Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea

This article is by Kim Ji-ye and read by an artificial voice.

Warning: The article may contain spoilers for ENA's series "Climax"

For viewers growing weary of soft, feel-good Korean romance dramas, there is a newly buzzing K-drama offering a very different viewing experience: ENA's latest series "Climax."

On top of the intense, fast-paced storytelling Korean dramas are famous for, it also features more provocative elements like scandals surrounding sexual favors, homosexuality and murder-for-hire.

Starring Ju Ji-hoon, known for his roles in Netflix's "Kingdom" (2019-20) and "The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call" (2025), alongside Ha Ji-won, "Climax" has steadily gained attention since its release on March 16.

The series topped Disney+ Korea's daily Top 10 series chart for 10 consecutive days as of Friday. It was also ranked as the most buzzed-about TV drama series during the week of March 16 to 22, according to FUNdex, a popularity aggregator by GoodData Corporation. Actor Ju, likewise, topped its charts in the performer category during the same week.

The mystery melodrama "Climax" takes place in the ruthless worlds of the business and entertainment industries. It follows Bang Tae-seop, an ambitious, self-made prosecutor striving to climb Korea's power hierarchy. Unlike a conventional morally upright authority figure, Tae-seop aligns himself with whomever he believes will further his own path to power.

The series has a star-studded lineup, with actor Ju portraying Tae-seop and Ha playing Chu Sang-a, a former top star and Tae-seop's wife. It also features Afterschool's Nana, Oh Jung-se and Cha Joo-young from "The Glory" (2022-23).

Directed and penned by Lee Ji-won, best known for the 2018 film "Miss Baek," which received multiple honors at major Korean awards ceremonies, including the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Baeksang Arts Awards, the series has drawn attention in part for its provocative subject matter.

High-dopamine themes

"Climax" incorporates themes such as ambition, betrayal and desire, while also touching on issues rarely covered in Korean dramas, such as sexual blackmail and gossip "MeTubers" — a fictional term used for YouTubers in the series — as well as media manipulation, homosexuality and murder-for-hire.

"It felt like it put out the desires everyone knows but doesn't really talk about," actor Ju said during the show's press conference held early this month, citing it as the reason why he decided to participate in the project.

Online reactions suggest that part of the appeal lies in that sense of novelty, with viewers describing it as "something worth watching for the first time in a while" and "a kind of drama rarely seen in Korea."

From its opening episodes, for instance, it explores issues such as sexual bribery in the entertainment industry, as Tae-seop jumps into a politically sensitive case involving a leading presidential candidate that might even jeopardize his own career. Proceeding with the investigation, Tae-seop ultimately directly witnesses the candidate's sexual exploitation scene in her hotel room and records it, exposing the scandal.

As the story progresses, additional plotlines involving a murder-for-hire case, questions surrounding Tae-seop and Sang-a's marriage and Sang-a's relationship with another woman further complicate the narrative.

Ha's portrayal of a same-sex romance, including a kissing scene, has also drawn particular attention since it was aired. Being her first in a nearly three-decade career, Ha's bold character portrayal surprised many viewers, as such depictions are still relatively uncommon in Korea, with some describing it as an unexpected twist.

Powerhouse performance

The actors' performances have also been cited as a key draw, with some viewers highlighting the cast's intensity and range, calling it "a showcase of powerhouse performances."

Many cited Ju's acting, especially when, he records the candidate having sex with a rookie actor and whistles as if to say "gotcha" w...

This article is by Lee Jae-lim and read by an artificial voice.

[NEWS ANALYSIS]

SK hynix, which is still believed to be undervalued despite being the world's leading memory maker and a key supplier to Nvidia, is preparing to boost its valuation by pursuing a U.S. listing in the second half of 2026 through American depositary receipts (ADRs).

At the same time, the company is investing a significant amount to expand its supply chain footprint across Korea and the United States.

However, the ADR listing plan has sparked debate among shareholders and analysts. Supporters argue that a U.S. listing could help narrow the "Korea discount" — in which local shares trade below their value — that has long weighed on domestic equities. Critics, on the other hand, warn that issuing new shares could dilute existing shareholders' stakes.

The uncertainty persists because the listing process is at the initial stage, with no detailed plans regarding the ADR structure and issuance.

