4-legged Korean robot runs full marathon on single charge

HS Hyosung Advanced Materials is showcasing carbon fiber products for aerospace, defense and drone applications at CAMX 2026 in the United States, as the company seeks to expand into advanced industries. The three-day Composites and Advanced Materials Expo runs from Tuesday to Thursday (local time) in Atlanta. More than 500 companies are participating, with about 7,000 visitors expected to attend. HS Hyosung Advanced Materials has participated in the annual exhibition since it was launched in 2014. The company is displaying 3K carbon fiber, 3K woven fabrics and composites for drones, as well as high-pressure vessels used in satellites. “CAMX 2026 is an important opportunity to share the latest technologies and market trends with major companies and customers in the global composites industry and explore new business opportunities,” HS Hyosung Advanced Materials CEO Lim Jin-dal said. “Based on our high-performance carbon fiber technologies and stable supply capabilities, we will provide differentiated carbon fiber solutions for advanced industries, including aerospace.” Carbon fibe

"Mala" is enchanting Korean palates across the domestic food industry. The tongue-numbingly spicy seasoning that is a traditional favorite in China's Sichuan province has become a popular ingredient for dishes beyond just Chinese cuisine, spreading to Korean and Western dishes in both the dine-in and takeout scenes. Since its introduction to Korea in the early 2010s, the popularity of mala among Korean consumers began to grow more widespread in 2018, and has been on a consistent rise since. At Google Trends, online searches for “malatang" (mala-based hot pot) this month jumped 350 percent from 2022, while "mala rosé" (mala and creamy tomato sauce) jumped 250 percent during the same period. Korean's frenzy over mala has been evident in the country's dine-in landscape as well. Tanghuo Kungfu, the largest Korean malatang franchise, posted sales of 25.5 billion won ($19 million) last year, nearly tripling from 2022. Chunli Malatang enjoyed a sales increase of 134 percent from 2023, while Lahongbang saw a 32 percent rise from the previous year. This year, McDonald’s Korea, Binggrae, Otok

Citibank Korea has tapped Kim Kyoung-ho, its head of corporate banking, as its next CEO, marking the lender’s first leadership change in six years, the bank said Wednesday. The bank’s executive recommendation committee named Kim as the sole finalist at a meeting, Tuesday. If approved by the board and shareholders, he will succeed Yoo Myung-soon, who has led Citi since 2020 as its first female CEO. Her term expires Oct. 27. The committee described Kim as “a corporate banking expert with extensive experience serving large corporations and financial institutions,” citing his track record, deep knowledge of client relationships and the Korean market, as well as his understanding of risk management and internal controls. Kim joined Citibank Korea in 2001 and has held a series of senior roles in corporate banking, including large corporate banking and financial institutions coverage, before being promoted to an executive vice president in 2021. His appointment comes as Citi continues to reshape its Korean business following its exit from consumer banking. With corporate clients now at

With the terms of 54 top executives at major financial holding companies’ affiliates set to expire at the end of the year, including the CEOs of all five major commercial banks, the government is stepping up pressure on financial groups to make their leadership succession more transparent and address any procedural shortcomings, according to industry officials Wednesday. Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Gov. Lee Chan-jin made the call at a meeting with the chairmen of eight financial groups — KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH NongHyup, iM, BNK and JB — at his agency's headquarters in Seoul, Wednesday. CEO appointments at their subsidiaries, Lee said, should be “a transparent and fair process for identifying the right candidates based on their capabilities, without being swayed by particular factions or personal relationships.” Holding companies that still lack what the FSS considers basic safeguards, including clearly defined qualifications for the top job and a minimum period for assessing candidates at each stage, should address those gaps before launching their appointment pr

As Korea confirmed a natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Encinal, Texas, will be the first project under its $200 billion strategic investment commitment to the United States, power purchase agreements (PPAs) with potential power buyers are emerging as a key factor in determining the project’s commercial viability. In a National Assembly briefing on Tuesday, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said the project will be worth $22.3 billion, with planned generating capacity reaching 6.3 gigawatts. The project will initially build a 1.4-gigawatt gas turbine power plant to assess actual demand and economic viability, before gradually expanding it with 4.9 gigawatts of more efficient combined-cycle generation capacity. The project will be funded entirely by Korea, while ownership will be split equally between Seoul and Washington. Electricity generated from the plant is expected to power artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in the region. In selecting the gas plant as the first project, the government considered “commercial reasonableness,” stipulated as a key condition in

“Schools have gay people, too!” That was the message of support from a teacher in a booklet published ahead of the launch of the Sexual Minorities Committee of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU). On March 1, the committee became the union’s first-ever body dedicated to sexual minorities. It brings together LGBTQ+ teachers and teachers who support them. Their shared hope is that LGBTQ+ students will encounter at least one teacher who supports them during their years at school. On the evening of Sept. 14, The Hankook Ilbo spoke by phone with “Mo,” the committee’s inaugural chairperson, who uses a pseudonym as an activist. Schools ask about gender every day Mo is a 13-year veteran elementary school teacher. At the first staff meeting held at the school where Mo currently works, Mo proposed eliminating a numbering system that divides students by gender. Under the system, the 30 students in a class are divided into boys and girls, with boys assigned numbers starting with 1 and girls from 16, in alphabetical order. The students are then divided into “boys’ team

