Wesper Named To TIME’s List of The Best Inventions of 2026 As A Special Mention

Major Korean companies including Samsung, SK and Doosan are considering participating in the acquisition of a stake in U.S. nuclear power company Westinghouse, according to industry sources. If private companies join nuclear cooperation between Korea and the United States, which has so far been led largely by state-run companies such as Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), the move is expected to give Korean companies greater momentum in entering the U.S. nuclear power market. Government and industry sources said Wednesday that the government has been surveying nuclear power-related companies about their interest in investing in Westinghouse since announcing its investment plans in the United States. Companies interested in participating recently gathered at a meeting hosted by KEPCO to discuss potential investment options, according to the sources. Samsung C&T, SK Group, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Doosan Enerbility were among the companies that attended the meeting. Securing a stake in Westinghouse is one of the key issues in investment

Taihan Cable & Solution, a leading power cable and energy infrastructure manufacturer, said Thursday that its U.S. subsidiary has won a turnkey extra-high-voltage grid project in the United States, capitalizing on surging power demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers. Under the deal, the subsidiary, T.E.USA, will oversee local engineering, construction and other work, while the Korean headquarters will produce and supply key materials such as extra-high-voltage cables and joints. In a turnkey contract, a single company handles a project from design through construction and hands it over ready for operation. The headquarters and the U.S. unit signed a material supply contract worth about 120 billion won ($89 million), which the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday. Taihan did not reveal the total value of the turnkey project or the client, citing a nondisclosure agreement. The order follows another extra-high-voltage turnkey project worth about 100 billion won that the company won in the U.S. in January. Taihan said it has won all 500-kilovolt high-voltage a

CJ OliveNetworks, the digital and technology unit of CJ Group, is branching into the travel industry with a new global membership service that enables foreign visitors in Korea to earn rewards and redeem points at participating merchants, leveraging the country's tourism boom to drive new growth. The company said Thursday that its lifestyle membership platform, CJ ONE, had introduced CJ ONE Global, allowing international visitors to sign up using only email verification, without requiring a Korean phone number or domestic identification. The launch comes as interest in Korean food, shopping and culture spreads alongside the global popularity of Korean entertainment. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, about 12.8 million foreign tourists visited Korea from January through July, up 21.3 percent from the same period last year. Once registered, members receive a mobile barcode through the CJ ONE app that they can use to earn and redeem points at participating stores, as well as access new-member and birthday benefits. The service connects visitors with businesses spanning tourism, re

Korean data center chipmaker FADU has unveiled what it calls the world’s first file-semantic solid-state drive (SSD), a storage technology designed to help artificial intelligence (AI) systems access data faster while reducing computing overhead and power consumption. The company introduced its file-semantic SSD, or FS-SSD, at the 2026 Open Compute Project Global Summit in San Jose, California, which ran from Monday to Thursday under the theme “Scaling Innovation for the AI Era.” Unlike conventional SSDs, which manage data through block addresses, FADU’s FS-SSD is designed to recognize and manage files directly, shifting tasks traditionally handled by a server’s central processing unit and operating system into the storage device itself. The technology uses FADU’s sixth-generation SSD controller, equipped with firmware that handles file searches, access permissions and file-to-address translation within the drive. By embedding file requests in standard Non-Volatile Memory Express commands, the system allows accelerators such as graphics processing units and data processing un

Korean and U.S. business leaders on Thursday called for faster regulatory approvals, tax and financial support, and visa reforms to ensure the successful implementation of major Korean investment projects in the United States. The call came in a joint declaration issued at a plenary meeting of the U.S.-Korea and Korea-U.S. Business Council, hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), and attended by about 60 political and business leaders and experts from the two countries. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced details of Seoul's planned $200 billion investment in the U.S., part of a broader $350 billion commitment agreed to by the two countries last year in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on Korean goods. In the joint declaration, the business circles called for measures to reduce trade uncertainty and reform regulations, urging the two governments to introduce fast-track approval procedures and provide tax and financial incentives for companies participating in strategic investment projects. They also called for improvements to visa systems and the establis

The Migrant Indie Art Festival is back for its 15th year, but this time it's being held under a new name. Organized by the Asian Media Culture Factory, it started in 2012 as the Seoul Migrant Art Festival. This year's festival will be held in two venues from this Saturday to Oct. 25 in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo and Seodaemun districts, featuring events including music and screenings of films made by migrants living in Korea. Founded in late 2011, the Asian Media Culture Factory is a nonprofit cultural and arts organization led by migrants. The organizers told The Korea Times that their mission is to support migrant-led artistic practices and build a cultural and artistic platform for people who arrived from overseas. “We believe that everyone should have the right to engage in the arts, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion or visa status," they said. “We hope to create a space where migrant artists and cultural practitioners, who often have limited cultural and artistic networks and few opportunities to present their work in Korean society, can showcase their work and gain rec