TSMC is being cited as a relevant successful precedent. The Taiwanese chipmaker listed its ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange in 1997, just three years after its domestic initial public offering, or IPO, in September 1994. Since then, TSMC's market capitalization has increased more than 220-fold to $1.7 trillion.

So what is the dispute?

Domestic shareholders are concerned that issuing new shares could dilute existing ones. At the general meeting, a retail investor questioned whether the company would issue new shares to support ADRs, noting that it had already canceled its treasury shares.

SK hynix did not answer the question directly and instead commented that details on size and structure have not yet been finalized.

Market participants estimate that new shares worth 10 to 15 trillion won ($6.6 billion to $9.9 billion) could be issued.

Despite this, global market sentiment regarding SK hynix stock remains optimistic. Nomura Securities recently revised its target price for SK hynix upward to 1.93 million won, citing the Korean company's U.S. listing effort — which would reduce the valuation gap with Micron — as a key rationale. Goldman Sachs and Mirae Asset Securities estimated SK hynix's target price at 1.35 million and 1.54 million won. Goldman Sachs described the current period as the "strongest upcycle in memory history," forecasting SK hynix's 2026 operating profit to reach 202 trillion won. Korean analysts have also been overly positive about the company's U.S. listing effort due to the fact that memory shortages will likely persist throughout 2028; chip prices, in turn, will remain elevated from the supply bottleneck.

"If a valuation gap emerges between ADRs and domestic common shares, [that gap] could lift the valuation of the underlying shares," said Mirae Asset Research analyst Kim Young-gun.

A valuation gap between ADRs and domestic shares refers to the same company trading at different prices or valuation multiples across markets.

While ADRs and Korean-listed shares should theoretically be priced equally after accounting for exchange rates and conversion ratios, ADRs can sometimes trade at a premium due to stronger demand from global investors, with better market access and a reduced Korea discount. If ADRs trade higher, arbitrage activity, in which investors buy cheaper Korean shares and convert them into ADRs, may drive up the domestic share price, ultimately lifting the underlying valuation.

This is important when assessing the potential dilution from a new share issuance. While issuing new shares increases the total number of outstanding shares, thereby diluting existing ownership, the impact may be limited if the issuance is small. In such cases, any valuation rerating driven by an ADR listing could outweigh the dilution effect, especially if the listing helps narrow the company's discount relative to global peers. This is the reason that SK Square, SK hynix's largest shareholder, is expected to maintain its 20.5 percent stake.

Kim Rok-ho, an a...

This article is by Woo Ji-won and read by an artificial voice.

[INTERVIEW]

Less than two years after opening in Seoul, restaurant SAN is already making its mark — ranking No. 54 on the extended list of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and earning one Michelin star this month.

"I never expected such honors would come this fast," said chef Jo Seung-hyun of SAN in an email interview with Korea JoongAng Daily. "It is very meaningful, as it feels like our standards and the direction of our team have been validated."

SAN is a French-influenced Korean fine dining establishment located in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, offering a course menu priced at 350,000 won ($233). It also received the "One to Watch Award" as part of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants this year — the first time the award has gone to a Seoul-based establishment since 2017.

Despite the comparisons and high expectations, chef Jo said he feels "no pressure at all."

"I previously worked with chef Anh Sung-jae at The French Laundry, and he was the one who introduced me to the Korean dining scene. Naturally, comparisons may arise, but I believe SAN has its own direction," he said.

After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Jo worked at the Michelin three-star French restaurant The French Laundry in the United States and then at the three-star La Maison Troisgros in France before serving as chef de cuisine at Benu, a Michelin three-star restaurant in San Francisco led by Korean-American chef Corey Lee.

SAN, named after his son, distinguishes itself in Seoul's fine-dining scene by reinterpreting Korean ingredients through Jo's French culinary training.

"The foods I grew up eating, combined with the experiences and techniques I gained abroad, come together to create a version of Korean cuisine interpreted through my own perspective," he said, adding that "creating Korean cuisine that feels familiar yet new is SAN's greatest distinction and appeal."

At the restaurant, for example, the glutinous rice paste that forms the base of gochujang (fermented chili paste) is made using French-style shrimp stock to add depth of flavor, and traditional braised fish dishes are reinterpreted using marinade and brown butter cooking techniques.

However, chef Jo said the restaurant is becoming increasingly "Korean."

