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  National Museum of Korea to Display Andong Bongjeongsa Yeongsanhoi Hanging Scroll Painting A national treasure held by Bongjeongsa Temple in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province — the “Andong Bongjeongsa Yeongsanhoi Hanging Scroll Painting” — will go on display in Seoul.  The National Museum of Korea said Thursday it will present the work in a special exhibition, “A Buddha Leading to Enlightenment: The Andong Bongjeongsa Gwaebul,” from April 7 to June 21 to mark Buddha’s Birthday.  The museum’s annual gwaebul exhibition series began in 2006 to highlight the historical, cultural April 3, 2026
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  KB Kookmin Bank to Contribute 17 Billion Won to Credit Guarantee Fund for 600 Billion Won in Loans KB Kookmin Bank said it signed two agreements with the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to expand “productive finance” and support a return to growth, including a separate pact aimed at region-specific financing. Under the agreements, the bank will make a special contribution of 17 billion won to the fund and plans to support a total of 600 billion won in loans secured by guarantee certificates. The bank said it expects the split between a general program and a region-focused program to streng April 3, 2026
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  Hana Bank, Bank of Korea and BGF Retail sign MOU for Project Hangang Phase 2 deposit tokens Hana Bank said Thursday it signed a three-way memorandum of understanding with the Bank of Korea and BGF Retail at the central bank’s headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday to help advance “Project Hangang Phase 2,” a pilot program testing deposit tokens, and to promote digital finance innovation. The agreement expands a deposit-token pilot led by the Bank of Korea together with the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service. It is aimed at enabling real-world payments April 3, 2026
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  MMCA Cheongju to Offer Free Exhibition Admission to Troops in North Chungcheong Province The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Cheongju Art Storage Center said Thursday it signed a memorandum of understanding with the ROK Army’s 37th Infantry Division on March 24 to run arts and culture programs and support museum visits for service members. The agreement is intended to broaden access to cultural experiences for troops carrying out mandatory service, as well as their families and civilian employees. The museum said the program will cover not only the division April 3, 2026
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  Toss Payments Says It Has Fully Deployed Post-Quantum Cryptography in Korea Toss Payments said on April 3 it has become the first company in South Korea’s finance and information technology sectors to fully adopt post-quantum cryptography, or PQC. PQC refers to next-generation encryption based on complex mathematical algorithms designed to withstand decryption attempts even by quantum computers. Quantum computers, which use principles of quantum mechanics, are expected in theory to solve problems that would take conventional supercomputers thousands of years in ju April 3, 2026
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  Korean Films Line Up for April Releases After 15 Million-Ticket Hit 'The King and the Man Who Lives' The Korean box office has been buoyed by “The King and the Man Who Lives,” which drew 15 million moviegoers and helped bring audiences back to theaters. Attention is now shifting to April releases, with new Korean films rolling out across genres, from crime thrillers to horror and human drama. Leading the early April slate is “Endgame Investigation,” which opened April 2. It is director Park Cheol-hwan’s first feature film, after earning notice for the series “Grid” and “Dominant April 3, 2026
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  Korea to Recruit 300 Trainees for 2026 Creative Content Mentoring Program The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency said Thursday they will recruit 300 trainees through April 15 for the 2026 Creative Content Talent Companion Program. Now in its 15th year, the program is a flagship effort to develop talent across the content industry. Past graduates include Hong Bichira, creator of the webtoon “Severe Trauma Center: Golden Hour,” director Jang Jae-hyun of the film “Exhuma,” and writer Moon Ji-won of the drama “Extraordina April 2, 2026
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  Six Policy Lenders to Back Hyundai Motor Group’s Saemangeum Growth Hub Project Six state-run policy finance institutions, including the Korea Development Bank, are set to support Hyundai Motor Group’s project to build an innovation-led growth hub in the Saemangeum area of North Jeolla Province. Financial industry officials said Thursday that a consultative body made up of the Korea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea Trade Insurance Corp. and Korea Technology Finance Corp. is expected to sign a m April 2, 2026
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  Policy Split Deepens Divide Between Korea’s Pharma and Biotech Sectors Korea’s pharmaceutical and biotech industry is showing a sharper divide as government policy moves in opposite directions. While authorities are rolling out support measures to foster biotech, they have also decided to cut prices for generic drugs, leaving drugmakers bracing for tighter margins.  Industry officials said April 2 that Samsung Biologics and Celltrion, the country’s two biggest biotech companies, are each targeting more than 5 trillion won in sales this year.  Both compan April 2, 2026
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  Korean Pharma-Bio Briefing: Kolon Life Science, Daewoong, Celltrion, Daewon, Samsung Medical Center Kolon Life Science secures additional Asia patents for TG-C mixed-cell gene therapy Kolon Life Science said Thursday that patents covering the “mixed-cell gene therapy” approach used in TG-C, an osteoarthritis gene therapy being developed by affiliate Kolon TissueGene, have recently been approved for registration in several Asian markets. The patents cover a technique that combines cells engineered to produce growth factors (TGF-β or BMP) with cells designed to respond to those s April 2, 2026