Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea

Rather than appearing relaxed on the assumption that burdens to livelihoods will soon pass, the government should actively manage the risks and come up with closely tailored measures.

On Monday, President Lee Jae Myung presented an economic vision of making Korea a "global powerhouse in industries with overwhelming technological gaps" at a press conference. He also said he would unveil large-scale investment projects that would help discover and foster next-generation growth engines beyond semiconductors while ensuring the benefits of growth are broadly shared. This is a desirable direction at a time when our economy's potential growth rate is steadily declining. At the same time, the government should no longer delay and instead must move proactively on regulatory innovation and labor market reform, which are obstructing innovation and growth.

The problem is that the president's understanding of major economic issues — including the "three highs" of a strong dollar-won exchange rate, high inflation and high interest rates, as well as the jeonse (lump-sum deposit) housing shortage — gives the impression of being overly optimistic or fragmentary. President Lee said of the exchange rate situation, "It is true that it is high, but I believe it is temporary." He also said, "Rising stock prices have become the reason the exchange rate has risen." This is similar in context to recent remarks by presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom, who described the three highs as "the cost of success." It is true that the recent surge in the valuation of Korean stocks, which has led foreign investors to sell shares day after day in order to rebalance their portfolios, has been the direct trigger for the recent rise in the exchange rate.

But underlying the high exchange rate are also structural factors such as the prolonged gap in growth rates and interest rates between Korea and the United States, as well as increased overseas investment by companies.

Moreover, concerns are growing that the shock from the three highs could intensify in earnest as expectations build for a U.S. benchmark rate hike. With the semiconductor rally immediately losing steam, the Kospi plunged 8.29 percent on Monday, collapsing below the 7,500 level in one stroke. The drop was unusually steep compared with the fall in the market in Japan at 3.85 percent and Taiwan at 3.48 percent.

This reflects excessive concentration in semiconductors, along with a surge in debt-financed stock investing and leveraged investments by individuals that have heightened volatility. Yields on three-year and 10-year Korean Treasury bonds also rose to their highest levels of the year on Monday. Along with rising U.S. interest rates, President Lee's remarks are said to have had an impact as well. Regarding the use of excess tax revenue, President Lee said, "Having no government debt is not an absolute solution," which the market interpreted as meaning there was no intention to use the extra tax revenue to repay government bonds.

The overall direction of real estate policy, centered on regulations and taxes, also appears unlikely to change much. Regarding the jeonse crisis in particular, which has become a major problem, he said, "Jeonse is a kind of private finance, and it is now disappearing," adding, "A process of normalization is necessary." That may prove true in the long run, but it is questionable whether he fully recognizes the plight of ordinary homeless people who are in distress as jeonse prices soar and jeonse listings sharply decline.

The three highs and the jeonse crisis are livelihood issues that inflict particular pain on ordinary people. Rather than appearing relaxed on the assumption that burdens to livelihoods will soon pass, the government should actively manage the risks and come up with closely tailored measures.

Festival brought together 30 acts from Korea and Japan, including rookies Cortis, established groups like Le Sserafim and TWS and legends like Rain.

Boy band Cortis sent fans shouting "Go, go, go!" across KSPO Dome in a rush of rookie adrenaline, while Japanese girl group Cutie Street bounced across the stage in frilly skirts as festivalgoers cheered from the grass in the soft June air on Sunday.

Together, the two scenes captured what the 2026 Weverse Con Festival has become — a live showcase of how far K-pop powerhouse HYBE, as well as its fan platform operator Weverse, has expanded its scope.

The 2026 Weverse Con Festival took place at KSPO Dome and Olympic Park's 88 Lawn Field on Saturday and Sunday, drawing a combined 34,000 festivalgoers and online viewers through Weverse's livestream.

Hosted by HYBE, the festival first began as a New Year's Eve concert in 2021 before expanding into a hybrid concert in 2022 and, in 2023, into the Weverse Con Festival. It has since grown into a multi-artist event featuring not only HYBE acts and artists with fan communities on Weverse, but also performers beyond the platform's original K-pop base.

