Two North Korean Soldiers Arrive in South Korea.

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Ukrainian President) revealed this during his UN General Assembly speech.
• Lee Jae-myung (President) commented on X, “I don’t know what circumstances Ukraine had to break the confidential agreement and disclose this, but I’m deeply disappointed.”
• A senior Blue House official stated, “There was an understanding to handle this quietly,” but Dmytro Litvin (Ukrainian Presidential Office Communication Advisor) rebutted, “There was no such agreement to keep it confidential.”
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It’s Only Natural It Wasn’t Publicized.

• Lee Jae-myung (President) pointed out, “Those who harm someone’s life, national interest, or security for their own petty gain are called murderers or traitors.”
• Han Dong-hoon (Independent Lawmaker) criticized, “Everyone knows they’re acting this way because they’re watching the North Korean regime, and if they suddenly claim it’s ‘for the human rights of North Korean residents,’ the public will mock them.”
• Kyeongin Ilbo (Kyunghyang Shinmun) called it “extremely low-level agitation” in an editorial.
• Kyeongin Ilbo noted, “It was a necessary measure to minimize negative impacts on the safety of their families in North Korea and the stability of the Korean Peninsula.”
• The Hankyoreh emphasized in an editorial, “How does publicly promoting the defector soldiers’ arrival in South Korea help our security by provoking North Korea?” and stressed, “The issue must be resolved with the two individuals’ human rights and safety as the central focus.”
• Chosun Ilbo acknowledged in an editorial, “It may have been inappropriate for Zelenskyy (Ukrainian President) to publicly disclose the repatriation first,” but questioned, “Does it serve national interest for the president to openly express displeasure and label them as murderers or traitors?”
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What Matters Now.

Why the Delay in the Landmine Explosion Investigation?

• An accident occurred on the 21st, but the investigation only began on the 27th. Authorities have yet to even approach the blast site.
• The Hankyoreh analyzed that it is unlikely to have been a weak-force Korean M14 landmine.
• The People Power Party seized the initiative and unleashed criticism. Jang Dong-hyeok (People Power Party Leader) claimed, “If the site investigation was intentionally delayed, this constitutes clear treason and a violation of national security law,” adding, “This is a crime warranting immediate arrest and trial, let alone impeachment.”
• Cho Gye-won (Democratic Party Spokesperson) countered, “Who would bear responsibility if a secondary accident occurred after sending in an investigation team without safety measures?” A senior Blue House official stated, “There is absolutely no possibility of any cover-up, concealment, or hidden agenda.”
• The Korea Daily criticized in an editorial, “Rapid investigation before the site is compromised is the most basic measure, yet the government delayed it without reason.”
• The JoongAng Ilbo noted in an editorial, “The government must explain to the public why it took six days to access and investigate the site.” In the 2015 wooden-box landmine incident, fragments were collected immediately after the accident.
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Grand Hospitality, Two-Month Truce Extension.

• The U.S.-China summit had five key takeaways.
• First, Xi Jinping (Chinese President) got what he wanted. Trump’s (U.S. President) hospitality exceeded expectations.
• Second, Trump and Xi’s coziness drew complaints even from Republicans. It clashes with election tactics branding Democrats as communists. The MAGA faction is also disgruntled. They cheered when fighting China was promised, but this cordial scene is simply baffling.
• Third, Taiwan was also sidelined. Xinhua reported, “Xi urged Trump to uphold the correct stance opposing Taiwan independence.” The $14 billion arms sale remains on hold.
• Fourth, AI safety took a backseat. Xi’s only remark was, “AI must remain under human control.” When Trump suggested calling it SI (superintelligence) instead of AI, Xi responded, “We respect the U.S. position.”
• Fifth, though China sought a two-year extension, it was limited to two months. The promise to buy U.S. agricultural products was also postponed.
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What Xi Jinping Gained.

