Songwon Industrial Shares Jump to 52-Week High After Q1 Preliminary Results Songwon Industrial shares surged after the company released preliminary first-quarter results, hitting a new 52-week high. As of 2:40 p.m., the stock was trading at 14,270 won, up 3,070 won (27.41%) from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange. Shares jumped after the results were disclosed at 12:55 p.m., and rose as high as 14,560 won during the session, marking a 52-week high. On a consolidated basis, Songwon Industrial posted preliminary net profit of 18.091 billion won for the first quarter, up 272.5% from a year earlier. It swung to profit from a net loss of 2.736 billion won in the fourth quarter of last year. Operating profit came to 26.558 billion won, up 142.8% from a year earlier. Songwon Industrial supplies additives and raw materials to manufacturers in petrochemicals and PVC processing, synthetic leather and coatings. About 85% of its revenue comes from overseas markets, including Europe and North and South America. The company previously attributed last year’s weak performance to worsening market conditions, saying “continued demand slowdown, ongoing margin pressure in key regions, and exchange-rate fluctuations negatively affected results across business divisions.” It added that in the fourth quarter, “oversupply in the market, weakened consumer sentiment, and intensified price competition compounded the difficulties.”* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-28 14:58:04

Seoul court cancels most of Netflix Korea’s corporate tax bill, citing lack of clear tax avoidance Netflix won a sweeping victory in a first-round court fight with South Korea’s tax authorities over corporate taxes. The Seoul Administrative Court’s Administrative Division 6, led by Presiding Judge Na Jin-i, ruled on Monday that 68.7 billion won of the roughly 76.2 billion won in corporate tax assessed against Netflix Services Korea should be canceled. The decision effectively found about 90% of the assessment legally unjustified. The dispute centered on large payments Netflix Services Korea made to a Netherlands-based affiliate, Netflix International B.V. (NIBV). In a 2021 tax audit, the National Tax Service said it found Netflix had sent more than 80% of its revenue earned in South Korea to its overseas headquarters as management advisory fees and content usage fees. The agency viewed that as tax avoidance that shifted domestic income abroad and reduced reported profit. Tax authorities argued Netflix Services Korea effectively exercised content copyrights, making the payments royalties subject to withholding tax. The court disagreed. It said core functions such as storing and transmitting content to South Korean consumers are carried out through a service architecture managed by NIBV. Netflix Services Korea, the court said, performs only ancillary work such as platform operations and marketing, making it difficult to view the Korean unit as the entity that directly uses copyrights to generate revenue. Based on that, the court classified the payments not as copyright royalties but as business income paid for streaming services provided by the overseas entity. Under the Korea-Netherlands tax treaty, the court noted, South Korea cannot tax such business income unless the foreign company has a fixed place of business in the country. The court also cited Netflix’s revenue-sharing structure. Netflix Services Korea is guaranteed a set operating profit margin after costs are deducted from subscription revenue, and it remits the remaining amount to headquarters. If the Korean unit posts a loss, headquarters may cover it. While tax authorities saw that structure as a way to artificially lower profits in South Korea, the court said the pricing method supports the view that the plaintiff does not independently use copyrights. The court added that even if the overseas entity had provided services directly to South Korean consumers without an intermediary, the income would still be business income outside South Korea’s taxing rights. It said it was hard to conclude that placing Netflix Services Korea in the middle was a tax-avoidance scheme designed to circumvent domestic law. Netflix did not win on every point. The court upheld corporate tax tied to Netflix’s OCA (its own cache servers) installed on domestic internet service provider networks. Netflix argued in earlier hearings that it bought the OCA equipment and transferred it to ISPs free of charge, so it should be treated as a consumable expense. The court found, however, that the OCA is used solely to provide Netflix services smoothly and remains an asset over which Netflix exercises practical control. It concluded that taxing the portion treated as an expense rather than booked as an asset was lawful. The ruling is expected to slow the tax agency’s efforts to tighten enforcement on global big tech companies. The article said Netflix generates revenue in the hundreds of billions of won in South Korea while paying corporate tax of only about 0.2% of sales, in the 3 billion won range, and that imbalance is likely to persist for now. Tax authorities said they will review the written decision closely before deciding whether to appeal. The court also expressed concern about limits in the current legal framework. In its decision, it wrote that even if low domestically realized income produces an unreasonable outcome, the issue should be addressed through arm’s-length adjustments under transfer pricing rules or through legislation. The ruling could affect tax litigation involving other global IT companies such as Google and Apple. With debate in the National Assembly active over introducing a digital tax often called a “Google tax,” civic groups are expected to keep pressing for legislative changes that redefine the concept of a fixed place of business for the digital environment.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-28 14:57:09