"As the restaurant continues to develop, I believe it is actually becoming closer to Korean cuisine," he said, adding that "nearly all of our dishes have been centered on Korean ingredients from the beginning."

Many dishes are also distinctive, including "tofu flower" and a soy sauce marinated crab rice bowl.

"'Tofu flower' was inspired by Chinese techniques and Pyongyang naengmyeon [buckwheat noodles in cold broth]. The tofu is shaped like noodles, and buckwheat aroma is added to the broth to create something both familiar and new."

For the soy sauce marinated crab rice bowl, the idea began by adjusting the viscosity of the sauce so it lingers longer on the palate. Rice with a pleasing texture and an egg yolk puree are added to create a new experience.

Jo's journey into cooking began in elementary school during a class, when he made a simple seaweed soup.

"I asked my mother many questions while preparing the ingredients, and I remember being recognized as the most prepared student in class. Experiencing the difference in taste before and after adding soy sauce sparked my interest in cooking."

Later, on a teacher's recommendation, he entered a culinary high school and began cooking in earnest, which naturally led him to dream of studying abroad. He went on to work at some of the world's most famous restaurants, gaining valuable lessons that now inform his own kitchen.

"At The French Laundry, I learned professionalism and diligence; at La Maison Troisgros, I learned French cuisine and European culture; and at Benu, I learned the attitude and responsibility required as a chef."

Despite all that, Jo believes the most important element in cooking is "the basics."

"I belie...

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

When 35-year-old accountant Choi Jung-hwan went out to Itaewon, a hub of gay nightlife in central Seoul, earlier this month, he thought he was just another face in the crowd.

But as Choi turned down a drunk stranger's advances on the street, the man shouted at him, "I know where you work. I'm going to tell."

Choi, who used a pseudonym in his interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily, recalled being filled with dread as he ran. "I didn't know what would happen if that guy made good on his threat," he said.

The ominous turn of Choi's night out highlights the lack of legal safeguards against discrimination not only for LGBTQ individuals, but also for other minorities in Korea.

In most advanced economies, such protections are standard. But among members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), only Korea and Japan lack a single overarching statute barring unequal treatment based on characteristics such as gender, disability, age, race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in areas including employment, education and public services.

Although lawmakers from two minor liberal parties in Korea submitted separate antidiscrimination bills for consideration by the National Assembly earlier this year, both evoked a strong sense of déjà vu.

The bills are the latest in two decades of legislative proposals that have ultimately been shelved without ever being put to a vote.

In Korea, antidiscrimination bills have been repeatedly introduced for consideration by the legislature since 2007, only to falter and expire before reaching the chamber floor. The reasons lie in an interplay of political caution, social division and the way such legislation has been framed in public debate.

A familiar bill

The two antidiscrimination bills submitted by Rep. Sohn Sol of the liberal Jinbo Party and Rep. Jeong Chun-saeng of the liberal Rebuilding Korea Party both follow the broad contours of earlier proposals in that they not only enumerate protected categories but also define discriminatory conduct and establish mechanisms for redress.

At their core, however, the bills are meant to do something more fundamental: replace a patchwork of issue-specific protections with a unified framework.

"Because current laws treat both the grounds and areas of discrimination separately, it is difficult to address intersectional discrimination, where multiple factors overlap," Rep. Sohn told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

She noted that the absence of a single comprehensive statute defining what constitutes discrimination and hate crimes has made it "difficult to respond effectively" to incidents such as rallies targeting specific nationalities.

An all-encompassing law, she said, is necessary "simply to establish clear standards for what counts as discrimination and hate in our society."

She added that her draft bill reflects lessons from past failures to reach a full Assembly vote by clarifying definitions and emphasizing corrective measures over punitive ones.

Public opinion, divided by design

On its face, public opinion might appear to favor such a law. Polls that ask broad questions about discrimination tend to show strong support for a legal remedy.

But that apparent majority varies across surveys.

"Public opinion polling depends widely on how questions are framed," said Kim Ji-kyung, gender equity commissioner at the National Union of Media Workers.

Kim noted this divergence in polling largely comes down to how questions are worded, adding that surveys commissioned by some Christian groups "are designed to draw respondents' attention to groups that would be protected by antidiscrimination legislation."

However, even the Gallup Korea survey also shows that Koreans do not believe discrimination is a serious problem for all groups. While 46 percent of respondents said that they believe socioeconomic discrimination is "very" serious, only 26 percent said the same of discrimin...

