Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea

This article is by Sarah Chea and read by an artificial voice.

Korean battery manufacturers find themselves at a critical crossroads, as global clients - reeling from a prolonged slump in global EV demand - have walked away from previously pledged multi-billion-dollar contracts.

While firms are seeking to pivot toward Europe's relatively less-regulated EV market and the energy storage system (ESS) segment, this recalibration offers little room for optimism due to the ubiquitous presence of low-cost Chinese products.

LG Energy Solution has already seen some 13.6 trillion won ($9.6 billion) worth of contracts evaporate this month alone, an amount exceeding half of the company's total revenue last year, which stood at 25.62 trillion won.

The cancellation applies to the portion of the deal yet to be fulfilled, excluding deliveries already completed worth $110 million, out of the total contract value of $2.795 billion. In effect, nearly 96 percent of the original agreement has been scrapped, making the termination tantamount to a wholesale collapse of the deal.

The latest termination originated from FBPS's decision to exit the battery business due to the sluggish demand. Under the original plan, FBPS planned to assemble battery modules produced by LG Energy Solution into complete battery packs and supply them to major North American commercial vehicle manufacturers, including those producing large buses and electric trucks.

Earlier on Dec. 17, LG Energy Solution also disclosed the cancellation of $6.5 billion deal with Ford Motor, citing the weak demand.

This downturn is widely attributed to the contraction of the North American EV market, triggered by the Donald Trump administration's decision to roll back the $7,500 EV tax credit. With subsidies withdrawn, automakers have increasingly scaled back their commitment to EVs, dampening demand across the supply chain.

LG Energy Solution on Dec. 24 also moved to shore up liquidity by selling buildings, equipment, and other assets of its U.S. joint venture with Honda to Honda's U.S. subsidiary for about 4.2 trillion won.

Earlier in December, Ford also ended its joint venture with SK On, which initially promised to invest $11 billion to build three plants in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Under the revised arrangement, SK On will assume sole control of the Tennessee plant, while Ford will independently operate the two Kentucky plants, where it will license CATL's low-price battery technology into the factory.

Korean battery makers view the European ESS market as a potential breakthrough, but mounting uncertainties are clouding the outlook due to the inflow of Chinese batteries, which are said to be priced at less than half the cost of their Korean counterparts.

In the low-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery segment, China currently maintains a substantial technological lead, while Korean players continue to trail in terms of maturity and scale.

"ESS demand lacks continuity and is largely transactional, which makes it extremely difficult to establish stable production plans," said analyst Lee Choong-jae from the Korea Investment Securities.

"With raw material prices fluctuating on a daily basis, manufacturers cannot keep facilities running continuously by building inventory in advance without any visibility on when the products will actually be sold," Lee added. "With LFP having already emerged as the industry standard, Korean companies must seriously ask themselves whether they can still secure meaningful competitiveness in a scenario the United States lowers tariffs for Chinese products."

The combined market share of Korea's three major battery manufacturers in the European EV battery market stood at 35 percent between January and October this year, marking a 10 percentage-point decline from the level recorded at the end of 2024, according to SNE Research.

During the same period, Chinese brands held 64 percent of the share.

This article is by Sarah Chea and read by an artificial voice.

Korean battery manufacturers find themselves at a critical crossroads, as global clients - reeling from a prolonged slump in EV demand - have walked away from previously pledged multibillion-dollar contracts.

While firms are seeking to pivot toward the relatively less-regulated EV market of Europe and the energy storage system (ESS) segment, this recalibration offers little room for optimism due to the ubiquitous presence of low-cost Chinese products.

LG Energy Solution has already seen some 13.6 trillion won ($9.6 billion) in deals evaporate this month alone, an amount exceeding half of the company's total revenue last year, which stood at 25.62 trillion won.

Korea's largest battery maker announced the termination of a contract with U.S.-based battery pack producer Freudenberg e-Power System valued at 3.92 trillion won on Friday.

