Today’s Front Pages.

• Voting continues until 6:00 PM. Exit polls by the three major broadcasters will be released at 6:00 PM. Voters can cast up to eight ballots. In some tight races, results may not emerge until after 3:00 AM tomorrow.
• 44.65 million voters are electing 4,241 representatives today.
• Kukmin Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo, and Seoul Shinmun emphasized voter participation, while Kyunghyang Shinmun focused on Daegu. Chosun Ilbo framed the election as either supporting or checking the Lee Jae-myung administration.
• Headlines from major newspapers’ front pages:
• Dong-A Ilbo: “Our Neighborhood for Four Years: Please Affix Your Seal of Approval.”
• Chosun Ilbo: “One Year of the Lee Jae-myung Administration… Momentum or Restraint?”
• JoongAng Ilbo: “Your Decisive Stroke: Choose a Worker, Not a Talker.”
• Hankyoreh: “Which Candidate Will Change My Life?”
• Kyunghyang Shinmun: “The Heart of Conservatism Faces a Political Test.”
• Hanguk Ilbo: “Your Vote Shapes Tomorrow.”
• Kukmin Ilbo: “Today’s Step Determines Four Years for Our Neighborhood.”
• Seoul Shinmun: “The 580 Trillion Won Value of One Vote.”
• Segye Ilbo: “Increased Battlegrounds: Strengthen Both Ruling and Opposition.”

What Matters Now.

Key Points to Watch on Local Election Day.

• Seoul will determine the election’s character. Both the Democratic Party and the People Power Party must win Seoul to emerge victorious.
• If Kim Bu-gyeom (Democratic Party’s Daegu mayoral candidate) survives in Daegu, the People Power Party will collapse and conservative realignment will accelerate.
• Cho Kuk (Reform Party leader) and Han Dong-hoon (former People Power Party leader) also have their political fates hanging in the balance.
• The Democratic Party expects to secure 9+α out of 16 metropolitan regions. They consider Incheon, Daejeon, Sejong, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeonnam·Gwangju, and Jeju as strongholds. The People Power Party’s only strongholds are Daegu and Gyeongbuk.
• Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam are battleground regions.

13 of 14 By-Election Seats Were Democratic Party Strongholds.

• Failing to retain all 13 seats would reduce their majority.
• The Democratic Party views five districts—Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek, Chungnam Gongju-Buyeo-Cheongyang, Daegu Dalseong, Ulsan Nam-gap, and Busan Buk-gap—as highly contested.
• The People Power Party is counting on Daegu Dalseong and Ulsan Nam-gap.

Will Seoul’s District Chief Races Flip by 10:15 AM?

• Of 25 district chief positions, the Democratic Party held 10 and the People Power Party held 15.
• The Democratic Party expects to secure around 17. Some suggest they could take 20, excluding Gangnam’s three districts and Yongsan.
• The key is whether Jongno, Dongdaemun, and Seodaemun—currently held by People Power Party chiefs—will flip.
• The People Power Party is counting on Gangnam’s three districts, Gangdong, Yongsan, and Jung. That’s six positions.

Kim Bu-gyeom’s Tears.

• At his final rally, he pleaded, “Please help me.” The Daegu mayoral race is a dead heat. The key is how many “shy Kim Bu-gyeom” supporters will actually vote.
• If Kim Bu-gyeom (Democratic Party candidate) secures 40% in Daegu, it could reshape the election’s character.
• The People Power Party’s slogan boils down to “checking the Lee Jae-myung administration.” They tried to make the prosecution’s case dismissal a central issue, but it failed to gain traction. The last major battlegrounds are Daegu and Busan.

Low Early Voting in Gangnam’s Four Districts.

• These are strongholds for Oh Se-hoon (People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate). In the 2022 election, turnout surged in the final stretch.
• Nowon, Dobong, and Gangbuk—Democratic Party strongholds—saw higher voting rates. Jeong Won-o (Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate) emphasized, “This is not an election for one mayor but a vote to empower the Lee Jae-myung administration.”
• Their final messages reveal the race’s dynamics. Jeong declared, “No variable can overturn our lead,” while Oh Se-hoon attacked, “Does Lee Jae-myung dream of being a Putin?”
• Jeong Cheong-rae (Democratic Party leader) stressed, “Winning Seoul means winning the nation.”
• Related Link.

Clash Between the ‘Old Democrats’ and the ‘New Democrats’.

