Election Commission Hearings & Special Counsel Lee Kang-in Makes Atletico Madrid Debut in Seoul

The National Assembly's special investigation committee held its 3rd hearing on August 10, calling 29 witnesses including former NEC chairman Noh Tae-ak. The special counsel public recommendation committee will submit two final nominees to the president on the 14th.

Democratic Party leadership candidate Kim Min-seok, former Prime Minister, leads with 45.42% against Jeong Cheong-rae (44.56%) by just 0.86 points after three of six regional blocs are counted. The Honam, Seoul, and Gyeonggi regions are seen as the decisive variables.

The National Education Commission plans to release a draft national education development plan in late October and finalize it by March next year. Options under review include essay-style CSAT assessments, absolute grading conversion, and adjustments to admissions timelines.

Seoul City inspected its Mapo Campus of the Youth Employment Academy, partnered with Microsoft, and announced plans to train 600 AI professionals across 25 campuses this year with corporate-linked employment pathways.

Korea University of Technology and Education signed a customized talent development MOU with the Chungnam Office of Education, the regional employment bureau, and Hitachi Energy Korea, to link semiconductor, AI, and power engineering education directly to job placement.

SK Hynix management and labor failed to close the gap in their 5th round of talks over a proposal to pay part of bonuses in company stock. Within three days, over 3,500 employees joined a joint union to strengthen bargaining power, with concerns raised about HBM4 production schedule disruptions.

The National Pension Service signed MOUs to expand Korean startup investments with six Silicon Valley VCs — including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital — collectively managing $300B in assets, as part of efforts to diversify fund management.

The Bank of Korea's June balance of payments data showed the current account surplus reached $49.73B, surpassing the prior month's record by 28.8%. Goods exports surpassed $100B for the first time on semiconductor growth, with the first-half cumulative surplus reaching $191B.

Statistics Korea reported that the July CPI rose 2.8% year-on-year, returning to the 2% range after three months. Slower petroleum price increases and stabilizing agricultural prices were key factors, making this a critical variable for the Bank of Korea's August rate decision.

The government's 2026 tax reform proposal introduces a domestic production tax credit proportional to domestic output in six advanced industries including semiconductors, secondary batteries, and AI robotics. Six major business groups welcomed the plan, saying it will help expand domestic production and investment.

Korea Real Estate Board's first-week August survey showed Seoul apartment transaction prices up 0.26%, with the pace widening from the prior week. Buying interest flowed into redevelopment candidate complexes and large transit-adjacent developments, with lease prices also rising 0.25%.

The August metropolitan area apartment pre-sale outlook index dropped 14 points in one month to 88.5, falling below the provincial index (94.2). The key drivers were the base rate hike and major commercial bank mortgage limit reductions dampening subscription sentiment.

The government's 2026 tax reform proposal shifts the comprehensive real estate holding tax from a unit-count basis to a property value basis, exempting owner-occupied single homes with market values up to KRW 2B. The capital gains long-term holding deduction will be replaced by a residency-based long-term deduction.

41 domestic startups received investment in the first week of August 2026, with 12 publicly disclosed companies raising a combined KRW 216.35B. Materials, components, space and aerospace deep tech, and gaming and entertainment IP sectors showed particular strength.

Cancer precision diagnostics startup Innocras raised KRW 44.3B in its Series B round, marking the largest single investment deal in the first week of August. Bio and healthcare accounted for 29.3% of the week's total investment.

The National Pension Service signed MOUs with six Silicon Valley VCs — including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, collectively managing $300B in assets — to expand Korean startup investments as part of fund management diversification.

Eyewear brand Blue Elephant secured KRW 100B from global private equity firm Apperma Capital at an approximately KRW 400B valuation. The company posted revenue of KRW 50.7B last year, up 69% year-on-year.

