KOSPI plunges 3.26%, oil hits $108 triple shock North Korea reveals joint firepower drill, Lee Jae-myung begins Central Asia tour

The Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation released the final answer key for the 2027 CSAT September mock exam on September 15. Total examinees numbered 500,128, including a record 111,925 repeat test-takers. Score reports will be issued to examinees on September 29.

A record 196,473 repeat test-takers (graduates and GED holders) registered for the 2027 CSAT, the largest cohort since 2004. Analysts attributed the surge to this being the final year of the current integrated CSAT format and backlash over last year's English difficulty.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is reviewing foreign national eligibility and institutional gaps across social security programs including basic livelihood benefits, emergency welfare, basic pensions, national pensions, health insurance, and long-term care insurance. The review follows the tightening of national pension top-up requirements for foreign nationals.

POSCO management and union resumed annual wage negotiations at the Pohang headquarters at 2 p.m. on September 15, twelve days after the first partial strike. If talks break down, the union plans to launch a 120-hour partial strike at the Pohang No. 2 and Gwangyang No. 4 hot-rolling mills starting September 16. The union is demanding a 7.1% base wage increase, a 600% bonus, and 50 employee stock shares.

The HD Hyundai Heavy Industries union continued a four-hour partial strike involving all members on September 14-15. The strike is set to expand to seven hours per day from September 16. The union is demanding a base wage increase, a 900% bonus, and other benefits.

The Hanon Systems in-house subcontractor union, which had threatened to strike on September 14-15, reached a tentative agreement with management in supplemental negotiations. The deal includes a 60,000 won base wage increase and an 8.75 million won labor-management cooperation bonus.

The KOSPI fell 3.26% to 6,684.37 on September 14. The KOSDAQ also dropped 1.69% to 806.79. U.S. core CPI came in above forecasts, raising fears of another Fed rate hike, while surging Middle East oil prices compounded the market-wide selloff.

Dubai crude, Korea's key import benchmark, surged to $123.66 per barrel. Despite the oil price rally, fears of shrinking refining margins sent S-Oil, GS, and SK Innovation shares lower.

Korea's exports for September 1-10 reached $34.97 billion, up 82.6% year-on-year and a record for the period. Semiconductor exports surged 270.1% to $16.5 billion, accounting for 47.1% of total exports.

As the KOSPI fell more than 3%, the won/dollar exchange rate pulled back from an intraday high of 1,394 to the 1,380s. Airlines and travel stocks drew attention as beneficiaries of the won's relative strength.

According to the Seoul Real Estate Information Plaza, Seoul apartment sale transactions in September stood at just 449. Monthly volume has dropped from roughly 9,000 in May to 3,046 in August, with experts citing the Chuseok holiday as a factor that could keep the September total near 1,000.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport raised the basic construction cost standard to 2,328,000 won per square meter, a 4.07% increase effective September 15. The change directly affects housing prices in areas subject to the sale price cap system and LH public housing, with LH national-standard units (84 square meters) expected to be priced in the 700-800 million won range.

According to Seoul City, new land transaction permit applications for Seoul apartments in August fell 34.8% from the previous month to 3,012 cases, the lowest since the city-wide designation last October.

Bitcoin rebounded intraday to $77,873 on September 14. The CME FedWatch rate hike probability climbed to 86.5%, adding downward pressure on non-yielding crypto assets. Ethereum closed up slightly at around $2,523.

Upbit and Bithumb officially delisted three tokens — STORJ, TT, and JASMY — effective 3 p.m. on September 14. The delistings cite failure to resolve the conditions that had placed the tokens on the trading caution list.

Forbes reported on September 14 that Bitcoin could face major price swings as the Fed's FOMC decision approaches. Stronger-than-expected inflation data has pushed rate hike odds higher, dampening the short-term appeal of non-yielding assets like Bitcoin, according to market analysis cited in the report.

