KB: Seoul Apartment Price Gains Slow; Gangnam Falls for Second Month Seoul apartment prices rose at a slower pace this month, while Gangnam-gu posted a second straight monthly decline, according to a KB Kookmin Bank survey. KB Real Estate said in its April nationwide housing price report released Saturday that, as of a survey conducted April 13, Seoul apartment sale prices rose 1.00% this month, easing from a 1.43% gain in March. Outer districts led the increase. Dongdaemun-gu recorded the biggest rise at 1.99%, followed by Gangseo-gu at 1.88%, Gangbuk- April 26, 2026

KOSPI Surge Lifts Minors’ Stock Holdings to Nearly $3 Billion Despite Fewer Shares A sharp rally in South Korea’s stock market last year pushed the value of stocks held by minors higher even as the number of young shareholders and the amount of shares they owned declined, data showed. According to the Korea Securities Depository on April 26, minors under 20 held about 2.9761 trillion won in shares at the end of last year among 88 companies in the top 200 by market capitalization that disclosed shareholder data by age. The total number of minor shareholders at those f April 26, 2026

Hana Bank teams with KIND and Vietnam’s BIDV to expand infrastructure finance and QR payments Hana Bank is expanding its finance and payments footprint in Vietnam through partnerships with a state-owned Vietnamese bank and a South Korean public agency. The bank said April 26 that it signed a three-way memorandum of understanding on April 23 with the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, known as BIDV, and the Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corp., or KIND, at the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum in Hanoi. Under the agreement, the three organizations April 26, 2026

White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting Highlights U.S. Democratic Strains A symbolic Washington gathering was again shaken by gunfire. At the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner attended by U.S. President Donald Trump, an armed suspect carrying a shotgun opened fire on April 25 (local time) while trying to breach a security screening area, prompting an emergency evacuation of Trump and other key guests. The suspect was arrested at the scene, and the president and attendees were not hurt. The episode, however, cannot be dismissed as a routine security April 26, 2026

Why Central Asia Should Be a Strategic Market for Korea’s Export Diversification Last November, the leaders of Central Asia’s five countries met with President Donald Trump in Washington to discuss securing critical minerals, the Trump Peace Route (TRIPP) and cooperation on artificial intelligence. A platform that began as a ministerial meeting in 2015 was elevated to a leaders’ summit within 10 years, signaling the start of supply-chain and trade shifts in a region long dominated by Russian and Chinese influence. The United States is not alone. China and Japan are al April 26, 2026

Korean Fish Market Vendors Grow Into 10 Billion-Won Businesses Through Coupang More vendors from traditional seafood markets in South Korea are using Coupang as a springboard to grow into small and midsize companies with annual sales in the 10 billion-won range, the e-commerce company said. The shift is credited to moving beyond complex distribution chains and face-to-face sales by using Coupang’s direct-from-source shipping and dawn-delivery system. Coupang said the number of small businesses based in major seafood markets and ports — including Busan’s Jagalchi April 26, 2026

Trump Says Suspect Likely Acted Alone in WHCA Dinner Shooting, Downplays Iran Link President Donald Trump said Friday that the suspect arrested in a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner venue likely acted alone and that a link to Iran, which the United States is at war with, appeared unlikely. According to The Associated Press and other outlets, Trump told a White House news conference that when he first heard the shots, “I thought it was a tray dropping,” adding that it was “pretty loud” and sounded “pretty far away.” He said the suspect ru April 26, 2026

Column: A Campaign Visit to Seoul City Hall Raises Questions About Power and Humility The pressroom at Seoul City Hall is usually quiet. That does not make it a light place. It is not where power is proclaimed, but where it is tested. Policies pass through here before they become public debate, and those who seek authority must pass through here before they can stand before citizens. That steady atmosphere is part of the order that holds the city together. A small ripple crossed that order a few days ago, on a Friday afternoon. Several people connected to the Democrati April 26, 2026

Seoul Apartment Lease Demand Hits Highest Level Since June 2021, Data Show Seoul’s apartment lease supply-demand index, a gauge of the balance between demand and supply for jeonse deposits, has climbed to its highest level since June 2021, signaling demand is outpacing available listings. According to the Korea Real Estate Board on the 26th, the index for the third week of April (as of April 20) came to 108.4, up 3.2 points from the previous week’s 105.2. The increase was larger than the prior week’s 0.7-point rise. It was the highest reading in about five year April 26, 2026

South Korea Closes Regulatory Gap by Classifying Liquid E-Cigarettes as Tobacco Liquid-type e-cigarettes have been formally brought under the legal definition of “tobacco.” A revised Tobacco Business Act that took effect on the 24th expanded the definition from products centered on “tobacco leaves” to include nicotine products. Until now, synthetic-nicotine liquid e-cigarettes were distributed largely like ordinary consumer goods, avoiding taxes and regulation. The move is late but necessary to bring an off-the-books market into the system. The regulatory gap has las April 26, 2026