• Pyeongtaek is the hottest battleground.
• Kim Yong-nam (Democratic Party candidate) criticized Cho Kuk (Cho Kuk Reform Party candidate), saying, “He’s pretending to be a Democrat, deceiving the public by claiming he’ll join the party once elected.”
• Cho Kuk posted on Facebook, “The politics of solidarity and integration can overcome factional and interest-driven politics.”
• If Cho Kuk returns to prominence, merger talks could reignite.

Kim Kwan-young vs. Jeong Cheong-rae: A Clash in Jeonbuk.

• Will Jeonbuk see an independent governor?
• Kim Kwan-young (independent candidate) claims, “This is a judgment on Jeong Cheong-rae’s wrongful nomination.”
• Rumors suggest Jeong Cheong-rae’s party leadership role hinges on Jeonbuk, while Jang Dong-hyeok’s depends on Busan.
• Related Link.

“Everyone Can Make Mistakes. If You Do, Apologize and Withdraw.”.

• President Lee Jae-myung (president) made this remark to acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun during a State Council meeting. Though he did not mention a specific case, the ambiguous statement could be misconstrued as pressuring the dismissal of charges in his own case.
• Jang Dong-hyeok (People Power Party leader) criticized, “It’s an overt intimidation to cancel the trial.”
• The Blue House explained, “It reflects the president’s consistent view on governance: that greater authority must come with proportionate responsibility. He also warned that the prosecution should guard against the trap of infallibility.”
• Related Link.

Deep Dive.

Where Will the 67 Metropolitan Local Leaders Go?

• The Democratic Party considers 58 seats within winning range.
• In 2018, they held 62, but that dropped to just 19 in 2022.

“Are You Fucking Crazy?” Trump’s Rebuke to Netanyahu.

• Donald Trump (U.S. president) was lured by Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli prime minister) into the war. Have the two leaders’ relations soured? Trump reportedly unleashed profanity and harsh criticism during a call with Netanyahu.
• Trump wants to extricate the U.S. from Iran but keeps hitting snags in his exit strategy. Israel continues to attack Lebanon, provoking Iran. The U.S.-Iran agreement includes a clause for Israel to halt its Lebanon offensive.
• Trump shouted, “What the fuck are you doing?” and added, “You’re fucking crazy.” A White House official who spoke to Axios called it the worst call between the two leaders.
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

3.1% Inflation.

• Inflation, exchange rates, and interest rates—the “three highs” persist.
• The exchange rate stands at 1,516 won, and the highest mortgage loan rate is 7.3%.
• Petroleum product prices surged 24.2% compared to the same month last year, while international airfares jumped 33.5% due to increased fuel surcharges.
• Government intervention has barely kept these figures in check. Authorities claim the oil price cap policy reduced the inflation rate by 0.6 percentage points.
• Lee Jae-myung (president) stated, “Without price stability, economic growth and reducing polarization are impossible.” In an editorial, the Korea JoongAng Daily emphasized, “To avoid empty rhetoric, the government must refrain from excessive monetary expansion and prepare in advance to mitigate the impact of interest rate hikes on ordinary citizens.”

Cho Kyu-jin’s Heart.

• Left a “heart” with the comment “Admirable” on Im Jeon-su’s (Sejong City Superintendent of Education candidate) Facebook post.
• The People Power Party decided to file a complaint against Cho Kyu-jin (Minister of Education) for violating political neutrality obligations.

Another Take.

Tragedy Strikes Hanwha Aerospace Contract Worker Within Three Months of Hire.

• Two days after the Hanwha Aerospace accident, the victims’ identities remain unconfirmed.
• Last year, 7.6 billion won was allocated for safety and health budgets, but only 3.5 billion won was spent.
• Kim Byung-sung (Hanwha Aerospace Daejeon site union chairman) stated, “We have been demanding the replacement and expansion of local exhaust systems since last year.” According to The Hankyoreh, the systems had not yet been replaced.
• The cleaning room where the accident occurred had no sprinklers.

Nvidia Inside.

• Speculation arises that “Nvidia Inside” could shake the dominance of “Intel Inside,” which has ruled the market for 50 years.
• Intel’s CPU market share was 64% as of last year’s fourth quarter. A total of 270 million PCs were sold last year, significantly below the 340 million sold in 2021.
• Will “Nvidia Inside” PCs create a new market? Intel and AMD are x86-based, while Nvidia and Apple are ARM-based, requiring separate software releases.
• For Nvidia, the PC market is not the main stage. However, it could pose a significant threat to competitors.
• Related Link.

