15 en E-commerce giant Coupang Inc. said it has confirmed an additional leak in the personal information of 165-thousand users. The company said in a media release Thursday that it notified the users that their personal data, including their names, telephone numbers and postal addresses, had been leaked. It ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 18:30:08 +0900 Politics Some of the flour mills and sugar manufacturers embroiled in price-fixing scandals have lowered the cost of their products for consumers. CJ Cheiljedang on Thursday announced that it will lower the prices of all its business-to-consumer sugar and flour products by up to six percent.  The firm said it ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:54:35 +0900 Economy The mercury will drop sharply from Thursday night with cold air blowing in from the north.  According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, a cold snap advisory is set to be issued from 9 p.m. Thursday in the Seoul metro area, South Chungcheong Province and parts of Gangwon ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:46:57 +0900 Science The presidential office says it is coordinating details for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to visit South Korea.  The top office said Thursday that the two nations will make an announcement once they fine-tune details. Last November, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in South ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:36:35 +0900 Politics The government will announce next week supplementary measures to address lease-related inconveniences that could surface as a result of its plan to end the temporary suspension of higher capital gains tax for multi-home owners in May. Finance minister Koo Yun-cheol revealed the plan on X on Thursday, ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:28:29 +0900 Politics Main opposition People Power Party(PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok has criticized President Lee Jae Myung's anti-speculative housing policy, saying multi-home owners are not selling their properties because the president himself doesn't expect home prices to drop. Jang made the comments during ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:27:57 +0900 Politics President Lee Jae Myung called on his government to institutionalize policies that give preference to regions outside the capital area throughout state administration to achieve a paradigm shift in growth driven by regional development. Presiding over a meeting with his aides Thursday, Lee said a balanced ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:11:43 +0900 Politics A bamboo flute that dates back approximately one-thousand-400 years was found in the ruins of a Baekje Kingdom palace site from the sixth and seventh centuries. The Buyeo National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage said Thursday that it verified the discovery of one piece of horizontal pipe after ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 17:01:07 +0900 Culture Jennie, of the K-pop girl group Blackpink, and singer-songwriter Lee Chan-hyuk have both secured five nominations for the 23rd Korean Music Awards, including the highest honors.  The event's selection committee announced on Thursday the list of nominees.  Jennie was nominated for "Musician of ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 16:40:37 +0900 Culture Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said on Thursday he feels a grave and heavy sense of responsibility over allegations that the head of a facility for people with severe disabilities had sexually assaulted several female residents. Kim made the remark during the first meeting of an inter-agency government task ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 16:23:33 +0900 Domestic The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index tumbled 207-point-53 points, or three-point-86 percent, on Thursday to close at five-thousand-163-point-57. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ lost 41-point-02 points, or three-point-57 percent, to close at one-thousand-108-point-41. The South Korean won weakened ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:48:10 +0900 Economy A Changwon court has acquitted power broker Myung Tae-kyun and former People Power Party(PPP) Rep. Kim Young-sun on bribery charges linked to Kim's candidacy in the 2022 local and 2024 general elections. The Changwon District Court on Thursday found Myung and Kim not guilty of violating the Political Funds ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:42:22 +0900 Politics Two tribunals will be established at the Seoul High Court to try former President Yoon Suk Yeol and others on insurrection charges in connection with the December 3, 2024 martial law incident. The high court convened a meeting of judges on Thursday and designated two criminals departments through a random ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:35:01 +0900 Politics Main opposition People Power Party(PPP) leader Jang Dong-hyeok said he is open to a vote of confidence by party members and is willing to resign, and even give up his parliamentary seat, amid ongoing internal strife over the expulsion of the party's former chief Han Dong-hoon. Jang told reporters Thursday ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:29:53 +0900 Politics The International Olympic Committee(IOC) is actively considering moving future Winter Olympics to January, as warmer winters and less snowfall threaten the viability of holding the games in the current February slot. Karl Stoss, who heads the IOC's Olympic Programme Working Group, told reporters in ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:19:07 +0900 International South Korea's defense ministry has apparently