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Thursday the city government plans to press ahead with its supply plan for the housing market, noting that construction has already begun for 15,000 units this year. The municipality plans to break ground on 310,000 housing units by 2031 through redevelopment and reconstruction projects amid recent supply shortages that have contributed to sharp price hikes. "Under the principle that sufficient and continued supply is the starting point of reducing housing concerns, we have sped up improvement projects through rapid integrated planning," Oh said during a parliamentary audit of the city government. "Going forward, we will continue to ease on-site difficulties and unfair regulations so that housing can be supplied continuously without stopping." He also pledged to actively respond to shortages in the rental housing market by broadening the foundation for private supply. Later in the session, Oh reiterated his opposition to the central government's proposal to use parts of Yongsan Park in central Seoul for housing development. Oh argued that the government's plan t

President Lee Jae Myung was set to meet Thursday with the chair of the U.S.-Korea Business Council (USKBC) to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries and trade relations, officials said. During the meeting with Evan G. Greenberg, chair of USKBC and CEO of Chubb Group, scheduled for Thursday afternoon, Lee plans to hear the outcome of a joint plenary meeting of the U.S.-Korea and Korea-U.S. Business Councils held in Seoul the same day. The plenary meeting brought together the USKBC and its Korean counterpart, which is operated by the Federation of Korean Industries. The USKBC is a major business advocacy organization representing top U.S. companies engaged with Korea. During the meeting, Lee also plans to call for the USKBC to play a role in expanding economic cooperation between Seoul and Washington, Cheong Wa Dae said.

The South Korean military will launch an annual outdoor defense field exercise next week, along with some joint field drills with the United States that were pushed back as the allies scaled back their combined summertime exercise, officials said Thursday. The Hoguk exercise will begin Monday for a five-day run, aimed at bolstering joint operational capabilities and the readiness posture of the armed forces across the land, maritime and air domains, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). This year's drills will involve a similar number of troops to the 2025 exercise and incorporate the operation of opposing forces and simulated combat training to better reflect realistic threats, the JCS said. The drills will be conducted alongside computer-simulated command post exercises and various strategy discussions as part of efforts to maintain a "robust" readiness posture, it added. The U.S. Forces Korea will also participate in the drills to enhance interoperability with South Korean troops, a JCS official said. Launched in 1996, the Hoguk exercise is aimed at enhancing the interoperabili

Sejong University hosted an international higher education forum at its Seoul campus on Oct. 1 to discuss ways to improve education for international students and support their career development. The 8th International Student Future Higher Education Korea 2026 Fall was organized in collaboration with Stuvisor, a global study-abroad platform, and Careertus, which supports international students’ employment and entrepreneurship. The university said the event consisted of a career fair for international students and a higher education forum for representatives of universities and other institutions. The event has served as a networking platform where international students can explore employment, further study and entrepreneurship opportunities, while university and institutional representatives discuss ways to improve education and support systems for international students. This year’s event took on added significance as the number of international students in Korea surpassed 300,000, highlighting the need to move beyond enrollment growth and focus on educational quality and talent d

The prime minister's office denied a news report Thursday that some government members have raised complaints that it is difficult for them to object to what the president says during Cabinet meetings as the sessions are broadcast live. The Hankook Ilbo daily carried the report that about 10 ministers raised such complaints during a dinner meeting with Prime Minister Han Seong-sook earlier this month and asked for the live broadcasting of Cabinet meetings to be curtailed to allow for healthy policy debates. The prime minister's office denied the report, saying, "The government is live-broadcasting Cabinet meeting discussions for the first time in history, and this is aimed at transparently making the running of state affairs public and actively reflecting the opinions of the people in government policy." "Regarding the agenda discussed at Cabinet meetings, members of the Cabinet are freely expressing their views and the president is actively accepting them," it added.

Temperatures will drop on Thursday morning compared to Wednesday, with a significant daily temperature gap. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), morning lows on Thursday will range between 3 to 13 degrees Celsius, which is approximately 2 degrees lower than Wednesday. Most regions will see morning temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, with temperatures hovering around 5 degrees Celsius in parts of Gangwon Province and inland areas of the southern regions. Frost is expected in these areas as well as some parts of North Chungcheong Province, while ice may form in some mountain areas in Gangwon. The KMA noted that there will be wide daily temperature swings. Daytime highs will be 20 to 24 degrees Celsius, higher than Wednesday. Seoul’s temperatures will range from 10 to 21 degrees Celsius, from 13 to 21 in Incheon, 7 to 23 in Daejeon and Daegu, 8 to 24 in Gwangju, 10 to 24 in Ulsan and 12 to 23 in Busan. Temperatures will be higher on Friday, with morning lows between 7 and 15 and daytime highs between 22 and 26. Northern parts of Gyeonggi and Gangwon Province should