CJ Logistics will begin operating autonomous trucks on urban routes through signalized intersections connecting four sub-terminals in Daegu starting in October, in partnership with Daegu City and the Intelligent Automobile Parts Research Institute. This marks Korea's first urban mid-mile autonomous delivery.

Of 857,000 newly registered vehicles in the first half, 494,000 (57.8%) were eco-friendly, surpassing internal combustion engine vehicles for the first time. Electric vehicles totaled 199,000 units, up 113.6% year-on-year, accounting for 23% of all new registrations.

Autonomous driving startup Mars Auto completed installation of copilot systems on 20 postal delivery vehicles in partnership with Korea Post Logistics Support Group and LogiSquare. The company aims to advance its end-to-end AI model and reduce fuel costs by at least 10%.

OpenAI acquired presentation automation startup NextSlide and integrated its core development team. The company plans to embed technology for auto-converting text, documents, and notes into high-quality slides directly into ChatGPT.

OpenAI added file attachment and project workspace features to its voice AI model GPT-Live. Users can now attach documents during voice conversations and manage long-term tasks like travel planning or job searching as organized projects.

Nvidia plans to invest an initial $2B in Lancium for a 20% stake, with an additional $1B contingent on conditions being met. Lancium supplies power to OpenAI and Oracle's Stargate data centers, valued at $10 billion.

A security researcher revealed at Black Hat USA 2026 that North Korean operatives accidentally infected their own PCs with malware, allowing 22 months of unauthorized C2 server access. Affected organizations include Coinbase, Uniswap, and Boston Children's Hospital.

The Korea National Diplomatic Academy's e-learning platform was compromised from April 2025 to February 2026. A zero-day server software vulnerability was exploited, potentially exposing personal information of up to 10,000 current and former foreign ministry staff.

The amended Personal Information Protection Act, passed in February 2026, takes effect on September 11. Companies above a certain size must obtain board approval and notify the Personal Information Protection Commission when changing their CPO, with violations subject to fines up to 10% of annual revenue.

As of August 9, Bitcoin traded at $64,998, up 3.34%, buoyed by falling U.S. Treasury yields and a weaker dollar. The move was interpreted alongside net foreign buying in the KOSPI as a signal of recovering risk appetite.

The U.S. Senate launched the first procedural vote on the Clarity Act on August 8. The House had already passed the bill in July with 294 votes in favor, but the full Senate vote was delayed to after September 15 due to the summer recess.

Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly rejected all 15 points of the Trump administration's Gaza peace initiative on August 9. The Palestinian Authority said Phase 2 ceasefire implementation exists only on paper, with the death toll exceeding 1,250.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency announced that a North Korean missile unit has been deployed to Russia's 112th Missile Brigade with 40 KN-23 and KN-24 short-range ballistic missiles. The final scale is expected to be determined at a North Korea-Russia high-level summit planned for September.

SK Biopharmaceuticals recorded all-time quarterly highs in Q2 2026, with revenue of KRW 247.4B and operating profit of KRW 97.1B. U.S. sales of epilepsy treatment cenobamate (Xcopri) reached KRW 224.4B, up 45.6% year-on-year.

GC Biopharma published findings on physicochemical stability analysis of mRNA-LNP vaccines in a SCIE-indexed journal. The research demonstrated changes in mRNA purity and LNP structure under stress conditions, establishing a quality control foundation for commercialization.

ABL Bio received additional approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for an amended Phase 1 clinical trial plan for ABL503, a PD-L1/4-1BB bispecific antibody. The trial will evaluate monotherapy and combination therapy in patients with advanced solid tumors at 8+ institutions in the U.S. and Korea.

Korea's lunar orbiter Danuri captured before-and-after images of a Falcon 9 upper stage (approximately 4.9 tons) striking near Einstein Crater at 2.43 km/s. With ground-based telescopes failing to capture evidence, Danuri was confirmed as the sole observational asset.