This year, 30 acts from K-pop and J-pop performed over the two-day run on both the outdoor stage at the 88 Lawn Field and the KSPO Dome. The festival's annual tribute stage — which has honored legendary K-pop artists every year such as JYP founder Park Jin-young in 2024 and singer BoA last year — was dedicated this time to singer Rain, the male vocalist who debuted in 1998 and became the first K-pop soloist to successfully complete a world tour spanning 12 countries.

On Sunday, the festival opened at 2 p.m. on the outdoor stage, where festivalgoers — some with their families — were scattered across the lawn, with food booths, photo zones and experience zones lined up behind them.

Japanese girl group Cutie Street brought its signature bubbliness to the stage immediately, appearing in instantly recognizable frilly dresses and oversized bows, with each member representing a different color.

Cutie Street's agency, Asobisystem, has been working with Weverse for its global ventures, with its idol production project Kawaii Lab., whose acts, including Cutie Street, have opened fan communities on the platform. Weverse Japan partnered with the Japanese production company to help broaden its international reach. Following the partnership, Cutie Street appeared on Korean music program "M Countdown" (2004–) in March, drawing more than 10 million views and going viral online.

"We're so grateful for the immense love that Korean fans have shown us," said Miyu Umeda, the member "responsible for the color light blue," wearing a light blue dotted dress and matching bow.

The lineup continued with aoen, a Japanese boy band launched by HYBE as part of its localization initiative, followed by Astro member Yoon San-ha, rock band Touched and singer-songwriter Kwon Jin-ah.

The night edition of the outdoor stage began at 6 p.m. with boy band AND2BLE, followed by BTOB's veteran vocalist Lee Chang-sub, before rapper Zico closed the stage. During Zico's set, singer Crush and rapper Haon made surprise guest appearances, drawing wild cheers from the crowd.

Meanwhile, another high-octane lineup unfolded at KSPO Dome, right next to the outdoor stage, starting at 6 p.m. The indoor set opened with boy band P1Harmony, making its second appearance at the festival and kicking off the night with a powerful, hip-hop-leaning live set.

Cortis, BigHit Music's latest rookie boy band, followed with deafening cheers from fans. The five-member act's chaotic, distinctive musical style immediately set it apart from more traditional K-pop boy bands, as the rookies jumped across the stage and freely drew shouts from the crowd.

Two other HYBE boy bands, TWS and &TEAM, took the stage next, each bringing a different kind of energy despite sharing the broader HYBE umbrella — TWS under Pledis Entertainment and &TEAM under HYBE Japan's YX Labels...

Can Korea call itself a cultural powerhouse when some of its largest public art institutions have gone years without running a single program accessible to disabled visitors? Can the arts sector truly be considered democratic and inclusive when certain people are routinely left out?

A few years ago, Chung Young-seok — a wheelchair user who lectures and researches arts management — went to Museum SAN in Wonju with a friend, the very place where another wheelchair user was denied entrance in April this year. They tried to enter the James Turrell hall, which houses one of only a handful of Turrell installations in the world.

There was an elevator, but just as he was about to hop in, a staff member came over and told them they couldn't ride it, without explaining why.

"I could understand if there were no facilities for the disabled at all," Chung said. "But to be told I couldn't use a facility that was already there — that felt like an entirely different problem. It made me realize this isn't about whether facilities exist. It's about how access is operated and how it's understood."

Korean museums face a gap between access and inclusion

Korean public art spaces often meet legal accessibility rules on paper, but many disabled visitors still cannot fully use them. A survey of major museums found that few offered sustained barrier-free programs, and many services were limited, temporary or hard to access.

One key issue is staffing, not just facilities. Museums need dedicated workers and better understanding of different disabilities so access becomes part of daily operations, not a response to public criticism.

This factbox was generated by Labrador AI and proof-read by a journalist.

Museum SAN is, by Gangwon's official designation, a barrier-free tourist site — wheelchair rentals included.

The episode, which Chung recounted after last month's incident that ignited a brief flurry of public attention, points to a broader conversation on accessibility that Korean arts institutions have not quite caught up to. The question is no longer whether ramps and elevators exist. They mostly do. The question is whether the access they imply actually works.

