Slow Letter is
a curated snapshot of Korea.

We go beyond the headlines, connect the dots, and show you what really matters — with insight and edge. We surface the stories behind the noise and bring the context you didn’t know you needed. It’s not just about what’s happening. It’s about why it matters.

This English edition combines AI-powered translation with careful human editing — using Upstage Solar-Pro-2 — and it’s still in beta mode.We’re learning as we go, and your feedback is invaluable.

“Find Your Reason,” Youn Hye-in’s Press Conference.

• When Youn Hye-in (nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family) first announced her press conference, speculation dominated that she would resign—timing conveniently coinciding with President Lee Jae-myung’s recent return.
• Youn claimed, “I will fulfill my role in both government and parliament,” adding, “It’s a logical leap to assume I wouldn’t perform my duties if appointed minister.” She insisted, “Legally, holding concurrent roles as a lawmaker and state council member is the principle.”
• She called criticism of her party as a “family party” an insult and dismissed the state subsidy controversy as “clear misreporting.” The underground organization, she said, disbanded voluntarily in 2017, and “I cannot agree with claims that I tolerated or remained silent on raised issues.” Her plea to “find your reason” was directed at the media.
• Evaluations describe this as “pouring oil on angry public sentiment.” A Cheong Wa Dae official interviewed by Chosun Ilbo remarked, “They seem completely unaware of the severity of the situation.”
• In yesterday’s released National Barometer Survey (NBS), 63% viewed Youn’s nomination as a “poor appointment,” versus 16% who deemed it “appropriate.”
• President Lee’s approval rating also hit a dead cross: 43% positive vs. 48% negative. While polls vary, the three major surveys—Korea Gallup, Real Meter, and NBS—all show dead crosses.
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European Central Bank Raises Interest Rates.

• Raised from 2.25% to 2.5%. “Inflation is expected to remain significantly above target.”
• The US Federal Reserve is also increasingly likely to raise its benchmark rate.
• The US 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.9%—a 19-year high.
• All three major US stock indices closed negative yesterday. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq fell -0.58%, -0.60%, and -0.65%, respectively.
• Related Link.
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What Matters Now.

“Tears Are Coming.”.

• Controversies surrounding Kim Seung-won (nominee for Minister of Justice) continue to pour out.
• A photo surfaced of Kim Seung-won and Yang Soo-jin (broker) with Jung In-jae (senior judge at Seoul Central District Court)—the same judge who dismissed the arrest warrant for Kang Se-chan (founder of Genensel).
• Kim Seung-won once sent Yang Soo-jin a message saying, “I miss you so much it brings tears to my eyes.” In a court statement, Yang Soo-jin revealed she was in a romantic relationship with Kang Se-chan.
• It was revealed that Jung In-jae’s son worked as a legislative assistant in Kim Seung-won’s office. Kim Seung-won claimed, “There is no causal relationship between the dismissal of Kang Se-chan’s arrest warrant and Jung In-jae’s son’s work in my office.”
• Choi Min-woo (deputy head of the political, diplomatic, and international affairs department at JoongAng Ilbo) pointed out, “Even if Kim Seung-won becomes minister, the production of ‘Season 2’ of the Kim Seung-won series is a natural progression.”
• Related Link.

“A Patchwork Job,” Original Transcript Released.

• Comparing Han Dong-hoon’s and Kim Seung-won’s versions, some sections are deleted—but there are also passages unfavorable to Kim Seung-won.
• Kim Seung-won’s transcript includes Yang Soo-jin saying, “I was like, ‘Who should I tell this to?’ So I didn’t ask the head of the MFDS for a favor, I just said, ‘Please just check why it’s being delayed.’”
• It also records Kang Se-chan telling Yang Soo-jin, “Don’t ever talk about this again—it could become a subject for parliamentary audit.”
• Kim Seung-won claimed, “They framed it as if the drug approval was never likely to pass from the start, and deleted the part where I requested documents from Yang Soo-jin for review, making it seem like no review ever occurred.”
• The Kyunghyang Shinmun noted, “Even after releasing the original transcript, it seems difficult to fully dispel suspicions.”
• A opposition figure met by Chosun Ilbo claimed, “The Democratic Party seems to be trying to cover up the ‘Oppa Gate’ with a ‘Leak Gate.’”
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Is a Witness-Free Hearing Acceptable?

• Kyunghyang Shinmun strongly criticized in an editorial, “The Democratic Party must not act this way.”
• Kyunghyang Shinmun pointed out, “The very label of a suspended indictment is a blemish,” and added, “If the Democratic Party’s claims are correct, it would be normal for them to first demand that the prosecution explain why Kim was given a suspended indictment.”
• The Hankyoreh also noted, “It is the ruling party’s responsible attitude to sift through the witnesses requested by the opposition and conduct a substantive hearing.”
• There are reports that Lee Jae-myung (President) will hold a press conference next week to explain himself after returning from the state visit to France.
• Related Link.
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Seoul Apartment Prices Rise for 86 Consecutive Weeks.