The Korea AeroSpace Administration's open call for a second launch site received bids from Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. Launch facilities and reusable rocket landing infrastructure will be built from 2028 to 2034, with the final selection announced in October.

The Korea AeroSpace Administration presented a heliospheric exploration plan for observing the space environment between Earth and the Moon at COSPAR 2026 in Florence, Italy, and discussed cooperation with NASA and ESA. The goal is to build a multi-point network to supplement solar storm warnings at L1.

With heat indices reaching 40 degrees Celsius, visitor counts at major department stores rose by up to 30%, with food and beverage sales up over 20%. Summer product sales surged by up to 46%, and foreign shoppers' first-half department store spending exceeded KRW 1.7 trillion for the first time.

A Green Korea survey of 1,170 retail locations found 669 (57.2%) operating air conditioning with doors open. The government designated August 10-23 as an energy-saving intensive promotion period with stepped-up enforcement.

While July CPI eased to 2.8%, extreme heat has sent vegetable prices soaring in August — spinach up 131%, young radish up 74%, cucumber up 45%. Combined with a telecom cost base effect, analysts warn August CPI could rebound to the 3% range.

The Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment announced that public deliberation will begin in August to determine whether to include new nuclear plants and small modular reactors in the 12th Basic Plan for Electricity. The format and number of forums will be finalized within the month.

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced a large-scale clean energy expansion plan — including early achievement of a 100GW renewable energy target and 20GW of offshore wind on the West Sea — to meet surging power demand from AI and semiconductor data centers.

Successive heat waves drove power demand to all-time highs, and domestic battery companies saw ESS orders surge more than 17-fold compared to the same period last year. Samsung SDI secured the largest market share in the AI grid ESS battery segment.

Red Velvet's mini-album 'Velvet Summer' topped iTunes album charts in 15 regions including Denmark, Sweden, Taiwan, and Thailand. The title track 'Surfin' Boy' also reached No. 1 on Korea's Bugs music chart.

Taemin announced a solo album release on August 31 followed by the 2026-27 world tour 'LiMiNaL.' The tour will kick off in Seoul and visit 12 cities across North America and Latin America.

Kakao Games signed a game development and publishing agreement with The Gream Entertainment, holder of webtoons 'Manager Kim' and 'Lookism.' The original drama adaptation 'Agent Kim' concluded with a peak viewership rating of 23.1%.

KBS2's daily drama 'Trap of Desire,' starring Jang Seo-hee, aired its first episode on August 10 at 7:50 p.m. The 100-episode series follows a woman wrongfully convicted of murder who sets out to reclaim her fate.

At the August 9 Coupang Play Series match at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Lee Kang-in came on as a substitute in the 64th minute, debuting in a No. 7 jersey bearing his name in Korean script before 50,000 fans. The team suffered a 1-3 comeback defeat.

The KBO canceled all 15 scheduled league games across 5 national stadiums from August 7-9. The league resumes on Tuesday, August 11, with all games through September 6 moved to 7 p.m. start times to minimize heat exposure.

Yoo Tae-baek (world No. 58) lost 0-2 (16-21, 21-23) to China's Zhu Xuanchen in the men's singles final at the BWF World Tour Korea Masters on the 9th. He recorded consecutive world tour final appearances for the second straight week.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety found that acrylic resin-coated paper containers supplied to bhc Chicken exceeded total migration limits and ordered a sales halt and recall. The incident occurred roughly two years after bhc had promoted its switch to ESG-friendly packaging.

Extreme heat has sent vegetable prices surging in August — spinach up 131%, young radish up 74%, cucumber up 45%. Although July CPI eased to 2.8%, a telecom cost base effect adds to concerns that August prices could rebound.

60 complexes totaling 39,341 units will go on sale nationwide in August, more than double the volume from a year earlier. Of those, 22,492 units are in the metropolitan area — 6,770 in Seoul, 10,626 in Gyeonggi, and 5,096 in Incheon.