“Highly Likely a North Korean Landmine.”.

• Interim findings released seven days after the incident. Kwon Dae-won (Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) stated, “It’s certain this was not our landmine.”
• There are four grounds. First, no records of our forces planting it. Second, traces of North Korean military planting were found nearby last year. Third, there were accounts of seeing plastic anti-personnel mines near the blast site. Fourth, no metal fragments were found—unlike our landmines.
• The exact origin of the explosion remains unconfirmed. Teams are probing the ground at 5cm intervals to determine the source.
• Related Link.

Lost or Buried?

• “Given that the mine was not on the surface, undetected by engineering mine detectors, and did not explode despite 7–8 soldiers passing over it, we estimate it was buried,” a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.
• There are also observations that “due to differing perceptions of the Military Demarcation Line between North and South, it’s possible they recognized it as their own territory north of the line.”
• In an editorial, The Hankyoreh analyzed, “If it’s confirmed that the mine was intentionally buried, it would not only derail the Lee Jae-myung administration’s peace initiatives but further exacerbate already strained inter-Korean relations.”
• While The Hankyoreh emphasized, “Respond firmly, but do not close the door to dialogue,” conservative media stresses decisive action.
• JoongAng Ilbo’s front-page headline reads, “North Korean Mine Strikes South Korea Again.”
• JoongAng Ilbo noted, “Guarding borders is a fundamental aspect of national security.” Chosun Ilbo stressed, “The public will be watching whether appropriate reciprocal measures are demonstrated through action, not words.”
• Criticism also arises over whether the on-site investigation was delayed ahead of President Lee Jae-myung’s UN speech. Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul stated, “There is absolutely no intentional delay, concealment, or such actions.”
• Related Link.
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What Matters Now.

No Exit in Chief Justice Nomination Deadlock.

• Cho Hee-dae (Chief Justice) has been summoned for a parliamentary audit.
• Cho Hee-dae nominated Son Bong-gi (Daegu District Court Judge), and Lee Jae-myung (President) has made clear he will not appoint him. In an editorial, Kyunghyang Shinmun countered, “What further specific grounds or constitutional basis is needed?”
• Some argue the nomination must still go to the National Assembly—but if the president’s refusal is absolute, formally requesting parliamentary review is also inappropriate.
• The Hankyoreh analyzed, “There is no clear mechanism to resolve the prolonged vacancy.” The president can only decide whether to appoint; he cannot force a renomination.
• In another editorial, Kyunghyang Shinmun urged, “The Supreme Court Chief Justice Nominations Committee should be reconvened to restart the process,” adding, “The president should also stop insisting on a single candidate and keep alternatives open.”
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

Surge in Elderly Bankruptcies.

• Personal bankruptcy filings by those aged 70+ surged 72% over five years. Overall personal bankruptcies fell 15%.
• Self-employed individuals aged 60+ rose from 1.84 million in 2015 to 2.7 million last year. Their share of all self-employed grew from 27% to 41%.
• Yang Joon-seok (Catholic University Professor) said, “We must extend retirement ages but also reform seniority-based wage systems.”
• Related Link.

Zelenskyy Must Apologize.

• Seong Gi-hong (Chief of Presidential Communications) said, “Ukraine requested confidentiality, and we also believed it was appropriate to handle prisoner repatriation matters confidentially in principle.” This appears to acknowledge criticism that an opportunity for prisoner exchange with Russia was abandoned.
• A Blue House official stated, “A senior aide to Ukraine’s presidential office committed a grave diplomatic faux pas by effectively portraying our president as a liar.”
• Lee Soo-hyung (Senior Advisor, National Security Strategy Institute) analyzed, “Ukraine has been demanding missile and military supplies from South Korea, and it seems they tried to pressure us using the repatriation issue as leverage.” He called it “a strategic misstep by Zelenskyy that benefits neither side.”
• Shim Sang-min (Research Fellow, Asan Policy Research Institute) said, “If this turns into a ‘truth game,’ pending issues may remain unresolved and could spill over into other areas.” Lee added, “The Blue House’s direct involvement, rather than delegating to the foreign ministry, risks drastically narrowing diplomatic space.”
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

Deep Dive.