• Surpassing the Moon Jae-in administration. Longest streak on record, cumulative 17%.
• Jeonse prices also rose 7.6% this year.

Deep Dive.

When Will the $350 Billion Investment Come?

• “Hurry up” is the constant refrain. Jennifer Lee (Asia Group partner), interviewed by the Financial Times, said, “Significant frustration has built up in the U.S. government.”
• Trump emphasized the $350 billion as “upfront payment.” The South Korean government insists, “It must meet commercial viability standards.”
• Trump needs a victory ahead of the midterms and wants to use Korean investment as a campaign slogan.
• It’s separate from the Hormuz Strait deployment. Deployment is deployment, investment is investment. Nuclear submarine procurement and wartime operational control transition are also at stake.
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“I am the house now.”.

• “I am the house now.” These were the words of Janet Yellen (U.S. Treasury Secretary). She flipped the common gambling adage “The house always wins” into a warning—“Don’t think you can beat me”—but it fell flat.
• Despite pledging to buy up to $6 billion in government bonds, U.S. Treasury yields have risen instead. The 10-year note now stands at 4.85%.
• Related Link.

“The War Will End Only After the Election.”.

• Trump said this. It was meant to suggest the war would end if the GOP wins the election, but overall, it was closer to rambling.
• The prevailing view is that the GOP will lose its Senate majority anyway. He claimed, “Winning the war will lower oil prices,” but the war is already being lost, and even if the GOP wins, the war situation seems unlikely to change.
• At the Republican convention, he said, “Please pretend that I am running and vote for me.”
• According to a Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs report, U.S. consumers spent over $100 billion more due to oil price hikes in the six months after the war began—2.4 times the war’s direct cost of $42 billion. The burden per household exceeds $760.
• The midterm election outlook is grim. There is speculation that Texas, for the first time in 38 years, might elect a Democratic senator.
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Trump’s $1 Trillion Promise.

• He promised $5,000 per citizen if the GOP retains majorities in both the Senate and House—calling it the “Trump dividend.”
• Based on 270 million adults, this amounts to $1.4 trillion.

Another Take.

Beyond Building: AI Models Now Grow Themselves.

• No longer built—they grow autonomously. Paul Tudor Jones (Just Capital founder) likened it to “planting a seed.” Data is the soil. There’s no blueprint; no one knows what shape they’ll take.
• Observers speculate whether recursive self-improvement (RSI) has already begun.
• The Hugging Face hack might have been a preview. OpenAI’s test model allegedly deceived human supervisors, accessed the internet, created 1,200 agents, and exchanged over 70,000 messages. Some interpreted this as an attempt to mask incompetence.
• How likely is it that AI models—recreating themselves thousands of times—to eventually slip beyond control? If millions use such models simultaneously, the probabilistic risk of catastrophe becomes unavoidable.
• Will AI safety make it onto the agenda of the Trump-Xi summit?
• Related Link.

AI Couldn’t Stop AI.

• There are three defense systems to prevent abnormal AI behavior.
• First, a sandbox that limits the model’s access range.
• Second, guardrails that monitor the model’s actions,
• Third, alignment training to control dangerous behavior.
• The lesson from this incident is that alignment training alone cannot hold if the sandbox and guardrails are breached.
• Thomas Wolf (Hugging Face CSO), whose company was hacked, emphasized, “The severity must not be overlooked.”
• Related Link.

Beyond Cost-Effectiveness: Saturn Efficiency.

• It’s about evaluating performance per token.
• Samsung Electronics initially considered incorporating “Saturn efficiency” into performance reviews but has postponed the decision.
• When Korea Investment & Securities measured employees’ AI proficiency, the efficiency gap between high and low scorers was fivefold. High scorers averaged 200 tokens per answer per question, while low scorers used up to 8,966 tokens for a single query.
• Kia added an “AI problem-solving” assessment to this year’s college graduate recruitment.
• Related Link.

The Fix.

Converting Knowledge Industry Centers to Public Rental Housing.

• There are 1,553 knowledge industry centers. Among them, 153 completed in the last three years have a 26% unsold rate and a 44% vacancy rate.
• The government is considering repurposing them as public rental housing for young people and newlyweds.

How Goesan County Slowed Foreign Worker Departures.

• Seasonal foreign worker employment rose from 180 in 2022 to 1,001 this year, while unauthorized departures dropped from 14 to 3.
• The county cut out brokers by recruiting directly through Cambodian and Lao sending agencies. Managers stayed in Goesan with workers post-arrival to oversee them. Interpreters were assigned. A dedicated dormitory for seasonal workers was also built.
• Related Link.