The author is a writer and senior fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

On the night of March 29, 1867, in Washington, a late visitor arrived at the home of Secretary of State William H. Seward, who served in the cabinet of President Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln's successor following his assassination. The guest was Eduard de Stoeckl, the Russian minister to the United States. Seward, who had been playing cards with his family, welcomed him despite the hour. It was time to conclude long-running negotiations over the sale of Alaska, which had begun even before the Civil War.

By 4 a.m. the next day, March 30, the two sides reached an agreement. Under a treaty drafted in English and French, Alaska became U.S. territory for $7.2 million, roughly two cents per acre.

At the time, the deal was widely derided in the United States as "Seward's Folly" or "Seward's Icebox." Public opinion was skeptical, and the vast, frozen land appeared to many as a costly mistake. It was not until after 1896, when gold and later oil and other natural resources were discovered in abundance, that ridicule gave way to celebration.

Securing congressional approval proved difficult. Stoeckl reportedly resorted to bribing members of Congress to ensure the treaty's passage in both chambers.

For Russia, the sale was a matter of strategic necessity. The empire lacked the capacity to defend Alaska, particularly against the threat posed by British-controlled Canada. Losing the territory to Britain without compensation was the worst possible outcome. Selling it to the United States, which was not then a principal rival, offered a way to secure revenue while avoiding that risk.

Had Russia retained Alaska, the course of Cold War history might have unfolded differently. Such speculation, however, remains hypothetical.

The mood at the time is captured in an April 9 edition of the New York Tribune, published on the day of the congressional vote. The paper wrote that maintaining a single naval vessel cost $1 million annually, and that killing one Native American on the Nebraska plains cost $115,000. By comparison, it suggested, each Native person in the newly acquired territory might effectively cost $300,000.

The Alaska Treaty was a product of the age of imperialism, when such chilling calculations could appear in print without controversy. In effect, the United States purchased from Russia what was understood as the right to conquer Alaska.

It is a moment from history that is difficult to imagine repeating today. That is why proposals such as President Donald Trump's suggestion to annex Greenland are widely criticized as anachronistic.

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.

Cha Se-hyeon

The author is an editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.

The United States' war against Iran is increasingly turning into a quagmire, with China and Russia emerging as unexpected beneficiaries. The conflict has once again exposed the limits of coordination among China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, often referred to as the "CRINKs." Although Iran, a central pillar of this alignment, is under attack, Beijing and Moscow have shown little willingness to provide active support. Their restrained posture mirrors earlier episodes, including the fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime in 2024 and the arrest of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro in January this year. Instead, both appear to be enjoying the strategic and economic windfall created by U.S. President Donald Trump's military gamble.

Iran, along with North Korea, has been one of Russia's most important backers in its war against Ukraine for more than four years. Once a major importer of Russian arms, Iran has since become a supplier. Beginning in the fall of 2022, Tehran provided Shahed drones to help compensate for Russia's shortage of precision-guided munitions. It also shared illicit trade networks, including a "shadow fleet" built over a decade to evade Western oil sanctions, helping sustain Russia's wartime economy. Bilateral trade between the two countries has more than doubled since the invasion of Ukraine, approaching $5 billion.

Yet Moscow has stopped short of providing Iran with the advanced fighter jets, air defense systems and precision-guided weapons it now urgently needs. Russia remains constrained by its own war in Ukraine. According to foreign media reports, its support has been limited to sharing intelligence on U.S. military assets in the Middle East and offering upgraded drone technology.

At the same time, Russia is benefiting from soaring energy prices. Iran's threats to close the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on energy infrastructure in Gulf states have pushed global oil prices higher. European Council President Antonio Costa has said that Russia may be the only clear winner of the Iran conflict. As Middle Eastern supply is disrupted and Western sanctions on Russian energy are effectively loosened, countries such as India and China are turning to Russian crude. The price of Russia's Urals oil, which averaged about $52 per barrel in January and February before the conflict, surged to between $70 and $80 in March. According to the Kyiv School of Economics, Russia is earning at least 970 billion won per day from oil and gas exports. With Gulf infrastructure damage expected to take years to repair, these gains could continue for some time.

