President Lee Jae Myung called for unity between the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) as he held a dinner meeting with DPK leader Kim Min-seok and floor leader Han Byung-do on Wednesday, his office said. During the dinner at Cheong Wa Dae, Kim asked the government for bold and swift measures to overcome polarization and boost consumption, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing. In response, Lee stressed the need for the party and the government to "move as one" in order for the people's lives to improve, and asked that the party and the National Assembly extend their active support to get the government's 2027 budget proposal passed, Kang said. Lee also asked his chief of staff, Lim Kwang-hyun, and senior political affairs secretary, Choi In-ho, to closely communicate with the National Assembly at all times. Lim and Choi were among the dinner participants. Though there had been speculation Lee and the party leaders could discuss controversial issues, such as real estate taxes and a special counsel bill on alleged fabricated indictments,

The government is set to prevent incumbent CEOs at financial companies from having an undue influence on appointing their successors, while imposing tougher voting requirements for bank holding company chiefs who seek to extend their tenure, according to financial authorities, Thursday. The measures are part of a long-delayed corporate governance reform package unveiled by the Lee Jae Myung administration and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), aimed at making leadership succession more transparent and strengthening board independence across the financial sector. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) plans to draw up amendments to the Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies within the year. The changes are expected to take effect six months after the legislation is passed. A central focus is to give independent directors greater control over leadership succession and strengthen their ability to hold management accountable. Under the proposed changes, committees responsible for nominating CEO candidates would consist entirely of independent directors. Sitting CEOs wou

Korea will accept its final round of applications this year for foreign worker visas starting Nov. 23, offering 6,699 new permits to help businesses ease persistent labor shortages while introducing incentives for employers who complete human rights and labor law training, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Thursday. The five-day application window, running through Nov. 27, covers nonprofessional employment visas, known as E-9, across five major sectors. Manufacturing accounts for the lion’s share of the quota with 4,510 slots, followed by agriculture and livestock with 954, fisheries with 897, construction with 198 and services with 140. Should employer demand exceed sector caps, officials said they will tap into a flexible reserve pool of 10,000 additional permits. The announcement underscores Korea’s growing reliance on overseas labor to sustain its export-driven factories, farms and fishing fleets amid one of the world’s fastest-aging populations and lowest birthrates. Over the past several years, the government has steadily expanded its Employment Permit System, which

Korea's ramyeon exports are expected to increase 30 percent in 2027 from a year earlier, driven by expanded production capacity, industry sources said Thursday. Ramyeon shipments rose 26 percent to $1.59 billion in the January-October period, already surpassing last year's full-year growth rate of 22 percent and total exports of $1.52 billion, according to data from the trade ministry and other sources. "Major ramyeon makers' investments in production facilities are expected to continue driving export growth next year," an industry official said over the phone. Nongshim, Korea's leading instant noodle maker, began operations last month at its first plant dedicated to exports in the southern port city of Busan. The company currently generates about 40 percent of its total ramyeon sales from overseas markets, including the United States, China and Japan. It operates seven plants in Korea and six overseas facilities — two in the US and four in China — and sells flagship products such as Shin Ramyun, Chapagetti and Neoguri worldwide. Samyang Foods, known for its globally popular Buldak spi

Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are monitoring leadership uncertainty at Nvidia, one of their biggest clients, company insiders said Thursday. As the major suppliers of chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators, the two are assessing potential succession scenarios following reports that Nvidia's board is considering possible replacements for CEO Jensen Huang amid allegations of multiple extramarital affairs. Huang's close ties with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won have raised concerns that his possible departure could affect business relations. "If Huang is removed, it could inevitably affect networking among top industry executives," a company official said, requesting anonymity. "We cannot rule out the possibility that business discussions could slow or existing plans could change." Others, however, said existing supply agreements were unlikely to be affected, noting that the two companies have traditionally worked with Nvidia executives, including Senior Vice President Jeff Fisher, on detailed business plans.

