Korea’s Resident Foreign-Currency Deposits Post Record $15.37B Drop as Won Slides Into 1,500s Resident foreign-currency deposits in South Korea posted their biggest monthly drop on record last month as the won-dollar exchange rate surged and moved in the 1,500-won range. The Bank of Korea said increased demand for currency exchange and outflows tied to overseas investment both weighed on balances. According to the central bank’s “Trends in Resident Foreign-Currency Deposits” released on April 22, resident FX deposits at foreign-exchange banks totaled $102.17 billion at the end April 22, 2026

Korea Fines SM Hwajin, Korea Cubic 2.6 Billion Won for Bid-Rigging Auto Interior Contracts South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday it issued corrective orders and fined SM Hwajin and Korea Cubic a combined 2.6 billion won ($1.9 million) for colluding in bids for surface treatment of vehicle interior materials. The two companies are suppliers to Hyundai and Kia and together hold a 100% share of the automakers’ bidding market for hydrographic transfer, a surface-treatment method used on interior materials, the commission said. The commission said the firms took par April 22, 2026

South Korea’s February Births Rise 13.6% for 20th Straight Month, but Population Still Shrinks South Korea’s number of births in February rose 13.6% from a year earlier, extending an increase to 20 straight months, according to the National Data Center. Births increased in every province and major city, and the total fertility rate moved closer to 1.0. Still, the country’s overall population continued to decline for the 76th consecutive month. In its “February 2026 Population Trends” report released Tuesday, the agency said 22,898 babies were born in February, up 2,747 (13.6%) from April 22, 2026

South Korea Returns 12 Chinese Troops’ Remains From Korean War, Resumes Vice-Minister Ceremony South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said it held the 13th handover ceremony for the remains of Chinese troops from the 6·25 War on the morning of April 22 at Incheon International Airport. The ministry said the event was co-hosted by Defense Vice Minister Lee Doo-hee and Xu Yao, a vice minister at China’s Ministry of Veterans Affairs. South Korea repatriated 12 sets of remains this year. From 2014 through last year, it returned a total of 1,011 sets, bringing the cumulative num April 22, 2026

Toyota Indonesia Unit to Produce Hybrid Battery Cells, Modules With China’s CATL Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia, Toyota Motor Corp.’s manufacturing unit in Indonesia, said on the 20th it will work with China’s automotive battery maker CATL to produce battery cells and modules for hybrid vehicles. TMMIN said it will invest 1.3 trillion rupiah (about 12.0639 billion yen) and plans to begin exports in the second half of this year. The cells and modules, now largely imported, will be made at a CATL plant being built in West Java. TMMIN currently packages April 22, 2026

AI Search Battle Intensifies in South Korea as Naver Faces New Rivals South Korea’s search market is entering a major turning point as the long-standing dominance of Naver is being tested by the spread of AI technology. Google has introduced “Gemini in Chrome” in the Korean market, while Naver has responded with an AI tab. Kakao has also joined the race by adding AI search inside KakaoTalk. For years, Korea’s search market has been shaped by local strengths. Naver has held an edge in Korean-language processing, local information, and links to everyday s April 22, 2026

Democratic Party infighting flares as Rep. Ahn Ho-young’s hunger strike drags on As Rep. Ahn Ho-young continues a hunger strike demanding a renewed party inspection into allegations that rival candidate Rep. Lee Won-taek had meal expenses paid by someone else in the Democratic Party’s North Jeolla governor primary, two senior party officials publicly criticized party leader Jung Cheong-rae for what they called an indifferent response. The dispute appears to be deepening within the party’s top leadership. Supreme Council Senior Member Lee Eon-ju and Supreme Council Mem April 22, 2026

Vietnam Festival 2026 Set for Late May at Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, Featuring Water Puppetry The Vietnam Festival 2026 executive committee said April 21 that “Vietnam Festival 2026” will be held in late May at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. The two-day event is scheduled for May 30-31 at the park’s event plaza. Organizers said it will feature 120 booths and is expected to draw 180,000 visitors. With “immersive festival” as its theme, the event will expand hands-on content and include performances of Vietnam’s traditional water puppet theater, along with concerts by popul April 22, 2026

KelpDAO Hit by $290M DeFi Hack; Possible Link to North Korea’s Lazarus Cited A major hack has hit the decentralized finance platform KelpDAO, with a North Korea-linked hacking group cited as a possible culprit. The attack has not been officially confirmed as North Korean. LayerZero, which operates the underlying infrastructure, said in a preliminary review that the incident may be connected to the Lazarus Group, specifically a subgroup known as TraderTraitor. LayerZero said on April 21 (local time) that the hack occurred April 18 and caused losses of about $29 April 22, 2026

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to Supply $4.6 Billion in Power Equipment for U.S. Data Centers HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has taken its first step into the U.S. market as demand for data centers grows. The company said Tuesday it recently signed a supply contract with U.S. energy infrastructure developer Aperion Energy Group for power-generation equipment based on 20-megawatt HiMSEN engines. The deal totals 684 megawatts and is worth 627.1 billion won, the largest power-engine contract HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has signed to date. The equipment will be used for data center power April 22, 2026