The war is also straining U.S. military capacity. As American and European support for Ukraine declines, Russia's spring offensive is gaining momentum. The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is considering diverting weapons originally designated for Ukraine. These include air defense interceptors such as Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles, which had been ordered by NATO under its Priority Ukraine Requirements List program.

The scale of U.S. military expenditure underscores the strain. The Telegraph reported that in the first 16 days of the war, U.S. forces fired more than 11,000 munitions for $26 billion, or about 39 trillion won. This included 198 THAAD interceptors, 431 SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6 naval missiles, 402 Patriot missiles and 850 Tomahawk missiles. The Royal United Services Institute warned that if consumption continues at this pace, stockpiles of some critical weapons could be depleted within a month.

China, for its part, has maintained a formally neutral stance while voicing support for mediation efforts by countries such as Egypt, Türkiye and Pakistan. Yet Beijing is also reaping indirect benefits. A depletion of U.S. military inventories risks creating broader security gaps. Catherine Thompson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, warned that the Iran war could w...

Lee Hyun-sang

The author is a columnist at the JoongAng Ilbo.

The United States' war against Iran is sinking deeper into a quagmire. Washington, shaken by the economic shock, is searching for an exit but cannot find one easily. In just the first six days of the war, the cost reached $11.3 billion, or about 17 trillion won. That works out to nearly 33 million won every second. The Pentagon has asked for an emergency supplemental budget of $200 billion. The scenario Washington initially touted — a short campaign of precise strikes — has vanished.

At the base of this war lies President Donald Trump's trademark "art of the deal," a phrase associated with "The Art of the Deal" (1987). His method is clear: drive the other side to the extreme, generate fear, then force through the terms he wants. Its core elements are to overwhelm the opponent by thinking big, maximize unpredictability by widening options and seize the opponent's weak point through leverage. At the start of the war, the United States seemed to dominate the board by wiping out key figures in Iran's leadership.

But war has not moved according to Trump's calculations. He now appears trapped by the Strait of Hormuz and November's midterm elections. His repeated bluster, TACO-style retreats — a term used by critics to describe his tendency to make threats and then pull back at the last moment ("Trump Always Chickens Out") — and wavering moves have deepened doubts about his judgment.

Why does a method that worked in business reveal such sharp limits on the diplomatic stage? Business ends with a contract, but diplomacy is a more tangled process in which national interests, political legitimacy and domestic calculations are intertwined. At its core, Trump's style seeks immediate advantage in zero-sum fashion. Diplomatic negotiation, by contrast, aims for a plus-sum outcome that recognizes the other side's existence and seeks to avoid catastrophe. Even war is no exception. Carl von Clausewitz wrote that war is the continuation of politics by other means. By moving first to eliminate Iran's leadership, Trump may have made negotiation harder. Behind such decisions stands Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has strong incentives to prolong the war and thereby extend his political life.

The second reason is that the parties to a deal are different. In business, two chief executives can sign and finish the matter. In politics, however, countless outsiders — voters, public opinion, allies and international organizations — hold the power to determine success or failure. U.S. allies, worn down by Trump's unilateralism, have responded coolly, saying in effect that this is not their war. The problem returns to domestic politics. Trump seems to have taken too lightly the fact that most U.S. allies are democracies sensitive to public opinion.

A third factor is emotion, a variable that cannot be neatly calculated. Trump seems to have assumed that removing Iran's leadership would make victory easy. That was a misjudgment. In medieval European warfare, there was an unwritten rule that kings did not kill kings. The point was to leave an opposing side in place for negotiation. Rulers wished to avoid vengeance, uncontrolled escalation and the blurring of war's purpose. Trump's business instinct appears to have left no room for the pride of Iran, a regional power with a long imperial memory. The simple grammar of business does not work on the battlefield.

Even Trump's base inside the United States, the isolationist MAGA camp, is beginning to waver. These supporters backed him partly because they felt they had been losers in globalization. But they are losing patience as Trump's decisions begin to threaten their interests. To borrow the logic recently used by commentator Rhyu Si-min, who stirred controversy in Korea by dividing a political support base into A, B and C groups, the greatest dissatisfaction now appears to be growing not among value-driven core loyalists (A) but am...

As the Iran war shows signs of becoming prolonged, disruptions to global supply chains are spreading across the economy and industry. The impact extends beyond surging energy prices to growing concerns over shortages of raw materials and industrial inputs. For Korea, which relies heavily on imports of resources, the shock is direct and significant, with risks extending into manufacturing, logistics and daily consumption.