Prosecutors’ Office Abolition D-3.

• The Democratic Party may attempt to process the Special Prosecutor Bill on Fabricated Indictments at the plenary session on the 1st.
• A Democratic Party leadership member met by The Hankyoreh said, “We are considering processing the Special Prosecutor Bill on Fabricated Indictments, but no conclusion has been reached.” Targets include Daejang-dong and Ssangbangwool’s North Korea remittances.
• The clause for dismissing prosecutions will be excluded. A Democratic Party lawmaker met by Chosun Ilbo said, “A special prosecutor for dismissing prosecutions was difficult anyway, with the president’s approval ratings plummeting to the 30% range.”
• The People Power Party plans to counter with a filibuster.
• Separately from the special prosecutor, a special investigation headquarters for the rebellion case is also under review. In an editorial, The Hankyoreh criticized, “Creating a new special investigation unit is overkill.”
• Related Link.
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Is the Police Dinosaur Fit for Duty?

• JoongAng Ilbo criticized in an editorial, “Controls within the police and mechanisms to block preferential treatment for riot police remain insufficient.”
• Hong Seok-gi (Director of the National Investigation Bureau) countered, “The scope of investigations exclusive to the police has actually shrunk since the Central Criminal Investigation Unit was established.” The unit handles seven major crimes, a broader mandate than the former prosecution.
• The police are providing practical training to all 38,000 investigators. Of 2,134 prosecution-issued wanted cases, 1,570 have been transferred to police authority.
• Lee Sang-sik (Democratic Party lawmaker) stated, “As police authority expands, checks and democratic control systems must absolutely follow.”
• Related Link.
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Realmeter Approval Rating Rebounds to 37.9%.

• 33.8% was the floor. The disapproval rating, which had risen to 63.4%, fell to 60.1%.
• Democratic Party and People Power Party support rates are 38.7% and 39.4%. The president’s approval rating remains below party support levels.
• Related Link.

Presidential Approval Rating × 3 = Ruling Party Seats?

• Cho Kuk (Director of the Innovation Policy Research Institute, Cho Kuk Innovation Party) shared this folk formula on X.
• Before the 21st National Assembly election in 2020, Moon Jae-in (then-president)’s approval rating was 53.7%, and the Democratic Party secured 180 seats.
• In the 22nd National Assembly election in 2024, Yoon Suk-yeol (then-president)’s approval rating was 36.8%, and the People Power Party secured 109 seats.
• According to the formula, the results should have been 161 and 110 seats, respectively.
• A warning that if Lee Jae-myung (president)’s approval rating is 40%, the party would only secure 120 seats.
• Weekly Kyunghyang analyzed five elections and found that in 2012, the gap was as high as 58 seats based on Realmeter data. The Saenuri Party won 152 seats despite Lee Myung-bak (then-president)’s approval rating being only 31.5%. Based on Gallup Korea data, the gap was 83 seats.
• Jeong Yong-in (Weekly Kyunghyang reporter) evaluated, “While it came close in some cases, its predictive power remains unverified.”
• Related Link.

Another Take.

“The Era of That Kind of Love Has Ended.”.

• “We cannot return to the days when I worried about you as if you were my own body and cared for you more than myself. The era of that kind of love has ended.”
• Kim Eo-jun (CEO of Ddanzi Ilbo) said this.
• Lee Jae-myung (President) left a nuanced post on X: “Just as we once risked our lives confronting martial law troops’ guns and armored vehicles, in daily life, exposing hidden truths and facts ignored by the media and manipulated by YouTubers through comments, messages, calls, and social media posts—and even pressing ‘like’ on a comment—is a necessary and vital practice for building the world we once dreamed of.”
• The Hankyoreh assessed, “This signals an intent to distance from ‘hardline reformists’ and center national governance on active supporters.”
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

“The President Is Trapped in an Algorithmic Prison.”.