• It’s only a two-month delay, but for Xi Jinping, it’s a significant achievement.
• China’s domestic economy is collapsing. From Beijing’s perspective, even delaying a clash with the U.S. buys time to regroup.
• China’s trade surplus was $1.2 trillion last year, and projections suggest it will match or exceed that this year. While dependence on the U.S. has decreased, it has expanded markets to Southeast Asia and Latin America.
• Evan Medeiros (Georgetown University Professor) predicted, “If the Republicans suffer a major defeat in the midterms, China’s bargaining power could grow stronger.”

Trump Waited an Hour.

• Trump waiting an hour early at the airport was also unprecedented.
• David Sachs (Asia Studies Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations) noted, “There’s one clear winner from this summit: the Atlanta Zoo in the U.S.”—the zoo where the two pandas Xi Jinping brought will reside.
• Daniel Russel (Asia Society Senior Fellow) remarked, “It only bolstered Xi Jinping’s position,” adding, “Pandas are cute, but what America needs are rare earths.”
• The Washington Post assessed, “It merely granted Xi Jinping the status of an equal leader to the U.S. president, with no substantial outcomes.”
• Notably, Trump—who loves photo ops—did not post a single photo with Xi Jinping at the White House. He may have judged it would not help his midterm election campaign.
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Deep Dive.

Why U.S. Treasury Yields Keep Rising.

• U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hit 5.11%. Rising yields mean bond prices are falling, signaling continued selling pressure.
• The stock market rally and massive AI investments are driving demand. Meanwhile, the Iran conflict has pushed energy prices higher. Strong economic growth is fueling demand-side inflation, while rising energy costs are compounding upward pressure on rates.
• Brent crude has surpassed $100 again. Bob Michele (JP Morgan Asset Management Chief Investment Officer) said, “Disappointment is permeating the market.”
• Mike Riddell (Fidelity International Fund Manager) was asked if rates have reached a level to cool the economy: “We’re not even close yet.”
• Economic indicators remain robust. Chris Williamson (S&P Global Chief Business Economist) said, “The U.S. economy continues to enjoy a boom.” With growth strong, the Fed is likely to raise rates further—markets now assign a 66% probability to a hike by late October.
• Robert Tip (PGIM Credit Global Head of Fixed Income) noted this is an “asset-rich and cash-rich expansion,” arguing it doesn’t pose an immediate threat.
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U.S. Treasury Yields at 5.2%—The Scariest Part Is the Speed.

• Katy Martin (Financial Times columnist) warned that shocks in the bond market could spill over into other assets.
• Funds suffering losses in bonds may sell other investments to raise cash or meet redemptions. There are also concerns that carry trades—borrowing in yen to invest in tech stocks or emerging markets—could shrink. The situation is unpredictable.
• Observers also flagged risks for the UK and France, where growth is slower and debt levels higher than in the U.S.
• Katy Martin cautioned, “Sharp moves in bond markets often ignite fires in places that aren’t easily visible.”
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Why High National Debt Doesn’t Spell Disaster.

• Stuart Kirk (Financial Times columnist) outlined four counterarguments.
• First, no one knows when a crisis will strike. Japan’s net government debt has exceeded 100% of GDP for over 15 years. High debt ratios don’t automatically lead to collapse.
• Second, debt is also an asset. The distribution of debt must be examined.
• Third, there are many tools to adjust debt. Inflation, growth, and financial repression—keeping real interest rates low—can reduce the real value of debt.
• Fourth, technological advances could boost growth rates. A larger denominator also lowers the ratio.
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“A Full Farmland Survey Is Essential.”.

• Lee Jae-myung (leader of the Democratic Party) vowed on X, “All governments have avoided this due to resistance and backlash, but I will not avoid it.”
• If violations of the Farmland Act are confirmed, a disposal order is issued within a year, and if unsold within six months, a 25% annual enforcement penalty on the land value must be paid.
• Kwon Chil-seung (Democratic Party Policy Committee Chairman) apologized, “There are many discrepancies between the Farmland Act and the field reality, and many may have felt inconvenienced during the full survey.”
• A ruling party official interviewed by Chosun Ilbo warned, “It’s turning into another real estate mess, like the residential policy that backfired.”
• Critics note that with a 47% farmland lease rate, the rule that non-direct cultivation is illegal is unrealistic.
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Real Estate Prices Rise for 85 Consecutive Weeks.

