Partial Withdrawal from Ukraine Embassy.

• Apologies were demanded from Ukraine, but no response came. Park Doo-soon (Foreign Ministry spokesperson) stated, “We decided to withdraw part of our diplomatic staff in the absence of proactive measures from Ukraine.”
• About half of embassy personnel will return home, while political and consular officers remain. Park Ki-chang (South Korea’s ambassador to Ukraine) has already returned, leaving Yoon Ji-wan (chargé d’affaires) behind—a highly unusual situation.
• Plans are also in place to assist 85 Korean expatriates with departure if they wish.
• A Foreign Ministry official interviewed by Chosun Ilbo said, “We are not ruling out additional measures.” Options like expelling diplomats or downgrading relations are limited.
• Park In-hwi (professor at Ewha Womans University) noted, “The government’s response is closer to escalating conflict than resolving issues.”
• Lee Byung-chul (professor at Kyungnam University) remarked, “While primary responsibility lies with Ukraine, both sides have failed diplomatically.”
• Internationally, there are observations that South Korea may be retreating from the frontline opposing Russia.
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“Launch a Supply Blitz.”.

• Lee Jae-myung (President) ordered at a State Council meeting to drastically shorten approval, permitting, and construction start timelines.
• Visiting Gyeyang New Town, he suggested, “If land compensation talks fail after one or two attempts, why not immediately begin compulsory acquisition to further reduce the timeline?”
• LH decided to raise the floor-area ratio for Phase 3 New Towns from 206% to over 250%. The planned construction volume will increase from 170,000 to 210,000 households.
• Emphasizing that the goal is not just construction but occupancy, he added, “Consider significantly expanding financial incentives.”
• Gyeyang Phase 3 New Town is scheduled to open in December. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport aims for 90% construction start by 2030.
• (Slow News will script and analyze every State Council meeting. Check Slow Script for details. Past data will be archived in reverse chronological order. Link to October 21 meeting here.)
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Monthly Rent Surpasses Half.

• Monthly rent now accounts for 51% of Seoul’s jeonse+rent transactions, up from 44% last year.
• Through September, jeonse and monthly rent transactions totaled 84,000 and 88,000 cases, respectively.
• The shift is not due to rising rent demand but collapsing jeonse: both transaction types fell by 28% and 3%, respectively.
• Lee Chang-mu (Hanyang University professor) noted, “Regulations mandating actual residency are inflating upward pressure.” He argues that restrictions on multi-homeowners and non-resident single-homeowners should be lifted.
• Related Link.

What Matters Now.

Prosecutor General Attends State Council Meeting.

• JoongAng Ilbo headlined its front page, “An Era Where the President Directs Investigations.” Kim Ji-yong (Head of the Serious Crime Investigation Unit) scribbled down the president’s remarks.
• Han Sang-dae (former prosecutor general) noted, “Whether it’s the prosecutor general or the head of the Serious Crime Investigation Unit, attending the State Council is unprecedented in the nation’s history.” He added, “Mere attendance at the president’s meeting inevitably influences investigations.”
• Lee Keun-woo (Gachon University professor) stated, “If the president makes even one comment here, it immediately becomes an investigative directive.”
• The People Power Party criticized, “Not only is the politicization of investigations absent, but politics itself is being investigated.” Speculation also arises that this is “groundwork for dropping charges.”
• In an editorial, Chosun Ilbo warned, “If investigative agency heads sit at the back of the State Council and transcribe the president’s instructions, how can they properly investigate and prosecute regime corruption?” It added, “They will ultimately devolve into agencies executing presidential orders for investigations and indictments.”
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What Alice’s 32% Plunge on Debut Says.

• Global interest in Korean KOSDAQ IPOs has waned as confidence in AI data center profitability erodes worldwide. Hopes that Korea might differ proved unfounded.
• Despite 10 trillion won in pre-IPO subscriptions, Alice’s shares plummeted from the 95,000 won listing price to 61,500 won on debut.
• Alice operates data center infrastructure. Its first-half revenue was 34.4 billion won, with 10.3 billion won in operating profit.
• Valued at 1 trillion won, it raised 201 billion won—raising questions about whether its valuation was too high relative to earnings.
• After Australia’s data center firm Permas failed to list, global skepticism is spreading.
• The Financial Times noted, “Rapid growth alone is no longer enough to persuade investors.”
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KOSPI Plunges to 5,552.7.