• Kim Eo-jun (CEO of Ddanzi Ilbo) claimed, “We should have an IT expert log into the president’s account and conduct a full investigation of the top feed accounts,” adding, “Without a doubt, posts criticizing ‘Mooncho Tteollae Yu’ would dominate the top.”
• Kim’s argument is that if multiple fake accounts concentrate ‘likes’ and retweets on specific posts and follow political accounts, the top of that politician’s feed can be manipulated to display posts of a specific ideological bent. Kim further argued, “The president’s retweeting activity should be halted.”
• Many observers suggest that Lee Jae-myung (President)’s post—“Quoting someone’s writing does not mean I agree with all their past statements; it’s merely communication and dialogue”—was a response influenced by Kim’s claims.
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

Crude at $108, Unloading Treasuries.

• Brent crude rose to $108.63. The Strait of Hormuz remains a persistent bottleneck.
• U.S. 10-year Treasury yields climbed to 5.23%. Falling bond prices are raising borrowing costs for governments and corporations.
• Gordon Shannon (fund manager at TwentyFour Asset Management) said, “With little hope of energy prices stabilizing, bonds continue to face pressure.”
• Strong economic data and war-related uncertainty are simultaneously pushing rates upward.
• Janet Yellen (U.S. Treasury Secretary) pledged to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP, but the actual deficit remains around 6%. Bruce Kasman (JPMorgan Chase economist) said, “Given this year’s economic performance, there’s ample reason to expect the deficit to shrink—but it hasn’t.”
• Ajay Rajadhyaksha (head of global research at Barclays) analyzed, “Reversing the sell-off would require significant factors, such as the U.S. economy slowing or risk assets like stocks taking a hit.” He added, “That moment would signal we might have gone far enough.”
• Yesterday, the KOSPI index fell 2.7% on U.S. rate concerns.
• All three major U.S. indices declined: the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq dropped -0.77%, -0.67%, and -0.92%, respectively.
• Related Link.
• Related Link.

AI Firms Are Reshaping Global Debt Markets.

• Meta plans its first entry into European bond markets.
• Greg Peters (PGIM Co-CIO) called the debt levels “historic.”
• According to Goldman Sachs, $500 billion has been funneled to AI-related companies this year. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle account for $200 billion. Torsten Sløk (Apollo Economist) noted, “This relies on the assumption that operating cash flow will grow from $600 billion to $2 trillion.”

Cracking Down on Speculation, But Why Are Farmers Resisting?

• The government investigated 10.13 million agricultural land parcels and classified 2.84 million as suspected violations.
• Choi Beom-jin (Policy Director at the Korean Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Executives) emphasized, “Cases where farming is entrusted to neighbors due to old age or illness must be distinguished from speculative ownership.”
• Expanding the violation rate to 27% is an overreach.
• Stakeholder input was insufficient, and the investigation methods were flawed. Without on-site verification, administrative data alone is often inadequate for judgment.
• Agricultural land is both a productive asset and farmers’ primary wealth. Concerns arise that suppressed transactions could lower land values and collateral worth, worsening rural hardships.
• Critics also call harsh the penalty requiring 25% of land value annually as enforcement fees. The criteria for relief are unclear.
• Choi argued, “Standards and procedures for determining violations must be clarified, and sufficient opportunity to present explanations must be guaranteed.”
• Related Link.

Nvidia Chips for Sale to China.

• According to Information, Alibaba and ByteDance are considering purchasing Nvidia’s RTX 5500. Speculation suggests the Chinese government will approve the purchases.
• Per Bernstein, Nvidia’s share of the Chinese AI chip market is expected to drop from 40% last year to 8% this year, while Huawei’s share is projected to rise from 40% to 50%. Some analyses suggest domestic Chinese AI chips now account for nearly 90% of the market.

Blocking Malicious Distillation.