Law is there, but programs, less so

Korea has legally mandated accessibility at public buildings since 1998, when the Convenience Promotion Act was enacted, requiring public facilities to install ramps, accessible restrooms, tactile paving and similar fixtures. A barrier-free certification system, introduced in 2008, then layered a voluntary grading system on top of the act, evaluating buildings against more demanding criteria for everything from circulation paths to signage.

The Korea Disability Arts & Culture Center (KDAC) also administers a grant program that funds accessibility content and operations at public exhibition and performance spaces, with awards ranging from 50 million ($34,500) to 80 million won per institution for up to three years. This grant program has also expanded in the number of recipients, with six institutions receiving 500 million won in 2024 and 22 institutions receiving a total of 1.6 billion won this year.

The issue is that physical and programmatic accessibility move on separate tracks — one supported by the state, the other left to whatever budget an institution can find.

To get a sense of how this plays out, the Korea JoongAng Daily asked the country's 20 largest art museums by visitor count to share their accessibility programming over the past five years, as well as their staffing levels.

Of the 20 surveyed, 13 museums responded, and among them, only six could point to more than one exhibition over the past five years that was designated barrier-free from the start. The rest reported accessibility measures bolted onto otherwise standard programming — a sign-language caption here, a tactile catalog there, a braille leaflet at the gate. The National Museum of Korea, Busan Museum of Art and Daelim Museum were among those that did not give responses.

The poi...

Nvidia partnered with Korean chipmaker SK hynix to develop next-generation memory chips that will power Nvidia's AI infrastructure. SK's telecommunication arm, SK Telecom, will begin operating its first AI factory in 2027 on Nvidia's platform.

The two major deals were announced Monday following a morning meeting between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.

"SK is our largest memory partner," Huang told reporters after the meeting at SK's Seorin building in Jongno district, central Seoul. "We are expanding our partnership to include many new markets. [...] We announced a redesign, a reinvention of the world's personal computers we call RTX Spark, a partnership between us and Microsoft to reinvent the personal computer for the first time in 40 years, and that will have SK hynix inside.

"The next wave called physical AI and robotics — we built a processor called Jetson Thor, and that will have SK hynix inside."

The long-term partnership was struck to ensure a stable supply of advanced memory chips, which take years to design and bring to market, the companies said.

The deal is part of Nvidia's broader strategy to lock in formal partnerships across its entire semiconductor supply chain — the foundries that manufacture its chips, the memory suppliers, and the software companies that help design them.

Under the agreement, SK hynix and Nvidia will jointly develop memory for a wide range of Nvidia AI products, from data center supercomputers to consumer PCs and robotics systems — specifically the Vera Rubin AI supercomputer, Vera CPU, RTX Spark PC and Jetson Thor robotic computing platform.

SK hynix will also use Nvidia's software tools to speed up its internal chip development processes — work that traditionally requires enormous computing resources and time. This includes using Nvidia's CUDA-X software toolkit, which lets applications run much faster on Nvidia's chips, and PhysicsNeMo, an Nvidia framework that uses AI to simulate physical processes in chip manufacturing, such as how light interacts with a chip's surface during production.

The partnership will extend to electronic design automation — the software used to design chips — to form a three-way collaboration between chipmakers, Nvidia and the companies that make chip design software.

The two companies are also working together on digital twin technology to enable real-time AI monitoring and smarter decision-making on the production floor.

For SK Telecom, the focus is on building out AI factories: purpose-built facilities optimized for AI workloads, going beyond what conventional data centers can do. The first is expected to go online in Korea next year, built on Nvidia's DSX platform — a blueprint that covers everything from the chips inside to the software, power infrastructure, and operational systems.

"AI factories are essential for Korea's universities, scientific labs, startups and industries," Huang said. "Just like electricity, water and the internet, Korea will be powered by AI in the future. It will be used in every country, every company and every industry — including, of course, the manufacturing of chips and telecommunications."

SK Telecom will join Nvidia's Cloud Partner program, an ecosystem of companies that deliver AI computing services using Nvidia's infrastructure, with the goal of offering competitive pricing and energy efficiency.

