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President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday appointed the head of the National Tax Service (NTS) as his new chief of staff, his office said. Outgoing chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik announced the appointment of Lim Kwang-hyun as his successor, weeks after he offered to resign amid Lee's falling approval ratings and controversy over the qualifications of two Cabinet nominees, who ultimately withdrew. "(Lim) is a former economic official-turned-politician with both abundant administrative experience and political acumen," Kang told a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae. "With experience across the National Assembly and government, he is the right person to more broadly incorporate the people's voices into the running of state affairs and speed up state achievements through cooperation between the ruling party, government and Cheong Wa Dae," he said. Lim served in various posts at the NTS before being elected a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea by proportional representation in 2024. He gave up his parliamentary seat upon taking office as NTS chief in 2025. Standing alongside Kang, Lim told

Korea has launched an ambitious national search for candidate sites to construct next-generation multipurpose indoor stadiums, aiming to address a chronic shortage of premier venues capable of hosting international sporting events and global K-pop concerts year-round. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Wednesday that it will accept bids from regional local governments and public institutions through Dec. 8. The government plans to select two candidate sites by the end of December — one for a large-scale dome capable of seating at least 40,000 spectators and accommodating over 50,000 people for concerts, and another for a medium-scale venue designed for 20,000 to 40,000 seats. The multibillion-won initiative, targeted for completion in 2034, reflects the government’s broader policy agenda to expand public access to sports and culture while establishing iconic, world-class landmarks to draw international tourists and stimulate regional economies. The drive comes as Korea’s cultural and entertainment industries grapple with an acute lack of covered, mega-capacity arenas

A POSCO Future M employee introduces an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered integrated materials management system during the company's AI Festival event in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Tuesday. The company said Wednesday that the event was held to share employees' achievements in using AI, with the company planning to select outstanding projects and apply them to actual operations by the first half of next year. The battery materials firm is introducing AI agents and AI-based factories across its operations, targeting a 30 percent improvement in manufacturing productivity and a 50 percent reduction in product development time by the first half of 2028.

SK hynix projected Wednesday that the performance scale of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure will grow roughly 20-fold by 2030, driven by rapidly rising demand for AI inference. Ahn Hyun, head of development at the Korean chip giant, made the projection during his keynote speech at the 2026 Semiconductor Exhibition (SEDEX), which opened earlier in the day for a three-day run in southern Seoul. Ahn said the AI inference market is expanding simultaneously in three areas — task complexity, the amount of information processed at a time, and the volume of inference requests. The interaction of the three factors is rapidly increasing demand for AI infrastructure, he said. As demand for AI inference surges, memory is becoming increasingly important for storing and transferring large volumes of data. In particular, the growing capacity requirements of key-value (KV) caches, which store and reuse information previously processed by AI models, are requiring data to be distributed across different types of memory, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM)

Hanwha Group said Wednesday it has appointed an independent director as chair of the board at Hanwha Corp., the group's holding company, adding that other listed Hanwha affiliates will also appoint independent directors as board chairs. During a board meeting, the holding company appointed Kwon Ik-hwan as the new chairman of the board, replacing Kim Woo-seok, who is the company’s construction division CEO. Kwon is a former prosecutor who served as head of the Ministry of Justice's Planning and Coordination Office and chief prosecutor of the Daejeon and Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Offices. Since joining Hanwha Corp.'s board in 2022, Kwon has chaired the internal transactions committee and been a member of the audit committee and environmental, social and corporate governance committee. Hanwha Corp. said Kwon is expected to lead the board's decision-making transparently based on expertise in law and capital markets. The group said defense electronics unit Hanwha Systems and shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean will also appoint independent directors as chairs of their respective boards. Bot

Sung Jung-yong, a veteran bartender educator known in Korea’s drinks industry as a mentor to generations of bartenders, has been inducted into Keepers of the Quaich, one of Scotch whisky’s most prestigious international honorary organizations. Diageo Korea said Wednesday that Sung received the distinction in recognition of his contributions to the Scotch whisky industry and efforts to broaden understanding of whisky culture. Founded in 1988, Keepers of the Quaich is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Scotch whisky’s heritage and standing, with members active in more than 100 countries. Membership is reserved for individuals who have demonstrated sustained expertise and made significant contributions to the industry, with candidates nominated and selected through a rigorous review process. Sung began his career as a bartender at The Shilla Seoul and started training other bartenders in 2008, building a reputation as an influential educator in Korea’s hospitality industry. Since 2014, he has served as Diageo Korea’s brand ambassador and head of the Diag