Pressure on fuel prices is intensifying. On Sunday, the third day of the government's second round of price controls, the average gasoline price in Seoul exceeded 1,900 won per liter. Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yun-cheol said that if international oil prices rise to between $120 and $130 per barrel, the current vehicle rationing system applied to public institutions could be expanded to the private sector as a contingency response.

Tensions are also rising in production. The most immediate concern is a shortage of naphtha, a key feedstock for plastics and other manufactured goods. Korea imports about 50 percent of its naphtha demand, with roughly 60 percent coming from the Middle East. Since the outbreak of the war, overall supply has declined by about 30 percent. Production disruptions are becoming visible across consumer goods, including food packaging, PET bottles and garbage bags, as well as medical plastics such as IV fluid bags and synthetic fibers, raising concerns across industries.

The semiconductor sector is also on edge. A strike on Qatar's liquefied natural gas facilities has raised concerns about helium supplies, an essential coolant in chip manufacturing. Korean companies have secured stockpiles lasting several months, but uncertainty is growing as Qatar accounts for about 30 percent of global helium supply. The disruption could ripple further, affecting food prices as well if fertilizer production costs rise.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the conflict, the government must prepare for worst-case scenarios with detailed and flexible responses. It should first assess demand across industries and firms to design precise plans for securing energy and raw materials. The government and businesses must act together to diversify supply chains and identify alternative sources while coordinating closely.

Clear communication is equally important. By providing transparent information, the government can help prevent panic buying and encourage voluntary energy conservation. Any expansion of the vehicle rationing system to private users should be carefully designed to minimize disruption for those who depend on cars for their livelihoods and essential daily activities nationwide.

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 Lee Jian and read by an artificial voice.

HONG KONG — A thunderous, synchronized applause erupted within the pristine, glass-walled confines of Christie's salesroom at The Henderson. The final gavel had fallen, punctuating an evening of high-stakes financial ballet.

In about 90 minutes, 37 lots were paraded, contested and hammered down, racking up a staggering $83.8 million. When combined with the subsequent day sales, Christie's 20th/21st Century Spring Sale series generated approximately $114 million in just 48 hours.

The evening sale, widely regarded as the main event, featured high-profile and historically significant works, including those by Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Claude Monet (1840-1926), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). It offered all the drama, tension and calculated art of capitalism's finest theater, where the boundary between cultural appreciation and raw acquisition became indistinguishable.

The performance began at 7 p.m. sharp on Friday. As the house lights dimmed and the hum of socialite chatter faded into a reverent hush, the stage was set. Adrien Meyer, Christie's Global Head of Private Sales, took the rostrum with the practiced poise of a seasoned conductor. He wasted no time, opening the night with "In the Excitement of Dying" (2022) by Li Hei Di, a Chinese artist still in her twenties.

The bidding for Li's work served as an immediate adrenaline shot to the room. Starting at 400,000 Hong Kong dollars ($51,110), the price climbed with dizzying speed. It became a public duel between a woman in the front row and a phalanx of specialists manning the telephones. In less than two minutes, the hammer fell at 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars. The tone was set: the room was hungry and wallets were open.

The momentum surged forward with the classics. Monet's "La Maison à travers les roses" (1925-26), a late-career masterpiece of light and color, rose from an opening bid of 10 million Hong Kong dollars to a final hammer price of 18.5 million Hong Kong dollars. But the evening's first true emotional peak arrived with Lot 7: van Gogh's "Meisje in het bosch (A Girl in a Wood)" (1883).

This was not the van Gogh of sun-drenched sunflowers or swirling starry nights, but a modest-sized oil on canvas from his early Dutch period depicting a dark, somber forest scene. Bidding opened at 5.5 million Hong Kong dollars and quickly narrowed to a tense standoff between an anonymous absentee bidder and a persistent voice on the telephone.

The tension in the room was a physical weight. The telephone bidder moved slowly, adding an extra million Hong Kong dollars with agonizing deliberation, seemingly securing the prize. Then, in a moment of pure theatrical timing, a third buyer jumped in at the final second via another telephone line. The audience let out a collective gasp as if it were watching a plot twist in a Broadway thriller. The piece hammered at 27 million Hong Kong dollars to the last surprise bidder.