• Yesterday, the KOSPI index plummeted 3.7%, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix falling 3.0% and 4.2%, respectively.
• The won-to-dollar exchange rate dropped to 1,328.1 won—the lowest level in two years.
• Bloomberg assessed, “South Korea has become a bellwether for AI.” It analyzed that global markets were shaken by Alice’s dismal debut. (A “bellwether” refers to a ram that leads a flock with a bell around its neck.)
• Government bond yields are rising worldwide. Household interest rates are also expected to increase in the fourth quarter.
• Yesterday, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index in the U.S. fell due to the Alice shock but rebounded to close -0.29%. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq indices recorded 0.28%, 1.02%, and -0.02%, respectively.
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Four-Year Sentence for 23 Industrial Deaths.

• The Supreme Court sentenced Park Soon-kwan (CEO of Aricell) to four years in prison. The first trial had imposed 15 years, which was reduced on appeal and finalized by the Supreme Court.
• In the 2024 Aricell fire, 23 people died and nine were injured.
• The Supreme Court ruled, “The accident occurred due to violations of safety and health obligations,” but did not overturn the appellate court’s partial acquittal. The appellate court had deemed the absence of emergency exits on the second floor not culpable.
• The victims’ families’ council protested, calling it a “ruling that undermines judicial justice.”
• The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a statement: “If serious legal violations do not lead to proportionate punishment, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act becomes effectively meaningless.”
• In an editorial, Kyunghyang Shinmun suggested, “It is necessary to consider excluding or significantly reducing victim settlements as a factor in reducing sentences.”
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Deep Dive.

Democratic Party Without a Sense of Crisis.

• Headline on the front page of The Hankyoreh. Since Kim Min-seok (Democratic Party leader) took office, the party has wasted two months on internal strife. There are even remarks that “apologies are all they’ve done.”
• A Realmeter poll shows the People Power Party’s approval rating has surpassed the Democratic Party for two consecutive weeks.
• The Kyunghyang Shinmun editorial criticized, “The Democratic Party’s blunders have reached ‘one accident per day’ levels.”
• A Democratic Party lawmaker interviewed by The Dong-A Ilbo said, “At this rate, all metropolitan-area candidates will be dead in the water by the 2028 general election.”
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“It Makes No Sense That Gyeonggi Has No Airport.”.

• Choo Mi-ae (Gyeonggi Governor) said this during the provincial audit.
• “We have citizens who use airports, but access time is 1 hour and 22 minutes—far too long,” she argued. Plans are to restart feasibility studies for a Gyeonggi International Airport.
• During Kim Dong-yeon’s (former Gyeonggi Governor) tenure, sites including Hwaseong Lake reclamation area, Seotan-myeon (Pyeongtaek), and Mogamyeon (Yeoju) were reviewed but the project was suspended.
• Yeom Tae-young (Democratic Party lawmaker) noted, “Gyeonggi accounts for 76% of semiconductor industry revenue, yet 98% of semiconductor exports are handled through Incheon Airport,” adding, “As a semiconductor-specialized region, Gyeonggi cannot afford to miss the window to prepare an international logistics airport for advanced industries.”
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French Protests: Anger and Violence Collide.

• Started by students, it spread across society. Economic inequality fueled the protests, and public security has collapsed.
• Unlike the 2018 ‘Yellow Vest’ protests, this time throwing money won’t solve it—fiscal deficits are holding the country back.
• France’s growth rate is projected to stall at 0.5% this year. Public debt has surpassed 119% of GDP. Large-scale austerity is being forced through.
• The Kyunghyang Shinmun pointed out, “Equating all protesters with violent groups or blaming the state for every act of violence fails to address the demands of the youth.”
• The Hankyoreh analyzed, “The far-right is smiling.” With six months until the French presidential election, immigration and public security have emerged as key issues.
• Protests that began in France are spreading to Italy, Belgium, and Spain.
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Another Take.

“We Must Listen More Actively to Uncomfortable Truths.”.