Researchers in Korea have developed an ultrathin optical lens system that keeps digital images bright and legible even in direct sunlight, overcoming one of the main engineering hurdles preventing augmented reality glasses from looking and feeling like ordinary eyewear. The joint team from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Samsung Research built a prototype featuring a 1.5-millimeter-thick waveguide—the transparent channel that guides light from a tiny projector into the wearer’s eye—using engineered nanostructures called metasurfaces. The findings were published Thursday in the journal Nature, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. For years, technology giants from Meta and Apple to Google and Samsung have raced to build lightweight smart glasses capable of overlaying turn-by-turn directions, translations and messages onto the real world. However, engineers have struggled with a stubborn trade-off: widening the viewing zone so a user can glance around without losing the image typically causes light to scatter and leak out of the lens, leaving displ

President Lee Jae Myung's disapproval rating rose to 47 percent this week, surpassing his approval rating, a survey showed Thursday. In a survey of 1,001 adults nationwide conducted Monday through Wednesday, positive assessments of Lee's job performance fell 2 percentage points to 44 percent from two weeks earlier, according to the National Barometer Survey (NBS). Negative assessments rose 3 percentage points to 47 percent. Lee's disapproval rating had remained higher than his approval rating for several weeks before the trend reversed in the previous poll. The survey also showed that 51 percent of respondents said Lee should scale back his use of social media to directly communicate with the public on his policy direction, citing concerns that remarks made "without sufficient deliberation" could cause confusion. Another 42 percent supported his use of social media for communication. Support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea fell 1 percentage point to 35 percent, while that of the main opposition People Power Party remained unchanged at 25 percent. The poll has a margin of error of p

Korea has much to gain from supporting refugees, including making a safer and more stable international environment, according to the United Nations' refugee agency representative in Afghanistan. During an interview with The Korea Times during his visit to Seoul, Tuesday, Arafat Jamal, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) representative in Afghanistan, said supporting countries such as Afghanistan is not simply an act of charity, but an investment in a more stable world. "Korea is a responsible member of the international community. And helping a country like Afghanistan is for global public good. I think that we can only gain if countries are more open and more willing to build international solidarity and to look beyond themselves," he said. Jamal expressed deep gratitude to the Korean government and people for their continued support, urging them "to continue to build solidarity with the world." Afghanistan's strategic location, bordering seven countries including China, Pakistan and Iran, makes its stability a matter of wider international concern, the U.N. official said. A

A police complaint was filed Thursday accusing ruling party Rep. Choi Min-hee of defamation for referring to journalists as "a pack of hyenas." The complaint against Choi of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) was filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency a week after the lawmaker made the comment in a KakaoTalk group chat while referring to an image of photo and video journalists covering a general meeting of DPK lawmakers. She also described the journalists as "doing everything to take videos that sow discord." The complainant, Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul city councilmember affiliated with the main opposition People Power Party, said Choi's comments revealed her perception of the press and exposed a double standard that chants democracy but scorns journalists that cause discomfort. Choi held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday and apologized for her remarks.

A research institute affiliated with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) hosted policy dialogues in Singapore and Malaysia last week to strengthen cooperation between Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The university said Wednesday that the HUFS Institute for International Strategy (HIIS) organized the dialogues in collaboration with leading overseas universities and policy research institutions ahead of its official launch. The events brought together diplomatic, security and economic experts from Korea and ASEAN member states as part of the International Eminent Persons’ Track 1.5 Dialogue on Foreign Policy Strategy, an initiative led by Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Participants explored strategic responses to the rapidly changing international order and discussed ways to deepen Korea-ASEAN ties. The Singapore Policy Dialogue was held Nov. 2 at Hotel Waterloo Singapore under the theme “Rethinking Foreign Policy Strategies in a Changing International Order: Perspectives from South Korea and ASEAN.” The event drew faculty members of the S