550,000 Apply on Day 1 for First Round of High Fuel Price Relief; 316 Billion Won Paid About 550,000 people applied on the first day of applications for the first round of the government’s “high fuel price relief payment,” with 316 billion won paid out, officials said. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said April 28 that applications opened at 9 a.m. the previous day and totaled 552,900 as of midnight. That equals 17.1% of the 3,227,785 people eligible for the first round. By method, 198,572 applicants chose credit or debit cards. For local gift certificates, 92,739 applied via mobile and 31,763 for paper vouchers. Another 229,826 applied for prepaid cards. In July last year, credit and debit cards accounted for 76% of applications on the first day of the first round of “livelihood recovery” consumption coupons. The first-day application rate for those coupons was lower, at 13.8%. By region, Seoul recorded the most applicants with 86,418, followed by Gyeonggi with 86,368. Next were Busan (50,173), South Jeolla (45,550), South Gyeongsang (41,179), North Jeolla (39,537), North Gyeongsang (35,924) and Incheon (29,992). The relief payment was created to ease household burdens that have grown with higher oil prices and inflation tied to the war in the Middle East. Payments vary by income level and place of residence, with additional support for non-capital areas and regions facing population decline. The first round is being issued first to basic livelihood recipients, near-poverty households and single-parent families. Basic livelihood recipients receive 550,000 won, while near-poverty households and single-parent families receive 450,000 won. Residents in non-capital areas and population-decline regions receive an additional 50,000 won each. To reduce congestion in the first week, applications follow a day-of-week schedule based on the last digit of an applicant’s birth year. Those ending in 1 or 6 applied April 27; 2 or 7 on April 28; 3 or 8 on April 29; and 4 or 9 and 5 or 0 on April 30. The schedule will be lifted afterward. Vulnerable people who miss the first-round window (April 27 to May 8) can apply during the second-round payment period (May 18 to July 3), which covers 70% of the population. The relief payment must be used by Aug. 31, and any unused amount will expire.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-28 14:51:19

Major Crimes Investigation Agency Task Force to Start Work April 30; HQ Lease Considered A governmentwide team set up to prepare for the launch of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency, due to open in October, will begin full operations at the end of this month. The government said on April 28 that the preparatory team will open an office on April 30 at the Changseong-dong annex of the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno District and start work. The 64-member team will be built around the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the prosecution service. Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae will lead it, and a sitting prosecutor will serve as deputy chief. While Kim oversees Interior Ministry work including planning, organization, AI government, local autonomy and local finance, the deputy chief is expected to manage the team’s day-to-day operations, including preparations for the new agency. Fifteen officials, including staff from the Government Buildings Management Office, will be seconded from the Interior Ministry. The prosecution service will send more than 30 people, including prosecutors and investigators, and the National Police Agency will provide seven. Officials from the Ministry of Personnel Management and the budget office will also join. Through the agency’s opening on Oct. 2, the team plans to handle broad preparations, including office space, hiring, investigative procedures and internal operating systems. Because the new agency will effectively take on the prosecution service’s investigative role, some had expected it to use existing prosecutors’ office buildings. That option is not being considered, the report said. The agency’s headquarters is said to have a policy of not using buildings now occupied by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office or the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Officials are reviewing a plan to lease a building first and later move into a newly built facility. For a temporary office, they are checking conditions at two buildings in the Euljiro area of Seoul. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-28 14:49:46

RDA to Expand New Apple Variety Production Sites to 59 Hectares, Target 35% Adoption by 2030 The Rural Development Administration said on the 28th it will expand production sites for new apple varieties to 59 hectares this year, up from 22 hectares last year. It also plans to raise the adoption rate of domestically developed apple varieties from about 24% to at least 35% by 2030. About 69% of South Korea’s apple cultivation is concentrated in the Yeongnam region. With climate change pushing suitable growing areas northward, the agency said there is a growing need to spread production across regions and diversify varieties. New varieties, however, face hurdles because consumer awareness is low and many farms lack cultivation know-how, the agency noted. To address that, the RDA is working with local governments and distributors to build specialized regional production complexes, including in Gunwi (the variety Golden Ball) and in Chungju and Pohang (the variety “Easyple”). The plan is to link production with distribution and sales to broaden the use of Korean-bred apple varieties. Gunwi County is cultivating the yellow-skinned Golden Ball variety on 20 hectares, citing easier peel-color management. Chungju and Pohang have introduced Easyple on 15 hectares and 10 hectares, respectively, and are working to stabilize quality, the agency said. The regional complexes are a joint framework involving growers, distributors and local governments. Growers can improve competitiveness by producing varieties suited to local conditions, while distributors can secure steady volumes and strengthen market response through joint shipments. Local governments expect higher farm income and greater regional recognition through specialized varieties. The RDA said it expanded the complexes from 9 hectares in 2023 to 22 hectares last year and is targeting 59 hectares this year. It plans to tie the effort to its smart orchard initiative, which includes flat canopy training, mechanization and information and communications technology-based disaster response. Based on that, the agency aims to lift the adoption rate of domestically developed apple varieties from 23.8% in 2025 to at least 35% in 2030. Lee Dong-hyeok, head of the Apple Research Center at the RDA’s National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, said the complexes are “a system that links production and distribution based on a growing environment that can maximize the traits of new varieties.” He added that they are expected to serve as hubs to expand the use of Korean varieties and strengthen the competitiveness of the apple industry. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-28 14:49:01