The cancellation applies to the portion of the deal yet to be fulfilled, excluding deliveries already completed worth $110 million, out of the total contract value of $2.79 billion. In effect, nearly 96 percent of the original agreement has been scrapped, making the termination tantamount to a wholesale collapse of the deal.

The latest termination originated from Freudenberg's decision to exit the battery business due to sluggish demand. Under the original plan, the U.S. firm planned to assemble battery modules produced by LG Energy Solution into complete battery packs and supply them to major North American commercial vehicle manufacturers, including those producing large buses and electric trucks.

Earlier on Dec. 17, LG Energy Solution also disclosed the cancellation of a $6.5 billion deal with Ford Motor.

The termination is widely attributed to the contraction of the North American EV market, triggered by the Donald Trump administration's decision to roll back the $7,500 EV tax credit. With subsidies withdrawn, automakers have increasingly scaled back their commitment to EVs, dampening demand across the supply chain.

Ford suspended production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup and has recalibrated its strategy to prioritize higher-margin hybrid models and internal combustion engine vehicles.

LG Energy on Wednesday also moved to shore up liquidity by selling buildings, equipment and other assets of its U.S. joint venture with Honda to the Japanese automaker's U.S. subsidiary for about 4.2 trillion won.

Earlier in December, Ford also ended its joint venture with SK On, which initially promised to invest $11 billion to build three plants in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Under the revised arrangement, SK On will assume sole control of the Tennessee plant, while Ford will independently operate the two Kentucky plants, where it will license CATL's low-price battery technology into the factory.

Korean battery makers view the European ESS market as a potential breakthrough, but mounting uncertainties are clouding the outlook due to the inflow of Chinese batteries, which are reportedly priced at less than half the cost of their Korean counterparts.

In the low-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery segment, China currently maintains a substantial technological lead, while Korean players continue to trail in terms of maturity and scale.

"ESS demand lacks continuity and is largely transactional, which makes it extremely difficult to establish stable production plans," said analyst Lee Choong-jae of Korea Investment Securities.

"With raw material prices fluctuating on a daily basis, manufacturers cannot keep facilities running continuously by building inventory in advance without any sight of a sale," Lee added. "With LFP having already emerged as the industry standard, Korean companies must seriously ask themselves whether they can still secure meaningful competitiveness in a scenario in which the United States lowers tariffs for Chinese products."

The combined market share of Korea's three major battery manufacturers in the European EV bat...

Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Saturday to halt weeks of fierce border clashes, the worst fighting in years between the Southeast Asian countries that has included fighter jets sorties, exchange of rocket fire and artillery barrages.

"Both sides agree to maintain current troop deployments without further movement," their defence ministers said in a joint statement on the ceasefire, to take effect at noon.

"Any reinforcement would heighten tensions and negatively affect long-term efforts to resolve the situation," according to the statement released on social media by Cambodia's Defence Ministry.

The agreement, signed by Thai Defence Minister Natthaphon Nakrphanit and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha, ended 20 days of fighting that has killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides.

The clashes were re-ignited in early December after a breakdown in a ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had helped broker to halt a previous round of fighting.

For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817 km (508 miles) land border - a dispute that has occasionally exploded into skirmishes and fighting.

The latest ceasefire would be monitored by an observer team from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc as well as direct coordination between both countries, Natthaphon said.

"At the same time, at the policy level, there will be direct communication between the minister of defence and chief of the armed forces of both sides," he told reporters.

Simmering tensions between the two countries came to a head in July this year, when the neighbours clashed for five days along some parts of the frontier, leaving at least 48 people dead and 300,000 displaced before Trump intervened to bring about a truce.

That ceasefire broke down in early December with the two sides accusing each other of moves that led to clashes.

Since the conflict restarted, neither Anwar - currently Asean chair - nor Trump was successful in stitching together another ceasefire, as fighting spread from forested regions near Laos to the coastal provinces on the Gulf of Thailand.