A joint research team from Kookmin University, Sungkyunkwan University and Hanyang University has developed highly efficient perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) without the need for a separate post-synthetic ligand-exchange process. The findings were published in Advanced Functional Materials, an international journal in the field of materials science, under the title “Direct Integration of Conductive, Emissive Perovskite Nanocrystals into Efficient Light-Emitting Diodes Without Post-Synthetic Ligand Exchange.” The team was led by Kim Young-hoon, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Kookmin University; Lee Bo-ram, a professor in the Department of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University; and Lee Tae-kyung, a professor in the Department of Organic and Nano Engineering at Hanyang University. The three professors served as co-corresponding authors of the collaborative study. Lee Yu-bin, who has completed her master’s coursework at Kookmin University, also participated as a co-first author alongside Kim Ji-geon, a researcher at the university,

The global semiconductor upcycle, coupled with easing pressure from higher oil prices, is expected to lead to stronger consumption next year, a state-run think tank projected Thursday. The outlook came amid assessments that this year's global chip upcycle, driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, has had a limited impact on domestic consumption due to the gradual spillover of its benefits, while higher oil prices have weighed more immediately on the room for spending. "Next year, the negative impact of oil price hikes is expected to gradually weaken, while the positive impact of the chip upcycle spreads, leading to stronger consumption compared with this year," the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in a report. The KDI said bonuses and dividends paid by major chipmakers could also provide additional momentum for domestic consumption, although geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East may pose some downside risks. Amid the potential challenges, the KDI advised the government to refrain from measures aimed at stimulating short-term spending and instead focus on improving e

“Take a few. I can come back again.” “Oh, thank you, sis. Bless you.” At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, middle-aged women gathered outside Hanyangsa, a scarf shop at Namdaemun Market in central Seoul, were sharing scarves with one another. The shop had already closed for the day, but women who had purchased scarves earlier were handing them to those leaving empty-handed. Some visitors had traveled by train from cities such as Daegu and Daejeon. Namdaemun Market has been swept up in the craze for the “Scarf Man.” A merchant identified only as A, who sells scarves at the market, has become an online sensation for his witty banter on social media, drawing huge crowds eager to see him in person. At 1 p.m. that day, the real-time population indicator for the Namdaemun Market area stood at approximately 25,000, classified as severely crowded. When A emerged from his shop after closing, a barrage of smartphone camera flashes greeted him. He made his way through the crowd with help from privately hired security guards. His appeal lies in his down-to-earth personality and gruff, humorous way of

Seoul will spend 19.2 billion won ($14.2 million) through 2031 to restore forests on Mount Nam and build new attractions there, including a 360-degree observatory at the summit, the city government said Thursday. Located in central Seoul, Mount Nam is one of the capital city’s best-known landmarks. The city formally announced an urban regeneration plan for Mount Nam and nearby areas, including the Myeong-dong shopping district and Yejang Park, on Thursday. The plan covers about 3.11 million square meters and has 15 projects in four areas. Eight of them are early-stage projects meant to spur further development with the allotted funding. A key part of the plan is a gondola that will run about 832 meters from Yejang Park, near Myeongdong Station, to the summit. It is designed to carry more than 1,600 passengers an hour, over three times as many as the existing cable car. The city said the gondola will make the summit easier to reach for wheelchair users and others with limited mobility. Its operating profits will go toward restoring the mountain’s ecosystem. Construction of the gondola

The proposed merger of Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul has cleared its final regulatory hurdle, paving the way for the three low-cost carriers (LCCs) to officially operate as a single carrier under the Jin Air brand beginning March 17, the nation’s antitrust authority said Thursday. Under the approvals by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the three carriers will be integrated through Jin Air's absorption of Air Busan and Air Seoul following Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana Airlines. The approvals remove the major regulatory obstacles to the restructuring of Hanjin Group's airline business, following the planned launch of the integrated Korean Air as a full-service carrier on Dec. 17. Jin Air will assume the assets, liabilities, employees and legal status of the two other carriers. The combined airline will become Korea's largest LCC by fleet size, with about 58 aircraft in operation by the three carriers combined as of the end of 2025. It will combine the three carriers' routes, aircraft and operating infrastructure, with the a