• It’s the longest streak on record. It’s likely to surpass the Moon Jae-in administration’s record this week. The cumulative increase was 7.7% under Moon Jae-in, but this time it’s 17.5%.
• The Gangnam trio districts have fallen for seven consecutive weeks.
• Nam Hyuk-woo (Woori Bank researcher) pointed out, “Given the difficulty of resolving the jeonse crisis and the shift to monthly rent in the short term, it will be hard to expect a reversal to declines.”
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High Hopes and High Anxiety.

• Baek Ung-hun (Minister of Science and ICT) stated, “There is no room to slow down AI,” adding, “We will go faster, but more safely.”
• The Financial Times analyzed, “South Koreans are equally hopeful and anxious.”
• In an Ipsos survey, 74% of South Koreans responded that they “look forward to AI products and services.” The average for 32 surveyed countries was 51%, with the U.S. at 33%. Regarding the statement “AI will worsen the job market in the next 3–5 years,” 55% of South Koreans agreed—above the global average of 40%.
• According to Wiseapp, South Korea has 24 million monthly active ChatGPT users—46% of the total population.
• Kim Ran-woo (KAIST professor) analyzed, “South Koreans’ response to AI is an extension of their survival instinct.”
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Another Take.

Why China Remains Unfazed by AI Doomsday Narratives.

• It’s a learned bias of a controlled state. The New York Times analyzed that China’s experience with technological control has shaped perceptions differently from the West.
• Some view it as Western hysteria to slow Chinese progress.
• Cultural differences also play a role. Liang Fang (Concordia Safety Director) said, “Everything, including AI, comes from nature.” This reflects a view of technology as something to coexist with.
• Sarah Sun (AI Safety Community Founder) noted, “Dario Amodei’s hardline rhetoric toward China has complicated domestic safety discussions.” Zhao Minghao (Fudan University Center for American Studies Deputy Director) remarked, “Even if the U.S. slows down, China won’t trust it—and if China slows down, the U.S. won’t trust it.”
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Doctors Asking AI.

• “Physicians will never be the same after AI.”
• Rachel Bedard (geriatrician) wrote in The New York Times, “AI is making me a better doctor,” yet worried, “Is it ruining doctors in training?”
• Over half of U.S. physicians use an app called OpenEvidence. Experienced doctors review AI recommendations against their past experience. They can check for oversights or look up evidence.
• Adam Rodman (Harvard Medical School professor) warned, “A little de-skilling may not matter for the skilled, but those lacking competence risk never-skilling—never becoming skilled at all.” There are concerns that outsourcing judgment to machines might skip productive struggles.
• Doctors don’t need to memorize every diagnostic protocol—just as they don’t need to memorize friends’ phone numbers.
• Rachel Bedard emphasized, “The judgment to find clues in a patient’s words, distinguish critical conditions, prioritize multiple issues, and draw out information the patient didn’t volunteer is vital.”
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“AI Could Kill a Billion People.”.

• Bill Gates (Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) said this.
• While we may not yet face imminent human extinction, the weaponization of AI by malicious actors is an urgent concern. Gates emphasized, “Safety mechanisms and oversight systems must be established under U.S. federal law.”
• John Feffer (Director of Foreign Policy In Focus) countered, “Can humans who failed to implement safeguards even in the face of threats like Trump really enforce them on artificial intelligence?”
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Jev: Cheaper, Faster AI Arrives.