SK Group and Nvidia will also launch a joint research & development (R&D) effort on AI factory architecture, establishing a working body focused on improving how GPUs and memory chips are designed to work together from the ground up.

"Through our close partnership with Nvidia, we have built full-stack AI infrastructure competitiveness spanning chips through data center operations," Chey said. "Beyond service delivery, we will jointly tackle challenges around GPUs, memory and energy — and emerge as a leading AI cloud provider driving AI ecosystem development across Asia."

The U.S. chip giant also un...

Chinese President Xi Jinping begins a two-day state visit to North Korea Monday, coinciding with the 65th anniversary of the Sino-North Korean friendship treaty. The summit is expected to focus on restoring bilateral ties and expanding economic and security cooperation.

Ahead of the visit, North Korea has intensified its display of nuclear capabilities. After inspecting nuclear material production facilities, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un continued a series of public appearances highlighting the country's nuclear and missile programs. On Sunday, his sister, Kim Yo-jong, declared that North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state was "an irreversible red line."

She also rejected reports that Beijing and Washington had reaffirmed their support for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during last month's U.S.-China summit, calling them "fabricated" and "groundless." The message appeared aimed not only at the United States but also at China, signaling that denuclearization is no longer open for discussion.

The situation differs markedly from Xi's previous visit to Pyongyang in 2019. Even after the collapse of the Hanoi summit between North Korea and the United States, Pyongyang did not entirely reject the framework of denuclearization negotiations. Today, however, the North's position is that the issue should not even be raised.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, North Korea has expanded its strategic room for maneuver through closer ties with Russia. Emboldened by that relationship, Pyongyang is pressing not only Washington but also Beijing to accept the reality of its nuclear arsenal.

China, for its part, has strong incentives to keep North Korea within its sphere of influence. Xi's visit could accelerate discussions on economic cooperation, logistics projects and port development. The concern is that the longstanding principle of denuclearization may receive less attention while new security uncertainties emerge in Northeast Asia and the East Sea region.

If China focuses primarily on managing relations with Pyongyang while effectively tolerating North Korea's nuclear development, prospects for resolving the nuclear issue will grow even dimmer. A shift from pursuing denuclearization to merely managing or freezing the North's nuclear program could amount to de facto recognition of its nuclear status.

The Korean government should closely analyze the outcome of the summit and actively engage diplomatic channels with Beijing. At the same time, it must maintain the Korea-U. S. alliance and trilateral security cooperation among Korea, the United States and Japan.

As North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities while cooperation among North Korea, China and Russia deepens, strong alliances and international coordination remain the most realistic foundation for safeguarding Korea's security. Xi's trip to Pyongyang must not become an occasion that legitimizes North Korea's pursuit of permanent nuclear weapons status.

'핵 포기 불가' 선언한 북한, 북·중 회담이 더 우려된다

시진핑 중국 국가주석이 오늘부터 이틀간 북한을 국빈 방문한다. 북·중 우호조약 체결 65주년과 맞물린 이번 방북은 북·중 동맹 복원과 경제·안보 협력 확대 방안을 논의하는 자리가 될 것으로 보인다.

시 주석의 방북을 앞두고 북한은 노골적인 핵 능력 과시에 나섰다. 김정은 국무위원장은 핵물질 생산시설 시찰을 시작으로 핵·미사일 능력을 과시하는 행보에 나섰고 어제는 "핵보유국 지위는 절대 불퇴의 한계선"이라고 한 김여정 노동당 부부장의 담화를 공개했다. 지난달 미·중 정상회담에서 한반도 비핵화 목표에 동의했다는 보도는 "완전한 날조이고 허황된 거짓 정보"라고 주장했다. 비핵화는 더 이상 논의의 대상이 아니라고 은근히 시 주석을 압박한 셈이다.

