It will be interesting to see what becomes of this:
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a meeting on state financial strategies at Cheong Wa Dae on July 13, 2026. (Yonhap)
President Lee Jae Myung said Monday that the government will use additional tax revenue expected from the ongoing semiconductor boom to create a “future response fund” aimed at investing in future industries and policies for younger generations.
You can read more at the link.
For Soldiers in Korea looking to convert some U.S. dollars into Won, now is the time to do it:
The South Korean won weakened against the U.S. dollar Tuesday amid renewed expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise its rates this year.
The won traded at 1,539.1 won per dollar, down 2.1 won from the previous session, as of 3:30 p.m., partly hit by a sell-off by foreign investors in local stocks.
The won opened at 1,539.4 won per dollar earlier in the day but tumbled to as low as 1,542.1 won at one point, marking the weakest level since June 8.
You can read more at the link.
Tough day for the Korean stock market:
South Korean stocks tumbled nearly 10 percent Tuesday as foreign investors dumped major semiconductor shares and other market heavyweights amid profit-taking, tracking overnight losses in U.S. technology stocks. The local currency weakened against the U.S. dollar.
After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plunged 910.71 points, or 9.99 percent, to close at 8,203.84. The index hit an intra-day high of 9,175.45.
The Korea Exchange (KRX), the bourse operator, activated a circuit breaker at around 2:33 p.m. after the KOSPI plummeted more than 8 percent from the previous session’s close.
You can read more at the link.
President Lee did not offer any ideas, but is he going to get fully behind nuclear to reduce dependency on oil?:
President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday it is time for the nation to fundamentally change its economic system, as rising oil prices and inflationary pressures from the war in the Middle East have dampened prospects of an economic recovery.
However, Lee urged officials to embrace such grave economic conditions as an opportunity to improve the nation’s economic system as he presided over his first plenary meeting of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) to discuss measures to cushion the Middle East conflict’s impact on the economy.
“The war in the Middle East poses a significant threat to our economy in the short term, and in the long term, it is now time to make fundamental changes in South Korea’s economic system,” Lee said. “It is a crisis but also an opportunity.”
You can read more at the link.
President Trump’s tariffs are definitely contributing to this, but exports across the board are down for South Korea, not just to the U.S.:
South Korea’s exports plunged nearly 24 percent in the first 10 days of May, signaling that the US Trump administration’s tariffs are beginning to take a toll on the trade-dependent economy.
Outbound shipments totaled $12.8 billion during the May 1-10 period, down 23.8 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Korea Customs Service released Monday.
Factoring in fewer workdays — five days during the period this year compared to 6.5 days in 2024 — average daily exports fell by just 1 percent, the agency added.
Shipments to China and the US — Korea’s two largest export markets — fell 20.1 percent and 30.4 percent, respectively. Exports to Vietnam declined 14.5 percent, while those to the European Union plunged 38.1 percent. Among the top five destinations, only Taiwan posted growth, with its shipments jumping 14.2 percent.
You can read more at the link.
This makes me wonder what the quality of the Phd these people who cannot have a job have?:
Three out of 10 people who obtained a Ph.D. last year were unemployed, with the ratio going up to nearly 50 percent for those aged under 30, data showed, Sunday.
The unemployment rate of Ph.D. holders is at an all-time high since Statistics Korea began collecting the data in 2014, highlighting a shortage of quality jobs and the widening impact of the job market downturn on highly educated professionals.
According to the data, 70.4 percent of the 10,442 individuals who obtained a Ph.D. last year said they secured a job. Those who failed to find employment accounted for 26.6 percent, while 3 percent were classified as economically inactive.
You can read more at the link.
The 52 hour work week is really just 40 hours like in the U.S. but has an additional 12 hours of overtime. I can understand how limiting workers to only 12 hours of overtime can constrain employers and workers in some industries:
The country currently adopts a 52-hour work week — 40 regular hours with 12 hours of possible overtime. It was introduced in 2018 by the liberal Moon Jae-in government to reduce the maximum week from 68 hours at the time to 52.
Citing its latest survey, the ministry said the 52-hour workweek has substantially taken root, but some industries have still experienced management problems due to a lack of flexibility in working hours and difficulties meeting deadlines.
In the survey, 48.2 percent of the respondents said the 52-hour workweek has helped relieve matters stemming from work overload, but 54.9 percent said the existing system has failed to reflect the characteristics of some industries.
In particular, both workers and employers in the manufacturing and construction industries as well as the medical, research and engineering sectors said overtime management of the current workweek needs to undergo changes.
Accepting these survey results, the ministry will maintain the 52-hour workweek, while at the same time beginning discussions with industries that have experienced difficulties abiding by the current rule, seeking to come up with complementary measures that could improve flexibility.
The ministry will also prepare measures aimed at resolving workers’ health concerns that could be affected by the long work hours at those industries.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