The renewed parleys came after a special meeting on Monday of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Kuala Lumpur, followed by three days of talks between the warring sides at a border checkpoint, where the two defence ministers met on Saturday.

In their joint statement, the ministers agreed on the return of people displaced from affected border areas, while also underlining that neither side would use any force against civilians.

Thailand will also return 18 Cambodian soldiers in its custody since the July clashes if the ceasefire is fully maintained for 72 hours, according to the agreement.

Saturday's pact, however, made clear that it will not impact any border demarcation activities underway between both countries, leaving the task of resolving disputed areas along the frontier to existing bilateral mechanisms.

"War and clashes don't make the two countries or the two people happy," Thailand's Air Chief Marshal Prapas Sornjaidee told reporters.

"I want to stress that the Thai people and the Cambodian people are not in conflict with each other."

Reuters

This article is by Jang Seo-yun and read by an artificial voice.

The Chinese yuan has surged past the "seven yuan per dollar" mark for the first time in 15 months amid a weaker U.S. dollar, potentially signaling gains for the Korean won, which often moves in step with the yuan.

The yuan traded at 6.9996 per dollar in China's offshore market (CNH) on Dec. 25, a modest appreciation of 0.0048 yuan from the previous session.

This marked the first time the yuan has dipped below seven yuan per dollar since Sept. 27, 2023, when it stood at 6.9797. On Dec. 26, the currency continued to trade in the low 7-yuan range.

The yuan has gained roughly 4 percent against the dollar this year, even amid the U.S.-China tariff tensions, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, has fallen about 7 percent over the same period.

China's stock market has also benefited from the currency's strength. The Shanghai Composite Index rose for an eighth consecutive session on Dec. 26, closing at 3,963.68, up 0.1 percent from the previous day.

"The yuan has been bolstered by weakness in the dollar and seasonal foreign-exchange conversion by exporters," Wang Qing, chief macro analyst at Golden Credit Rating, told Bloomberg. "A sustained yuan gain will help increase the appeal of China's capital markets to foreign investors."

China's exports have been robust this year. China posted a merchandise trade surplus of $1.0759 trillion from January to November this year, surpassing $1 trillion for the first time, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The growth, which came despite tariff frictions with the United States, reflects increased exports to Asean and Europe, Shin Soong-woong, a researcher at Shinhan Investment, said.

China's exports rose 5.3 percent this year through October, despite a 17.7 percent fall to the United States, according to data from the Korea International Trade Association.

After years of deliberately keeping the yuan weak to protect exporters, the Chinese government appears to be tolerating a stronger yuan, partly to reduce import costs and stimulate domestic consumption ahead of next year's priority economic policies. The People's Bank of China set the yuan at 7.0358 per dollar on Dec. 26, up 0.0034 yuan, or 0.05 percent, from the previous session.

Global investment banks also predicted the yuan's strength to continue into next year. Lin Lily, Asian head of global markets research at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, projected that U.S. rate cuts could weaken the dollar and support gains in the yuan and other Asian currencies, forecasting a yuan value of 6.95 per dollar by year-end 2025.

Goldman Sachs recently projected the yuan could reach 6.85 per dollar within a year.

The yuan's appreciation is also seen as a positive factor for the Korean won, which tends to move in tandem with China's currency.

"Gains in the yen, yuan, and other Asian currencies have helped create favorable conditions for a stronger won," said Min Gyeong-won, a researcher at Woori Bank.

The won closed at 1,440.3 won per dollar in Seoul, up 9.5 won from the previous day, the highest level since Dec. 4, on Dec. 26, on the back of increased active market interventions by Korean authorities and a strengthening yuan.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

This article is by Sarah Chea and read by an artificial voice.

Taeil, a former member of K-pop boy band NCT, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison on charges of sexual assault.

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the lower court's ruling by rejecting an appeal filed by Taeil and his two friends, surnamed Lee and Hong, who had been indicted on charges of special quasi-rape under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

Special quasi-rape refers to the act of sexual assault committed by at least two individuals or by one carrying a weapon, against a person who is unable to resist, such as being in a state of unconsciousness.

