15 stories
From Bill Gates landing in Seoul to push next-generation nuclear energy deals, to Washington flagging South Korea in a sweeping tariff evasion report, and Seoul's ambassador paying tribute to a Chinese statesman who helped build bilateral ties — South Korea had a busy August 13.
Seoul's annual water gun festival drew crowds on August 8, turning city streets into summer splash zones, while South Korean academics joined international partners to advance refugee education pathways at a landmark workshop hosted at the Canadian Embassy.
South Korea is experiencing its most extreme heat wave in recorded history, with temperatures surpassing 42°C in the southeast and at least 16 deaths confirmed nationwide as of early August 2026.
From a rice chip hitting McDonald's menus nationwide to universities retooling foreign student programs as rural workforce pipelines, South Korea is deploying surprisingly creative strategies to fight regional population decline.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has completed the final vacuum vessel sector module for the ITER fusion reactor in France, supplying four of the nine critical components for the world's largest fusion energy experiment.
A fire broke out on the sixth floor of a Coupang logistics center in Incheon, South Korea, on the morning of July 18, 2026, injuring one firefighter and prompting a massive emergency response and direct statements from President Lee Jae Myung.
Seoul ranked 17th in Monocle magazine's 2026 Quality of Life Survey, making it the top city in Northeast Asia outside Japan, with the publication praising its democratic resilience and global cultural influence while flagging concerns over long working hours and heritage preservation.
Heavy rain battered South Korea's Gangwon Province, Jeju Island, and Busan on Saturday for the second consecutive day, closing mountain trails, raising landslide warnings, and disrupting the historic Gangneung Danoje Festival — though no casualties were reported.
South Korea's food safety, intellectual property, and customs agencies have signed a joint MOU with the cosmetics industry to combat a surge in counterfeit K-beauty products, which OECD data values at nearly 10 billion dollars in 2024.
South Korea's presidential office pushed back on North Korea's claim that denuclearization is an "irreversibly finalized" matter, reaffirming the goal as a consistent position of the international community backed by multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back held back-to-back bilateral talks with his counterparts from the Philippines, Norway, and the Netherlands at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, pushing defense industry cooperation and calling for international support on the North Korea issue.
From a labor union honoring the May 18 Democratization Movement to a heated debate over South Korea's constitution in the face of North Korea's "two-state theory," and a major AI training push in Korea's industrial heartland — here's what's happening across the peninsula this week.