Grand Korea Leisure, the state-run operator of Seven Luck foreigner-only casinos, has earned an A rating for the third consecutive year in an annual evaluation of corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. The state-run casino operator, which runs the Seven Luck brand for foreign visitors, said Thursday it received an overall A grade in the 2026 ESG assessment announced Wednesday by the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability. The company also received A grades in all three individual categories: environmental protection, social responsibility and corporate governance. The annual assessment, conducted by the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability since 2011, evaluates listed companies on their sustainability management practices, with 1,022 companies included in this year's review. In the environmental category, Grand Korea Leisure was recognized for strengthening climate-risk management based on recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, improving its environmental management framework and red

Samsung Electronics broke ground on a new semiconductor packaging facility at its Onyang campus in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Thursday as part of a 144 trillion-won ($108.4 billion) investment plan by the company and three affiliates to expand advanced manufacturing capacity in the region. The company held a groundbreaking ceremony at the campus, joined by President Lee Jae Myung, Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hyeong-il, South Chungcheong Province Gov. Park Soo-hyun and about 100 executives and employees from Samsung and its partner companies. The new production line, aimed at beginning operations in June 2028, a year ahead of the original schedule, will expand the campus' role beyond conventional semiconductor assembly and testing to include advanced high bandwidth memory (HBM) packaging. "Through today's groundbreaking ceremony, we pledge to take another leap forward," Lee Jae-yong said. "This site, which has traditionally focused on simply assembling and testing conventional semiconductors, will become a leading hub for advanced HBM, the heart of A

Dr. Cha Kwang-yul, head of the CHA Global Research Institutes at CHA Medical Center and CHA Bio Group, outlined an ambitious vision to use stem cells to treat intractable diseases and potentially extend human lifespan, drawing global interest at an international conference in Busan. Cha delivered his keynote address, titled "Longevity and Reproductive Aging Using K-Cells," at the 16th World Congress of the International Society for Immunology of Reproduction, held Nov. 5-8, with about 400 participants attending. The presentation focused on K-Cell, a proposed cell resource intended to support the development of treatments for intractable diseases before expanding into research on aging and longevity. Cha outlined a donor-screening strategy that combines medical and infectious disease histories with age, clinical characteristics, three generations of family medical history and whole-genome sequencing to identify cells suited to specific therapeutic purposes. He also discussed genetic modification and somatic cell nuclear transfer, a technique that involves transferring the nucleus of a sel

Samsung is turning everyday purchases near its workplaces into support for vulnerable children, bringing local businesses, employees and labor representatives together in a community-giving initiative that links commercial activity with social welfare. The company held its 2026 Sharing Day event Thursday at DSR Tower, its semiconductor complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, wrapping up a two-week Sharing Week campaign and holding the first donation ceremony for its Sharing Stores program. More than 108,000 employees from 23 Samsung affiliates participated in donations, blood drives and volunteer activities during the campaign, which began Nov. 2. Under Sharing Stores, restaurants and cafes near Samsung workplaces donate part of their sales to support children and teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds when employees patronize participating businesses. The program now operates at 22 workplaces across 17 Samsung affiliates, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Display and Samsung SDI, with 370 local businesses participating. Samsung also raised 300 million wo

LG CNS brought together more than 100 researchers and industry professionals to explore how physical artificial intelligence (AI) can move beyond laboratories and into factories, warehouses and other industrial settings. The company recently hosted its 2026 Robotics & Physical AI Forum at its Future Robotics Lab headquarters in Magok, Seoul, with participants including faculty members, graduate students and company employees from the University of Toronto, Sogang University, Chung-Ang University and Korea University. Discussions focused on advances in robot foundation models, data, intelligent robotic hardware and simulation, as well as technical challenges involved in deploying physical AI in real-world operations. Drawing on more than two decades of experience and over 1,000 smart factory and smart logistics projects, LG CNS presented its approach to bringing robotics technologies into industrial environments. The company also introduced two platforms launched this year: PhysicalWorks Forge, a robot-learning platform, and PhysicalWorks Baton, an agentic AI-based platform for robot oper

President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that Korea's capital market remains undervalued, calling for measures to boost its global competitiveness and attract long-term investments. The president made the remarks at a meeting with his key aides at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, as Korea's stock market has experienced significant volatility in recent months. After reaching an all-time closing high of 9,114.55 points in late June, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 5,342.73 points on Thursday, leaving many investors on edge. The president said the country's capital market has been significantly affected by recent external uncertainties. Given the country's economic fundamentals and corporate competitiveness, Korea's capital market "is an attractive investment destination that still remains undervalued," Lee told the meeting. He said government efforts should be focused on creating an environment in which the capital market receives its fair valuation, allowing its sound development to translate into increased household wealth and improved livelihoods for the public. The

Investigators raided the National Election Commission (NEC) on Thursday over suspicions the election watchdog falsified an official document to exaggerate the security of its computer servers, a special counsel team said. Twenty-five personnel, including two prosecutors, were sent to the NEC headquarters in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, and two contractors to execute a search and seizure warrant on related charges, according to the team led by independent counsel Lee Tae-han. The allegation dates back to 2023, when a joint security check involving the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) found the NEC had exaggerated the results of its own security inspection amid concerns over the vulnerability of its computer servers to cyberattacks. The NEC had reported a perfect score of 100 the previous year, but a reassessment by the NIS and KISA produced a score of only 31.5. The search was the latest in a series of raids launched by the special counsel team in recent weeks as it seeks to get to the bottom of various suspicions surrounding the NEC, m

The defense ministry said Thursday that a proposed revision to its original plan to merge the Army, Air Force and Navy academies into a unified institution is part of a process to increase public acceptance of the plan and its "completeness." The ministry recently briefed the National Assembly on the revised plan that calls for creating a joint military academy in the central city of Daejeon while retaining the academies of the Navy and Air Force in the southern county of Jinhae and the central city of Cheongju, respectively, and relocating the Army academy to the central Chungcheong region. It initially sought to consolidate the three academies into a unified school to strengthen inter-service cooperation and improve the efficiency of cadet education — a plan that drew opposition from academy alumni, opposition lawmakers, and residents of Jinhae and Cheongju. "(The revision) is part of a process to increase public acceptance of the policy and its completeness," Chung Binna, the ministry's spokesperson, said during a press briefing. "We will explain the revised plan once it is finalize

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Thursday its third-quarter net profit plunged 78 percent from a year earlier due to higher fuel costs. Net profit for the three months ended in September fell to 835.89 billion won from 3.79 trillion won in the same period last year, the company said in a press release. "Electricity sales declined, while global thermal coal prices continued to rise in the third quarter, weighing on our bottom line, among other factors," a company spokesperson said. Combined fuel costs for KEPCO's power-generating subsidiaries, including Korea South-East Power, exceeded 2.2 trillion won in the third quarter, weighing on earnings, the company said. Operating profit plunged 70.9 percent to 1.64 trillion won from 5.65 trillion won during the same period, while sales fell 2.6 percent to 26.85 trillion won from 27.57 trillion won. KEPCO said it would closely monitor volatile energy prices while maintaining an emergency management system focused on improving its financial position through cost reductions and profitability-driven operations. The company has bee

Naver has signed a 2 trillion-won ($1.5 billion) computing services supply contract with a U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) inference company, securing an initial customer for its AI infrastructure business ahead of the commercial launch planned in the first half of next year. “This is a meaningful contract that confirms actual market demand and the initial commercial viability of the AI factory business,” CEO Choi Soo-yeon said during the company's third-quarter earnings call Thursday. "Revenue is also expected to be generated sequentially as commercial services begin in the first half of next year." AI factory is Nvidia's term referring to next-generation data centers generating tokens. The contract covers computing services involving next-generation graphics processing units (GPUs), with the initial supply scheduled for 2027. Naver is developing its AI factory business in partnership with the Canadian asset manager Brookfield and U.S. chipmaker Nvidia. It plans to expand capacity from an initial 55 megawatts next year to 200 megawatts by 2028. The company said it had secured cont