이는 2019년 시 주석 방북 당시와는 분명히 다르다. 당시 북한은 하노이 북·미 정상회담 결렬 이후에도 비핵화 협상의 틀을 완전히 부정하지는 않았다. 하지만 지금은 비핵화는 말조차 꺼내지 말라는 입장이다. 우크라이나 전쟁 이후 러시아와의 협력을 통해 전략적 입지를 넓힌 북한은 미국뿐 아니라 중국에도 핵무장 현실을 인정하라고 압박하고 있다. 북한을 자국 영향권에 묶어두려는 중국은 이번 방북을 계기로 경제 협력과 물류·항만 개발에 속도를 낼 가능성이 있다. 문제는 이 과정에서 한반도 비핵화 원칙이 뒷전으로 밀리고 동해 안보 환경에도 새로운 변수가 생길 수 있다는 점이다.

북한의 핵 개발을 사실상 묵인한 채 관계 관리에만 집중한다면 북핵 문제는 더욱 해결의 실마리를 찾기 어렵다. 중국이 비핵화보다 '핵 동결' 수준의 관리에 무게를 둘 경우 핵보유국 지위를 사실상 인정하는 결과로 이어질 수 있다는 점에서 우려가 크다.

정부는 이번 북·중 정상회담 결과를 면밀히 분석하고 중국과의 외교 채널을 적극 가동해야 한다. 동시에 한·미 동맹과 한·미·일 안보 협력을 흔들림 없이 유지해야 한다. 북한의 핵·미사일 능력이 고도화되고 북·중·러 협력이 강화되는 상황에서 우리...

Korean arts institutions struggle with accessibility despite legal requirements. Many disabled visitors face barriers due to lack of effective programming, insufficient staff and inadequate understanding of diverse needs, raising questions about inclusivity.

A few years ago, Chung Young-seok — a wheelchair user who lectures and researches arts management — went to Museum SAN in Wonju with a friend, the very place where another wheelchair user was denied entrance in April this year. They tried to enter the James Turrell hall, which houses one of only a handful of Turrell installations in the world.

There was an elevator, but just as he was about to hop in, a staff member came over and told them they couldn't ride it, without explaining why.

"I could understand if there were no facilities for the disabled at all," Chung said. "But to be told I couldn't use a facility that was already there — that felt like an entirely different problem. It made me realize this isn't about whether facilities exist. It's about how access is operated and how it's understood."

Museum SAN is, by Gangwon's official designation, a barrier-free tourist site — wheelchair rentals included.

The episode, which Chung recounted after last month's incident that ignited a brief flurry of public attention, points to a broader conversation on accessibility that Korean arts institutions have not quite caught up to. The question is no longer whether ramps and elevators exist. They mostly do. The question is whether the access they imply actually works.

Law is there, but programs, less so

Korea has legally mandated accessibility at public buildings since 1998, when the Convenience Promotion Act was enacted, requiring public facilities to install ramps, accessible restrooms, tactile paving and similar fixtures. A barrier-free certification system, introduced in 2008, then layered a voluntary grading system on top of the act, evaluating buildings against more demanding criteria for everything from circulation paths to signage.

The Korea Disability Arts & Culture Center (KDAC) also administers a grant program that funds accessibility content and operations at public exhibition and performance spaces, with awards ranging from 50 million ($34,500) to 80 million won per institution for up to three years. This grant program has also expanded in the number of recipients, with six institutions receiving 500 million won in 2024 and 22 institutions receiving a total of 1.6 billion won this year.

The issue is that physical and programmatic accessibility move on separate tracks — one supported by the state, the other left to whatever budget an institution can find.

To get a sense of how this plays out, the Korea JoongAng Daily asked the country's 20 largest art museums by visitor count to share their accessibility programming over the past five years, as well as their staffing levels.

Of the 20 surveyed, 13 museums responded, and among them, only six could point to more than one exhibition over the past five years that was designated barrier-free from the start. The rest reported accessibility measures bolted onto otherwise standard programming — a sign-language caption here, a tactile catalog there, a braille leaflet at the gate. The National Museum of Korea, Busan Museum of Art and Daelim Museum were among those that did not give responses.

The point isn't to rank. The point is that institutions cannot agree on what counts as an accessibility program in the first place. Even accounting for differences in terminology and reporting methods, most institutions appeared to rely on exhibition-specific or auxiliary accessibility measures rather than long-term operational structures.

