Summary On May 28, 2026, the National Pension Service (NPS) Fund Operation Committee raised the target allocation for domestic stocks from 14.9% to 20.8%, an increase of 5.9 percentage points. This figure was reached after two upward revisions since the beginning of the year, when it stood at 14.4%....
Summary On May 28, 2026, the first Monetary Policy Board meeting under Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song's leadership passed a resolution to freeze the base rate at 2.50% by a 5-2 vote, while inserting the phrase "decide on the timing of base rate hikes" into the statement. This signals an immin...
Summary On May 28, 2026, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Korea held the base rate steady at 2.50% for the eighth consecutive meeting. Beneath the surface, however, the change was dramatic. At the first meeting under Governor Shin Hyun-song, two dissenting votes for a rate hike appeared,...
Preface: Two Korean Economies On May 26, 2026, the KOSPI closed above 8,000 for the first time in history: 8,047.51. Its year-to-date gain of +91% is by far the highest among G20 nations.[^1] Samsung Electronics hit 300,000 won intraday, and SK Hynix touched 2 million won for the first time. Total m...
Category: Economic Analysis / Geopolitics / Energy·Prices·Finance Introduction: Why This War Laid Bare the Vulnerability of the South Korean Economy The war that began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February 2026 exposed, within just three weeks, the structural vulnerabilities of t...
Revision: 2026-05-26 (Fact-check corrections: Forecast International figures, dividend data, additional footnotes) Global Defense Market: Record Defense Spending, Structural Shift Global military expenditure in 2025 reached a record $2.88 trillion (SIPRI), marking an 11th consecutive year of increas...
Preface: What the Numbers Do Not Say The won/dollar exchange rate at 1,513 won. After hitting an intraday high of 1,536.82 won on March 31—the highest in 17 years—it has eased slightly, but the 1,500-won level remains firmly entrenched.[^1] The March average exchange rate of 1,492.5 won surpassed th...
Summary South Korea is the world's fourth-largest ethylene producer. Yet domestic ethylene demand amounts to only one-third of production capacity. The structure is such that two-thirds of the ethylene produced must be exported just to keep the plants running. In that export market, from 2022 to 202...
Category: Economic Analysis / Manufacturing / Steel Related Reports: 2026 Diagnosis of the Structure of the South Korean Economy, Semiconductor Downcycle Analysis, Battery Industry Crisis Analysis Preface: Breaking Through the 50% Tariff to Post the Highest Exports in a Decade — How Is the Paradox P...
Preface: The Structure of a Deficit Trio for K-Batteries In the first quarter of 2026, South Korea's three major battery makers (LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On) all posted losses. LG Energy Solution reported an operating loss of 207.8 billion won, Samsung SDI an operating loss of 263.1 b...
Foreword: The False Stability of a Declining GDP Ratio In the first quarter of 2026, South Korea's household credit balance stood at 1,993.1 trillion won, on the brink of surpassing the 2,000 trillion won mark.[^1] It is an all-time high. At the same time, however, the household debt-to-GDP ratio fe...
Category: Economic Analysis / Manufacturing / Shipbuilding Related Report: 2026 Diagnosis of the South Korean Economic Structure Preface: The 'K-Shipbuilding' Supercycle—For Whom? In the first quarter of 2026, South Korea's Big Three shipbuilders (HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Samsun...
Status: Revised edition — a complete update of the first report of May 23, 2026. Final edition on the eve of the MPC (May 28). Preface to the Revised Edition: What Changed in Four Days Barely two days after the May 23, 2026 publication of the first report — in fact, within three days of the writing...
Publication Date: May 24, 2026 Category: Economic Analysis / Monetary Policy / MPC Briefing Related Report: 2026 Structural Diagnosis of the Korean Economy Introduction: Why This MPC Meeting Matters On Thursday, May 28, 2026, the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee will make its first base rat...
Preface: The Violence of Housing Costs in Numbers In April 2026, the median jeonse (key-money deposit) price for apartments in Seoul surpassed 600 million won. This is the first time since September 2022, a span of about three years and seven months.[^1] The average jeonse price reached 681.47 milli...
Foreword: The Tariff Wave, and What It Has Revealed On April 3, 2026, a 25% tariff on foreign-made finished vehicles went into effect under an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump. On May 3, a 25% tariff on auto parts followed.[^1] This marks the broadest automotive tariff measure s...
Published: May 23, 2026 Category: Economic Analysis / Manufacturing / Semiconductors Related Reports: 2026 Structural Diagnosis of the Korean Economy · AI Bubble or Falling Rate of Profit Preface: Why the Peak Debate Matters On May 22, 2026, the KOSPI surged 8.42% in a single day, recovering the 7,8...
On May 14, 2026, Cuba’s Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy declared the endpoint of a ten-month-long strangulation operation on state television in a single sentence: “Diesel and fuel oil have run out completely. Reserves are zero.” [^1] That same night, Havana citizens poured into the streets ban...
Published: May 15, 2026 Introduction: A Private AI Company Openly Demands an Empire On May 14, 2026, the U.S. AI firm Anthropic released a policy document titled “2028: Two Scenarios for Global AI Leadership.”[^1] On the surface, the document is wrapped in the familiar frame of “democratic AI versus...
On May 13, 2026, the South Korean comprador-monopoly capitalist state bared its class essence in the starkest terms. On the same day that post-mediation between Samsung Electronics labor and management collapsed and the Industry-Level Labor Union Samsung Electronics Branch (초기업노조) announced an 18-da...