The Fix.

Accelerating Life-Sustaining Treatment Withdrawal Decisions.

• Discussions are underway to allow it from the terminal stage, not just the final stage.
• The final stage refers to a state where recovery is impossible, symptoms rapidly worsen, and death is imminent.
• The terminal stage refers to a state where recovery is impossible and death is expected within months.
• While the distinction is not always clear, terminal cancer patients unresponsive to chemotherapy may be classified as terminal, though not yet in the final stage.
• A system to register advance life-sustaining treatment directives online is also being pursued.

Jeju’s Weather Insurance for Construction Sites.

• It compensates for part of workers’ income loss when construction halts due to extreme heat or weather.
• Gyeonggi Province’s climate insurance required a heat-related illness diagnosis from a hospital to pay out. Jeju’s climate insurance is an index-based policy that pays when weather indices reach a set threshold.
• Kwon Soon-il (Insurance Research Institute researcher) said, “It must be supported by credible data infrastructure and sophisticated product design.”

Escape Ladder from Hell-Chosun.

• The revised Basic Housing Act takes effect today. If the government deems relocation necessary based on housing condition surveys, it can provide rental housing or support moving and housing costs.
• The Kyunghyang Shinmun pointed out that many gaps remain.
• Housing welfare centers are concentrated in the capital region, and proper surveys have yet to be conducted.
• Even when applying for housing support, the rental housing occupancy rate is less than 50%.

Let’s Reduce Ballots to Three.

• It’s not the number of ballots that’s the problem. The issue is voting without knowing who you’re voting for.
• Sung Nak-in (former Seoul National University president) proposed three solutions.
• First, introduce a proportional representation system for regional councilors in large districts and unify local government representation under a majority system, transitioning to a multi-member district system.
• Second, while directly electing regional leaders, consider indirect elections for local government heads via local councils.
• Third, a realistic alternative is to have superintendents of education run as policy-aligned running mates with regional leaders.
• Sung emphasized, “We must not fall into the trap of direct-election absolutism,” adding, “To implement grassroots democracy and ensure sound development of local autonomy, we must at least prevent blind voting.”

ICYMI.

Heavy ChatGPT Users Consume 100 Billion Tokens Monthly.

• Token demand is exploding.
• Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO) said, “Infrastructure issues are critical.” Cost reduction has emerged as a key issue.
• Sofia Velas (Velastech Ventures CEO) noted, “Most people tend to focus on automating tasks they dislike rather than those most valuable to the company.” The implication is that efficiency may not match rising costs.
• A Bain & Company survey found 40% of surveyed companies reported AI cost savings of less than 10%.
• Related Link.
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

Monthly Alcohol Spending per Household: ₩13,257.

• Based on the first quarter of this year.
• 9.0% less than the first quarter of last year.
• Alcohol consumption is also declining.
• Shipments totaled 3.15 million kiloliters in 2024, compared to 3.81 million kiloliters a decade ago.

Chamisul Fresh 15.7% ABV.

• It’s been two years and four months since lowering to 16%.
• A steady decline since 19.8% in 2006.

Worth Reading.

When Public and Private Interests Collide: Jung Yong-jin.

• Businesses like Shafer Vineyard, Pierrot Shopping, Boots, Rescape, and Electro Man were all investments favored by Jung Yong-jin (E-Mart Chairman).
• E-Mart’s stock price has plummeted to one-third of its value over the past decade. Last year, Jung received ₩5.9 billion in dividends from E-Mart.
• Lee Chang-min (Hanyang University professor) pointed out, “If not even the minimal checks on Jung Yong-jin are functional, the cost will ultimately be borne by shareholders, employees, consumers, and society as a whole.”
• Related Link.

Starbucks Controversy? Anti-Discrimination Law Is the Answer.

• Hong Sung-soo (Sookmyung Women’s University professor) noted, “The Starbucks incident is merely one manifestation of a distorted culture of hate, and for those who spread hatred, the May 18th Uprising is just another topic to exploit.”
• “Hate begins with expression, evolves into discrimination, and escalates to hate crimes. Among these, ‘hate speech’ is the most challenging to regulate. Countries respond in wildly varying ways, and clear success stories are hard to find. Meanwhile, anti-discrimination laws are a universally accepted legal response already implemented by major democracies, with little room for debate. It’s only logical to start by methodically applying solutions that have been widely tested.”
• Related Link.