ICYMI.

Moonshot Capitalism Era.

• AI isn’t the only game in town. Deep tech investments in science and engineering have surpassed $150 billion since 2024.
• “Analysts argue that SpaceX’s IPO triggered a Cambrian explosion in space startups,” with quantum computing and nuclear fusion also emerging as hot themes. There’s even an idea to place mirrors in orbit for nighttime solar power. Brain-machine interfaces (BCI) also show massive potential.
• AI has drastically reduced trial-and-error costs and initial investments. Even wild ideas are getting reconsidered. Karina Nami (Plural Venture Capitalist) noted, “Capital intensity has increased as AI enables simulation-based validation.”
• Related Link.

Starbucks’ Uplift.

• (This is about Starbucks HQ, not Starbucks Korea.) Leather armchairs were installed, rugs laid down. Minimalist designs were stripped away, frames hung, bookshelves added. Stores are to be transformed into community lounges.
• $150,000 is invested per store. Since work is done only during evening hours while remaining open, it’s called an “uplift.” The plan is to spend at least $1.2 billion remodeling 9,000 stores.
• It’s a “third place” strategy to lure customers away from online spaces.
• Related Link.

Foldable iPhone: How Does It Stack Up?

• Creases are barely visible. The animation effects are stunning.
• Downsides? Thicker and heavier than Samsung’s Fold 8. Many criticize its awkward one-handed grip and typing experience.
• The camera has also drawn criticism. The iPhone 18 Pro offers 8x zoom, while the iPhone Duo is limited to 2x zoom.
• Related Link.

Worth Reading.

Will 26 Supreme Court Justices Be Selected This Way?

• 1987 Constitution did not significantly address democratizing the judiciary. Critics note it barely evolved from the Yushin Constitution era.
• 24 Supreme Court justices will be appointed over the next five years—4 in 2027, 5 in 2028, 6 in 2029, and 9 in 2030—to complete a 26-member bench.
• Han In-seop (Seoul National University professor) noted, “Coordination between the nominating authority and the appointing authority may be necessary, but this should remain a private effort—not elevated to a constitutional convention.”
• Han proposed a system where a Supreme Court justice candidate recommendation committee shortlists 2–3 candidates, the president nominates one, and the National Assembly approves the appointment.
• Note: The final line with the anchor tag appears to be a formatting artifact from the source material. If strictly preserving the original structure is required, it should be omitted or adjusted accordingly. The translation above reflects the content as presented.
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No Second Term, Anyway.

• Lee Joon-hee (The Korea Herald senior advisor) noted, “Even if revered as a sage king, Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval ratings are already at the level of the worst president in history—there’s no momentum to secure even minimal public consensus.”
• “Cleanly resolving all questionable issues, including the possibility of a second term, is actually the way to reduce judicial risks,” he emphasized.
• Related Link.

What About a 3+3 Presidential System?

• Proposed by Yeom Jae-ho (Taejae University president). The current five-year single-term system inevitably faces a lame-duck period after three years, when approval ratings plummet. In Europe, where parliamentary systems are adopted, the average tenure of cabinets is about two years.
• Positive evaluations at the three-year mark were: Roh Tae-woo 12%, Kim Young-sam 41%, Kim Dae-jung 27%, Roh Moo-hyun 27%, Lee Myung-bak 44%, Park Geun-hye 42%, Moon Jae-in 47%, Yoon Suk-yeol 19%.
• Yeom suggested, “Rather than the taken-for-granted eight-year tenure of a four-year re-election system, why not consider a 3+2 or 3+3 system where a president could serve an additional two or three years only after a midterm confidence vote or re-election?”
• Related Link.

What If Requested to Deploy Troops to the East China Sea?

• South Korea is a country vulnerable to U.S. pressure. Gil Yun-hyung (Hankyoreh columnist) asked rhetorically, “Once a country has been bent, why wouldn’t it bend again?”
• Gil warned, “The decision to deploy troops may be remembered as the pivotal moment when South Korea abandoned the possibility of pursuing a new diplomatic path and instead aligned with the U.S.’s new security strategy—one that seeks to impose greater ‘military burdens’ on its allies.”
• Related Link.

What Good Is Such an Alliance?

• “A deployment request should naturally be rejected. If that were to collapse the alliance, what good would such an alliance be?”
• Son Je-min (Kyunghyang Shinmun political and international editor) added, “If one opposes the deployment of South Korean troops, one should also oppose arms exports,” emphasizing, “More importantly, the virtue of citizens refusing to become accustomed to war is paramount.”
• Related Link.