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 service providers (ISPs). Korea is the only exception.” The post escalated what had previously been raised mainly in reports, framing South Korea’s policy as a major non-tariff trade barrier. The issue emerged in earnest in the 2023 National Trade Estimate (NTE) report. In 2024, it broadened into wider digital regulation and became a trade issue, and in 2025 it was cited as a core non-tariff barrier. In 2026, the USTR has widened its focus further, also raising concerns that U.S. cloud service providers (CSPs) were excluded from AI infrastructure projects. The United States argues the policy imposes discriminatory costs on foreign companies and restricts market access. South Korea’s telecom industry counters that the structure is unfair because global platforms that generate massive traffic do not share the cost of network investment. Ahn Jeong-sang, an adjunct professor of communication at Chung-Ang University, said network usage fees reflect a basic cost-sharing principle given rising data use and potential network overload. He said a system in which big tech “effectively uses networks for free” and then uses its financial strength to expand dominance in AI technology could weigh on the growth of South Korea’s AI industry. Some also caution that trade pressure could lead to demands for broader data opening. Because data is central to AI model training and industrial competitiveness, expanded access could weaken the competitive edge of domestic companies, they say. Bong Kang-ho, a researcher at the Software Policy & Research Institute, said sharing data with big tech can improve connectivity with global services. But he warned that opening data could weaken domestic AI firms’ competitive advantage based on proprietary data and reduce differentiating factors in South Korea’s AI industry. The European Union previously considered introducing network usage fees but effectively withdrew the idea after concluding it was not feasible. Still, disputes over cost-sharing between telecom companies and big tech have continued. In January, the EU moved to pursue a system under the “Digital Networks Act (DNA)” in which regulators would mediate. Experts said South Korea needs an institutional response, not just a policy debate. Kim Yong-hee, a professor of business administration at Sun Moon University, said South Korea was not sufficiently prepared for the era of global services and has struggled to respond effectively to USTR pressure. He said the National Assembly should hear from stakeholders and elevate practical improvement measures as an agenda item. Ahn said a phased approach is needed: prioritize voluntary negotiations between companies, but apply limited regulation only if no agreement is reached within a set period or if one side refuses unilaterally. 2026-04-28 14:48:06

If the Strait of Hormuz Becomes the New Normal, the Global Economy Loses Its Exit May 1 is approaching, the first major test of the 60-day limit for a U.S. president to continue a war without congressional approval. The deadline is near, but the outcome remains unclear. A stalemate that is neither war nor peace, delays that are neither talks nor breakdown, and pressure that is neither blockade nor all-out conflict are squeezing the Middle East and the global economy. At the core is a deadlock. The United States is pressing Iran to halt its nuclear program first, while Iran is demanding the lifting of restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz as a precondition. Both sides appear to believe time is on their side. But as time passes, the party paying the price is not the combatants — it is the world economy. The Strait of Hormuz is more than a shipping lane. It is a main artery for crude oil, liquefied natural gas, petrochemical feedstocks and metal raw materials. If disruption there drags on, higher oil prices spread through freight costs, electricity bills, food prices and factory costs, hitting the real economy broadly. Inflation that had begun to cool can flare again, central banks may be forced to shelve rate-cut plans, and emerging economies can face a double squeeze of fiscal stress and foreign-exchange pressure. That is why Reuters and other foreign media have reported that, just two months into the war, developing countries’ inflation and trade indicators have moved into “red alert.” The United States is the world’s largest oil producer and has a service-heavy economic structure. For countries such as South Korea, Japan and India — more dependent on imported energy and more manufacturing-driven — an oil shock is not a wave but a tsunami. The paradox is that those who must endure the war can fall first, not those who started it. If disruption around Hormuz becomes a “new normal” rather than a temporary shock, it stops being distant foreign-policy news and becomes a kitchen-table issue. South Korea’s core industries — semiconductors, autos, shipbuilding and steel — all rest on energy and logistics. Even if exports hold up, if import costs rise faster, the national economy’s resilience can be drained quickly. Assigning blame to only one side misses the point. Iran’s attempt to control the strait is a risky gamble that shakes international maritime order. Prolonged U.S. military pressure can also end up holding the global economy hostage. Security requires principles, but those principles must be matched with restraint. Force is a tool; it cannot be an exit by itself. The May 1 deadline carries symbolism beyond procedure. The U.S. War Powers Act limits military operations without congressional approval to 60 days. If that process is bypassed or hollowed out, the situation can spiral — with the purpose of the war and the conditions for ending it left undefined, and a cycle of restrictions and retaliation turning into a war of attrition. The tragedy of a game of chicken is not only two drivers refusing to turn the wheel. It is the bystanders on the road who are smashed first. That is the position of the global economy now: oil, shipping, food and exchange rates are all tied to a single narrow strait. South Korea needs a clear-eyed response. It should review energy stockpiles and diversify import sources, secure alternative logistics routes, and test industry-by-industry scenarios for cost shocks. Diplomatically, it should work within the alliance framework while clearly stating to the international community the scale of the economic damage. The principle is freedom of navigation; the practical goal is a swift end to the war. The fighting may not stop after May 1. The deeper risk is that the world becomes accustomed to an abnormal situation. Stock markets in Seoul, New York and Tokyo are already showing signs of that, continuing an unusual rally. But the moment disruption in Hormuz becomes a constant rather than an exception, the global economy will not be passing through a crisis — it will be living on top of one. The first countries to buckle will not be those with energy, but those that built growth on energy they must import. South Korea would not be an exception. 2026-04-28 14:42:31