• It’s not a chatbot. It’s a decision model that selects answers from limited choices—whether to approve a request, where to route a customer inquiry, etc.
• Jev, released by TypeSafeAI, is first and foremost affordable—costing around 4.2 cents per million tokens.
• Diogo Almeida (TypeSafeAI Founder) argued, “We must distinguish between AI outputs meant for human reading and those consumed by computers.” He questions whether expensive general-purpose models are necessary for repetitive, high-volume tasks.
• Before the product launch, the company’s valuation was $200 million; afterward, it received investment offers premised on a $10 billion valuation.
• Analysts suggest Jev has tapped into new latent demand—an area previously undervalued by investors.
• Anastasios Angelopoulos (Arena CEO) remarked, “It’s not clear how it differs from a typical zero-shot classifier.”
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When the Money Runs Out, the Bubble Bursts.

• As long as money keeps flowing, it can continue.
• Jonathan Woetzel (Wall Street Journal columnist) emphasized, “For the boom to persist, new capital must continuously pour in.” That’s why burn rate must be monitored alongside.
• There are already many warning signs. OpenAI decided not to go public this year, HolonIQ postponed its IPO plans, and Anthropic delayed its scheduled timeline from October to November. However, funding has not yet dried up—money is still circulating.
• OpenAI is borrowing from Nvidia and SoftBank, while Oracle secures loans using OpenAI’s projected revenue as collateral. If even one link in this circular transaction chain breaks, the entire system could collapse, but that scenario has not yet materialized.
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The Fix.

500-Won Mug Discount Triples Participation.

• Jeju’s experiment is showing results. The 500-won discount is 100% covered by the local government.
• Participating stores now number 251.
• From January to August this year, usage has nearly reached 110,000 cases.
• A Jeju official explained, “For businesses, it reduces costs of purchasing disposable cups, and consumers appreciate the 500-won discount—on-site feedback has been positive.”
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Shark’s Warning.

• Over four holiday days, 470,000 visitors flocked to Bukhang Riverside Park. Critics compare it unfavorably to the Yeosu Island Expo, which cost 70 billion won.
• Sales at five nearby CU stores jumped 48.6% compared to the previous week.
• Jeon Jae-soo (Mayor of Busan) said on radio, “It’s so beautiful I could die—it’s like wanting to buy rays and mackerel and scatter them around.”
• The Green Party issued a statement: “Sharks did not come to entertain us. Their appearance is a warning to all of us.”
• The Hankyoreh emphasized in an editorial, “This should be an opportunity to reflect on our fossil fuel-centered lives and social systems.”
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Eliminating Busywork Left New Hires Without Learning Opportunities.

• Reports are now written by AI, as are transferring numbers to Excel and drafting contracts. The busywork for new employees has vanished.
• Gartner calls this “experience starvation.”
• We rely on past experiences to make judgments, but new hires now face decisions without that foundation. Mallory Wegman Bugg (Gartner analyst) pointed out, “New employees lack the experience to review AI-generated work and identify flaws.”
• Nadia Al-Alaei (Dell HR manager) said, “Learning through patterns and repetition is crucial.” The idea is that coding repeatedly reveals errors, and drafting contracts multiple times builds legal judgment.
• More companies are replacing lost hands-on work with simulations. EY created an AI that role-plays as a demanding client. Cisco trains employees to pitch to virtual customers.
• Law firms are increasingly using negotiation simulation programs to train intern lawyers. In the past, senior lawyers advised juniors line-by-line on contract clauses—but now, the best mentors teach prompt-engineering tricks.
• Studies also show that as robotic surgeries rise, residents’ hands-on training opportunities have sharply declined. The “see one, do one, teach one” approach is disappearing.
• Megan Ma (Stanford professor) said, “I don’t think AI training will fully replace observing and learning by doing.”
• Some argue skipping busywork is better. Ravi Kumar (Cognizant CEO) said, “Starting a job as a de facto mid-level manager has many advantages.”
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AI Reduces Work, So Why Are Legal Fees Still High?

• Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and others are demanding law firms lower fees. Their argument: if AI reduces the number of lawyers and hours invested, clients should pay less.
• Tom Hambrecht (Revolut Chief Legal Officer) said, “Purchasing power has shifted.” Revolut is moving away from long-term stable work arrangements with law firms, opting instead to evaluate quality and pricing more frequently.
• Simon Rifkind (Three Points Law founder) noted, “Big law’s business model long relied on clients paying for junior lawyers’ training costs.” Now, “it’s harder to justify that expense.”
• Chris McClory (IBM Head of External Legal Advisory Management) stated, “Hourly billing inherently penalizes firms that use AI well—the faster they finish, the less they earn.”
• By contrast, outcome-based pricing rewards firms that leverage AI effectively.
• On legal bidding platform Persuit, 80% of commissioned work uses non-hourly fee structures. Some niche law firms still charge over $4,000 per hour.

ICYMI.

The UN’s Utility.

• U.S. and Iran have engaged in dialogue, with AI control emerging as a key agenda item.
• Farnaz Fassihi (New York Times UN bureau chief) called the UN “the World Cup of diplomacy”—a space where 193 member states gather for bilateral talks, multilateral meetings, and discussions on rising sea levels and food security.
• The sight of a warring nation’s president receiving U.S. Secret Service protection is also jarring. Iran conveyed the message, “We have survived.”
• While its original functions of conflict prevention and mediation have weakened, disaster relief and food aid remain difficult without the UN’s personnel, logistics, aircraft, and regional hubs.
• The dialogue still holds meaning.
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Historic $10.3 Trillion Bet on AI.

• Investments in data centers and AI-related infrastructure could reach $10.3 trillion in the U.S. alone between 2025 and 2032, according to the Brookings Institution. That’s 3.6% of GDP.
• Private-sector spending on data center construction hit $37 billion through July this year. Data center spending rose by $9 billion, while other private construction spending fell by $46 billion.
• LinkedIn reports that over 750,000 AI-related jobs have been created in the U.S. since 2023, with a median salary of $180,000.
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Hyundai + Kia Rank Third in U.S. Sales.

• They sold 510,000 units in the third quarter alone. GM and Toyota sold 670,000 and 640,000 units respectively.
• Thanks to surging hybrid popularity as gasoline prices climbed.

Ten Years of the Anti-Graft Act.

• By the end of last year, there were 17,455 violation reports and 2,983 sanctioned individuals.
• A former senior official said, “The biggest advantage of the Anti-Graft Act is that it provides a clear reason to refuse requests.”
• The monetary threshold has changed seven times. Meals, gifts, and congratulatory/funeral expenses were once 3-5-10 million KRW, now 5-5-5 million KRW, and holiday agricultural/fishery product limits have risen to 300,000 KRW.
• Firefighters refuse even a single bottle of energy drink. Eating a cake prepared by students on Teachers’ Day is also prohibited.
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Three Gwangju City Halls, 1,608 Business Trips.

• 82 million KRW spent on travel expenses alone in 50 unified days.
• Mu’an→Gwangju: 632 trips, Gwangju→Mu’an: 477 trips, Suncheon→Mu’an: 224 trips, Suncheon→Gwangju: 194 trips.
• The Gwangju City branch of the National Government Employees’ Labor Union pointed out, “Even though video conferencing systems are installed in both the Gwangju and Mu’an offices, they are hardly used at all.”
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Worth Reading.

Why Not Both Son Bong-ki and Kim Min-ki Step Down?

• President Lee Jae-myung is backing Kim Min-ki (Suwon High Court judge), while Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is pushing for Son Bong-ki (Daegu District Court senior judge). Cho Hee-dae has formally nominated Son Bong-ki, but Lee Jae-myung has returned the nomination.
• The Dong-A Ilbo editorial suggested, “If both candidates voluntarily withdraw from the Supreme Court justice nominee positions, it could break the deadlock over the appointment.” The proposal adds, “Reconvening the Supreme Court Justice Nominee Recommendation Committee to newly recommend four candidates could reopen discussions for a consensual nomination process according to precedent.”
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How to Calculate the Probability of Human Extinction?

