Advertisement
Advertisement
South Korea
TOPIC
 / location

South Korea

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

North Korean footballers arrive in South, match tickets sell out

North Korea has labelled the South its ‘most hostile state’ and ruled out reunification, while South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has called for improved ‌ties.

Thailand

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

videocam
China-Asean relations

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

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.

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.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
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.

videocam
12
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.

videocam
11
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.

Foreign tourists in traditional Chinese costumes take photos near the Forbidden City in Beijing on April 16. Photo: AP
Electric & new energy vehicles

Peugeot, Jeep take on Chinese rivals with new models using local EV tech

Peugeot and Jeep are following in the footsteps of Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq to regain lost ground in mainland China.

A Peugeot concept car on display at the Auto China show in Beijing, April 24, 2026. Photo: Reuters
The Philippines

Western powers ramp up support for Philippines’ Luzon economic hub

Eight more countries will invest in the project as they accelerate regional trade diversification in sectors ranging from AI to energy.

videocam
China-Latin America relations

China restores US beef trade amid Trump-Xi summit, alarming Brazilian exporters

Beijing’s renewal of import licences for US beef plants comes as Brazil nears its annual quota cap and scrambles for alternative markets.

videocam
9
Crime in Hong Kong

Truck driver arrested after accident leaves 1 highway worker dead, 5 others hurt

Truck hit back of worker’s patrol vehicle parked in closed slow lane of Cheung Tsing Highway, which then struck minivan carrying South Korean tourists.

5
The crushed back of the highway patrol vehicle and the minivan carrying the tourists on Cheung Tsing Highway. Photo: Handout
2026 Xi-Trump summit

Macroscope | Trump-Xi summit puts US vulnerabilities on display

China weaponising rare earths turned the tables on Trump, showing how unprepared Western governments and firms were for a full trade war.

videocam
Children greet Chinese President Xi Jinping (second right) and US President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. Photo: Reuters
Technology

Samsung union’s strike threat fuels fears of South Korea’s economic slowdown

The AI boom and SK Hynix’s profit-sharing arrangement with its workers have reportedly galvanised Samsung’s biggest union to take action.

SCMP Highlights

Hong Kong parks as gyms, vegetarian omakase: 7 Lifestyle highlights

From a Hong Kong coach turning parks into gyms to vegetarian omakase in Vancouver, here are five stories from SCMP’s recent reporting.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
China stock market

AI | Chinese chip ETFs pause trading as they warn of soaring premium risks

With two funds trading at least 30 per cent above net asset values, the large premiums would trigger sell-offs when sentiment turns.

People cross the street beneath a large screen showing the latest stock exchange data in Shanghai. Photo: EPA
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.

videocam
6
Semiconductors

Chinese memory module makers ramp up production with new CXMT DRAM

Founded in 2016, CXMT is widely regarded as China’s only domestic DRAM maker to have achieved mass production.

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.

videocam
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Hong Kong transport

HK Express cuts surcharge by 12.8% as fuel prices ease amid Mideast war

Adjustment follows similar moves by Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines, which have both announced reductions in fuel surcharges.

Hong Kong Express counters at Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: Eugene Lee
War and conflict

‘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.

2026 Xi-Trump summit

Leaving so soon? US, China hold briefest trade talks yet before leaders’ summit

The two delegations met in Seoul’s Incheon Airport, spoke for a few hours and skipped the press conferences typically held after earlier sessions.

videocam
5
Extreme weather

South Korea adds ‘extreme heat emergency’ to first major alert update in decades

Over the past five years, the average number of heatwave days and tropical nights has surged nearly threefold compared to the 1970s.

Children play in a fountain at Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul on April 26. Photo: Yonhap/EPA
China trade

Asia needs ‘institutional toolbox’ to survive global shocks, China experts warn

Ahead of Trump’s China visit, experts at an RCEP forum discuss a supply-chain overhaul, looking to insulate the world’s biggest trading bloc.

videocam
Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, speaks at an RCEP forum in Hainan on Saturday. Photo: Handout
Defence

South Korea signals ‘phased’ support for US-led Hormuz mission after ship attack

Defence Minister Ahn said the support could include political backing, personnel dispatches and sharing of information and military assets.

videocam
2026 Xi-Trump summit

China and US teams race to find easy summit deliverables at meeting in Seoul

The two sides will seek to ‘iron out any last-minute issues’ in single day of talks, economist says.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.
SUPPORT NOW
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement