From linear to circular: EU and ASEAN inaugurate Stakeholder Platform Secretariat to boost region’s circular economy

Korea's automobile exports fell 5.5 percent in September from a year earlier due to persistent tensions in the Middle East and a decline in used-car shipments, government data showed Monday. The value of automobile exports fell to $6.05 billion last month from $6.4 billion a year earlier, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said in a press release. "Escalating tensions in the Middle East and a decline in used-car shipments due to tighter regulations in major export markets weighed on exports," the ministry said. By region, exports to North America and the European Union increased 9.2 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively, to $3.07 billion and $1.11 billion. Shipments to Asia and the Middle East on the other hand plunged 60 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively, to $330 million and $350 million. Exports of eco-friendly vehicles, including battery electric and gasoline hybrid models, meanwhile, rose 5.9 percent to $2.89 billion. Domestic vehicle sales fell 14.3 percent to 135,000 units last month due to fewer working days driven by the Chuseok holiday. The number of locally produce

Hanwha Group said Monday it will produce and distribute 40,000 copies of its 2027 Braille calendar for visually impaired people. Hanwha Group has been producing braille calendars every year since 2000, when Chairman Kim Seung-youn received a letter from a visually impaired person and launched the project with the belief that people with visual impairments should also be able to share in the joy of welcoming the new year. Starting with 5,000 copies in the first year, the group has distributed about 1 million calendars through last year. The 2027 calendar features braille alongside printed text, allowing both visually impaired and sighted people to use it. Users can check essential information in braille, including dates, days of the week, lunar calendar dates, seasonal markers and public holidays. The calendar also reflected visually impaired users’ feedback to adjust text size and contrast to improve readability. Social enterprise Braille Publishing participated in producing the calendar. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the introduction of “Hunmaengjeongeum,” the Korean bra

First lady Kim Hea Kyung on Monday expressed hope that Koreans adopted overseas would grow closer to their motherland and keep good memories of it. The first lady made the remarks in her speech at the opening ceremony of a Seoul gathering of the International Korean Adoptee Associations (IKAA), which brought together Korean adoptees from around the world to connect and build a community. "South Korea may be viewed differently by each of you. To some, it may be a foreign country. To others it may be a homeland long longed for," the first lady said. "It may also be a place you are visiting with many questions in search of your roots and identity." "No matter how you came, I hope that you can grow closer to the homeland and create valuable new connections on this occasion," Kim added, expressing hope that the visiting adoptees would also experience the country's autumn, cuisine and other attractions. "I wish that the vibe, allure and beauty of the motherland will stay in your memories for a long time." IKAA President Tommy Gentzel stressed that relations between Korean adoptees and South Kor

Long celebrated as the bustling heart of K-pop and luxury fashion, Gangnam District in southern Seoul is rapidly establishing itself as a global hub for medical tourism. Home to the world’s highest density of cosmetic procedure centers — often dubbed the "Beauty Belt" — the district is leveraging its renowned concentration of plastic surgery and dermatology clinics to expand its reach far beyond domestic borders. Following a successful outreach initiative in the United States, district officials and health care providers recently returned from Jakarta, Indonesia, having secured major business agreements and hundreds of consultations with prospective patients. During the three-day CosmoBeauty Indonesia expo held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition early this month, Gangnam District operated a joint promotional pavilion alongside six partner medical institutions. The delegation, which included specialists in plastic surgery, dermatology, gynecology and spinal health, conducted 117 consultations with local travel agencies, medical tourism coordinators and visitors. Officials proje

A local district court on Monday sentenced the leader of the religious sect Jesus Morning Star (JMS) to a 33-year prison term on charges of sexually assaulting female followers. The Daejeon District Court handed down the punishment for Jeong Myeong-seok, 81, longer than the 27 years requested by the prosecution, in his latest conviction for sexual assault. Jeong had been indicted on charges of sexually assaulting or molesting 16 female members between 2018 and 2022 after making them incapable of resisting by brainwashing them into believing he was the "Messiah." "The ways and means of the crime are very malicious, and as criminal acts took place repeatedly over a long period of time using the structure of religious control and influence, a grave punishment is inevitable," the court said. The court also ordered Jeong to wear an electronic tracking device for 15 years and barred him from working at facilities for children, adolescents and disabled people for 10 years. Jeong is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence after the Supreme Court finalized a ruling in January 2025 for sexually

HONG KONG — From helping stroke patients perform everyday tasks to developing safer ways to store electricity, researchers at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) are developing technologies for use beyond the laboratory. During a visit to the university on Sept. 1, a reporter tried on a robotic glove that moved the fingers with noticeable force, but without jerking them. For stroke survivors who cannot move their hands, that movement could help them do something as ordinary as holding a spoon or picking up a phone. The device uses air-powered artificial muscles developed by a team led by Raymond Tong, a professor of biomedical engineering at CUHK. Unlike conventional motor-driven rehabilitation equipment, the lightweight system uses a small pump to help patients open and close their hands. “Nowadays, you can see those exoskeletons are very rigid. They are very heavy,” Tong said, inviting the reporter to try the device. Patients can use it both for rehabilitation exercises and everyday tasks, including gripping objects, writing and eating. Tong said the system can also respond

As provincial communities grapple with demographic shifts and labor shortages, island authorities and national agencies are forging a new pathway to revitalization. The Overseas Koreans Agency announced a strategic partnership with Cheju Halla University to attract young ethnic Koreans from abroad, offering specialized education, professional training and long-term employment directly on the resort island. The initiative comes at a critical juncture for Jeju, which has suffered a sharp demographic turnaround after more than a decade of uninterrupted growth. Recent government data reveals a deepening net population loss driven primarily by an exodus of residents in their 20s searching for broader career and educational prospects in metropolitan Seoul. At the same time, regional economic pillars such as tourism, hospitality and health care face compounding labor deficits. The agreement, finalized earlier this month, establishes a collaborative framework designed to channel overseas Korean youth into these key sectors. Under the pact, the university will expand vocational programs tailored

South Korea plans to push for the launch of a solid-fuel space rocket by the end of this year, after it was postponed in June due to safety concerns, the defense ministry said Monday. The Mir space rocket was initially scheduled to lift off on June 30 off the southern coast of Jeju Island, but the launch was canceled due to a set of issues detected in the final stages. "The defense ministry is pushing to resume the launch of the solid-fuel space rocket postponed in the final launch stages on June 30 within this year," a ministry official said. The ministry has completed a thorough inspection of the technical aspects and other conditions, and final preparations are under way to ensure optimal launch conditions, the official said. The ministry, however, has yet to decide on the exact launch date, noting it plans to determine the scheduling in light of weather conditions and progress in preparations. If launched, it would mark the rocket's first test launch in a fully assembled four-stage vehicle, after a series of trials conducted in 2022 and 2023 that each evaluated partial three-stage con

A full-scale reconstruction of an extinct Dokdo sea lion’s skeleton went on public view at Seoul Station, Monday, offering a rare look at the physical structure of a marine mammal wiped out by overhunting in the 20th century. The assembly relies on 41 authentic bone fragments recovered in 2020, with 3D-printed replicas filling in the missing pieces. The exhibition is located on the second-floor concourse of Seoul Station, where it will run through Oct. 25. Jointly organized by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea, the display showcases how modern digital modeling can recreate lost biological specimens for public education. The Dokdo sea lion once inhabited coastal regions across Korea, Japan and Russia, with Ulleung Island and Dokdo serving as its primary habitat and breeding grounds. However, intensive commercial hunting during the early 20th century rapidly depleted its numbers. In 1994, the International Union for Conservation of Nature officially declared the species extinct. To construct the life-sized frame, researchers util

HONG KONG — When asked what surprised him most about artificial intelligence (AI), Dennis Lo Yuk-ming, vice-chancellor and president of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), turned to the four letters that make up human DNA: A, C, T and G. Speaking to The Korea Times at the university’s campus in Hong Kong, the renowned geneticist explained how AI had helped his research team uncover information hidden within those familiar sequences — a finding that surprised even a scientist whose earlier work transformed prenatal testing. “AI is just a tool. It is not our master,” Lo said. For a scientist who now leads one of Asia’s major research universities, that distinction matters as much in the classroom as it does in the laboratory. His team had wondered whether DNA sequences held information that conventional analysis could not readily detect. “We developed a generative AI model,” he said. “Surprisingly, we find there’s a hidden layer of information.” The hidden layer contains epigenetic information that helps explain how cells with the same DNA sequence can function

Kwangwoon University is expanding academic partnerships with three universities in Qingdao in China’s Shandong province. The university said Friday that a delegation led by President Yoon Do-young visited Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao University and Qingdao University of Science and Technology on Oct. 8-9 to review existing joint academic programs and discuss new areas of cooperation. During its visit to Qingdao University of Technology on Oct. 8, the delegation celebrated the 20th anniversary of the two universities’ joint architecture program and discussed ways to develop it further. With the annual enrollment quota rising from 80 to 120 students beginning in the 2026 academic year, the two universities discussed expanding educational facilities and ensuring the program’s smooth operation. The delegation also met with Kwangwoon University faculty members assigned to the program to discuss medium- and long-term development strategies, including improvements to teaching conditions and pathways for students to advance to undergraduate and graduate programs. On Oct. 9, the

Korean chip giant SK hynix said Monday it will partner with the government and major banks to provide 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in loan guarantees to local semiconductor suppliers to strengthen the domestic chip supply chain. SK hynix and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources signed an agreement to launch the program at the chipmaker's semiconductor cluster promotion center in Yongin, south of Seoul. Under the agreement, SK hynix and four major banks will contribute a combined 100 billion won to support the program, while the state-run Korea Trade Insurance Corp. (K-SURE) will provide up to 2 trillion won in loan guarantees to semiconductor materials, parts and equipment suppliers. Suppliers recommended by SK hynix will benefit from higher loan limits, interest rate cuts of up to 2.5 percentage points and a guarantee period extended from one to three years. The initiative is part of the government's broader push to strengthen export supply chains by improving access to financing for smaller companies working with major manufacturers. The government previously pledged 2.4 trill