• Chinese firms DeepSeek and MoonShot AI were found to have sent chatbot queries to Claude for training purposes.
• Footage from Chinese police and the People’s Liberation Army was also reportedly inputted into Claude during this process.
• Anthropic is considering countermeasures—such as secretly routing suspected malicious distillation accounts to lower-performance models or injecting noise into responses.

The Fix.

Dying in a Hospital Might Be Better.

• What constitutes a good death? Daniela Lamas (Brigham and Women’s Hospital physician) said, “Dying at home can be a good death, but it cannot be said to be necessarily better than dying in a hospital.”
• Lamas’ perspective shifted after a decade working in intensive care units. She observed that one can die peacefully and with dignity in an ICU, just as one can die in fear and agony at home.
• There was a time when dying after receiving treatment until the very end was common, but in the U.S. today, fewer than one in three people die in hospitals. As the right to choose has expanded, many now believe dying at home is a good death—but Lamas argues reality often contradicts this.
• Some patients might have faced far more painful deaths had they returned home.
• Contrary to popular bias, an ICU can be a suitable space for a peaceful death. Choosing how to die means forgoing aggressive treatment, managing pain, and securing the time needed to say goodbye.
• Related Link.

ICYMI.

JoongAng Ilbo Suitors Include SamPro, Orion, Taekwang, and Others.

• Global Sea, Geumbo Development, Daou Technology, E-Broadcasting (SamPro TV), Orion, OK Financial Group, and others submitted letters of intent, with Taekwang Group recently entering the race.
• The 64.73% stake in JoongAng Ilbo held by JoongAng Holdings is up for sale.
• The JoongAng Ilbo union has set 10 conditions, including prohibiting artificial restructuring, guaranteeing 100% employment continuity for staff, establishing editorial guidelines, expanding reporting personnel, and strengthening journalistic capabilities.
• Related Link.

Banks Open at 9:30 AM.

• To open at 9:00 AM, employees had to arrive before 9:00.
• Yesterday, the Financial Industry Labor Union and the Financial Industry Employers’ Consultative Council reached a tentative agreement on industry-wide central negotiations.
• Yoon Seok-goo (Financial Industry Labor Union Chairman) said, “A meaningful achievement for reducing working hours and balancing work and life.”
• Related Link.

We’ll Pay You $10,000 to Build a Data Center.

• Residents of Hazel Township, Pennsylvania, received a letter with this offer. Developer NorthPoint proposed a total of $45 million.
• In an area where the median household income is $60,000, this is not a small sum. Opposition among residents remains fierce.
• Jeff Fassnacht (retired teacher) said, “$10,000 won’t cover how much my home value will drop.”
• Brent Miles (NorthPoint Chief Marketing Officer) called it “an answer to residents asking what’s in it for them.” Over 15 years, the company plans to invest $120 million in police organizations and community projects.
• Some analysts suggest the cash offer could backfire—distributing money doesn’t necessarily resolve trust issues.
• Related Link.

Token Prices Fall, Spending Rises.

• According to business weekly Fortune, while token prices have dropped over 90% since 2023, overall LLM spending has doubled compared to late last year.
• As prices fall, usage increases—creating a Jevons paradox where spending actually rises. Costs are growing as AI agents repeatedly call and verify models.
• Related Link.

Returning ‘Bukang-i’ to the Sea.

• Concerns grew that prolonged stays could worsen its health.
• The plan is to drive it into open waters with bubbles and noise. If water pumps fail, nets will be used.
• Related Link.

“A Film That Demons Park Chung-hee.”.

• The Park Chung-hee Foundation has demanded the screening of the film *The Assassin(s)* be halted.
• It is a film that explores suspicions that Park Chung-hee (then-president) may have been involved in the 1974 death of Yuk Young-soo (then-first lady).
• Yoo Young-ha (People Power Party lawmaker) claimed, “It is an unfilial act that drives a stake into the hearts of bereaved families and a betrayal of our history.”
• Director Heo Jin-ho said, “I wanted to show the atmosphere of an era marked by massive state violence and the people within it.”
• Related Link.

