Where Korea is heading — and what it means for your money, career, and life. Daily analysis of the Korean economy, its technology industry, its capital markets, and what it costs to live and work here — written in English, sourced to the primary data.
Refreshed each build · 2026-09-09 · exchangerate-api.com · open-meteo.com · indicative mid-market rates, not dealing prices.
The cabinet cut the excess-use threshold from 366 visits a year to 301 on 8 September. Fewer than eight thousand people crossed the old line — which is the clearest sign the rule is not really aimed at them.
A statutory government survey counted every registered Korean talent agency and production house, and asked the people signed to them what they earn. The answers do not look like the industry's press releases.
August was Korea's third-biggest export month on record and produced a $34.75bn trade surplus. Almost the entire year-on-year gain came from three lines, and all three are priced rather than produced.
Almost half of everything Korean employers failed to pay their workers this year was severance. Here is why the money is missing, what the law says you are owed, and what changes on 18 September.
The Education Ministry's annual census shows international enrolment up 54,030 in a year. Total higher-education enrolment rose by roughly the same number.
Consumer prices rose 3.1% in August and core inflation rose 3.4%, the sharpest one-month acceleration of the year. Strip out a single expenditure group and the same data show inflation falling.
A law that took effect on 6 March 2026 turned the treasury share from a control device into a countdown. Companies have until September 2027 to empty the vault, and the Korea Exchange numbers show them doing it faster than they are refilling it.
The May 2026 supplementary survey put the average exit age from a Korean worker's longest-held job at 53.0. The statutory retirement age is 60 and the pension starts at 63. The gap is not a retirement-age problem, and raising the retirement age will not fix it.
On 28 May the National Pension Service raised its 2026 target weight in Korean shares from 14.9% to 20.8%. Five weeks later the fund held 29.1%. The gap, and what the fund is quietly underweight, matter more than the headline.
Three Korean defence contractors reported the second quarter of 2026 within a fortnight of each other. Two of them grew revenue and shrank profit. The order books have never been fuller, and that is not the same thing.
From November, a state guarantor rather than a landlord will hold the deposit on some Korean leases. HUG invests the money in housing project-finance loans and pays the landlord the return as monthly income.
A second consecutive quarter-point hike takes Korea's base rate to 3.00%. The more consequential release was the board's six-month rate outlook, which moved up almost as a bloc.
The 2026 tax reform package raises the optional flat rate for foreign employees by two points and extends the scheme to 2029. The rate rise pushes the salary at which electing it pays from about ₩133 million to about ₩154 million.
KOSPI, KOSDAQ, ADRs, ETFs, the won, and how foreign investors actually access Korean assets.
Browse →Semiconductors, batteries, shipbuilding, defence exports, robotics, and Korea's AI build-out.
Browse →Visas, taxes, healthcare, housing, and the practical mechanics of building a life in Korea.
Browse →The population question, ageing, immigration policy, housing, and the social contract.
Browse →Trade, regulation, the alliance, North Korea risk, and the rules that shape everything above.
Browse →The business behind K-pop, film and drama — earnings, exports, tourism and what the boom actually earns.
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