KOSPI 'Black Tuesday' & Kyushu Earthquake: A Shockwave Wednesday

NVIDIA launched the 'Open Secure AI Alliance' alongside 52 companies including Microsoft, IBM, SpaceX, and Hugging Face to share AI cybersecurity tools as open source. The absence of OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic drew notable attention.

Following the release of Moonshot AI's 2.8-trillion-parameter Kimi K3 open-weight model, analysts published estimates that OpenAI and Anthropic's combined valuations have been revised down by $314 billion.

AMD announced a partnership with Cerebras Systems to jointly develop an AI inference solution combining AMD's Helios rack-scale system with wafer-scale engines, targeting up to 5x improvement in token generation speed per watt.

On July 28, the KOSPI plunged 732 points (10.84%) to close at 6,023.66. News of China's CXMT listing prompted foreigners to net-sell over 4 trillion won in shares, triggering a circuit breaker intraday.

Alongside the KOSPI, the KOSDAQ index also crashed more than 11% on July 28. Small- and mid-cap semiconductor and IT stocks bore the brunt of large-scale foreign selling.

China's largest DRAM maker, CXMT, completed a $4.3 billion IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market and surged 466% on its first trading day. The news directly triggered the collapse in South Korean semiconductor stocks.

In the wake of the CXMT listing shock, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell 13% and 14%, respectively. Semiconductor-related stocks in Japan also declined in tandem.

On July 28, the Democratic Party passed a Criminal Procedure Act amendment to abolish the prosecution's supplementary investigation powers in a Judiciary Committee subcommittee without opposition support. The People Power Party announced a filibuster against the planned July 30 floor vote.

On July 28, a National Assembly subcommittee passed an amendment to shorten the fast-track review period from a maximum of 330 days to 90 days, pushed through by the Democratic Party. The People Power Party condemned the move as legislative overreach.

On July 27, President Lee Jae-myung instructed officials at a video cabinet meeting to maintain the fuel tax reduction and oil price cap amid fluctuating international oil prices driven by Middle East instability.

A nationwide heat wave following the end of the monsoon season has pushed cumulative heat illness cases to 1,482, with 9 deaths. A 65-year-old woman in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, was confirmed as the latest fatality.

White phosphorus leaked from two rounds at Camp Humphreys (K-55) in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, prompting emergency alerts and a resident evacuation. U.S. forces contained the leak on their own, and the evacuation order was lifted within about 30 minutes with no casualties.

Korean independent animation director Heo Beom-uk passed away on July 28 at age 44 from complications following a fire accident. The release of his upcoming film 'The Pig Who Came Back from Foot-and-Mouth Disease,' scheduled for August, has been postponed indefinitely.

Consecutive days of extreme heat pushed peak power demand to 93.9 GW on July 27, dropping the reserve margin into the 10% range. The government is maintaining an emergency response posture in anticipation of a projected peak of up to 98.8 GW in the third week of August.

The 28th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-28) under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity opened in Nairobi, Kenya on July 27 and runs through August 1, reviewing implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

A report released by UNAIDS on July 28 warned that global HIV response funding has fallen to $7.3 billion, a 20-year low, and that 1.2 million new infections occurred in 2025.

Stanford researchers used AI to discover BRP, a naturally produced peptide in the body. Animal experiments showed that a single injection before meals reduced food intake by up to 50%.

A research team at the University of Rochester used CRISPR-based RNA editing to restore immune cell recognition markers on prostate cancer cells, improving immunotherapy response rates. The findings were published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

On July 28, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met at the White House for the first time since the outbreak of the Iran war. Both sides described the talks as 'positive and productive' and reaffirmed their stance against Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

The U.S. has halted additional airstrikes against Iran for two consecutive days since July 26. The number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz dropped to 29 over the three days from July 24-26, while international oil prices held at $115-$120 per barrel.

The Vietnamese cargo vessel 'Coi Nguyen 18' sank near the Spratly Islands on July 25. As of July 28, 48 survivors have been rescued, while 14 remain missing. Six Chinese and Vietnamese rescue vessels are continuing search operations.

Director Heo Beom-uk, who had been receiving treatment after a fire accident, passed away on July 28 at the age of 44. The release of his upcoming film 'The Pig Who Came Back from Foot-and-Mouth Disease,' planned for August, has been postponed indefinitely.

On July 28, Disney+ officially announced production of 'A Man's Man,' a drama based on a web novel, confirming the casting of Park Jeong-min, Seolhyun, Lee Kwang-soo, Bae Seong-woo, and others.

Samsung Lions defeated the KIA Tigers 12-5 in Daegu on July 28, maintaining the top spot in the standings. The Lions erupted for 8 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, including a three-run home run by Lee Jae-hyun, knocking out KIA's starter after just one inning.

Lotte Giants defeated Hanwha Eagles 9-3 in Daejeon on July 28, collecting 20 hits — the most in a single game this season — to snap a three-game skid against Hanwha.

Tesla Cybercab and Waymo have both entered the Tampa, Florida market simultaneously. Tesla announced it has expanded unsupervised driving operations to Tampa, surpassing a cumulative 380,000 miles.

Blue Origin, recovering from a launchpad explosion in May, has confirmed it will conduct a hot-fire test of the New Glenn rocket's second stage engine at NASA's Stennis Space Center B-2 test stand.

In July, the average jeonse price for Seoul apartments reached 700.458 million won, exceeding 700 million won for the first time since KB Real Estate began tracking data. Prices have surged 8.5% year-on-year, with a shortage of new housing supply cited as the primary cause.

Despite tightened tax and lending regulations, consumer expectations for apartment price increases have reached their highest level in roughly five years. Surveys show home price optimism has expanded for four consecutive months.

The Ministry of Education selected Kyung Hee University and Jeonju Vision University as top recipients in a competition for excellent models linking international students to regional employment and settlement, drawing attention as a strategy to address regional labor shortages.

The number of unemployed college graduates in Q2 2026 reached 481,000, a five-year high. More than 80,000 IT and professional jobs for young workers are estimated to have been eliminated due to the AI transition.

The social media addiction bellwether trial set to begin in Los Angeles on July 27 fell through after TikTok and Snap each reached confidential settlements and plaintiffs dropped their cases.

Meta has expanded AI-based detection of non-original content on Instagram. Reposted and aggregated content will see reduced reach, while original creative posts will receive up to 3x broader distribution.

As the KOSPI tumbled more than 10% on the back of sharp falls in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, Bitcoin also fell approximately 3%, sliding to the $63,000 range.

The U.S. Senate shelved a vote on the Crypto CLARITY Act, citing the need to address Russia sanctions legislation. With Congress set to recess on August 8, only two weeks remain for potential action.

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on the afternoon of July 28, causing the second floor of an AEON Mall to collapse and trapping multiple people. A tsunami advisory was issued and later lifted, and approximately 48,000 households lost power.

At a UNESCO World Heritage Committee session held in Busan, the ancient Asuka-Fujiwara Palace Sites in Nara Prefecture were confirmed for inscription. Japan's total number of World Heritage Sites now stands at 27.

Typhoon No. 13 Dolphin, which formed on July 27, has been rapidly intensifying. Korea Meteorological Administration stated it is monitoring the possibility of the typhoon approaching Japan in early August.

The prosecution dropped charges against 127 individuals connected to the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, restoring their honor without the need for a retrial. Criminal compensation totaling 3.2 billion won will also be paid to the 115 individuals whose identities have been confirmed.

With heat advisories in effect across 124 areas nationwide, livestock deaths have exceeded 300,000. Heat illness cases stand at 1,399 with 9 fatalities.