Ambassador Roh Jae-heon Urges Korea-China Youth to Serve as Bridge Between Peoples Ambassador Roh Jae-heon to China visited Shanghai on a one-night, two-day trip starting April 29, carrying out public diplomacy centered on Korea-China exchanges in youth, culture and history. The Korean Embassy in China said Roh delivered a lecture at NYU Shanghai on April 29 titled "A New Era in Korea-China Relations" and met with students for an open discussion. He said young people in both countries should pursue global cooperation in areas including innovation, culture and peace, and April 30, 2026

South Korea seeks discipline for 12 officials over mishandled recovery in 12·29 Jeju Air crash The Office for Government Policy Coordination said it will seek disciplinary action against 12 public officials over what it called a poor recovery effort that left victims’ remains inadequately collected and stored for an extended period after the 12·29 Jeju Air passenger plane disaster. The office’s joint government inspection team on Wednesday released results of an intensive review conducted for about a month starting March 23, covering the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation April 30, 2026

Court Halts FIU Sanction, Allowing Bithumb to Keep Operating for Now Bithumb, a South Korean virtual asset exchange, has avoided a financial regulator’s business suspension for now. According to the legal community on Wednesday, the Seoul Administrative Court’s Administrative Division 2, presided over by Chief Judge Gong Hyeon-jin, granted Bithumb’s request to suspend the Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) sanction of a “six-month partial business suspension.” The measure will remain suspended until the court rules on the main case. The FIU had said Bithu April 30, 2026

Shinhan Financial to Launch $100 Million Venture Fund, Targeting $1 Billion in Startup Investment Shinhan Financial Group said it will launch a private venture fund-of-funds and provide investment support totaling 1 trillion won for youth-led and regional startups. Shinhan said it signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday with the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to boost venture investment and will launch a 100 billion won fund-of-funds. The fund is the first project to be carried out under a public-private cooperation framework built with t April 30, 2026

Survey: 82.2% of South Korean women-owned firms say Middle East crisis is hurting business As fallout from the Middle East crisis spreads across South Korea’s small-business sector, a new survey found that more than 8 in 10 women-owned companies say their operations are already being hit. Many reported a double squeeze from higher input costs and weaker domestic consumption. According to a survey released Thursday by the Women’s Economic Research Institute under the Women’s Enterprise Comprehensive Support Center, 82.2% of women-owned firms said their business activities are cur April 30, 2026

Socar to Launch 150 Billion Won Self-Driving Unit; Krafton to Invest 65 Billion Won Socar said it is pushing to set up a self-driving-focused subsidiary with planned investment of 150 billion won, a level it described as among the largest in South Korea’s autonomous driving services sector. Video game company Krafton will join the project as a strategic investor. Socar said Thursday the new company is expected to be established in May. Socar CEO Park Jae-wook, who has led the company’s autonomous driving initiatives, will also serve as CEO of the new unit and oversee the April 30, 2026

Hanon Systems Q1 Operating Profit Jumps 361% to 97.2 Billion Won Hanon Systems, an automotive thermal energy management solutions company under the Hankook & Company Group, posted sharply improved results. In a regulatory filing on the 30th, Hanon Systems said its first-quarter operating profit on a consolidated basis was 97.2 billion won, up 361.1% from a year earlier on a preliminary tally. Revenue rose 5% to 2.7482 trillion won. Net profit was 67.5 billion won, returning to the black. The company said the performance reflects companywide restru April 30, 2026

CNN: U.S. Iran War Costs Could Reach $50 Billion, Double Pentagon Figure The cost of the U.S. war with Iran could reach $50 billion, CNN reported, about double the $25 billion the Pentagon has publicly cited. CNN and Reuters reported on the 30th that the Defense Department told Congress the previous day that the war had cost $25 billion so far. CNN, citing multiple sources, said the actual total could be $40 billion to $50 billion. Reuters said most of the Pentagon’s $25 billion estimate was for munitions, and it was not specifically confirmed whether t April 30, 2026

Google Signals Possible Ads for Gemini, but No Immediate Plans Google has left open the possibility of adding advertising to its AI assistant, Gemini, though it has not confirmed any immediate rollout. On April 29 (local time), Google Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said in a post-earnings Q&A that the company is currently focused on the Gemini app’s free tier and subscriptions. “Advertising can be a way to expand a product to a broader user base, and if designed appropriately it can be useful commercial April 30, 2026

U.S. Pushes New Coalition to Restore Shipping Through Strait of Hormuz, WSJ Reports The United States is working to form a new international coalition to restore normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, The Wall Street Journal reported. The effort comes after President Donald Trump declared the strait “fully open,” yet vessel traffic has not returned to normal, the report said. Citing an internal State Department cable sent to U.S. embassies, the Journal said the department on April 29 (local time) instructed diplomats to urge foreign governments to join the new gro April 30, 2026