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  Actor Hyun Bin chosen as face of South Korea's spy agency SEOUL, April 7 (AJP) - Heartthrob actor Hyun Bin will take on the unlikely task of serving as the face of South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), the spy agency said Tuesday. The NIS said the star has been appointed to carry out promotional activities to raise awareness of the agency's broader role in protecting the country from various security threats, rather than its traditional Cold War–era focus on tracking down North Korean spies, amid an evolving secu April 7, 2026
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  NK holds photo exhibition to mark 114th Anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth PYONGYANG, April 07 (AJP) - A central photo exhibition commemorating the 114th anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's birth (April 15) opened up to the public at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on April 6, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday. April 7, 2026
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  Naver partners with EBS to build trusted knowledge video content SEOUL, April 07 (AJP) - Naver and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly produce large-scale knowledge and educational video content, the companies said. Under the agreement, inked at Naver's headquarters on Tuesday in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, the two sides will co-produce content spanning health, finance and economics as well as material aligned with South Korea's elementary, middle and high school curricula. T April 7, 2026
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  KDI warns of downside risks to economy as Gulf crisis clouds recovery SEOUL, April 7 (AJP) - South Korea's governmental Korea Development Institute think tank warned on Tuesday that the nascent economic recovery is facing increased downside risks as the conflict in the Middle East disrupts global supply chains and triggers a spike in energy prices. In the April edition of its "KDI Monthly Economic Trends," the institute said that while domestic demand and exports had been showing signs of gradual improvement, the "volatility stemmin April 7, 2026
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  Court grants bail to far-right pastor in courthouse intrusion case SEOUL, April 7 (AJP) - Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, who had been detained for allegedly instigating a courthouse intrusion, is set to be released on bail Tuesday. The Seoul Western District Court granted bail after the outspoken far-right pastor cited health reasons in his request. The court said the pastor of Sarang Jeil Church, a presbyterian church in northern Seoul, needs regular hospital visits to treat a urological condition related to diabetes, adding that "his face is w April 7, 2026
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  North's Kim makes a rare approving remark on South's Lee SEOUL, April 07 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday made a rare approving remark about his South Korean counterpart, according to his sister Kim Yo-jong, who serves as vice department director of the Workers’ Party of Korea. Earlier in the day, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret during a Cabinet meeting over a cross-border drone incident. Hours later, Kim Yo-jong said “our leader” viewed Lee’s response as stemming from an &ldq April 7, 2026
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  Coupang reclaims e-commerce dominance in South Korea as Chinese rivals gain ground SEOUL, April 07 (AJP) - Coupang, South Korea's largest online retailer, has effectively shaken off the fallout from a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of about 33.7 million users late last year, with its monthly active user base and estimated transaction volume rebounding to pre-crisis levels in March. Data from IGAWorks MobileIndex on Monday showed Coupang's monthly active users (MAU) reaching 35.03 million in March, up from 33.64 million in Februar April 7, 2026
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  Nearly 3 million barrels delivered to refiners in first week of oil swap program SEOUL, April 7 (AJP) - About 2.8 million barrels of crude oil have been supplied to refiners just a week after the launch of an "oil swap" program, which lends government-owned stockpiles to help them secure alternative supplies, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Tuesday. At a daily briefing at the government complex in the administrative city of Sejong, Yang Gi-uk, a ministry official, said the country's four major refiners had applied to swap more th April 7, 2026
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  BOK, BdF address central bank role in tokenized environment SEOUL, April 07 (AJP) -South Korea and France’s central banks discussed stablecoins and the evolving role of banks in a tokenized financial system during a joint session in Seoul, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday. The Bank of Korea (BOK) and the Banque de France (BdF) are holding a two-day meeting from Tuesday through Wednesday as part of a regular academic exchange launched in 2024 to address shifts in the global economic landscape. This year’s session coincided wit April 7, 2026
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  Seoul sends envoy to Kazakhstan, Oman, and Saudi on energy mission SEOUL, April 07 (AJP) - South Korea is dispatching a government delegation led by a senior presidential envoy to key energy partners in Central Asia and the Middle East to secure crude oil and naphtha supplies as the country braces for fallout from prolonged disruptions of the Strait of Hormuz. Kang Hoon-sik, chief of staff to President Lee Jae Myung, will depart Tuesday for Kazakhstan, Oman and Saudi Arabia in his capacity as special envoy for strategic economic cooperation, the April 7, 2026