• Jeong Seong-ho (former Minister of Justice) made this remark in a Kyunghyang Shinmun interview.
• “Since one person cannot handle all state affairs alone, it would be better to show trust in ministers and move forward together,” he said.
• He dismissed claims that “the Seongnam-Gyeonggi faction wields excessive influence and clashes with lawmaker groups” as speculation but emphasized, “Public office should not be seen as spoils of an election but as positions requiring alignment with state philosophy.”
• He repeatedly stressed that the conflict did not stem from the prosecution suspension issue. “No administration has pushed reforms at this speed despite 20 years of prosecutorial resistance, nor has the prosecution ever complied so completely,” he argued.
• On live-streaming Cabinet meetings, he offered a differing view: “There’s insufficient time to openly deliberate all agenda items in Cabinet meetings. After the president’s opening remarks and ministry reports, switching to closed-door sessions to focus on key issues would be more effective,” he asserted.
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Will Crypto Taxation Be Delayed Again?

• It is a system that deducts 2.5 million won annually from virtual asset income and taxes the remainder at 22%. Originally scheduled to take effect in January next year, a bill has emerged to postpone it for another two years.
• It has already been delayed three times since the 2020 revision.
• Gil Yong-won (Kwangwoon University Professor) pointed out, “Tax laws and systems can never be perfect,” adding, “If taxation requires all systems to be in place first, it will be impossible to begin.”
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Trump, the Unreachable, and Europe’s Plan B?

• Gideon Rachman (Financial Times columnist) analyzed, “The effectiveness of ‘Trump-whispering’ is waning.” The approach of European leaders calling Trump, showering him with praise, and softening U.S. policy edges has reached its limits.
• Zelenskyy has also changed. He openly criticized the U.S. for restricting satellite services and ignored American demands not to attack Russian energy facilities.
• Rachman noted, “While anger and frustration likely played a role, the shift in tone also involves calculation.”
• In Europe, there is growing consensus that a Trump-Putin direct dialogue is no longer acceptable.
• Rachman outlines two potential negotiation paths: First, freezing the current frontline in exchange for Ukraine abandoning NATO membership; second, ceding the remaining Donbas regions to Russia in return for NATO accession.
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Trump and Vance’s Diverging Paths.

• JD Vance (U.S. Vice President) declared he would not support Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister). This came a day after Trump announced his endorsement of Netanyahu.
• “It’s not about opposing him or supporting him. It’s about not intervening in Israeli politics.”
• Vance has previously criticized parts of the Israeli government for attempting to sway U.S. public opinion and obstruct ceasefire negotiations. He maintains that while Israel is an ally, it is not more important than others.
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The Fix.

Public Development for Dongja-dong Slope Shantytown: 1,000+1,150 Households.

• It has been decided to proceed with public development. Construction is set to begin in 2029, with occupancy targeted for 2032.
• Originally, the plan was to start construction in 2023 and move in this year, but it has been delayed. Existing residents will be prioritized for public rental housing of at least 21 square meters. Temporary housing will be provided during construction.

Lawsuit to Locate Victims? Blocked.

• There have been cases where perpetrators filed false lawsuits to obtain victims’ addresses before killing them. A woman was murdered during divorce proceedings, and a sexual crime perpetrator also obtained the victim’s address and killed them.
• The government has decided to restrict access to and issuance of resident registration records.

Nothing Happens If You Do Nothing.

• A representative of residents from Seongsong-myeon, Buan County, North Jeolla Province, which agreed to host a 345kV substation, said, “Other regions might not welcome it, but we decided to host the substation for our village’s future.”
• Korea Electric Power Corporation held over 20 project briefings to persuade residents. The Dong-A Ilbo evaluated, “A case where residents were not treated as objects of persuasion but engaged as subjects to judge the project’s benefits and impacts.”
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Softly Seeping In.

• Hankyoreh’s analysis of Instagram’s far-right ecosystem concludes, “Alternative content to counter extremism is needed.”
• Cho Hee-yeon (former Seoul Metropolitan Education Superintendent) said, “Youth should not be otherized as a generation with an ‘inherent far-right nature.’ Issues that grow in the ‘shadows’ (online), like election fraud theories, must be brought into the ‘light’ of public discourse (classrooms, etc.) for debate, allowing students to build critical thinking and restore trust in democracy through experience.”
• Intensity has lowered, but the base has widened. There’s a culture of asking, “It was just a joke—why get serious?” Park Sun-kyung (Korea University professor) analyzed, “Much of Instagram’s far-right content is rooted in a worldview that groups ‘Chinese Communist Party-North Korea-Democratic Party-Jeolla Province-4050 generation-women-disabled people’ into a single bloc for condemnation.”
• Hong Sung-soo (Sookmyung Women’s University professor) pointed out, “What’s needed isn’t great teaching materials, but great teachers.”
• “After spending three hours discussing the suffering of 5.18 Democratization Movement victims, will students still hold the same sentiments? Probably not. Ultimately, ‘empathy for others’ pain’ is essential—and schools, offline spaces, are where this can be resolved.”
• Related Link.