The three men were also ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence treatment and are barred from working at institutions related to children, adolescents, or people with disabilities for the next five years.

Taeil and his associates were accused of sexually assaulting a foreign woman who was intoxicated in June last year. Taeil was first investigated by police in June and underwent his initial questioning in August.

Taeil debuted with NCT in 2016 and was active in subunits NCT U and NCT 127. SM Entertainment terminated his exclusive contract in October 2024 following the allegations, stating that "given the seriousness of the matter, continuing group activities is no longer possible."

In July, a district court sentenced Taeil, Lee, and Hong to three years and six months in prison, citing the severity of the crime. The court said the perpetrators took advantage of the victim's intoxicated and defenseless state to commit sequential acts of sexual assault.

The defendants were immediately taken into custody.

The court noted that the victim, a foreign tourist in an unfamiliar location, likely suffered significant psychological trauma.

In October, the appellate court upheld the lower court's decision, dismissing the defendants' appeal. Taeil and the friends subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal on procedural grounds, affirming the prison sentence.

This article is by Sarah Chea and read by an artificial voice.

Taeil, a former member of K-pop boy band NCT, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison on charges of sexual assault.

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court's ruling by rejecting an appeal filed by the former singer and his two friends, surnamed Lee and Hong, who had been indicted on charges of special quasi-rape under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

Special quasi-rape refers to the act of sexual assault committed by at least two individuals or by one carrying a weapon, against a person who is unable to resist.

The three men were also ordered to complete 40 hours of sexual violence treatment and are barred from working at institutions related to children, adolescents or people with disabilities for the next five years.

Taeil and his associates were accused of sexually assaulting a foreign woman who was intoxicated in June last year. Taeil was first investigated by police in June and underwent his initial questioning in August.

Taeil debuted with NCT in 2016 and was active in subunits NCT U and NCT 127. SM Entertainment terminated his exclusive contract in October 2024 following the allegations, stating that "given the seriousness of the matter, continuing group activities is no longer possible."

In July, a district court sentenced Taeil, Lee and Hong to three years and six months in prison, citing the severity of the crime. The court said the perpetrators took advantage of the victim's intoxicated and defenseless state to commit sequential acts of sexual assault.

The defendants were immediately taken into custody.

The court noted that the victim, a foreign tourist in an unfamiliar location, likely suffered significant psychological trauma.

In October, the appellate court upheld the lower court's decision, dismissing the defendants' appeal. Taeil and the acquaintances subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal on procedural grounds, affirming the prison sentence.

This article is by Ha Jun-ho and read by an artificial voice.

"My younger sister, who died, used to sell yogurt. She told me how hard the work was," President Lee Jae Myung said while holding the hand of a yogurt vendor at Bujeon Market in Busan on Tuesday.

Lee bought 13 bottles of a fermented milk drink marketed for liver health, priced at 2,700 won ($2) each, and handed them out to aides, including Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik and members of his security detail.

"Yes, it's very hard," the vendor replied. "We work outdoors, so there are many difficulties."

President Lee's sister, Lee Jae-ok, died in 2014 after collapsing from overwork while employed as a cleaner.

While visits to traditional markets have long been a staple of Korean presidential politics, serving as both a barometer of prices and a gesture of populist outreach, Lee's relationship with these spaces runs deeper than convention. During his presidential campaign, he toured small cities and neighborhood markets as part of what he called a "listening tour."

Since taking office, he has repeatedly added impromptu market stops to his schedule, regardless of region.

Lee's visit to the market on Tuesday was also an unannounced stop, made shortly after a Cabinet meeting at the temporary headquarters of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in Busan. At the market, Lee crouched beside an older woman selling sweet potatoes, paid her in cash and asked whether the cold weather had been hard on her.

He also greeted a tourist from Taiwan, shaking hands and flashing a thumbs-up as he said, "Welcome to Korea."