LG CNS, the information technology services affiliate of LG Group, signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese telecom company KDDI to work together on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation projects across the Asia-Pacific region, the Korean company said Wednesday. KDDI is one of Japan’s three major telecom operators. It provides consumer mobile and internet services as well as business IT services such as AI, cloud and network infrastructure. It runs business operations at 19 sites in 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The partnership combines LG CNS’ AI and digital transformation expertise with KDDI’s telecom infrastructure and global network to find new business opportunities in AI, smart cities, telecommunications and integrated IT system management. The two companies will explore developing agentic AI services — AI systems that can carry out tasks on their own — tailored to local businesses in KDDI’s regional markets. The services will be based on AgenticWorks, LG CNS’ agentic AI platform. They will also consider working together on autom

Netflix generated more than 1 trillion won ($730 million) in revenue in Korea last year, but sent 81 percent of that sum to its U.S. parent company, leaving its Korean operation with an operating profit of just 20.3 billion won, according to an analysis of its financial statements. Rep. Han Jun-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, analyzed the audit report of Netflix Services Korea and found that the company’s domestic revenue rose to 1.0542 trillion won in 2025, up from 631.7 billion won in 2021. The figures highlight a widening contrast between Netflix’s growth and the financial struggles of domestic streaming platforms, with Tving reporting an operating loss of 69.8 billion won last year and Wavve losing 12.2 billion won. Netflix also dominated paid streaming subscriptions, with a usage rate of 46.7 percent, compared with 13 percent for Tving, according to the Korea Media and Communications Commission’s 2025 survey on broadcast media use. Of Netflix Korea’s 1.05 trillion won in reven

The organizer of the CES technology trade show on Wednesday highlighted Korean companies' innovation in cutting-edge technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), ahead of next year's event. "There are several things Korea does that are so important to CES," Kinsey Fabrizio, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), said during a press conference in Seoul, pointing to the "tremendous amount of innovation" in AI across the country. The 2027 CES will be held in Las Vegas from Jan. 6-9. Another area where Korea stands out is its startup innovation culture, Fabrizio said, noting that startups accounted for about half of the roughly 800 Korean companies that participated in this year's event. "We saw Korea's presence at CES 2026," Melissa Harrison, a CTA vice president, said. She added that a range of Korean companies, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, SK hynix, Hyundai Mobis and Kia, are planning to attend next year's show. The press conference came as an increasing number of Korean companies, including those affiliated with SK Group, have withdraw

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) officially launched its Vietnam subsidiary in Hanoi, aiming to expand financial support for Korean companies operating in the country and serve as a bridge for financial cooperation between the two countries, the state-run lender said Wednesday. The launch ceremony, held in Hanoi on Tuesday, came after the lender completed the establishment process following final approval from the State Bank of Vietnam in April. The subsidiary began operations on Sept. 25. The subsidiary is Vietnam's 10th foreign-owned bank, according to IBK. IBK Vietnam Bank plans to build on the operating experience of IBK's branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as the state-run lender's more than six decades of expertise in policy financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The bank will expand its network around major industrial complexes to better serve Korean businesses operating in Vietnam and provide financing to support productive investment and economic cooperation between the two countries. "IBK Vietnam Bank's official launch marks a new chapter in our loca

LG Electronics has built an alliance with Apple in the home artificial intelligence (AI) sector, unveiling a range of internet of things (IoT) devices that will be integrated into Apple's ecosystem. The two companies’ partnership is now extending into the home appliance sector, evolving from component supplies and service integration to jointly developing finished products. For LG Electronics, the collaboration provides access to Apple’s global ecosystem, while Apple can leverage LG’s expertise in home appliances to strengthen its presence in the smart home market. LG Electronics and Apple jointly held a new product showcase in Manhattan, New York, Tuesday (local time), unveiling seven IoT devices. LG Electronics North America CEO Kwack Do-yeong, LG Electronics Home Appliance Solution Platform Business Center Head Jung Ki-hyun and Apple Vice President of Hardware Engineering Matthew Costello attended the event. Dubbed as smart home accessories, the devices include indoor and outdoor cameras, a video doorbell, a smart lock, a smart thermostat and a temperature sensor. They were co-

Foreign embassies in Seoul are quietly monitoring the Korean government’s plan to relocate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Sejong, about 110 kilometers south of the capital, with some expressing concern over the “inconvenience” the move would create for diplomatic activities. Of a total of 44 ministries and agencies subject to relocation, 27 will relocate in two phases in the first and second halves of next year, while another 17 agencies, comprising 6,934 employees, will move in stages by 2031, after new office buildings are constructed. The foreign ministry is among those 17, along with the ministries of unification and national defense. With more than 110 foreign embassies and international organizations and representatives based in Seoul, the announcement has created uncertainty, particularly as no detailed relocation plan has been announced. Most embassies appear to be quietly assessing the situation. One European representative based in Seoul said it was still "too early" to evaluate the impact, adding they may discuss the matter internally as well as with their headquart