A 2024 survey by the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture found that 64.5 percent of disabled residents in the city had not visited a cultural venue in the past year, against 23.9 percent of the general public — a gap that doesn't show up in any single museum's program count, but is the backdrop aga...

Boy band BoyNextDoor built its discography on being close enough to knock.

Three years after debuting as K-pop's boys next door, the six-member group is ready to let listeners in with its first full-length album, "Home" — a milestone that looks back on the shelter it has built so far, but with an unmistakably candid ambition to go "Viral."

"This album carries our own story of leaving our previous home and finding a new one," said member Woonhak during a roundtable interview with journalists in eastern Seoul on Friday.

"We've built a home, a shelter for ourselves, so I hope the album can also become a place where both casual listeners and our fans can rest and feel comfortable," he added with a smile.

BoyNextDoor debuted in May 2023 with the single "WHO!" under KOZ Entertainment, a HYBE-owned label founded by rapper-producer Zico, with members Myung Jae-hyun, Sungho, Riwoo, Taesan, Leehan and Woonhak.

The group built its musical narrative and brand around the members' famously energetic, mischievous personalities, befitting its name BoyNextDoor. The sextet is best known for upbeat, easy-listening hits like "If I say I love you" (2025).

But this time, the mood has shifted — into something more chic, serious and sometimes vulnerable.

"Home," set to be released on Monday, features eight songs: the lead track, "Viral," a prerelease "ddok ddok ddok," and B-sides, "06070," "Adios!," "Upside Down," "Dive," "Forever You," and "I Wonder." The physical album will include an additional track, "I Wonder, Always," which samples "I Wonder." All six members are credited for songwriting and lyrics for the album.

The genuine slice of BoyNextDoor's inner thoughts revealed in the lead track, "Viral," is simple and clear: the group wants its music to go viral, all around the world, until its melodies echo in everyone's head.

"What we really wanted to say as a team was that we hope this song keeps lingering in the ears of people all around the world," said Myung. "So we decided to incorporate our desire to become famous into a more general narrative about love."

The song "Viral" marks a clear departure from BoyNextDoor's previous singles, with a more toned-down, quieter yet intense mood and a longer running time than usual.

"We've indeed wanted to do something different," said Woonhak. "And in a way, I also thought coming up with something different is in itself very BoyNextDoor-coded."

Some songs still carry the group's signature youthful charm and cheek, he said, but the members wanted the lead single to align with the overall concept of the new album, which leans on serious sincerity — especially so because the album marks the completion of the group's first chapter, before it moves to the next chapter, according to the members.

"One thing we talked about a lot among ourselves during the album-making process was that we wanted to make an album that we could listen to and remind ourselves of our original mindset if 20 or 30 years pass after our debut and we ever lose sight of where we started," said Myung.

"So we focused on people who are most precious to us, and the things we consider most essential, which led us to consider this album as a closure of our first chapter."

True to his words, the tracklist for "Home" leads listeners into some of the members' innermost thoughts and most cherished memories. The first track, "06070," takes its title from the old postal code of the training room where the members practiced as trainees, while "Forever You" is a tribute to their parents and the sincere love they have received from them. The album closes with "I Wonder," a fan song for the group's fandom, OneDoor, which, according to the members, represents the destination — the home — where the journey ends.

Fresh off celebrating its third debut anniversary, the group still has much it wants to achieve, explore and say.

"I've been told that babies begin to speak in earnest when they turn three," Myung said. "There are so many things I want to tel...

North Korea's nighttime illumination has increased significantly, reflecting Kim Jong-un's prioritization of key areas for political control.

[A STUDY OF KIM JONG-UN 1]

Feb. 28, 2019, is a day North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will never forget. It is the date of the "no deal Hanoi summit," in which U.S. President Donald Trump walked out of negotiations in Vietnam, an insult the North Korean leader had never experienced before. Could Kim himself have ever imagined that, just over six years later, he would stand shoulder to shoulder with the leaders of China and Russia at the viewing gallery of Tiananmen Square in Beijing in September last year?

