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South Korea
South Korea
Latest news, in-depth features and opinion on South Korea, covering politics, economy, society, K-pop and Seoul’s relationships with North Korea, Japan, China and the United States.
Capital
Seoul
Head of State
Lee Jae-myung
Lee Jae Myung
Head of Government
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok
A still from Colony.
Asian cinema: Korean films

How Colony features a new kind of zombie to reflect modern fears

Director Yeon Sang-ho of Train to Busan fame explains how AI and social media anxiety inspired the zombies in his new horror film.

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North Korea

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

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Semiconductors

Does China’s rapid chipmaking expansion threaten the global AI memory chip boom?

Electric & new energy vehicles

AI | China’s Ganfeng secures orders amid surge in demand for energy storage, AI boom

Company says its orders are booked through the first half of 2027 as it plans to increase production volume by 50 per cent next year.

China’s Ganfeng Lithium says its orders have been booked through the first half of 2027 amid a surge in demand for energy storage systems and a frenzy of investment in AI data centres. Photo: handout
SCMP Highlights

Singaporeans’ work ethic, South Korea’s AI ‘goddess’: 7 Asia highlights

From Southeast Asia’s climate hazards to South Korea’s AI ‘baseball goddess’, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting.

Environment

Letters | Naphtha shock must spur East Asia to cut its plastics reliance

Readers discuss a potential positive consequence of Middle East volatility, the Russian leader’s coming visit to Beijing, and AI’s impact on China’s real economy.

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Starbucks

Starbucks Korea boss loses job after ‘Tank Day’ promotion misfires

Sohn Jeong-hyun was fired following public anger over the campaign that was seen as mocking the anniversary of the Gwangju uprising.

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A Starbucks outlet in Busan, South Korea. Photo: Shutterstock
Hong Kong economy

Hong Kong finance chief woos French wealth managers as European tour starts

Paul Chan, who arrived in Paris on Monday, met representatives of French asset management association and think tank Asia Centre in Paris, sources say.

Samsung Electronics

Video | Samsung strike could cost South Korea $66.7 billion

50,000 workers are set to begin an 18-day strike on May 21 at the world’s largest memory chipmaker, Samsung Electronics.

Semiconductors

CXMT’s soaring profits lift China’s semiconductor stocks

The Hefei-based DRAM producer reported revenue of US$7.4 billion in the first quarter, up 719 per cent from a year earlier.

CXMT’s net profit in the first quarter reached 33 billion yuan. Photo: Handout
Robotics

Video | Robo-monks lead Seoul’s Lotus Lantern Festival

South Korea’s Lotus Lantern Festival, or Yeon Deung Hoe, was added to Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020.

An android robot monk waves its hand in front of monks during a Lotus Lantern parade ahead of Buddha's birthday in Seoul, South Korea, May 16, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon
Samsung Electronics

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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Asia housing and property

The View | Japan no longer Asia’s only rental housing market attracting investors

While Japan remains the most developed market, property investors are finding new opportunities elsewhere in the region.

SCMP Highlights

Trump’s China trip assessed, South Korea’s AI problem: 5 weekend reads

From how Trump’s trip to Beijing measured up to South Korea’s deepfake epidemic, here are five stories you may have missed over the weekend.

US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing Beijing on Friday. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS
China stock market

Chinese tech stocks buck regional trend, regain momentum after Xi-Trump meeting

Despite sell-offs in the Asia-Pacific region, investors continue to bet that China’s technology stocks will extend their blistering run.

A large screen shows the latest stock exchange and economic data in Shanghai. Photo: EPA
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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Samsung Electronics

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.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Drone strike sparks fire on edge of UAE nuclear power plant complex

UAE investigates the source of drone attack, as Trump warns the ‘clock is ticking’ for Iran.

The Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in 2020. Photo: AFP
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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Thailand

Face forward: why Thailand is the next big thing in beauty trends

The T-beauty industry is growing by 5 per cent each year and is estimated to be worth over US$10 billion by 2030.

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China-Asean relations

Asian Angle | China offers Southeast Asia clear advantages in nuclear power

With its experience in exporting nuclear reactors, China can offer long-term energy security and technological upgrades.

Researchers inspect an alloy material sample used to build a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor at a laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics in October last year. Photo: EPA
Artificial intelligence

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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A screenshot of the "baseball goddess" from an AI-generated video. Photo: X/kangminlee
Vietnam

Vietnam’s US$5 billion Apec island is running out of time

Phu Quoc is a test case for Vietnam’s build-fast model. But with 18 months to go, the island is short of workers, diesel and hotel rooms.

Asia travel

From Hamburg to Hong Kong, the art of the tourist nap explained

The culturally immersive and sensory-rich siesta – for a uniquely restorative travel experience.

Seoul

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.

A ship sails in the Han River after leaving the Jamsil pier in Seoul’s Songpa ward on September 18, 2025. Photo: Yonhap/EPA
History

Opinion | The West was never the whole world. It’s time to move on

As Asia reclaims its roots, the burden of reinvention now falls on the West. Its brief era of supremacy was a historical aberration.

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People walk past a television screen in Beijing broadcasting US President Donald Trump’s visit to China on Thursday. Photo: EPA
2026 Xi-Trump summit

Trump and his CEOs want China’s business – but has Asia moved on?

The US delegation went to Beijing looking for deals, but a ‘super cycle’ of capital expenditures across Asia is already fuelling enormous growth.

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Mainland China

Being Chinese | How to deal with this ‘very Chinese time’ in Western lives

The question is not whether outsiders are getting China or Chinese culture right, but what we choose to do with their attention.

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