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  OPINION: Gold, silver and the quiet stress test of the FX system The scenery of global financial markets is changing. More striking than the daily swings of stock indices is the sight of gold and silver repeatedly hitting record highs. This is not a fleeting investment fad. It is a signal — one that reveals where global capital feels unease. Markets often exaggerate, but they rarely lie about direction. The current surge in precious metals reflects a collective instinct for risk aversion, rooted in subtle but growing cracks in confidence i January 24, 2026
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  Editorial: Sovereignty isn't a slogan. It's a legal record When two U.S.-based investors in Coupang, widely reported as Greenoaks and Altimeter, initiated the first procedural step toward investor–state arbitration under the Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement, they did more than submit a Notice of Intent. They sought to elevate a domestic accountability dispute into the most combustible arena available — treaty law, geopolitics and the global politics of data. Although a Notice of Intent is not yet a formal arbitration fil January 24, 2026
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  OPINION: How data, engineers and state power drive China's tech rise Views of China tend to split neatly into two camps. One dismisses it as a country of imitators. The other fears it as an unstoppable technological juggernaut powered by a vast market and a disciplined state. Both views miss the same point. China’s defining advantage is scale. In a country of 1.4 billion people, even meaningful technological progress can appear underwhelming when measured per capita. But scale has a way of turning incremental gains into structural power January 23, 2026
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  Editorial: AI Basic Act takes effect, and regulation is not an end but means South Korea’s Artificial Intelligence Basic Act on Thursday went into force. The Act merits attention not simply as the activation of another technology law, but as a civilizational marker. It reflects how a democratic, export-driven society chooses to situate artificial intelligence within the moral, legal and economic order of the twenty-first century. Artificial intelligence has already moved beyond the realm of innovation and into the architecture of everyday life. It n January 22, 2026
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  OPINION: Disorder from US-China rivalry demands Korea strategic policy The era of disorder The global order is shaking. Disorder has become the new normal. Free trade is retreating before protectionism, conflict is no longer exceptional, and international law and institutions are increasingly ineffective. Globalization is fragmenting, geopolitical instability is weighing on growth, and global liquidity is flowing toward safe-haven assets such as gold. Multilateralism is fading as unilateralism rises. Multilateralism rests on shared rules and col January 22, 2026
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  Editorial: When a mature democracy judges itself The sentencing of former South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to 23 years in prison marks more than the end of an individual career. It represents a moment of moral reckoning for a democracy confident enough to judge its own power at its peak. The court’s ruling did not merely describe the December 3 emergency decree as unconstitutional. It called it what it was: a “coup from above,” a form of insurrection carried out not by rebels on the margins but by those January 21, 2026
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  Editorial: When East meets West, song and silicon speak first SEOUL, January 21 (AJP) - When President Lee Jae Myung welcomed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Seoul, the meeting followed the familiar choreography of modern summitry. There were discussions of supply chains, advanced industries, and strategic cooperation. Yet beneath the formal language of diplomacy, the encounter revealed something more enduring: a convergence of technology, culture, and temperament between two nations that stand at opposite ends of Eurasia. At the ce January 21, 2026
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  OPINION: Why environmental policies keep failing consumers SEOUL, January 21 (AJP) - Protecting the environment is no longer optional. In the face of climate change and resource depletion, the government's role is clear. The key question is no longer whether to act, but how. South Korea's evolving policies on paper cups and straws including the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy's proposed charges on disposable cups demonstrate how environmental regulations can be inadequate when they overlook consumer acceptance. Paper January 21, 2026
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  OPINION: A compound crisis demands compound policy for Korean economy South Korea’s economy is sending mixed signals. Exports are at record highs and the stock market is approaching 5,000 points. At the same time, warning lights are flashing: a weaker won, renewed pressure on home prices and worsening youth employment. Some see the moment as an opening for a major shift; others warn of an economy cooling toward stagnation. In truth, opportunity and risk are advancing together — and that is the most difficult ph January 21, 2026
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  OPINION: Belgium and Korea: An Enduring Friendship SEOUL, January 19 (AJP) - Belgium is a constitutional monarchy in Western Europe, with Brussels as its capital. Yet beyond its role as a political and diplomatic hub of Europe, Belgium often enters the global imagination through a gentler and more playful symbol: the Smurfs. These small blue characters—whimsical in appearance yet endurin January 19, 2026