Is It Acceptable to Prescribe a Month’s Medication to First-Time Patients?

• Non-face-to-face medical treatment will expand from December 24. Initial prescriptions are limited to within 7 days in principle, extendable up to 30 days based on a doctor’s judgment.
• Jeong Hyung-joon (Policy Committee Chair, Health and Medical Coalition) pointed out that including first-time patients whom doctors have never physically examined “could significantly increase the risk of misdiagnosis.”
• Kim Seong-geun (KMA Spokesperson) argued, “Providing a month’s medication to first-time patients without follow-up is highly dangerous.”
• The Korean Medical Association stated that the 7-day limit on initial prescriptions is “a minimum safety measure for patient safety” and insisted that the 30-day exception clause should be deleted, with exceptions—if necessary—capped at 14 days.
• The Telemedicine Industry Council, representing platform businesses, claims the 7-day limit is excessive. They argue that requiring over five repeat consultations to receive a 30-day prescription would increase financial burdens on national health insurance.
• Related Link.
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ICYMI.

207 Individuals in 1-Person Media Earn Over 1 Billion KRW Annually.

• Corporate tax filings show 2,024 1-person media entities reported combined revenue of 1.1134 trillion KRW.
• 207 entities earning over 1 billion KRW annually declared 842.7 billion KRW.
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They Said It Wasn’t AI?

• Park Jeong-eun (Ewha Womans University professor) wrote, “Customers no longer ask because they don’t know. They ask because they know—and to challenge.”
• In-depth interviews with construction company customer service managers revealed rising customer complaints and grievances.
• Employees use AI to preemptively identify potential counterarguments customers might raise. The phenomenon where customers’ information-gathering and reasoning abilities surpass those of service agents is called “capability reversal.”
• Park Jeong-eun advised, “AI should not be viewed merely as an automation tool but as a tool to redefine relationships with customers.”
• Related Link.

AI Search: New Perspectives Vanish.

• Research shows AI search lacks the diversity of Google search.
• A comparison of 27 LLMs across 155 topics found even GPT-5—the most diverse performer—had 19% less informational variety than Google results.
• Frequent information is prioritized during compression, while rare insights and novel perspectives are often excluded.
• Isabel Augenstein (University of Copenhagen professor) warned, “A mechanism for long-term knowledge collapse has been created.”
• Related Link.

AI Ads Shaking Up U.S. Midterms.

• Wesleyan University analysis shows AI-driven political ad spending in this year’s U.S. midterms has reached $137 million. Calls to ban deepfakes in election ads are also emerging.
• 35 Senate seats and 435 House seats are up for grabs—Democrats need only gain 4 seats in each chamber to secure majorities.
• It’s a war of money. While fundraising in key battlegrounds favors Democrats, super PAC donations lean Republican: $1.54 billion vs. $590 million.
• A Reuters-Ipsos poll shows Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 31%.
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Becoming the Son.

• Lee Hwan-sung (Chairman of Ceragem) adopted Lee Kyung-soo (Ceragem CEO) as his son. He gifted 10% of issued shares and completed gift tax reporting.
• Lee Kyung-soo joined the company in 2003 as a new recruit, serving in strategic planning, marketing, and domestic and international sales. He had no familial ties. Ceragem explained, “This was a choice for sustainable growth and management continuity.”
• Lee Hwan-sung has an only daughter who does not participate in management.
• Related Link.

Busan Fever? Taiwanese Tourists Surge 61%.

• It’s called Busan Fever, meaning “I want to visit Busan again.”
• By August, Taiwanese tourists visiting Busan reached 720,000—up sharply from 450,000 last year.
• Chinese tourists also numbered 720,000, with cruise tourism outpacing flights.
• Gimhae Airport’s international passenger traffic is projected to hit 12 million this year.
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Worth Reading.

It Must Be Resolved Through Dialogue.