A Sungkyunkwan University research team has developed an innovative cancer treatment platform in collaboration with researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Sungkyunkwan University said the platform is designed to simultaneously identify cancer cells and the surrounding cells that support them and block communication between the two at its source by suppressing the production of extracellular vesicles. The team was led by professor Yang Yoo-soo of the university’s department of integrative biotechnology. It collaborated with a KIST research team headed by Dr. Shim Man-kyu. Cancer does not grow through the efforts of cancer cells alone. Surrounding the cancer cells are cancer-associated fibroblasts and various immune cells that act like collaborators, forming a complex community known as the tumor microenvironment. These cells communicate with one another by exchanging tiny packages called extracellular vesicles, which carry signaling molecules between cells. Through this exchange, cancer cells gain advantages that promote their growth and spread to other orga

With North Jeolla Province pushing to co-host the 2036 Summer Olympics with Seoul, the capital city's government remains hesitant to respond to the proposal, following its own elimination from the domestic selection process. North Jeolla Province officials said the provincial government submitted a joint hosting proposal to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and is currently awaiting a response. Insiders, however, say it would be challenging for the two governments to iron out the details of the co-hosting arrangement as both would want to hold the major events, including the opening ceremony. “They will find it hard to narrow their differences because both sides would want the key events ... Seoul had already lost the initial domestic bid to North Jeolla Province. While Seoul would readily host the event on its own, a joint bid is a completely different matter, as it involves significant taxpayer money,” a government official familiar with the matter told The Korea Times. It has been reported that the metropolitan government told the province that under a joint bid, the capital would

North Jeolla Province has approached Seoul about joining its bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics as a co-host, fueling speculation that the province's bid for the provincial city, Jeonju, to host the games is losing momentum amid concerns about a lack of necessary infrastructure. Although the provincial government says it is not giving up its bid to host the Games on its own but is adopting a strategy to increase its chances of being selected, the co-hosting offer shows it is facing a growing burden over its lack of necessary facilities. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has since postponed its review of the province's plan for the event hosting. Provincial government officials said North Jeolla Gov. Lee Won-taeg recently met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to discuss co-hosting the upcoming Olympics. “The governor met with Seoul officials to discuss the broader framework for a joint bid, and we are currently awaiting Seoul’s official response. At the working level, we have formally requested that they submit their proposal on the co-hosting arrangement, and working-level officia

Sejong University held a ceremony Sept. 4 to welcome back members of its World Friends Korea (WFK) IT Sejong Overseas Volunteer Corps, the university said. The event was held to share the results of the volunteers’ activities in Jizzakh, Uzbekistan, last month and recognize the students who took part in educational and cultural exchange programs. The WFK-IT Volunteer Corps, organized by the National Information Society Agency, is a program that seeks to bridge the global digital divide by providing information technology education and carrying out projects in partner countries with limited access to digital technologies, while helping Korean IT talent develop global capabilities. Sejong University was selected in April to operate the WFK-IT Volunteer Corps this year and formed its volunteer team under the leadership of the Sejong Community Service Foundation and the National Program of Excellence in Software. The volunteer corps provided customized IT education and organized Korean cultural exchange activities in Jizzakh from Aug. 1-17. During the first week, the volunteers provided bas

Several translation errors were found in a Ministry of National Defense glossary meant to help soldiers unfamiliar with the Korean language, raising questions about the ministry's vetting process as the number of troops from multicultural backgrounds continues to grow. In August, the ministry said it had compiled the glossary to explain 562 common military terms such as "salute" and "roll call" for soldiers with overseas permanent residency and those from multicultural backgrounds. The words, compiled from observations of a soldier's daily routine, were translated into English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and Japanese, posted on the Military Manpower Administration's website and distributed in print to new recruits. But the glossary was plagued with translation errors. In the English version, the Korean word for "petty officer" was mistranslated as "pretty officer." The Korean word meaning "checking the chamber for rounds after firing" was rendered instead as "Weather conditions such as rain, snow, or strong winds that restrict activities," an unrelated sentence about the weather. The te

Multiple helicopters flew over the Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Tuesday evening, prompting unease among some nearby residents as it coincided with President Lee Jae Myung’s trip to New York. The flights were part of a nighttime training exercise conducted by the Capital Defense Command, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The ministry explained that such drills are occasionally held when the president is outside the country. The ministry had not responded to further questions about the details, such as the number of helicopters involved and the specific purpose and flight routes of the exercise. Although it was a drill, the fact that an unusually large number of helicopters were mobilized and were flying after sunset drew unease among residents nearby. The uneasiness was partially because of the memory of the Dec. 3, 2025, martial law imposition by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, when a dozen helicopters flew to the National Assembly in Yeouido to arrest opposition leaders. A resident living near Cheong Wa Dae said the chopper noise was unusually frequent and loud compared with n