Author: Jae young
August 11, 2025SEOUL – A quiet yet drastic shift is underway: After three decades of World Trade Organization-led multilateralism, the United States has openly declared the system unsustainable. Writing in the New York Times on Thursday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer portrayed the WTO as a faltering institution that compromised American industry while enabling China’s state-driven economic model to thrive.This is why the world is now witnessing the so-called “Trump Round,” a new global trade order built not on consensus but on tariffs and bilateral leverage.In Washington’s narrative, the multilateral model was naive: It presumed all members would abide by…
August 11, 2025SEOUL – North Korea’s recent move to dismantle some of its loudspeakers along the border can be interpreted as a sign of Pyongyang seeking alleviation of military tension between the two Koreas, but several risks exist, experts said Sunday.“North Korea has immediately reacted to South Korea’s decision to dismantle its own loudspeakers targeting the North along the border, and this can be seen as Pyongyang’s intention to avoid further escalation of tension,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said.“This is a strategic choice aiming to control the level of inter-Korean tension and…
August 11, 2025SEOUL – Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa, known collectively as Seoul’s “Gangnam 3 districts” and home to South Korea’s most competitive school zones, recorded the highest dropout rates among general high schools in the capital last year.According to the Korea Educational Development Institute’s regional dropout statistics released Sunday, both Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu posted dropout rates of 2.7 percent in 2024, meaning that two to three out of every 100 students left school before graduation. Songpa-gu followed with 2.1 percent.These figures have risen steadily over the past few years. In Gangnam, the rate increased from 1.4 percent in 2021 to…
August 11, 2025SEOUL – President Lee Jae Myung and his administration are set to face several crucial diplomatic tests in the coming weeks, starting with a state visit by Vietnam’s top leader this week and potential talks with his US and Japanese counterparts later this month.Lee, who returned from his weeklong summer vacation on Sunday, is set to hold summit talks on Monday with the general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, To Lam. This marks the first visit by a foreign leader since Lee took office on June 4.Lam’s four-day visit to South Korea began Sunday, according to the presidential…
August 11, 2025SEOUL – President Lee Jae Myung and his administration are set to face several crucial diplomatic tests in the coming weeks, starting with a state visit by Vietnam’s top leader this week and potential talks with his US and Japanese counterparts later this month.Lee, who returned from his weeklong summer vacation on Sunday, is set to hold summit talks on Monday with the general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, To Lam. This marks the first visit by a foreign leader since Lee took office on June 4.Lam’s four-day visit to South Korea began Sunday, according to the presidential…
August 8, 2025SEOUL – South Korea’s tax agency has launched a sweeping investigation into foreign ownership of high-end apartments, uncovering 49 cases of tax evasion related to the purchase or ownership of properties.“We will apply the same level of scrutiny to foreign nationals acquiring apartments in Korea as we do to domestic buyers,” said Min Joo-won, director of investigation at the National Tax Service, during a press briefing held in Sejong on Thursday. “We are committed to fully tracing the source of funds and imposing proper taxes using all available tools, including financial account tracking and forensic analysis.”The probe comes…
August 8, 2025SEOUL – South Korea’s trainee doctors are expected to begin returning to hospitals in the fall semester, marking a turning point in a standoff with the government that began last year over plans to expand medical school admissions.Following a high-level meeting between the Health Ministry and the Korea Intern Resident Association on Thursday, the government agreed on key measures intended to allow doctors to be reinstated to their positions and address continuity concerns related to military conscription.At the third round of talks held in Seoul, the Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed it will allow training hospitals to…
August 8, 2025SEOUL – Samsung Electronics is set to produce chips for Apple’s iPhone at its US fabrication plant, marking a rare partnership between the smartphone archrivals and raising hopes for a rebound in Samsung’s loss-making logic chip business.Apple revealed Wednesday that Samsung will manufacture the chips at its plant in Austin, Texas, which will be used to optimize performance for its flagship iPhones.“Apple is also working with Samsung at its fab in Austin, Texas, to launch an innovative new technology for making chips, which has never been used before anywhere in the world,” Apple said in a statement.“By bringing…
August 8, 2025SEOUL – When the Saja Boys in Netflix’s hit animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” stole fans’ hearts with their style, many wondered what the members were wearing on their heads.The wide-brimmed hats, called “gat,” were once a must for men stepping out in public.The headgear gained newfound interest, but to Chung Choon-mo, Intangible Cultural Heritage title holder for gannil, the film missed an opportunity to honor Korea’s tradition. Gannil refers to the method of crafting gat with fine bamboo strips or horsehair.“‘Gat’ is more than just a hat. Historically, it represented a man’s respect for etiquette, his sense…
August 7, 2025SEOUL – Sales of Korean literature abroad more than doubled in 2024, driven by a wave of international enthusiasm and a historic Nobel Prize win by Han Kang, according to new data released by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) on Wednesday.Books supported by LTI Korea’s translation and publication grants sold about 1.2 million copies abroad last year, a jump of more than 130 percent from 520,000 in 2023.The survey also showed that between 2020 and 2024, 942 titles across 40 languages sold a cumulative 2.68 million copies — up 730,000 from the previous five-year period…