OPINION: Why FX stability is a must for South Korea

South Korea is one of the world’s most open economies, with trade accounting for roughly 75% of GDP, and it depends entirely on imports for energy. In this structure, exchange-rate stability is not merely an economic policy issue but a matter of national resilience. When the won weakens, import prices rise, energy and raw-material costs surge, and pressure mounts on both corporate competitiveness and household finances. The won–dollar exchange rate has recently st

January 9, 2026

OPINION: The won's slide is about confidence, not crisis

The won traded around 1,360 per U.S. dollar when the Lee Jae Myung government took office in early June 2025. It weakened into the 1,470s in November and the 1,480s in December. Although it has since eased back to the 1,440s, the exchange rate — along with real estate — has emerged as one of the most visible risk factors confronting the new administration. A high exchange rate itself is not new. The won remained weak throughout the Yoon Suk Yeol government. What req

January 9, 2026

OPINION: Restore politics to avoid Japan-like path

South Korea is confronting a question it can no longer afford to ignore: can it avoid Japan’s “lost 30 years”? The concern is not only economic. More troubling is the sense that politics itself has lost the capacity to solve problems and steer the economy. The scale of South Korea’s transformation makes the question all the more striking. After liberation, average life expectancy stood at just 44 years. Infant mortality reached 102 per 1,000 births&mdas

January 8, 2026

OPINION: Why Korean words are likely to stay

“Language is the dress of thought,” wrote Samuel Johnson, suggesting that the words a society adopts reveal what it values, often more clearly than any manifesto or statistic. If that is true, then the latest update to the Oxford English Dictionary offers an unusually revealing glimpse into the cultural mood of the moment. This year, the dictionary added several Korean-origin words, including haenyeo and ramyeon, alongside terms such as jjimjilbang, bingsu, sunbae,

January 7, 2026

OPINION: Massive data breach at Coupang exposes lax security and lack of accountability

SEOUL, January 6 (AJP) - Coupang, South Korea's leading e-commerce giant, has offered just 50,000 Korean won (about US$35) in compensation to customers affected by its massive data breach detected in late last year. It is a meager amount, considering that sensitive personal information including home addresses and phone numbers, was exposed. As the breach occurred on a platform widely used to purchase daily necessities such as bottled water, following data leaks at teleco

January 6, 2026

OPINION: Intervention in Venezuela may be unjust unjust but what about inaction?

U.S. intervention in Venezuela has triggered swift criticism framed as a violation of international law. Civic groups, some governments and parts of the international community argue that forcibly removing a sitting president of a sovereign state sets a dangerous precedent that risks eroding the global order. These concerns deserve serious consideration, because legal norms exist precisely to restrain the use of force. But if the debate ends there, it avoids a more difficult q

January 5, 2026

OPINION: The language power and the need to rebuild standards

Reports describing a U.S. military operation in Venezuela, including the detention of President Nicolás Maduro, have sent shockwaves far beyond Latin America. Regardless of how final details are verified, the global response itself is revealing. Questions that once dominated international debate — legality, due process, sovereignty — have quickly given way to a more unsettling assumption: that such actions are now plausible. This shift marks a deeper transform

January 5, 2026

OPINION:  Higher long-term rates in Japan, what it means for the economy

Japan’s long-term interest rates have returned to levels unseen in decades, marking a structural shift for an economy long defined by near-zero borrowing costs. Yields on newly issued 10-year Japanese government bonds (JGBs) climbed into the 2% range in December 2025, the highest level in 26 years and 10 months, extending a steady rise that began in 2023. The move has been broad-based. Two-year yields reached 1.12%, the highest since 1996; five-year yields hit 1.52%, th

January 5, 2026

OPINION | Korea's AI ambition falters where it matters most: data security

South Korea speaks confidently of becoming an “AI powerhouse,” yet the foundation of that ambition — data governance — remains dangerously fragile. The reported leak of 33.7 million Coupang user records is not just another corporate security lapse. It exposes a deeper structural failure in how the country understands, designs and governs data itself. Each time a major breach occurs, authorities respond with familiar language: tougher oversight, stricter

January 2, 2026

OPINION: Korea's markets in 2025: prices surged, structures quietly weakened

By the end of 2025, South Korea’s financial markets offered a paradox. Prices moved sharply, yet the system did not break. Equity indices surged, bond yields rose and the won weakened — but none of this tipped into crisis. Beneath the surface, however, the numbers tell a more uneasy story: stability was preserved, but vulnerabilities quietly accumulated. The Bank of Korea’s semiannual Financial Stability Reports capture this duality well. The Financial Stress I

December 28, 2025