Kim's elevated strategic status is a reality. He is no longer in a hurry. Even if Trump sends another overture, his new position would be to casually ignore it. How did the young leader of Northeast Asia's poorest nation, once treated merely as a joke, reach his current position? What choices did Kim make to overcome the failure of the Hanoi summit, and how has North Korea changed as a result of those choices? How has this change altered South Korea's security environment? We must now deal with a Kim of a different caliber. That is why we must study him now. - Ed.

"Let us conserve even a single watt of electricity to the utmost and manage the nation's affairs with painstaking frugality and discipline."

Those words came from North Korea leader Kim Jong-un's New Year's address on Jan. 1, 2014. At the time, the young leader, then about 30 years old, was grappling with North Korea's chronic electricity shortages. A pledge he had reportedly made before taking power — to ensure that people could "eat white rice and meat soup within three years" in 2010 — had already faded from reality.

During the winter of 2014 and 2015, Pyongyang experienced one of its worst blackout crises in years. Foreign media reports said that even diplomatic residential areas suffered such low voltage that household appliances would not function, and tap water remained cold.

Although impossible to independently verify, stories also circulated that officials had been instructed to use desk lamps instead of ceiling lights, while defectors testified that lights illuminating statues of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung would frequently go dark during power outages.

Yet, only days after Kim Jong-un called for a nationwide campaign of austerity, North Korean state media introduced the state-run Songyong Lighting Research Institute, tasked with creating "artistic nightscapes of lights" in Pyongyang and elsewhere. The institute was originally established by his father, the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, but Kim Jong-un elevated its status and renamed it "Songyong," meaning a mystical landscape. What Kim ultimately wanted to perfect with such meticulous management was a brightly illuminated Pyongyang whose dazzling lights would never go out.

Though its capital could not yet be illuminated so brilliantly, this was also the period when projects such as the construction of Mirae Scientists Street in Pyongyang accelerated, and diplomats stationed in the capital began informally referring to the city as "Pyonghattan," a portmanteau of Pyongyang and Manhattan. At the same time, however, newly built high-rise apartment towers often couldn't operate their elevators due to electricity shortages, leading residents to avoid upper floors.

More than a decade later, Kim's vision now appears closer to reality. A joint research team led by professors Kim Ji-hee, an economics professor at KAIST, and Cha Mee-young, a professor at KAIST's School of Computing, in collaboration with Germany-based Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, analyzed satellite data to measure nighttime illumination levels across North Korea's cities, counties and districts. Their findings suggest that North Korea's nights have changed.

But behind the brighter lights lies an uncomfortable reality. In a country where most regions remain dark like a vast blac...

Chinese President Xi Jinping begins a two-day state visit to North Korea Monday, coinciding with the 65th anniversary of the Sino-North Korean friendship treaty. The summit is expected to focus on restoring bilateral ties and expanding economic and security cooperation.

Ahead of the visit, North Korea has intensified its display of nuclear capabilities. After inspecting nuclear material production facilities, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un continued a series of public appearances highlighting the country's nuclear and missile programs. On Sunday, his sister, Kim Yo-jong, declared that North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state was "an irreversible red line."

She also rejected reports that Beijing and Washington had reaffirmed their support for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during last month's U.S.-China summit, calling them "fabricated" and "groundless." The message appeared aimed not only at the United States but also at China, signaling that denuclearization is no longer open for discussion.

The situation differs markedly from Xi's previous visit to Pyongyang in 2019. Even after the collapse of the Hanoi summit between North Korea and the United States, Pyongyang did not entirely reject the framework of denuclearization negotiations. Today, however, the North's position is that the issue should not even be raised.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, North Korea has expanded its strategic room for maneuver through closer ties with Russia. Emboldened by that relationship, Pyongyang is pressing not only Washington but also Beijing to accept the reality of its nuclear arsenal.

China, for its part, has strong incentives to keep North Korea within its sphere of influence. Xi's visit could accelerate discussions on economic cooperation, logistics projects and port development. The concern is that the longstanding principle of denuclearization may receive less attention while new security uncertainties emerge in Northeast Asia and the East Sea region.