Appellate court upholds two-year sentence for former PPP leader SEOUL, April 28 (AJP) - Kweon Seong-dong, the former leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), was again sentenced on appeal to two years in prison for bribery charges on Tuesday. The Seoul High Court upheld the earlier sentence in the first trial and ordered Kweon to forfeit 100 million won ($68,000) for accepting illegal political funds from the Unification Church, better known as the Moonies. Earlier in January, Kweon was found guilty of receiving 100 million won from Yoon Young-ho, a senior official at the church in 2022 in return for political favors for the powerful religious sect. The appellate court said that colluding with a religious group in state affairs undermines core democratic values including the principle of separation of church and state, making the offense particularly serious. The court also said a strict punishment was unavoidable, given his failure to uphold his constitutional duties as a five-term lawmaker, but concluded that the lower court’s two-year sentence fell within a reasonable range and let it stand, citing his three decades of public service and no prior criminal record. Kweon denied the allegations, saying he only had meals but never received any money. He also argued that his case fell outside the scope of investigations by independent prosecutors, but the appeals court dismissed his claims. Kweon's ruling came just a day after Yoon was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the same case. 2026-04-28 14:41:46

PPP floor leader condemns ruling party over bid to let Jeong Dong-young dismissal motion lapse Song Eon-seok, floor leader of the People Power Party, on April 28 criticized National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and the Democratic Party over a recommendation to dismiss Unification Minister Jeong Dong-young that was reported to the plenary session. In a Facebook post, Song said that because April’s extraordinary session was holding its final plenary meeting that day, the motion was expected to be discarded without a vote, calling it a “procedural trick.” Citing the National Assembly Act, Song said a minister dismissal recommendation is discarded if it is not put to a vote within 72 hours after 24 hours have passed from the time it is reported. He said the PPP had strongly demanded that a plenary session be held on April 27 to report the motion and that it be voted on at the April 28 session. “What is a 60-seat ruling party afraid of that it cannot even vote on it?” Song wrote, adding that the party could simply vote it down rather than let it lapse. Song also argued that even if the motion were to pass, it has no binding force and President Lee Jae-myung could refuse to dismiss Jeong. He said it was hard to understand why the Democratic Party would still avoid a vote, and claimed that the presidential office’s national security chief had officially acknowledged that Jeong’s remarks were one factor contributing to friction between South Korea and the United States. Song said the National Assembly should hold Cabinet members accountable when they harm the national interest, and he condemned Woo and the Democratic Party for blocking a vote. He added that while they would not accept a vote on a motion proposed by a minority opposition party, they were pressing ahead with what he called a rushed, election-driven constitutional revision opposed by the minority opposition. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-28 14:41:16

National Railway Authority, Korea Defense Diplomacy Association sign MOU on overseas projects The National Railway Authority said April 28 it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Defense Diplomacy Association to expand overseas business and strengthen cooperation in defense diplomacy. The authority said the agreement is aimed at building a broader foundation for South Korean companies to enter overseas markets by combining the authority’s capacity to carry out international rail projects with the association’s experience and expertise in defense diplomacy. Under the MOU, the two organizations will cooperate on sharing information related to overseas projects, providing technical advice and linking global networks. They also said they will work to produce tangible results by leveraging their respective strengths. Lee An-ho, acting chair of the National Railway Authority, said combining rail expertise with defense diplomacy know-how could create greater synergy on the international stage. “We will continue to strengthen the basis for cooperation to expand our companies’ global reach,” he said. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-04-28 14:36:53