Throughout the frenzy, Meyer maintained a calculated gravitas, even as he gestured toward the van Gogh with a salesman's flourish. The cognitive dissonance was jarring when he said, "The van Gogh, right here, could be yours," invoking the Dutch master's name as if it were a vintage Hermès Birkin.

The irony was impossible to ignore. This painting, with its muddy browns and heavy shadows, was van Gogh's tribute to the grueling reality of peasant life. He painted it while enduring extreme poverty, social isolation and the looming specter of mental collapse. Now, over a century later, it served as a high-status centerpiece for the global elite.

The prevailing atmosphere was that this — the spending of fortunes — is fun. While others might decompress with a beer or a musical, this demographic consumes art as an immersive show. The audience was a mix of the curious and the powerful, carefully segregated: the spectators in the back and the "players" with bidding paddles in the fro...

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

HONG KONG — A white-glove sale.

The auction jargon refers to the rare event that an auction sells 100 percent of its offered items, implying that because every object on sale found a buyer, the staff do not have to get their hands dirty returning them to storage.

And in that sense, no hands will be getting grimy after Christie's Hong Kong 20th/21st-century high-profile evening sale on Friday. Selling all of its 37 artworks, the result marks a robust start to the auction house's year in Asia and bolsters the hopeful narrative of the art market's comeback from its post-Covid slump.

The auction generated 655. 8 million Hong Kong dollars, or $83.8 million, including the buyer's premium. It is 17 percent higher than that of last year's same March sale.

"That was a magnificent auction on our 40th anniversary year in Hong Kong, selling through 100 percent. What a room that was. The energy was great," President of Christie's Asia Pacific, Rahul Kadakia, told reporters during the post-sale news conference at The Henderson in Central, Hong Kong, on Friday.

He also highlighted the hammer prices that were 117 percent above the low estimate — the minimum price the auction house expected the item to sell for — as not only an indicator of a successful Christie's sale but also a meaningful signal of a rebounding art market.

"Success of an auction also depends on how much better it does against the low estimate of the piece, and the fact that the sale was almost 120 percent higher against that estimate is a good sign of the healthiness of the market for clients paying above low estimates and actively chasing works of art at the auction," said Kadakia.

Gerhard Richter's "Abstraktes Bild," a 1991 scarlet abstract painting, led the sale at $11.8 million. One of 27 works in the namesake series, this is the second largest "Abstraktes Bild" that Richter created. Its sale on Friday was its auction debut, previously owned by Galerie Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert in Paris and subsequently acquired by a private collection in France in 1991 before being sold to an unnamed owner in 2015.

The painting did however sell about $255,000 below the low estimate on the hammer. "It was still a solid sale that we are happy about," responded Ada Tsui, head of the 20th/21st Century Art Department at Christie's Asia Pacific.

Sanyu's (1895-1966) "Cheval agenouillé sur un tapis" (1950s-60s), a nod to the Year of the Horse, realized $8.2 million after a heated competition on multiple telephones. The work was last seen in the market half a century ago, from the Lévy family — Sanyu's major patron — collection.

Walter Spies' (1895- 1942) Balinese landscape "Blick Von Der Höhe (A View From the Heights)" (1934) realized $7.6 million, breaking the artist's world auction record.

Korean artists Lee Ufan, Rhee Seund-ja (1918-2009) and Lee Bae were also included in the evening's lot.

Lee Ufan's "From Line" (1978), a meditative monochrome painting comprising 29 cobalt blue, vertical lines, fetched $1.27 million. Rhee's "Une anémone sauvage (A Wild Anemone)" (1962) was realized at $730,250 and Lee Bae's "Brushstroke-9F" (2023) at $308,329.

For the first time, an Old Master painting was included in the Hong Kong Evening Sale — a still-life by 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Goedaert (1617-1668) sold for $1.3 million, more than double the lowest estimate.

"It's the first time we're putting [an] Old Master in our sales, and I don't think it's going to be the last time," said Deputy Chairman, Head of Contemporary Art in the Asia Pacific, Cristian Albu.

The highlights of the following day sales on Saturday included Indonesian artist Christine Ay Tjoe's "...to See the White Land" (2012) realized at $2.2 million and Zao Wou-ki's (1920-2013) "18.03.63" (1963) realized at $1.9 million. Evening and day sales combined, Christie's Hong Kong sold through 94 percent of its lots and generated approximately $114 million.

Tsu...