While having lunch at a seafood restaurant in the market, Lee urged Cabinet members and presidential aides to "focus all available efforts on resolving issues affecting people's livelihoods."

Beginning with a visit to Namsung Saje Market in Seoul's Dongjak District on June 6, just two days after his inauguration, the president has visited traditional markets eight times in six months. His stops have included markets in Ulsan, Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi and, most recently, Busan.

Lee has often cited Seongnam's Sangdaewon Market, where he grew up, as central to his personal history. In his memoirs, he wrote that his father worked there as a cleaner pushing a handcart, while his mother cleaned public toilets and collected usage fees.

During a campaign stop at the market in January 2022, he recalled those years and said, through tears, that "everything I do reflects the harshness of Lee Jae Myung's life."

Traditional markets have also been major beneficiaries of the administration's consumer spending coupons issued as part of its economic recovery efforts, making them effective venues for policy outreach. During the coupon campaign, first lady Kim Hea Kyung visited several markets in place of the president to promote their use.

"The president feels a deep personal attachment to markets, in part because of his family's history, and sees the visits as a way to remain grounded," said a spokesperson for the presidential office. "These are not performative appearances. They reflect his governing philosophy of listening directly to the people and incorporating their voices into policy."

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

This article is by Sarah Chea and read by an artificial voice.

The number of registered foreign residents staying in the country stood at 1.61 million as of November, up 9 percent from a year earlier when the figure was 1.49 million, according to the data from the Ministry of Justice's Immigration and Foreign Policy Bureau.

Registered foreign nationals are individuals who enter Korea for academic or employment purposes with the intention of staying for more than 90 days and who complete the required registration process. They are issued alien registration cards and are required to report any change of address within 14 days.

The number of registered foreign residents has risen sharply in recent years, increasing from 1.09 million in 2021 to 1.19 million in 2022, 1.35 million in 2023, and 1.49 million in 2024. It's the first time it has surpassed 1.6 million.

By visa category, the largest group held the E-9 non-professional employment visa, issued under the Employment Permit System, with 335,122 foreigners. It was followed by 222,099 international students on D-2 visas, 219,266 permanent residents on F-5 visas and marriage migrants on F-6 visas numbering 152,546.

Roughly 54 percent of registered foreign residents live in the greater Seoul area, which includes Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi regions. The Yeongnam region accounted for 20.6 percent, followed by the Chungcheong region at 12.8 percent and the Honam region at 8.9 percent.

Within the metropolitan area, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, had the largest concentration of foreign residents, with 54,584 people. Other areas with sizable foreign populations included Siheung with 42,158 people, Danwon District in Ansan with 38,398 people, and Pyeongtaek with 35,893, all in Gyeonggi.

By nationality, Chinese nationals made up the largest share at 29.8 percent, followed by Vietnamese at 18.4 percent, Nepalese at 5.5 percent, Uzbeks at 4.3 percent, and Cambodians at 4.1 percent.

This article is by Sarah Chea and read by an artificial voice.

The number of registered foreign residents staying in the country stood at 1.61 million as of November, up 9 percent from a year earlier when the figure was 1.49 million, according to the data from the Ministry of Justice's Immigration and Foreign Policy Bureau.

Registered foreign nationals are individuals who enter Korea for academic or employment purposes with the intention of staying for more than 90 days and who complete the required registration process. They are issued alien registration cards and are required to report any change of address within 14 days.

The number of registered foreign residents has risen sharply in recent years, increasing from 1.09 million in 2021 to 1.19 million in 2022, 1.35 million in 2023, and 1.49 million in 2024. It's the first time it has surpassed 1.6 million.

By visa category, the largest group held the E-9 non-professional employment visa, issued under the Employment Permit System, with 335,122 foreigners. It was followed by 222,099 international students on D-2 visas, 219,266 permanent residents on F-5 visas and marriage migrants on F-6 visas numbering 152,546.