Starbucks Korea Card Payments Still at 78% Level.

• Boycott effects linger. Average daily payments from March 1–May 18 were 3.17 billion won, dropping to 2.27 billion won from May 19–July 31.
• SCK Company reported an 18.4 billion won operating loss in Q2—the first quarterly loss since entering Korea in 1999.
• Related Link.

K-Pharmacies See 12-Fold Surge in Foreign Payments.

• Card payments at Seoul pharmacies in the first half of this year surged 1,177% compared to the same period last year.
• A staff member at a Myeongdong pharmacy interviewed by Dong-A Ilbo said, “99% of our customers are foreign tourists.”

“Muse Is the Future Kakao Once Dreamed Of.”.

• Meta’s AI agent Muse has driven the company’s stock up over 30%. It is topping app store charts.
• It is not yet available in South Korea. Users who installed it via VPN are reacting explosively.
• Mark Zuckerberg (Meta CEO) said, “Our goal is to provide a capable personal assistant to everyone,” adding, “We will collect a small fee from transactions completed via Muse.”
• Oh Dong-hwan (Samsung Securities analyst) said, “Muse is the future Kakao once dreamed of,” adding, “If officially launched domestically, it could pose a major threat to both Kakao and Naver.” Kakao publicly promised nationwide AI assistants via Karna in 2024 but has shown no significant progress after two years.

Worth Reading.

More Debate Is Needed.

• Korean media lacks debate. Where debate has vanished, fandoms and silence remain. We have never properly debated the housing issue.
• This is Kang Jun-man’s (Professor at Jeonbuk National University) proposal.
• “What matters is not the conclusion of debate but the process. If readers can gain both interest and insight by observing that process, what more could one ask for? Let’s dream of debate for communication.”
• Related Link.

No Government Beats the Market.

• “Has any ideology ever been superior to the ‘market’?”
• Choi Hoon (JoongAng Ilbo senior writer) views Lee Jae-myung (President)’s remark that “no government beats the market” as the root of the problem.
• He emphasized, “The only way forward is to drastically increase supply, weed out only criminal speculators, and leave the rest to the market.”
• Related Link.

Cho Hee-dae’s Selective Judicial Independence.

• “Even when former chief justices’ judicial abuses were exposed, even when the judiciary nearly became subservient to martial law forces, even when courts were stormed and judges threatened, he maintained composure. Yet he selectively invokes judicial independence only when revoking a leading presidential candidate’s eligibility or defying the president’s authority to appoint Supreme Court justices.”
• This critique highlights the inconsistency in Cho Hee-dae (Chief Justice)’s calls for judicial independence.
• Kim Min-ah (Kyunghyang Shinmun columnist) noted, “Judicial independence cannot be an accessory or a shield.”
• Jeong In-jin (lawyer at Bareun Law Firm) wrote in *A Country of Strange Trials*, “Judicial independence is not pursued for its own sake but for what an independent judiciary must achieve.”
• Kim Min-ah emphasized, “Stop aspiring to be something else—just do your job.” The implication is that resubmitting Supreme Court nominee candidates is the Chief Justice’s duty.
• Related Link.

More Than a Drama: A Public Sphere.

• “What we need now is not a special prosecutor or a courtroom drama, but a vast public sphere. We must talk more and delve deeper into the martial law emergency.”
• Ha Seung-woo (Director of the Ihu Research Institute) warned, “As the term ‘coup-mongering’ has been weaponized as political rhetoric, politicians who passively acquiesced to or tacitly condoned martial law are reclaiming the microphone.”
• “Without widespread reflection and introspection among the many involved, it will be difficult to resolve this crisis, even if a few are punished.”
• The observation that “reducing it to the delusions of monsters or demons makes it harder to understand why the president—a figure of immense power—and their supporters made such extreme choices” is profoundly telling.
• Related Link.