Budget Office Holds Town Hall on Public Finances; Minister Park Says People Own the Budget Fiscal authorities on April 28 held a town hall-style meeting to discuss how the nation’s finances are managed and to gather public input. The event, hosted by the Ministry of Planning and Budget, was its first public forum aimed at collecting citizens’ views directly on fiscal policy. After a topic presentation, all participants were invited to speak freely and take part in a question-and-answer session. Park said he has long wrestled with “how to bring budgets and public finances clo April 28, 2026

China Politburo urges readiness for external shocks, stronger energy security China’s top decision-making body, the Communist Party’s Politburo, called for a systematic response to external shocks and challenges and for stronger energy and resource security, Chinese state media reported. The message comes as uncertainty has risen in areas including energy and trade following the outbreak of the Iran war. According to Xinhua News Agency and other state outlets, the Politburo met on the 28th under the chairmanship of Chinese President Xi Jinping to review and assess April 28, 2026

LG H&H says AI-aided study finds hair-growth compound from cnidium extract LG Household & Health Care said it has developed a new scalp and hair-care ingredient combination that significantly improves hair growth speed and durability, based on a compound extracted from the herbal medicine cnidium. The company said April 28 that its research institute used artificial intelligence to identify “cnidium-derived ferulic acid” and combined it with NMN, described as a key ingredient for extending skin longevity, to create the new formulation. The findings wer April 28, 2026

Time Names OpenAI, Alphabet and Three Chinese Firms Among 2026’s Most Influential AI Companies Time has named OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet, along with China’s ByteDance, Alibaba and Zhipu AI, to its list of the 10 most influential artificial intelligence companies this year. The selection reflects how the AI race is expanding beyond model performance to user scale, data centers and competition over open AI ecosystems. According to Time on April 27 (local time), the “10 Most Influential AI Companies of 2026” are OpenAI, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Anthropic, Hugging Face, ByteDance April 28, 2026

SK Inc. to Invest 400 Billion Won to Raise Stake in SK Ecoplant, Boost Chip and AI Push SK Inc. is moving to strengthen its competitiveness in semiconductor and AI infrastructure by increasing its stake in SK Ecoplant. SK Inc. said in a regulatory filing on the 28th that its board approved an investment of about 400 billion won to buy SK Ecoplant common shares and convertible preferred shares held by financial investors. The company said the move is aimed at linking SK Ecoplant’s growth potential in the semiconductor value chain to SK Inc.’s corporate value and maximizing sh April 28, 2026

Global Tea Brand CHAGEE Enters South Korea, Pledges Focus on ‘Real Tea’ Experience Global modern tea brand CHAGEE has entered the South Korean market, pitching tea’s natural flavor and an in-store experience as an alternative in a coffee-dominated beverage scene. CHAGEE on April 28 held a media day at its Gangnam flagship store in Seoul to outline its Korea launch and brand strategy. Kim Jwa-hyeon, CEO of CHAGEE Korea, and Kim Jeong-hee, the company’s chief marketing officer, presented the brand’s philosophy, products and store concept. The company says its mission is April 28, 2026

Korean Banks Face Rising Delinquencies as Government Pushes More Corporate Lending Banks are growing increasingly concerned about asset quality as government efforts to curb household lending and expand so-called productive finance push more credit toward companies. With the economy slowing, a rapid expansion of lending to weaker firms could become a threat to banks’ balance sheets, the industry says. According to the financial sector on the 28th, the average overall delinquency rate for the four major banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — rose to 0.36% in the f April 28, 2026

SK Hynix to Redeem Remaining Exchangeable Bonds Early, Cutting Debt by 133 Billion Won SK Hynix said in a regulatory filing on 28일 that it will exercise a cleanup call to redeem the remaining portion of foreign-currency exchangeable bonds it issued overseas in 2023. The face value of the bonds to be repurchased is about 132.7 billion won, representing 5.9% of the total issuance of about 2.2377 trillion won. A cleanup call allows an issuer to redeem bonds early and end the creditor-debtor relationship once the outstanding balance falls to 10% or less. Invest April 28, 2026

USTR Steps Up Pressure on South Korea Over Network Fees, Data Access and AI Concerns The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has publicly criticized South Korea’s network usage fee policy, raising pressure in digital trade. Industry officials and experts in South Korea warn the dispute could expand beyond telecom policy into demands for broader data access, a key resource in the AI era. According to the industry on April 28, the USTR posted on X on April 27 (local time) that “no country in the world imposes network usage fees for traffic transmission by its internet s April 28, 2026

Court Temporarily Halts FIU’s Partial Business Suspension of Coinone for One Month A partial business suspension ordered against South Korean virtual asset exchange Coinone, which had been set to take effect on the 29th, has been put off for one month. According to the legal community and the virtual asset industry on the 28th, the Seoul Administrative Court decided to temporarily suspend the effect of the sanction until May 29 in a lawsuit Coinone filed against the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) seeking to overturn the partial suspension, along with Coi April 28, 2026