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  South Korea Falls to No. 9 in U.S. Import Market as Trump Tariffs Bite South Korea’s position in the U.S. market weakened compared with major competitors, reflecting the impact of U.S. tariffs, according to an analysis of U.S. government trade data. An analysis of U.S. Commerce Department import and export statistics released Tuesday on the Korea International Trade Association’s statistics service showed the United States imported $113.4 billion in goods from South Korea last year through November. That was down 5.9% from the same period a year earlier. S February 19, 2026
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  Olympic Halfpipe Gold Medalist Choi Ga-on Diagnosed With Three Fractures Choi Ga-on of Sewha High School, who won South Korea’s first Olympic gold medal in snow sports, has been diagnosed with three fractures. Choi posted a hospital exam photo on Instagram on Feb. 19 (Korea time) with the words “3 fractures.” The results appear to show fractures in three places. Choi won gold in the women’s snowboard halfpipe final at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, scoring 90.25 at Livigno Snow Park in Italy early on Feb. 13. She was injured on February 19, 2026
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  BTS’ ‘ARIRANG’ Tops Spotify Countdown Charts Global for Fifth Straight Week BTS’ fifth full-length album, ‘ARIRANG,’ ranked No. 1 on Spotify’s ‘Countdown Charts Global’ for the Feb. 18 chart, extending its run at the top to five straight weeks. The album first reached No. 1 on the Jan. 21 chart and has held the spot since. The chart tracks pre-save totals for albums and singles, a metric widely used to gauge global listener anticipation ahead of release. ‘ARIRANG’ has surpassed 3.45 million pre-saves on Spotify, drawing February 19, 2026
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  CLOSE YOUR EYES’ Jang Yeo-jun Diagnosed With Rhabdomyolysis, to Pause Activities Jang Yeo-jun, a member of the group CLOSE YOUR EYES, will temporarily halt activities due to health issues. Agency Encore said in a statement on the 19th that Jang recently visited a hospital after feeling unwell and was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis following detailed tests. Doctors said he needs inpatient treatment and monitoring. Jang is expected to be hospitalized for about a week and will be unable to attend scheduled activities this week. Encore said further details will be provid February 19, 2026
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  Cho Seong-ha, Shim Eun-kyung cast as leads in National Theater Company’s 'Banya Ajae' Actors Cho Seong-ha and Shim Eun-kyung will star in the National Theater Company of Korea’s play “Banya Ajae,” which opens in May, the company said on the 19th. “Banya Ajae” is a Korean adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic play “Uncle Vanya.” Cho will play Park I-bo (Vanya), a man who devoted his life to supporting his late sister’s husband, only to realize his brother-in-law is an incompetent intellectual, leaving him overwhelmed by the sense that his life has been denied. Shim will pl February 19, 2026
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  Snowboarder Kim Sang-gyeom, Milan 2026 silver medalist, sets sights on 2030 Olympic gold “I want to keep riding the snowboard I love and compete on the Olympic stage even in my 40s.” Kim Sang-gyeom, who won silver for High1 at the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, said his path has been driven by a love of “snow” and “board,” even when reality was far from romantic. In an interview with this newspaper on Feb. 14, Kim said the Olympics had been “so desperately important” to him. “I’ve never chased money while snowboarding. I got this far because I love snowboarding,” February 19, 2026
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  Korean Pharma-Bio Brief: Yuhan Phase 2 CSU Trial, Celltrion ECCO Data, JW Award, HLB MOU Yuhan begins Phase 2 trial of allergy drug Resigercept in CSU patients Yuhan said Feb. 19 it is moving forward with a multinational Phase 2 clinical trial of its allergy-disease treatment Resigercept in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). The company registered key details of the Phase 2 plan on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Institutes of Health clinical trial database. The study is designed to evaluate safety and efficacy after 12 weeks of dosing with Resige February 19, 2026
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  SC First Bank Launches Smart Box Checking Account With Rates Up to 5% SC First Bank said Wednesday it is running a sign-up promotion for its “SC First Smart Box Account,” a demand deposit product offering rates of up to 5%. The account automatically splits the daily balance in half and applies different rates to the Smart Box portion and the Basic Box portion. On the Smart Box portion — half of the balance — customers can earn a preferential rate of 3.0% to 5.0% depending on conditions. The remaining half, the Basic Box portion, earns a base rate of 0.3%. February 19, 2026
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  Business and Investing Books Lead Yes24 Bestsellers as KOSPI Rally Continues As the KOSPI surged past the 5,600 mark, business and economics titles continued to dominate bestseller lists. According to Yes24’s overall bestseller rankings for the third week of February, professor Lee Gwang-su’s “Stock Investing for Progressives” ranked No. 1. The comic “The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity 18 (Double Special Edition),” which began preorders last week, placed No. 2. Cho Hyun-sun’s new novel “My Perfect Funeral,” published in January, was No. 3. The 2025 Akutagaw February 19, 2026
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  Lee Jae-myung Signals HMM HQ Move to Busan; Charter Change May Reach March Meeting Lee Jae-myung said on social media that South Korea’s largest shipping company, HMM, will move its headquarters to Busan soon, drawing attention to whether the company will put a charter amendment on the agenda for its March shareholders meeting. HMM’s union said it will respond with a hard-line fight if the company tries to amend the charter and push the move without labor-management talks. According to political circles on the 19th, Lee reposted a message on X (formerly Twitter) by Jeo February 19, 2026