In July, heavy downpours caused severe damage nationwide. According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, 50 casualties occurred, mainly in Chungcheong and Gyeongbuk Provinces. In Osong-eup, Chungcheong Province, the collapsed bank of the Miho River caused by heavy rainfal
On July 12th, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. This summit disclosed the prospect of Ukraine and NATO relations. First, NATO released a superficially positive joint statement: “We reaffirm the commitment we made at the 2008 Summit in Bucharest that U
On July 13th, the negotiation between the Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) fell through. This conflict caused about 160,000 actors to join the strike led by the Writers Guild of Am
On July 19th, the 2024 minimum wage was set at ₩9,860. It increased by 2.5% compared with the 2023 minimum wage but did not surpass ₩10,000. The discussion regarding next year’s minimum wage began in June, when the business and labor representatives presented their primary suggestions during the Min
Scientists have been voicing their concerns about the rapid temperature rise across oceans’ surfaces. They warn that a record-breaking El Niño is projected to engulf the Pacific Ocean. El Niño is a phenomenon where the ocean warms up around the South American coast but cools down in the Western Paci
With a year and a half left until the 2024 United States (U.S.) Presidential Election, its matchup is forming slowly, with multiple politicians announcing their bids. On April 25th, current U.S. President Joe Biden announced his reelection campaign, along with Vice President Kamala Harris. However,
Until May, the won-dollar exchange rate has continuously been reaching new peaks. According to the April analysis of Herald Business, the Korean won is one of the four currencies among the Group of 20 (G20), which suffered depreciation after the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse. Experts have expressed c
On April 24th, Netflix announced a $2.5 billion investment in Korean media content for the next four years. Regarding the decision, Netflix’s co- CEO Ted Sarandos emphasized the uniqueness of K-content by saying, “We are deepening our partnership with the Korean creative industry, which has produced
The Biden administration has approved the Willow Project despite strong disagreements from environmental organizations and Democratic Party members. The Willow Project is an oil development project located within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, pursued by a hydrocarbon company ConocoPhilli
On March 22nd, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Putin declared to change the United States (U.S.)- centered unipolar system. From China’s perspective, the key phrases of this summit were “comprehensive strategic partnership” and “building international relations.” President Xi eval
On March 16th, the Planning and Finance Committee of the National Assembly passed a revised bill for the Act on Restriction of Special Taxation. Also known as the K-CHIPS Law, the act aims to provide additional tax benefits for domestic semiconductor facility investments by expanding the tax deducti
On March 22nd, the Special Committee on Political Reform (Reform Committee) of the National Assembly passed a bill to revise the election system, which will be submitted to the Whole House Committee. The Reform Committee agreed to discuss and process the three suasions proposed by the Advisory Commi
Concerns have risen that the earthquake in Türkiye on February 6th will deepen the country’s economic downturn. With a magnitude of 7.8, the quake affected most of the country, causing more than 50,000 deaths and leaving more than 200 homeless. The damage has led to a shortage of human resources, wh
Concerns regarding the infrastructure industry of the United States (U.S.) grow as President Joe Biden’s Buy American Act falls into crisis. The Buy American Act is an initiative that requires a certain percentage of raw construction materials to be American-made, which was strengthened in 2021 due
On February 20th, the government revealed plans to develop and routinize daily Artificial Intelligence (AI) services through the New Growth 4.0 Strategy during the Emergency Ministerial Meeting on Economic Affairs. The detailed plan of the Nationwide AI Routinization Project will be released this Ju
On February 21st, the Ministry of Economy and Finance(MOEF) held the Finance Executive Vice Ministers Conference to announce the expanded budget in the first half year to be ₩383 trillion, which is the largest amount in Korean history. The ministry stated that the budget had been mostly drawn up for
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime minister Fumio Kishida held the U.S.-Japan summit on January 13th at the White House. The joint statement announced that the meeting was mainly concerned with the issues surrounding North and South Korea, as well as the Ukraine War, China, Taiwan, and the
On January 11th, Bloomberg News reported that Apple decided to customize more components to lessen dependency on technical partners such as Samsung and LG. According to the report, Apple plans to produce its own Apple Watch Ultra display by the end of 2024. The company is expected to replace the dis
Since this February, Seoul City raised the minimum fare for a mid-sized taxi from ₩3,800 to ₩4,800 and reduced the base distance from 2km to 1.6km. Furthermore, last December, Seoul City extended the late-night surcharge time slot from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. and the extra surcharge from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.
On January 27th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) announced the result for the 5th public financial forecasting of the National Pension System (NPS). The financial forecasting of the NPS refers to an overall plan for managing the NPS, which includes insurance fee adjustments and fund operat