Iran Claims U.S. Warship Hit by Missiles in Strait of Hormuz; U.S. Denies Iranian media reported Monday that a U.S. warship trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz was hit and forced to turn back. Yonhap News Agency said Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that a U.S. Navy frigate in the Gulf of Oman was struck by two Iranian missiles and withdrew as it attempted to pass through the strait. Citing a local source in southern Iran, Fars said the frigate tried to transit near waters off Jask in southeastern Iran after violating navigation and vessel-traff May 4, 2026

Kakao Pay Launches Parents Day Campaign, Gives Carnations and Message Cards Kakao Pay is rolling out a special campaign and promotions for May, widely observed in South Korea as Family Month. A survey published Monday by Pay Attention, Kakao Pay’s official finance journal, found that 89% of 27,095 respondents chose cash as their preferred Parents Day gift. Kakao Pay said its user data showed a similar pattern. The busiest day for Kakao Pay remittances in May last year was Parents Day, when more than 3.03 million transfers were made in a single day, the highest May 4, 2026

South Korea’s ruling party says timing of special counsel bill needs review amid internal debate Cho Seung-rae, secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Korea, said the party needs further discussion on when to move a bill to appoint a special counsel to investigate alleged “fabricated indictments,” taking a cautious line ahead of the June 3 local elections. His remarks on May 4 marked the party’s first official position after President Lee Jae-myung said he would leave the timing and procedure to the party. At a news briefing at the National Assembly, Cho said the par May 4, 2026

Iran’s IRGC Expands Strait of Hormuz Control Zone After U.S. ‘Project Freedom’ Announcement Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has sharply expanded the area it says it controls in the Strait of Hormuz, pushing tensions in the Middle East to a peak.   According to Yonhap on Monday, the IRGC set a new western control line running straight from the western tip of Iran’s Qeshm Island to Umm Al Quwain in the United Arab Emirates. On the southeastern side, at the strait’s entrance, it drew a control line from Mount Mobarak in southeastern Iran to a point south of Fujairah in the May 4, 2026

Hanwha Aerospace Raises KAI Stake Above 5%, Shifts to Active Management Role Hanwha Aerospace said in a regulatory filing on the 4th that it bought additional shares of Korea Aerospace Industries, or KAI, and changed its stated purpose for holding the stake from a “simple investment” to “participation in management.” According to the filing, Hanwha Aerospace acquired an additional 100,000 KAI shares, or 0.1%, raising its combined stake including affiliates to 5.09%. With its ownership now above 5%, the company revised its holding purpose to management participation May 4, 2026

KB, Shinhan and Woori Tell SEC Inclusive Finance Push Could Strain Asset Quality South Korea’s major financial holding companies have warned that the government’s expanding “shared growth” and inclusive finance policies could weigh on asset quality. According to the financial sector on the 4th, KB Financial Group and Shinhan and Woori Financial Group recently filed earnings-related reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Korean financial holding companies regularly submit reports to the SEC as they diversify funding channels. The filings shared a co May 4, 2026

Seoul mayoral candidate Jeong Won-oh visits Korea Exchange, urges support for market shift Jeong Won-oh, the Democratic Party’s candidate for Seoul mayor, visited the Korea Exchange on May 4, as the benchmark KOSPI index topped 6,900, and said Seoul must raise its growth rate to sustain the “money move” into stocks and the market rally. Speaking at an event titled “Jeong Won-oh’s On-the-Ground Visit: Finance Edition” at the exchange in Seoul’s Yeouido district, Jeong said that as of 2024 the national economic growth rate was 2.0% while Seoul’s was 1.0%. He said Seoul should he May 4, 2026

Samsung Biologics Labor Talks Resume With No Deal as Strike Enters Fourth Day Samsung Biologics and its union resumed talks as the full-scale strike entered its fourth day, but failed to narrow differences. The two sides plan additional meetings on May 6 and May 8 to continue negotiations. The Samsung Biologics Sangsaeng branch of the Samsung Group Inter-Company Labor Union said the sides again found no common ground in a meeting mediated by the Jungbu Regional Office of Employment and Labor on May 4. A first session ran for about two hours from 10:15 a.m. and May 4, 2026

Kim Yong-beom says long-term capital gains tax break will stay; tax deferral helped cool Gangnam prices Kim Yong-beom, head of policy at the presidential office, said Monday the long-term holding special deduction for home-sale capital gains taxes will “of course” be maintained. Speaking at a news briefing at Cheong Wa Dae, Kim addressed a bill by Progressive Party lawmaker Yoon Jong-oh that would abolish the deduction entirely. Kim said the government is only considering adjustments and that claims it would reduce owner-occupancy are “not true at all.” Kim added, however, that officia May 4, 2026

Samsung, Meta Set for AI Smart Glasses Showdown in Second Half of 2026 The market for artificial intelligence-powered smart glasses, widely seen as a next-generation device after smartphones, is expected to heat up in the second half of the year as Samsung Electronics and Meta prepare competing launches. As AI moves into eyewear, companies are betting on real-time translation, hands-free controls and faster processing of visual information to push “wearable AI” into the mainstream. Industry sources and foreign media reported Sunday that Samsung, working w May 4, 2026