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1. The Bank of Korea raised its policy interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5% which is the highest since December 2008. This is the BOK’s 10th rate hike since its rate hike campaign began in August 2021.

2. US president Joe Biden on Friday will highlight in a statement, marking Korean-American Day, the significance of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and the importance of the Korean American community which was first introduced to the U.S. 120 years ago.

3. The special police investigation team for the Itaewon tragedy ended its 74-day-long investigation on Friday. The investigation ended with the arrest of 6 figures.

1. According to the director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at South Korea’s foreign ministry on Thursday, the South Korean government is reviewing a method to compensate the victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor through a third party entity.

2. The United States and Japan on Wednesday agreed to reinforce their strategic alliance and outlined actions in a joint statement designed to deter growing Chinese military threats.

3. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded all domestic flights across the country on Wednesday because of a crucial alert system outage, creating thousands of flight delays and cancellations.

1. The World Bank has slashed the global growth outlook for 2023 to 1.7 percent, down from its previous forecast of 3 percent back in June last year.

2. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 62.5% of overseas COVID-19 infections reported on Wednesday, were from China.

3. At the Golden Globes 2023, Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave” lost out to Argentinian contender ‘Argentina, 1985’ in the best film category. It is however still competing in the best foreign film category for the Critics Choice Award, along with five other films.

1. According to Seoul's foreign ministry on Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Park offered his congratulations to China's new top diplomat, Qin Gang on his recent inauguration. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, China halted the issuance of short-term visas in South Korea as its first COVID-19 related retaliation.

2. South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party leader, Lee Jae-Myung, attended the extraordinary parliamentary session on Tuesday. Lee being summoned for investigation marks the first summoning of a leader of a main opposition party in modern history.

3. French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed and announced on Monday to reinforce cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region against the backdrop of rising tensions in China and North Korea.

1. Two out of four conditions that need to be satisfied for the indoor mask mandate to be lifted are currently met. South Korea is the only OECD member state that has an indoor mask mandate.

2. South Korea’s two main political parties clashed on the first day of January’s extraordinary parliamentary session on Monday, as the ruling People Power Party accused the main opposition Democratic Party of attempting to protect its party leader Lee Jae-myung from indictment by abusing lawmakers' immunity from his arrest.

3. Supporters of the former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who refused to accept his presidential election defeat, invaded the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace of Brazil on Sunday.

1. The National Assembly on Friday passed a motion to extend the parliamentary probe into the deadly Itaewon crowd crush by 10 days.

2. The Chinese embassy in Seoul criticized South Korea on Thursday for sending a delegation, led by PPP Representative Cho Kyung-tae, to Taiwan at the end of last year to meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk declined to comment on the matter.

3. According to quarantine authorities, 1 in every 8 arrivals from China were confirmed positive with COVID-19 at the airport as of midnight Friday.

1. The floor leaders of the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party agreed on Thursday to vote on Friday on the extension of the parliamentary probe into the Itaewon crowd crush by an additional ten days until January 17.

2. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered officials to review suspending the September 19th inter-Korean military agreement if North Korea carries out provocations involving incursion into our territory.

3. Starting Thursday, all travelers arriving from China are required to submit a negative COVID-19 test result before entering South Korea.

1. The first parliamentary hearing is being held starting from Wednesday morning to investigate how the Itaewon tragedy happened and to prevent similar future incidents. The second hearing is scheduled to take place on Friday.

2. South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance has vowed on Wednesday to spend more than 60 percent of the budget in the first half of the year. That's the largest proportion ever spent for the first six months.

3. The 118th U.S. Congress began on Tuesday with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and Democrats securing the majority of the Senate.

1. The spokesperson of the White House National Security Council said on Monday the U.S. President Joe Biden and S.Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered their militaries to plan for an “effective coordinated response to a range of scenarios, including nuclear use by North Korea”.

2. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Tuesday, South Korea will apply a tax credit rate of up to 25% on facility investment in the chip industry to boost its competitiveness amid global economic slowdown.

3. As of Monday, 1 out of every 5 travelers into South Korea from China tested positive for COVID-19, following mandatory PCR testing upon arrival.  According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, those from Hong Kong and Macao will also be required to get a PCR or a quick antigen test before boarding flights to S. Korea starting from Saturday.

1. In his New Year’s speech on Sunday South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to remain vigilant regarding the economy and to support exports to make sure South Korea's economy recovers this year.

2. North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile into the sea on New Year’s Day, after firing three of them on the last day of 2022.

3. According to Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, 2023 is going to be a tough year for much of the world economy as the major drivers of the economy, the United States, Europe and China, all experienced weakening economic activity.