If China focuses primarily on managing relations with Pyongyang while effectively tolerating North Korea's nuclear development, prospects for resolving the nuclear issue will grow even dimmer. A shift from pursuing denuclearization to merely managing or freezing the North's nuclear program could amount to de facto recognition of its nuclear status.

The Korean government should closely analyze the outcome of the summit and actively engage diplomatic channels with Beijing. At the same time, it must maintain the Korea-U. S. alliance and trilateral security cooperation among Korea, the United States and Japan.

As North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities while cooperation among North Korea, China and Russia deepens, strong alliances and international coordination remain the most realistic foundation for safeguarding Korea's security. Xi's trip to Pyongyang must not become an occasion that legitimizes North Korea's pursuit of permanent nuclear weapons status.

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.

A teenager who discovers BTS today may grow up to book trips to Seoul, buy Korean products and carry a favorable image of Korea well into adulthood.

That is the long-term bet behind a recent analyst report from NH Investment & Securities, which argued that young BTS fans could eventually translate their fandom into lasting economic gains for Korea, enough to buoy the country's GDP decades from now.

There is a precedent nearby, which may at first sound ambitious. Japan spent decades turning anime, manga, games and characters into soft power, as generations raised on Nintendo, Pokémon and Studio Ghibli grew into adults who feel Japan is familiar and culturally close to them.

Now, Korea is facing a similar moment, but one question remains: Can BTS — and K-pop, more broadly — build the kind of generational longevity that Japanese pop culture has enjoyed so far?

'K-imprinted' generation

The NH Investment & Securities report, released May 24, projected that BTS's global fandom, collectively known as ARMY, could boost Korea's annual GDP by 0.1 to 0.35 percentage points through increased tourism by 2040. The estimate is based partly on the demographic composition of the fandom, as a 2022 fan-conducted census cited by the report found that 84 percent of global ARMY members were under 29, suggesting that many are still years away from their prime earning and spending years.

The argument is primarily built on the premise of the cohort effect — the idea that cultural preferences formed in youth can shape spending behavior later in life.

In fandom economies, the report argues, demand created by specific artists can extend well beyond albums and concerts, altering a fan's broader consumer path. It divided fandom consumption into four stages: imprinting, fandom activation, peak consumption and legacy consumption, with each stage roughly a decade apart.

For BTS, the report argued, the imprinting stage took place through the early and mid-2020s, while the fandom activation stage is now beginning. If that trajectory holds, BTS-related consumption could peak in the 2030s, when these fans will have greater purchasing power.

"Because the K-fandom age group is still concentrated among teens and people in their 20s, with relatively low income levels, the degree to which fandom consumption may affect GDP remains limited," noted Jung Yeo-kyung, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities and the report's primary author. "In the 2030s, when the K-imprinted generation gains purchasing power and returns to Korea, the impact of the K-fandom economy on GDP is expected to become more visible."

'Cool Japan' strategy

One of the clearest examples of pop culture shaping a generation's perception of a country is Japan, whose global image has long been defined partly by its pop culture including anime, manga, games and character franchises.

Japanese pop culture established its commercial presence overseas in the 1980s and 1990s through cult anime such as "Dragon Ball" (1986) and "Akira" (1988), as well as video games from Nintendo, including its first major home console game, "Super Mario Bros.," launched in 1984, and "The Legend of Zelda" in 1986. The momentum continued into the 2000s with enduring intellectual property (IP) including Pokémon.

Japan later incorporated this cultural impact into its "Cool Japan" strategy in the 2000s, after decades of anime, manga and games made the country feel familiar to global audiences. That soft power pulled in economic value as well, as spending by foreign visitors quadrupled over the past decade through 2024 — also partly fueled by a weak yen — making tourism the country's second-largest export category after cars.

"Countries with export-oriented industrial structures have been making efforts not only to build their national images but also to commercialize their nations alongside their products," wrote Kang Sung-woo, a research professor of foreign affairs at Chung-Ang University, in his 2016 paper "'Cool Japan' as Ja...