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The latest news, analysis and opinion on Seoul. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Head of Government
Mayor Oh Se-hoon
Demonstrators hold signs reading “Rerun election”, as people surround a vote-counting centre during a protest in Seoul on Saturday. Photo: Reuters
South Korea

South Korean protesters demand ‘election re-run’ after ballot shortage

The shortage prevented some citizens from voting in the local elections this week, prompting the National Election Commission chief to resign.

Semiconductors

Chinese memory makers step up challenge to Korea’s chip champions

South Korea

Young South Koreans embrace ‘plogging’ to cope with climate anxiety

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North Korea

Why North Korea’s Kim is doubling down on nuclear might as Xi visit looms

Kim Jong-un has vowed to ‘exponentially’ strengthen North Korea’s nuclear arsenal during a recent visit to a production facility.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (centre, right) inspects a nuclear materials production factory at an undisclosed location on Wednesday. Photo: EPA/KCNA
China travel

China, South Korea agree to more flights per week as tourism to Japan dwindles

The additional flights are the first increase between the two countries since before the Covid pandemic.

South Korea

South Korea’s Lee scores ‘flawed’ poll win, setback for his property tax plan

The defeat in the Seoul election came after the incumbent mayor promised to act as a counterbalance to Lee’s administration.

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South Korea

Macroscope | How the AI chip boom made South Korea a victim of its own success

While tech giants are driving South Korea’s stock market higher, the country’s currency is struggling and foreign investors are pulling out.

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Currency dealers celebrate in front of a screen showing South Korea’s benchmark stock index during a ceremony celebrating it breaking 7,000 points at the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on May 6. Photo: AFP
South Korea

South Korea’s ruling party set for local election gains

The vote is widely seen as an assessment of President Lee Jae-myung’s first year in office.

Diplomacy

Opinion | What Seoul must do to achieve peaceful coexistence with North Korea

South Korea needs to restore communication channels, end the policy see-saw and ensure official rhetoric is consistent with policy objectives.

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South Korea

US general’s ‘dagger’ remark tests South Korea’s China balancing act

A top commander’s blunt remark spotlights a fundamental disagreement over the true purpose of the 28,500 US troops based in South Korea.

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General Xavier T. Brunson speaks at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in 2024. Photo: AFP
South Korea

From submarines to trade, South Korea and US remain deadlocked ahead of talks

The two allies are also expected to discuss the transfer of military control and a data breach involving a US firm at their talks next week.

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A US Virginia-class fast-attack submarine docks in Rockingham, Western Australia, last year. South Korea is reportedly aiming to build nuclear-powered submarines similar to the Virginia-class vessels. Photo: AFP
South Korea

Video | South Korea is world’s second-largest cosmetics giant

K-beauty exports hit US$11.4 billion in 2025, overtaking the US to rank second only to France.

Taiwan

‘Illegal and void’: China condemns Japan-Philippines maritime border talks

Beijing says negotiations between Tokyo and Manila cover area east of Taiwan where it maintains exclusive economic zone.

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China-South Korea relations

How will South Korea’s nuclear submarines alter balance near first island chain?

Analyst cites further Indo-Pacific nations eyeing SSNs, with potential to ‘tie together with the broader US alliance system in the region’.

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South Korea says it will build its own nuclear-powered submarines, with the first vessels to be launched by the mid-2030s. Photo: Getty Images
US-China relations

China slams US commander’s ‘dagger’ label for South Korea

Chinese embassy in Seoul says US Forces Korea commander Xavier Brunson’s ‘hostile and aggressive remarks’ on podcast ‘crossed the line’.

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US Army General Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea (right) has described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia”. Photo: Handout
China-North Korea relations

A quiet reset in ties is brewing along the China-North Korea border

The resumption of train routes and a spike in overland trade underscore a reset in ties ahead of a reported leaders’ summit.

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South Korea

3 killed in South Korea after ageing overpass collapses during safety check

One section collapsed ‌while ‌senior public works officials ⁠and private sector experts were inspecting the support structure.

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South Korea

South Korea’s Lee hails ‘deep friendship’ as he hosts Japan’s Takaichi in hometown

The talks in Andong, a city famous for its centuries-old folk village, come after the two met in Takaichi’s hometown of Nara in January.

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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hold a joint news conference in Andong on Tuesday. Photo: EPA
South Korea

South Korea weighs the cost of stepping into Samsung’s US$400,000 bonus row

Seoul is considering using a rarely used emergency power to halt a strike that could cost the economy US$67 billion.

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North Korea

North Korea to turn southern border into ‘impregnable fortress’

Experts say the plans reflect awareness of drone and other types of hi-tech warfare amid the Russia-Ukraine and Iran conflicts.

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South Korea

South Korea weighs arbitration to avoid Samsung semiconductor plant strike

The world’s largest memory chipmaker and its South ‌Korean labour union will resume pay talks on Monday with a government mediator.

Samsung Electronics’ labour union members chant slogans during a protest against company’s compensation levels ahead of a planned strike in front of Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on April 23. Photo: Reuters
North Korea

North Korean footballers arrive in South, match tickets sell out

The rare visit comes as North Korea has in ‌recent years labelled the South its ‘most hostile state’.

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North Korean Naegohyang Women’s FC soccer team arrives at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, on Sunday. Photo: EPA-EFE
South Korea

Reality deficit: how South Korea lost the plot on AI

A viral ‘baseball goddess’, a wolf that never was and a deepfake epidemic. Generative AI is rewriting South Korea’s reality.

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South Korea

South Korea uses AI to prevent suicides, track crime on Seoul’s Han River bridges

AI sounds an alarm if it identifies a person staying for more than 300 seconds in a bridge’s ‘loitering zones’, allowing humans to swoop in.

2026 Xi-Trump summit

Boeing nears ‘large’ China orders as Trump and Xi forge new trade board: Bessent

Washington and Beijing will discuss the board to manage commercial ties, and there is a plan to ‘pregame’ investments to avoid national security blocks.

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President Xi Jinping shakes hands with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as US President Donald Trump looks on during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: AFP
Japan

Japan-South Korea ‘comfort women’ row stoked by statues abroad

The removal of wartime sex slave memorials in Germany and New Zealand has electrified certain LDP hardliners, risking a diplomatic rift.

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A former South Korean “comfort woman” holds the hand of a statue symbolising Japan’s wartime sex slaves in Seoul in 2021. Photo: Reuters
Diplomacy

Opinion | North Korea is not Iran. The same pressure tactics won’t work

North Korea’s nuclear reality and the overlapping interests of the US, China and Russia make tension reduction a prerequisite.

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South Korea

‘Like whale bones’: South Korea’s war memorial sparks conflict over symbolism

Critics argue the Korean war memorial should not be in a space in Seoul long associated with pro-democracy protests and its imperial past.

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