KakaoBank’s account service for foreign residents attracted 20,000 accounts in its first month, drawing customers from 124 countries, the bank said Thursday. Introduced in October, the account is available to foreign residents aged 19 and older and can be opened through the bank’s app in about five minutes. Customers can also apply for debit cards and send money overseas through the app without visiting a branch. The bank streamlines registration through the government’s Public MyData service, which retrieves personal details such as names, nationalities, addresses and occupations. The service allows users to access their administrative records held by public institutions or request that those records be shared with third parties. Applicants can also submit required documents, including employment certificates and pay statements, directly through the app. Myanmar nationals accounted for the largest share of account holders at 30.3 percent, followed by Chinese nationals at 18 percent, Vietnamese at 16.6 percent, Thai at 4.8 percent and Japanese at 4.6 percent. By purpose of stay, int

A court ruled Thursday that a resolution passed at Korea Zinc's annual shareholder meeting last year that restricted the voting rights of Young Poong Corp. and private equity firm MBK Partners Ltd. must be nullified. Young Poong and MBK formed an alliance under an agreement signed in September 2024 to secure management control of Korea Zinc, the world's largest refined zinc smelter. Since then, the two parties have jointly exercised their voting rights, prompting Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom to wage a protracted battle to fend off their takeover bid. The Seoul Central District Court ordered Korea Zinc to revoke the resolution adopted at its March 2025 shareholder meeting in a lawsuit filed by the Young Poong-MBK alliance. The court said that Korea Zinc cannot restrict the voting rights of existing shareholders by invoking rules governing cross-shareholdings as a means of defending its management control. It did not provide further details. Choi's side had orchestrated a move for Sun Metals Corp. (SMC), a second-tier subsidiary of Korea Zinc, to acquire a stake greater than 10 percen

Mounting uncertainties surrounding Nvidia are threatening to disrupt Korea's semiconductor industry and its broader artificial intelligence (AI) road maps, as U.S. semiconductor restrictions are likely to be tightened and the future of its beleaguered CEO Jensen Huang is unclear. Following Huang's admission of an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, U.S. lawmakers have stepped up calls for tighter restrictions on China's access to U.S.-made AI chips. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday (local time) called on Congress to pass three acts tightening export controls on advanced AI chips. “This alarming situation makes clear that Congress must now act to pass critical bipartisan legislation like the AI Overwatch Act, the MATCH Act and Chip Security Act to cut off China's access to advanced American technology before it's too late," Schumer said during a Senate floor speech. The AI Overwatch Act is aimed at allowing Congress to block advanced AI chip exports to U.S. foreign adversaries. The Chip Security Act will require AI chips subject to export controls to have a “location

A corporate governance reform package unveiled by the government to make CEO succession at financial companies more transparent and rein in long-serving chairmen is facing questions over whether it will deliver meaningful changes, experts said Thursday. Their skepticism centers on whether tougher voting requirements will make a difference when incumbent chairmen already enjoy overwhelming shareholder support, and whether independent directors will be able to challenge management in practice. The announcement comes nearly a year after President Lee Jae Myung publicly criticized what he called a “corrupt inner circle” in which a small group of executives takes turns holding control of financial firms. A central aim of the reform is to curb incumbent CEOs’ influence over the selection of their successors. Under the proposed rules, committees responsible for nominating CEO candidates would consist entirely of independent directors. The package also seeks to make repeated reappointments harder at bank holding companies such as KB, Shinhan and Hana. CEO nominations would require approval

Seoul’s annual startup summit, Try Everything 2026, generated more than 2,000 investment reviews and doubled face-to-face investor meetings, bolstering the city’s ambitions to rank among the world's top startup hubs. The two-day global startup festival, held Sept. 9-10 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), attracted 8,025 participants, including 1,457 visitors from 67 countries, and featured 912 startups, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday. The number of participants increased 3.8 percent from 7,729 last year, while startup participation rose 4.2 percent from 875 companies. The event recorded 1,141 one-on-one meetings between startups, investors and major corporations, more than twice the 541 meetings held last year. The amount of potential investment under review reached 202.4 billion won ($140 million), up approximately 12 percent from 2025. Organizers expanded dedicated meeting booths from 15 to 40 and strengthened advance matchmaking to encourage substantive discussions and business partnerships. Held under the theme "AI Changes Everything. Now Try Everything," this year's