ATMs of four banks in Seoul / Yonhap By Lee Kyung-min KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori are grappling with increasingly unfavorable business conditions in China, hobbled by recent downsizing efforts of Korean firms operating there, according to industry officials, Tuesday. Chinese retailers’ weak demand for loans amid the deepening economic downturn also made it more difficult for local banks to make money in the mainland, they said. The lenders expected their business conditions to deteriorate further, exacerbated by the trade dispute between the U.S. and China, in addition to the prolonged post-pandemic economic slowdown amid growing default risks associated with bad debts of small and medium-sized firms in China. Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hana and Woori have seen the number of their corporate clients operating in China decline. Hyundai Motor, for instance, is reducing the number of factories in China, with major manufacturing industry leaders taking similar steps or curtailing...

By Sah Dong-suk The Great Place to Work (GPTW) Selection Committee has announced 100 recipients of its 2025 Most Respected CEO in Korea award. Each year, GPTW selects and awards CEOs who have created great workplaces with their strong leadership and sense of mission, achieved great results and contributed to industrial development. The criteria for selecting the most respected CEO in Korea are determined through the Trust Index evaluation, a global standard evaluation model promoted jointly in over 180 countries. The final selection was made by indexing the results of direct evaluations by employees of the company on nine evaluation factors and 41 questionnaire items related to management among the Trust Index. The nine evaluation factors consist of communication skills, competence, integrity, support for mental growth and physical environment, collaboration, caring, equity, impartiality and justice. The CEO selection system means a lot, given that members directly evaluate and select the...

Trump and Vance burning bridges

The logo of Baidu’s AI chatbot Ernie Bot is displayed near a screen showing the Baidu logo, June 28, 2023. Reuters-Yonhap   Chinese technology giant Baidu is embracing DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence (AI) models by integrating it with its search engine, fast on the heels of Tencent Holdings, which recently adopted the start-up’s tech into Weixin, the country’s largest social media platform. Baidu will fully connect both DeepSeek and its own Ernie large language models (LLMs) with its search engine to offer a “more diversified search experience,” the company announced on Sunday. The search giant will also add DeepSeek to its LLM platform for developers, Baidu said in a separate statement. Baidu is embracing DeepSeek just after its rival Tencent announced beta testing of the AI models on its super app Weixin, as it calls WeChat in mainland China. Some users were given access to the DeepSeek-R1 model through Weixin’s search...

윤석열 대통령 측은 다시 탄핵심판 증인석에 선 홍장원 전 국정원 1차장의 ‘체포조 메모’에 대해 신빙성을 흔드는데 주력했다. 건강이 좋지 않은 조지호 경찰청장에겐 “조사 당시 섬망 증세는 없었느냐”며 수사기관에서 한 진술의 신뢰도를 격하시키려는 시도도 펼쳤다. 헌법재판소는 20일 오후 3시부터 윤 대통령 탄핵심판 10차 변론을 진행했다. 이날 오전 서울중앙지법 피고인석에 앉았던 윤 대통령은 헌재 피청구인석에 착석했다. 홍 전 차장의 ‘체포조 메모’가 어김없이 쟁점이 됐다. 윤 대통령 측은 “(여인형 전 방첩사령관으로부터 체포 명단을 듣고) 미친 짓이라고 생각해 적다 말았다고 했는데 굳이 메모를 (보좌관에게) 정서시킨 이유는 무엇인가”라고 작성 경위를 공격했다. 홍 전 차장은 “최소한 비상계엄 당시에 ‘방첩사가 체포하려고 했던 명단이다, 명단의 인원들은 알고 있어야겠다’라는 생각으로 그 명단을 기억하기 위한 차원에서 메모했다”고 말했다. 그럼에도 윤 대통령 측은 “명단을 굳이 기억할 필요가 있느냐. 다른 목적으로 작성한 것으로 보이는 데 그 목적이 무엇인가”라며 몰아세웠다. 메모를 받아 적은 보좌관이 현대고등학교를 졸업한 한동훈 전 대표의 친구는 아니냐고 따지기도 했다. 홍 전 차장은 “제 보좌관의 친구들이 어떤 사람인지까지는 제가 기억하지...