SK Hynix fell 5.24% and Samsung Electronics dropped about 3.4% on September 14, leading the KOSPI's decline. Middle East geopolitical tensions drove oil above $103 per barrel while U.S. inflation data stoked fears of another Fed rate hike.

KB Securities' research head forecast that Samsung Electronics would rank first and SK Hynix third globally in operating profit next year. The combined operating profit of the two companies was projected at 944 trillion won.

Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) reportedly asked Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to prepay five years of electricity bills totaling 25 trillion won, but both companies declined.

Hyundai Motor Group announced plans to equip vehicles with its in-house self-driving AI Atria at the Level 2++ tier in the second half of 2029. Starting in 2028, it plans to first introduce Nvidia Hyperion 10 platform for Level 2+ capability before progressively upgrading.

Samsung SDI showcased a pouch-type all-solid-state battery sample at InterBattery 2026, with a mass production target of the second half of 2027. The company said it is conducting sample evaluations with multiple global customers.

LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On are speeding up their push into energy storage systems (ESS) as EV battery demand falls. The three companies' combined global EV battery market share for January-May was just 13.8%, far behind Chinese firms at 72.6%.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, saying capabilities are outpacing oversight. OpenAI and xAI voiced support. Nvidia and AMD fell 3-5% each, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped about 5%.

Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman released a draft code of conduct stating AI must not refuse human modification, oversight, or shutdown. Public feedback will be gathered for six weeks before incorporating into future model training.

Apple released iOS 27 on September 14, upgrading Siri to generative AI capability. Supported on iPhone 11 and later, code in iOS 27 reveals a mechanism for integrating external AI models such as Claude and ChatGPT as Siri extensions.

Korea's ICT exports reached a record $59.98 billion in August. Semiconductor exports rose 209% year-on-year to $46.67 billion, pushing ICT's share of total exports above 60% for the first time.

SoftBank secured $11.87 billion in two-year loans from approximately 20 banks, exceeding its $10 billion target. The company plans to invest a total of approximately $65 billion in OpenAI by October.

President Lee Jae-myung held his first bilateral summit with the Uzbek president on September 14, kicking off a series of meetings with leaders of five Central Asian countries. Thirteen agreements and MOUs were signed, with the first-ever Korea-Central Asia Summit scheduled for September 16.

KCNA reported on September 14 that five artillery and missile units conducted a joint firepower strike drill using tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, large-caliber thermobaric multiple rocket launchers, and attack drones. The South Korean Joint Chiefs confirmed several short-range ballistic missiles were launched from the Wonsan area, flying about 250 km before landing in the sea. The Presidential Office convened an emergency security meeting and condemned the launches as a violation of UN resolutions.

South Korea and the United States announced on September 14 that the 29th Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) will be held in Busan from September 16-18. Key agenda items include whether to deploy Korean forces to the Strait of Hormuz, OPCON transfer, defense cost sharing, and Korea-US shipbuilding cooperation.

KCNA reported on September 14 that five units conducted a joint firepower strike drill using tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, large-caliber thermobaric multiple rocket launchers, and attack drones. South Korea's Joint Chiefs confirmed short-range ballistic missiles were launched from the Wonsan area and flew about 250 km before falling into the sea.

South Korea and the United States announced on September 14 that the 29th Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD) will be held in Busan from September 16-18. Key agenda items include whether to deploy forces to the Strait of Hormuz, OPCON transfer, defense cost sharing, and Korea-US shipbuilding cooperation.

Russia launched 108 drones at Ukraine on September 14. Ukraine's air force said it intercepted or neutralized 85 of them. Two people were killed and 14 injured in the Kherson region.

Coreline Soft's chest CT-based lung nodule detection aid AVIEW Lung Nodule CAD received approval from Japan's PMDA. It is the first Korean CT-based lung nodule CAD to enter the Japanese market, adding to existing U.S. FDA and European CE clearances.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency issued the official 2026-27 seasonal influenza epidemic alert. The influenza-like illness rate at clinics stood at 25.3 per 1,000 outpatients, nearly double the epidemic threshold, while hospitalizations in week 36 surged to 300 cases, double the prior week.