Roughly 54 percent of registered foreign residents live in the greater Seoul area, which includes Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi regions. The Yeongnam region accounted for 20.6 percent, followed by the Chungcheong region at 12.8 percent and the Honam region at 8.9 percent.

Within the metropolitan area, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, had the largest concentration of foreign residents, with 54,584 people. Other areas with sizable foreign populations included Siheung with 42,158 people, Danwon District in Ansan with 38,398 people, and Pyeongtaek with 35,893, all in Gyeonggi.

By nationality, Chinese nationals made up the largest share at 29.8 percent, followed by Vietnamese at 18.4 percent, Nepalese at 5.5 percent, Uzbeks at 4.3 percent, and Cambodians at 4.1 percent.

This article is by Lee Jian and read by an artificial voice.

Over the past decade, Korean musical theater has looked outward for inspiration. Many of the large, commercial productions that drive the local scene feature Korean actors in blond wigs and medieval European costumes as they call themselves and others names like Armand and Mercédès.

Of course, those shows still exist and remain among this year's best-selling musicals, but a new genre is emerging as a potential rival. Among this year's top-selling production, a growing number fall under the sageuk - or Korean historical drama - fantasy genre, with some even making an impact abroad.

The genre blends recognizable historical settings with noncanonical relationships and fictional tropes such as time travel and supernatural encounters. Consequently, rather than offering linear retellings of past events, sageuk fantasy works ask audiences to suspend their disbelief and engage with history on an emotional, personal level.

"Musicals about Korean history that twist the facts have been gaining momentum in the competitive market in recent years," said musical critic Lee Su-jin. "Until now, Korean musicals typically [...] centered on Western culture. Now that Korean culture is recognized globally, combining fantasy [with our own history] actually expands the range of stories we can tell on the local stage."

For instance, "Man in Hanbok" - with hanbok referring to traditional Korean clothing - opened in December and is adapted from Lee Sang-hoon's 2014 novel of the same name. The musical draws on one of the Joseon Dynasty's (1392-1910) greatest mysteries: the disappearance of royal scientist Jang Yeon-sil. The story does not reconstruct his life chronologically but instead unfolds across multiple timelines, from the Joseon Dynasty to Renaissance Italy and the present day.

The production currently ranks as the 31st most popular musical of the year on Interpark and holds an audience rating of 8.9 out of 10 on the platform.

"Man in Hanbok" is produced by EMK Musical Company, one of the country's largest musical production houses, known for its large-scale, visually elaborate adaptations of Western literature and history, including the biographical musicals "Marie Antoinette" and "Mozart!"

"Man in Hanbok" marks EMK's 10th in-house musical and its first to be rooted in a Korean historical setting.

EMK CEO and Executive Producer Eum Hong-hyeon described the project as a response to a shifting cultural climate. "As Korean culture receives more and more global attention, we're sensing how quickly things are changing," he told reporters during a press conference on Dec. 9.

As a result, Sageuk fantasy possesses both artistic and commercial potential for today's audiences.

The genre departs from previous sageuk musicals in Korea, which often prioritized historical accuracy. Productions such as "Hero," focusing on independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun; "Sejong 1446," depicting the creation of hangul; and "The Last Empress," centering on Empress Myeongseong, frame history as something to be respectfully reproduced, meaning that they function more as dramatized lessons than speculative narratives.

Sageuk fantasy, by contrast, is far less concerned with faithfully reproducing history. Fiction becomes a way to explore gaps in our knowledge of the past, including undocumented interior lives and unresolved trauma that continue to resonate in the present.

The two-person rock musical "Shadow," which closed last month, offers a perfect example. Inspired by the 1762 death of Crown Prince Sado - who was sealed inside a rice chest by order of his father - King Yeongjo, the show reimagines the chest as a time travel machine, through which the prince encounters his father not as a tyrant king but as a vulnerable child. The production ranked 89th on Interpark's annual top 100 list.

Sageuk fantasy has also found success overseas. "Swag Age: Shout Out, Joseon!" which imagines a fictional period within th...