An Ji-hyun, left, and her husband Mok Ji-su, co-founders of Smooth Lab, hold their “Jipap Bathhouse” magazine, which introduces Korea’s public bathhouses, at Space Um in Busan in this 2024 photo. Courtesy of Smooth Lab How Korean ‘mogyoktang’ became social hub By Park Jin-hai There was a time when weekly trips to “mogyoktang” (public bathhouse) were an integral part of Korean life. On weekend mornings, you could meet almost half of your neighborhood friends at the bathhouse and finding a spot quickly was a skill. However, as times and lifestyles have changed, public bathhouses have become less common in our daily lives, and the sight of bathhouse chimneys has become rare in urban areas. However, not everyone is willing to let this tradition fade away. An Ji-hyun, who publishes Korea’s only bathhouse magazine, “Jipap Bathhouse,” along with her husband, is one of them. The name “Jipap” translates to “in front...

This photo shows the third round of negotiations for a free trade agreement between Korea and Malaysia in Seoul, provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Sept. 4, 2019. Yonhap Korea and Malaysia plan to hold their seventh round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) Monday, as the two sides seek to broaden their trade portfolio and enhance cooperation, Seoul’s industry ministry said. The latest round of talks for an FTA was scheduled to kick off Monday for four days in Kuala Lumpur, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two sides plan to focus on making progress in negotiations across 11 sectors, including goods, services, investment and economic cooperation, the ministry added. Following a five-year hiatus, the two nations agreed to resume talks on a free trade deal in March 2024. Korea already has an FTA with the Association of Southeast...

윤석열 대통령은 비상계엄 선포 이후 “도대체 2시간짜리 내란이 있느냐”는 말을 시작으로 “아무 일도 일어나지 않았다”는 주장을 하고 있다. 하지만 ’12·3 비상계엄’ 사태의 비선(秘線)으로 지목된 노상원 전 정보사령관은 정보사를 중심으로 계엄 이후 계획들을 치밀하게 세운 것으로 파악됐다. 노 전 사령관은 부정선거 수사를 명목으로, 계엄 다음날 중앙선거관리위원회에 정예 요원을 투입하고, 비공식 조직인 ‘수사 2단’을 편성할 계획을 세웠다. 그는 계엄의 밤이 지나고 부정선거 수사를 명목으로 선관위로 이동할 계획이었고, 그를 ‘보좌’할 인원도 배치됐다. 특히 그는 자신의 가방에 민간인에게는 제공되지 않는 ‘비화폰’을 소지하고 있던 것으로 확인됐다. 20일 CBS노컷뉴스 취재 결과, 계엄 당일인 지난해 12월 3일 노 전 사령관은 선관위로 이동해 본격적인 부정선거 의혹 확인에 나설 계획이었던 것으로 파악됐다. 당시 경기 성남시 판교 100여단에서 대기하던 문상호 전 정보사령관은 정보사 김봉규 대령에게 “계엄을 위해 선발한 인원 중 1명을 내일 아침 노 전 사령관에게 보내서 모시고 오라”고 말한 것으로 파악됐다. 당시 현장에 있던 정보사 소속 정성욱 대령은 변호인을 통해 “4일 아침에 차량으로 노 사령관을 모시고 오라는 것을 들었다”며...

By Carlos Nobre and Marielos Pena-Claros SAO PAULO/WAGENINGEN – Between November 2023 and October 2024, the Amazon rainforest faced yearly average temperature increases above 2 Celsius degrees. Record-breaking heat waves, droughts, and fires have ravaged the region; deforestation is still too high; and indigenous peoples and local communities have faced proliferating threats against their livelihoods and well-being. The threat these trends represent can hardly be overstated. The Amazon is rapidly approaching a tipping point, beyond which forest dieback could cause permanent degradation. The region’s transformation into self-drying areas of open vegetation would wreak havoc on the biome’s unmatched biodiversity, its food systems, and the livelihoods of its 47 million inhabitants. It would also destroy a vital carbon sink and a powerful source of moisture for South America – the “flying rivers” that sustain rainfall systems far south of the Amazon Basin. Despite ample opportunity for multilateral efforts to protect and...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC), in Munich, Germany, Feb. 15. EPA-Yonhap European leaders on Saturday scrambled to force their way to the table for any talks on the Ukraine war, as Washington announced a team of senior U.S. officials was planning to meet in Saudi Arabia with counterparts from Moscow and Kyiv. U.S. President Donald Trump upended the status quo this week when he announced he was likely to soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start talks to end the conflict, leaving U.S. allies in Europe concerned their interests would be sidelined. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, U.S. officials said Saturday, without giving details on when the meeting would happen. Rubio had already been due to visit...