• Sumaya Keynes (Financial Times columnist) proposed three criteria.
• First, define what constitutes a catastrophe. Total human extinction differs from billions dying. Just because it’s not extinction doesn’t mean the risk is small.
• Second, examine our biases. The “availability bias”—overestimating vivid risks—and the “affect heuristic”—judging danger by emotional preference—distort perception. Disliking a neighbor’s data center shouldn’t conflate with AI catastrophe risk.
• Biases also lead to underestimation. Never having had your email hacked by AI, or never experiencing extinction, doesn’t guarantee safety. Disliking a warning doesn’t prove it’s wrong.
• Third, understand the type of uncertainty. It’s not like Russian roulette—we know almost nothing about the rules, probabilities, or plausibility.
• The conclusion: “The issue isn’t just institutions lagging behind AI’s capabilities, but human judgment failing to grasp the nature of the risk.”
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Recall the Experience of the COVID Pandemic.

• There were strong lockdowns, social distancing, and vaccines. The worst was averted, but many still died. David Wallace-Wells (New York Times columnist) assessed that COVID was “far better than it could have been, and far worse than it needed to be.”
• The crisis triggered by AI is no different. Areas with clear rules, like coding and mathematics, are easy to predict, but economic and social structures are rife with inflated projections.
• Just as expectations that AI will bring abundance are excessive, so are warnings that it will end the world. “It should not be simplistically framed as an unavoidable disaster.”
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What Divides Media from Non-Media?

• Shim Seok-tae (Professor at Semyung University) views factual accuracy as a necessary condition and public interest as a sufficient one.
• “Even a one-person media outlet can be legitimate journalism if it adheres to these principles, but no matter how large its revenue or how many viewers or readers it attracts, it cannot be called media if it ignores these fundamentals,” he emphasized.
• This remark was made in reference to media trust surveys by outlets like *SisaIN*. Shim added, “If surveys on media trust or influence are conducted without regard to these basic ethical principles, their legitimacy should be questioned.”
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An Explanation Was Lacking.

• Critics argue that the lack of explanation reduced the question of “who should become a Supreme Court justice” to a matter of deciding “whose will—Chief Justice or President—should prevail.”
• Ryu Young-jae (Judge, Namyangju Branch of Uijeongbu District Court) emphasized, “Such a critical issue cannot be vaguely framed as a clash between the President’s democratic legitimacy and the Chief Justice’s judicial independence.”
• The discussion should have centered on “what kind of Supreme Court our society needs, and why this person was nominated and appointed”—a process of scrutiny that was missing.
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Better an AI Judge Than This.

• It’s because one doubts whether judges even bother to read case materials properly. Yoon Ji-young (representative lawyer, Workplace Bullying 119) pointed out, “The rulings on whether caddies are classified as workers are identical as if stamped from a mold.”
• Judgments can also vary depending on the judge. The class background of the judge cannot be ignored. Lee Sook-yeon (Supreme Court Justice), who declared 24.3 billion won in assets, reveals in her rulings a tendency to represent business interests. In such cases, one might think it better to face an AI judge for consistent rulings.
• Of course, there are rulings that show traces of deliberation.
• “AI can apply existing standards to facts as they are, but it cannot agonize over whose side labor law should take. It cannot question whether existing standards fit the times. That humanistic impulse—only humans can do that. So judges must decide: Will they fall short of AI, or surpass it?”
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When Half a Quintillion Won Is Extorted, Calculations Become Futile.

• Lee Jae-myung (President) said, “I didn’t want to do this.”
• Kim Yong-bum (former Blue House Policy Director) went as far as to call it “the Eulsa Treaty.”
• This is about the $350 billion investment from the U.S. Kim Nam-il (*Hankyoreh* reporter) pointed out, “Calling it an investment doesn’t change the fact that the U.S. is extorting $350 billion from our government and corporations.”
• “Even petty voice-phishing scammers who swindle tens of millions meticulously fabricate scenarios impersonating banks, police, and financial authorities. Meanwhile, these big bullies expect money just by spitting.”
• Kim Nam-il emphasized, “To ease public frustration, the government must attach as many safeguards as possible to the investment.” The role of the National Assembly is critical—it must ensure the government cannot use parliamentary opposition as an excuse to persist.
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