proposed to the United States that they jointly manage the Demilitarized Zone(DMZ). A source familiar with Seoul-Washington ties said Thursday that the ministry recently made the proposal as the issue of jurisdiction over the border barrier area has ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:16:16 +0900 Politics Anchor: The United States has said it will establish a trade bloc to diversify supply chains for critical minerals essential to defense and advanced industries. To kick off the initiative, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and other nations took part in a discussion held in Washington, aimed at defending ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:54:13 +0900 International The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Resources will inject 464-point-five billion won, or around 317 million U.S. dollars, this year into research and development and infrastructure projects in the automotive industry. The ministry said it plans to issue a public notice Friday to recruit businesses to ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:59:02 +0900 Economy Mild temperatures are forecast to persist nationwide through Thursday evening, before the start of another cold snap on Friday. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, Seoul will see the mercury drop to minus eight degrees Celsius on Friday morning, with lows ranging between minus 12 and two ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:50:55 +0900 Science Foreign Minister Cho Hyun attended a session of the Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington for discussions on enhancing international cooperation for stability and diversification in critical mineral supply chains. Fifty-six countries, including the U.S. and other Group of Seven(G7) member states, ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:22:09 +0900 Politics Major global investment banks are raising their forecasts for South Korea’s economic growth this year, citing sustained strength in semiconductor exports. The International Finance Center announced Thursday that the average growth projection among eight major banks stood at two-point-one percent at the ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:51:23 +0900 Economy The growth rate of currency in circulation last year reached its highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Bank of Korea data released Thursday, the value of currency in circulation rose nine-point-one percent from the previous year to 210-point-seven trillion won, or roughly 144 billion ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:49:25 +0900 Economy South Korea has taken on the chairmanship of the U.S.-proposed new criminal minerals trading bloc, dubbed the FORGE initiative.  The foreign ministry said on Thursday that the country will assume the chairmanship of the initiative through June during a briefing on Foreign Minister Cho Hyun's ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:19:39 +0900 International Prosecutors will not appeal the acquittal of developers in the Wirye New Town development case, a situation similar to the high-profile Daejang-dong corruption scandal. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said on Wednesday, the final day of the appeal period, that it had opted not to file an ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:13:13 +0900 Politics Police seek to detain former Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Sun-woo and former Seoul city council member Kim Kyung on suspicion that Kang received 100 million won from Kim ahead of the 2022 local elections.  The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s public corruption investigation unit on Thursday requested ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:02:59 +0900 Politics U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly told the governor of Georgia that he was unaware an immigration raid was underway when U.S. authorities detained South Korean workers in the state last September. The Wall Street Journal(WSJ) reported Tuesday, citing  U.S. officials, that the Trump ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 10:53:49 +0900 International Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright agreed that the two nations need to make tangible progress in nuclear cooperation such as on Seoul’s push for nuclear-powered submarines, uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Seoul’s foreign ministry said ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 09:33:40 +0900 International President Lee Jae Myung has again cautioned against real estate speculation, advising people not to buy high-priced homes as investments as the suspension of a capital gains tax surcharge on owners of multiple homes is set to expire. The president made the statement Thursday in a social media post, sharing ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 09:29:13 +0900 Politics Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo welcomed rival parties’ agreement to form a special committee and pass a bill related to South Korea’s investment pledges to the United States within a month, saying that it would help deter a threatened tariff hike. Yeo made the remarks on Thursday after returning from his ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 08:30:31 +0900 International The United States has proposed a trade bloc to diversify supply chains for critical minerals essential to defense and advanced industries and invited South Korea and other nations to join. Speaking at a State Department meeting in Washington on Wednesday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the trade war over ...

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]]> KBS WORLD Radio Thu, 05 Feb 2026 08:07:33 +0900 International