit the polls on June 3 to elect governors and mayors, as well as city councilors and school superintendents in the elections held every four years. Also up for grabs are 14 National Assembly seats, mostly vacated by lawmakers vying for gubernatorial and mayoral posts in the elections. As its top pledge, the DPK vowed to establish the foundation for balanced regional development and push for the integration of local governments to create more megacities beyond the planned merger between Gwangju and South Jeolla Province. President Lee Jae Myung's administration is seeking to shift away from a Seoul-centric development model toward one centered on fostering five major regional blocs and three special self-governing provinces amid the declining population in

May 12, 2026By Yonhap

Rival parties seek to woo voters with key campaign pledges ahead of local elections

Politics

Lee urges proactive fiscal policy to boost people's livelihoods

President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday instructed officials to pursue a proactive fiscal policy in the second half of the year and beyond to help improve people's livelihoods. Lee delivered the instruction at a Cabinet meeting, insisting that now is the time to nurture the nation's potential through investment and that greater investment will yield bigger returns. "(The government) should focus on paving the way for a great leap forward in the national economy through fiscal (policy)," the president said, adding that the economic growth plan for the second half and the drafting of next year's budget should be based on such a principle. Citing research results, Lee said that "proactive fiscal management" helps improve people's livelihoods, while bold fiscal spending helps revitalize the broader economy. The president said that South Korea's national debt structure remains more sound than that of "any other country," adding that its "real debt ratio," which reflects the government's actual indebtedness, stands at around 10 percent of the gross domestic product. "I don't mean to encourage lavish

May 12, 2026By Yonhap

Lee urges proactive fiscal policy to boost people's livelihoods

Society

'Drunk driving should not be treated as normal,' says daughter of Japanese tourist killed in Seoul

“Your mother has passed away.” The words flickered on the smartphone screen handed to Mayumi (pseudonym) by a member of the medical staff. Lying in a hospital bed, Mayumi, 39, stared blankly at the message. Familiar words, yet almost impossible to grasp, continued to appear through a translation app. There, lying in a bed in the emergency room of the National Medical Center in Seoul, sometime after 11:22 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2025, Mayumi was told the cause of her mother’s death: traumatic shock. She knew it was going to be bad. She had heard the ominous sounds of doctors rushing past and medical equipment being moved frantically around her. But somehow, perhaps wistfully, Mayumi still believed her mother would survive. Just an hour earlier, they had been walking casually down the street together, side by side. The news of her death rang hollow and unreal — until the tears came, followed by uncontrollable sobs. When Mayumi saw her mother, she could still feel warmth in Geiko’s (pseudonym) body. A few leaves were still caught in her hair, and her expressionless face looked almost peace

May 12, 2026By Hankookilbo

'Drunk driving should not be treated as normal,' says daughter of Japanese tourist killed in Seoul

Defense

Korea to participate in defense ministers' meeting on Hormuz after ship blast

Korea will participate in a multinational defense ministerial meeting on the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, officials said, as Seoul weighs its response following the recent attack on a Korean-operated cargo vessel in the strategic waterway. Army Maj. Gen. Woo Kyung-suk, director general for policy planning at the defense ministry, will attend the virtual meeting to be co-chaired by Britain and France, later in the day, according to ministry officials. It will mark the first such high-level conference bringing together top defense officials of more than 40 countries. Since the U.S.-Iran conflict led to the blockade of the strait, Britain and France have led international discussions on ways to stabilize the region, jointly hosting a summit and other ministerial-level meetings. They have also co-hosted working-level meetings of military planners to discuss cooperation to restore the free and open passage through the Strait of Hormuz, responsible for global energy and fertilizer supplies. "We are actively engaging in discussions on international cooperation to ensure the safe passage through

May 12, 2026By Yonhap

Korea to participate in defense ministers' meeting on Hormuz after ship blast

K-universities

University of Seoul holds graduate programs fair

The University of Seoul held the 2026 Majors and Graduate Programs Fair at its campus in northern Seoul last week to help students explore their academic and career paths. The university said the event took place at the International Conference Hall of the Centennial Memorial Hall on Thursday, drawing about 1,770 visitors. The fair offered a variety of information and experience programs, including personalized counseling sessions designed to help students considering going to graduate school. “People jokingly say that Ph.D. stands for ‘Permanent Head Damage,’ but I prefer to call it ‘Permanently Hungry Doctor’ — someone who is constantly hungry for learning,” Jeon In-han, dean of the Graduate School and vice president of the university, said in an opening speech. He added that the greatest legacy of graduate school is not the diploma itself, but the intellectual hunger that never fades throughout one’s life. Each of the university’s 35 departments ran a booth, where faculty members and graduate students provided personalized one-on-one counseling for visitors. The univer

May 12, 2026By Park Yoon-bae

University of Seoul holds graduate programs fair

K-universities

Kookmin University team develops catalyst for efficient hydrogen production

A research team at Kookmin University has developed a heterostructured catalyst that efficiently promotes hydrogen production in alkaline water electrolysis, the school said Monday. The team, led by professor Lee Chan-woo of the Department of Chemistry, has successfully identified a mechanism enabling the catalyst to accelerate water-splitting, according to the university. The team uniformly deposited ruthenium oxide nanoparticles approximately 2 nanometers in size onto 25-nanometer titania supports, creating a heterointerface that rapidly facilitates the water dissociation reaction. The school noted that anion exchange membrane water electrolysis has attracted attention as a next-generation hydrogen production technology because it operates under alkaline conditions, reducing dependence on expensive platinum-group catalysts and corrosion-resistant components. However, under alkaline conditions, the initial step of breaking the oxygen-hydrogen bond in water molecules to form hydrogen intermediates proceeds slowly, resulting in high overpotential for the hydrogen evolution reaction and re

May 12, 2026By Park Yoon-bae

Samsung, SK hynix pledge $519 bil. for southwestern chip hub

Investigators indict Shincheonji sect leader over forced PPP memberships

3 PPP lawmakers booked for obstructing Yoon's arrest over martial law bid

Gov't unveils power, infrastructure plans to back megaprojects

Lee's southwestern semiconductor cluster draws corporate arm-twisting accusations

South Korea

Samsung, SK hynix pledge $519 bil. for southwestern chip hub

Investigators indict Shincheonji sect leader over forced PPP memberships

3 PPP lawmakers booked for obstructing Yoon's arrest over martial law bid

Gov't unveils power, infrastructure plans to back megaprojects

Lee's southwestern semiconductor cluster draws corporate arm-twisting accusations

Read more

Blade threat at Korea's Antarctic base puts crew member under police investigation

Top presidential aide floats 'AI national dividends'

Jeonbuk National University professor named ISEV board member at large

Candidate registration for June 3 local elections to begin this week

Rival parties seek to woo voters with key campaign pledges ahead of local elections

Lee urges proactive fiscal policy to boost people's livelihoods

'Drunk driving should not be treated as normal,' says daughter of Japanese tourist killed in Seoul

Korea to participate in defense ministers' meeting on Hormuz after ship blast

University of Seoul holds graduate programs fair

Kookmin University team develops catalyst for efficient hydrogen production

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