The Korea Medical Device Cooperatives operated a 144-square-meter K-AI Medical pavilion at Medical Fair Asia 2026 in Singapore. Nine Korean AI medical device companies including Airs Medical and Promedius exhibited products in imaging analysis and monitoring.

The LZ experiment collaboration detected a 2.6-sigma particle interaction signal in its 10-tonne liquid xenon detector that cannot be explained by known background sources. The signal could be a trace of WIMPs, a dark matter candidate, but falls short of the 5-sigma threshold required to claim a discovery.

A large filament eruption accompanied by a C1.4-class flare was observed in the Sun's southwest region in the early hours of September 14 (KST). The resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) is predicted to deliver a glancing blow to Earth around September 17.

The Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft, docked to the International Space Station, completed a reboost burn on September 14 to restore the ISS to its normal orbital altitude. The ISS requires periodic reboosts to counteract gradual orbital decay.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced at the G20 energy ministers meeting on September 14 the final withdrawal of carbon emission limits for coal and gas power plants. The Biden-era climate policy targeting a reduction of one billion metric tons of greenhouse gases by 2047 has been scrapped.

The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed that August 2026 was 1.65 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, tying with July 2023 as the hottest month ever recorded. International environmental groups called for accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels ahead of the UN General Assembly.

Saudi Arabia's 1,200-km east-west pipeline was damaged in a drone attack and will be out of service for several weeks. The disruption of four million barrels per day sent Brent crude up 3.56% to $108.34 per barrel on September 14.

With oil prices surging amid prolonged Middle East conflict, the South Korean government summoned the four major refiners to discuss expanding shipping subsidies for crude imports from outside the Middle East. The government also said it is considering introducing a supply stability diagnostic index.

Disruptions to Strait of Hormuz shipping and demand for winter stockpiling pushed Asian LNG spot prices to $26 per MMBtu in the week of September 8-14, the highest level since December 2022.

aespa released a special digital single featuring solo tracks from Karina, Winter, Giselle, and Ningning on September 14. It marks the group's first individual musical showcase following the completion of their sold-out Latin American world tour.

MAMAMOO's Hwasa performed at the Elysee Palace state dinner marking the 140th anniversary of Korea-France diplomatic relations. The performance came on the occasion of President Lee Jae-myung's state visit to France.

K-pop band DAY6 officially announced the holding of fan meeting events in October. The group, a JYP Entertainment act that debuted in 2015, will use the events to connect directly with fans.

Lee Kang-in started and played 60 minutes in Atletico Madrid's away match against Real Sociedad in La Liga Round 5. Atletico sealed a 3-0 win with three late goals.

The 24-member South Korean baseball squad for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games assembled on September 14 to begin training. Kim Do-young, who had been recovering from a nasal bone fracture surgery, joined without any issues.

KIA Tigers' Kim Do-young achieved the youngest-ever single-season trifecta of 40 home runs, 100 RBIs, and 100 runs scored in KBO history in his first game back from nasal bone surgery. He broke the record previously set by Lee Seung-yeop 27 years ago.

A survey by the Ministry of Agriculture and KREI released on September 14 found that food ingredient and labor costs combined to account for 71.6% of general restaurant revenues, breaking the 70% threshold for the first time in survey history. Operating profit margin stood at 8.7%.

Data from reservation app Catch Table released on September 14 showed single-person restaurant bookings rose 38.1% year-on-year in January-July 2026, with 67.7% of those at venues priced above 50,000 won per person. Hotel buffet single bookings surged 216% year-on-year.

Seoul City announced on September 14 the selection of six commercial areas — including Sinsa Garosu-gil and Konkuk University's restaurant alley — for its Moonlight Night Market initiative. Up to 2 billion won per district will be provided through 2028 to develop night-time cultural and dining destinations.