• Conflicts over the military demarcation line arise because the North and South fundamentally disagree on its definition.
• The Hankyoreh editorial asked rhetorically, “Would the North silently tolerate our soldiers repeatedly crossing their perceived demarcation line to push forward with construction?”
• The Hankyoreh emphasized, “Dialogue is the only way to avoid this” and “whether they like it or not, South and North military authorities must meet to eliminate the root causes of conflict.”
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Where the President’s Attention Falls.

• “The president’s attention” is a scarce resource. Why do some directives reach the field while others don’t?
• The order to curb farmland speculation was swift—so swift, in fact, that some called it hasty.
• What about stalking crimes? Despite repeated presidential instructions to prepare countermeasures, nothing has changed.
• Proposed legislation—such as attaching electronic anklets to offenders and expanding protection to victims’ families—remains stalled.
• Kim Min-a (The Kyunghyang Shinmun columnist) emphasized, “Women’s anxiety and suffering stem not from personal disposition but from systemic violence.”
• The president has criticized the issue multiple times. Kim Min-a suggested, “The president should install a ‘relationship crime dashboard’ in the office and receive regular reports.”
• Only then, she argued, will the president not be reprimanding the same issue this time next year.
• Related Link.

Sons of the Nation—Only When Called Upon.

• “When called up, they’re sons of the nation; when injured, they’re ‘your sons’; when dead, ‘who are you?’” said a bereaved family member who called the Military Human Rights Center.
• A soldier has been lying in a mortuary for four years—his death recognized as in the line of duty, but denied veteran status.
• Of veteran applications by career soldiers whose deaths were classified as Type 3 (line-of-duty deaths) by the Ministry of National Defense, 63.3% were rejected during the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs’ review.
• Bang Hye-rin (Military Human Rights Center Secretary-General) criticized, “Regardless of administration, this consistent neglect and indifference should be called ‘irresponsible veteran affairs’—not ‘infinite responsibility.’”
• Related Link.

Too Big for the State to Ignore.

• William Dalrymple (historian) once remarked, “When a corporation grows large enough, the state makes laws for it, and when the bill arrives, it’s the state—not shareholders—that pays.”
• Big Tech firms now gamble with a nation’s fate like the 400-year-old East India Company.
• Lee Wan (Hankyoreh Industry Team Leader) observed, “As semiconductor plant construction has become central industrial policy, business leaders seem to have received an ‘unlimited support patent.’”
• Related Link.

What If the Capital Area Black Hole Dissolves?

• It’s a phenomenon no country in the world has experienced, so forecasts diverge—it’s different even from Japan.
• According to Jeon Young-soo (Professor, Hanyang University), in Stage 1, both Seoul and Gyeonggi see population growth; in Stage 2, Seoul’s population declines while Gyeonggi’s rises; in Stage 3, both regions experience population decline.
• Japan is transitioning from Stage 1 to Stage 2, while South Korea is already nearing the end of Stage 2. By 2038, Gyeonggi’s population is likely to reverse into decline.
• Jeon warned, “We face a simultaneous population decline across regions, shifting from a ‘Seoul-centric concentration vs. regional extinction’ dynamic.”
• “Arguing that ‘Gyeonggi is fine because its population is growing’ is complacent commentary. We must learn policy lessons from Tokyo’s outskirts, which are struggling with a once-in-a-century myth collapse (population decline) and ghost cities. Prepare to turn this critical point into an opportunity.”
• Related Link.

Feedback.

Today’s State Council Audit.

• Slow News is covering the State Council Audit intensively.
• [Special Audit Page] updates twice daily.
• [Rep. ◯◯◯’s Audit Notes] bundles key issues by individual lawmakers—we also select the top 12 daily.
• [Today’s Corporate Issues] examines major corporate disputes.
• [Daily Audit Report] tracks key issues and context by committee.
• The list below compiles October 20 audit reports:
• October 20, 2026, Judiciary and Legislation Committee (Daejeon High Court, etc.) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Judiciary and Legislation Committee (Daegu High Court, etc.) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Finance and Economy Planning Committee audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Education Committee (Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special Self-Governing Province Office of Education, etc.) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Education Committee (Busan Office of Education, etc.) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee audit report.
• October 20, 2026, National Defense Committee (Air Force Headquarters, etc.) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, National Defense Committee (Navy Headquarters, etc.) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Public Administration and Security Committee (Gyeongsangbuk-do) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Public Administration and Security Committee (Chungcheongbuk-do) audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Forestry, and Oceans Committee audit report.
• October 20, 2026, Health and Welfare Committee audit report.
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