Korea JoongAng Daily - Daily News from Korea

Chief Justice Jo Hee-de on Thursday publicly expressed strong concern over the ruling party's push for a package of judicial reform bills, an unusual step that underscores the judiciary's deep unease.

His remarks came one day after the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee approved two key measures — a constitutional complaint system against court rulings and a plan to increase the number of Supreme Court justices — following an earlier proposal in December of last year to amend the Criminal Act to punish judges and prosecutors for distorting the law. The ruling party has reiterated its intention to pass the bills at a plenary session within the month.

It is rare for a sitting chief justice to issue a public statement on pending legislation. The decision reflects the judiciary's view that the proposed reforms could significantly affect the constitutional order.

Among the measures, the constitutional complaint bill has drawn persistent controversy over its legality. Article 101 of the Constitution stipulates that judicial authority rests with the courts and designates the Supreme Court as the highest court. Under the current system, Supreme Court rulings are final, and their outcomes cannot be challenged before another body outside the judiciary, including the Constitutional Court.

Allowing constitutional complaints against Supreme Court decisions would effectively create a fourth level of trial beyond the existing three-tier system. Supporters of the bill cite Germany's constitutional complaint system as a model. However, Germany's Basic Law explicitly provides for such a mechanism, whereas Korea's Constitution contains no comparable provision, making the proposal vulnerable to constitutional challenge.

Beyond the legal debate, Jo's warning that the measure could cause "serious harm to the public" merits particular attention. If constitutional complaints are allowed, litigants would face an additional stage in the judicial process, increasing legal costs and delaying the final resolution of disputes.

Similar concerns have been raised by legal figures across the ideological spectrum, including former Acting Constitutional Court President Moon Hyung-bae and former Supreme Court Justice Kim Seok-soo. Their views suggest that the issue extends beyond partisan divisions and reflects broader institutional concerns.

Jo emphasized that the three judicial reform bills involve "a fundamental pillar of the Constitution and the national order" and should be decided only after sufficient public discussion and deliberation. At present, however, it is difficult to conclude that such a process has taken place.

The ruling party should avoid a rapid legislative push driven by political urgency or pressure from core supporters. Instead, it should listen to diverse perspectives and create a forum for careful public debate.

Judicial reform is not a matter that can be approached from the perspective of political advantage or party strategy. It concerns the constitutional framework and the principle of separation of powers. Ensuring that any reform strengthens, rather than destabilizes, that foundation is essential for maintaining public trust in the justice system and democratic governance.

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 Michael Lee and read by an artificial voice.

Passengers crowd around a staircase on a railway platform after disembarking from a train at Seoul Station on Feb. 12, as travel surges ahead of the five-day Lunar New Year holiday period that begins on Feb. 14.

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

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has kicked off mass production of its sixth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM4) chips, becoming the first in the industry to do so and started shipments to major customers including Nvidia ahead of rival SK hynix.

The Suwon, Gyeonggi-based chipmaker has initially planned to begin mass shipments shortly after Korea's Lunar New Year holiday, which runs through Wednesday. However, the timeline was moved up by about a week following discussions with customers.

HBM4 was developed using Samsung's latest 10-nanometer-class 1c dynamic random access memory (DRAM) process. The company said the new process achieved stable yields and industry-leading performance from the outset without requiring redesigns.

"Instead of taking the conventional path of utilizing existing proven designs, Samsung took the leap and adopted the most advanced nodes like the 1c DRAM and 4-nanometer logic process for HBM4," said Hwang Sang-joon, executive vice president and head of memory development at Samsung Electronics. "By leveraging our process competitiveness and design optimization, we are able to secure substantial performance headroom, enabling us to satisfy our customers' escalating demands for higher performance, when they need them."

Samsung said its HBM4 delivers the industry's highest processing speed of 11.7 gigabits per second (Gbps), 46 percent above the current industry standard of 8 Gbps and 22 percent faster than maximum 9.6 Gbps pin speed of its predecessor, HBM3E.

Performance can be further boosted to 13 Gbps to help ease data bottlenecks that intensify as AI models grow larger and more complex.

The 12-layer HBM4 offers capacities ranging from 24 gigabytes (GB) to 36 GB. The lineup will later be expanded to include 16-layer versions with up to 48 GB, in line with customer production schedules.

Compared with HBM3E, total memory bandwidth per stack has nearly tripled to a maximum of 3.3 terabytes per second. Power efficiency improved by 40 percent through the use of low-voltage through-silicon via (TSV) technology and optimized power distribution networks. Thermal resistance increased by 10 percent, while heat dissipation improved by 30 percent.

Samsung said it is consistently receiving supply requests from global hyperscalers that design their own customized AI chips and plans to deepen technological collaboration with those clients.

HBM revenue this year is expected to triple compared with last year, driven by strong AI-driven memory demand. The company is expanding production capacity and plans to begin manufacturing HBM chips at its P5 facility in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, from 2028.

Samsung is also preparing to ship samples of next-generation HBM4E in the second half of this year, with customized HBM products scheduled for release in 2027. Custom HBM refers to memory tailored to a customer's AI accelerator or GPU architecture, with specifications — including capacity, speed, power characteristics and interface — designed to meet specific requirements.

"The quality and supply stability secured through the 1c process in the mass production of HBM4 are expected to serve as key advantages as the company transitions to higher-value products, including HBM4E and custom HBM variants," a Samsung Electronics spokesperson said in a statement.

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

Hyundai Glovis said Thursday it will apply its AI-based stowage planning system to car carrier vessels, a move the company says could cut planning time by over 90 percent.

Stowage planning refers to the process of determining how cargo is arranged on a vessel to maximize efficiency and safety in advance, which is particularly complex for car carriers. Each ship can load more than 6,000 vehicles at a time, yet internal layouts vary widely and cargo composition shifts with every voyage.

The newly introduced system digitally maps the interior of a car carrier by segmenting decks and zones in granular detail, capturing structural constraints within a comprehensive data model.

Once operators input variables such as vehicle type, volume and port sequence, the algorithm automatically generates an optimized loading configuration.

Hyundai Glovis' AI evaluates whether vehicle pathways are obstructed, checks height and weight limitations and ensures alignment with unloading schedules at intermediate ports. The goal is to prevent logistic bottlenecks — for instance, when cars destined for an earlier stop are blocked by vehicles bound for a later port, forcing crews to unload and reload large volumes of cargo and resulting in costly delays.

"We confirmed that it demonstrates safety and efficiency levels comparable to plans devised by experienced experts, while cutting planning time roughly in half," a spokesperson for Hyundai Glovis said. "Further refinements could reduce planning time by more than 90 percent."

Hyundai Glovis plans to roll out the AI-powered system across its entire fleet of car carriers in phases.

This article is by Jin Eun-soo and read by an artificial voice.

The festival, according to Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young, will include "every artist from all agencies in Korea" and will be held in Korea at the end of 2027.

"The Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange is working on it," Chae said in a press conference held Thursday to mark six months of his appointment.

The presidential committee dedicated to fostering Korea's popular culture launched in October last year and is co-chaired by Minister Chae and JYP founder Park Jin-young.

"As you all know, K-pop artists' schedules for this year and next year are mostly filled up. The committee is also discussing holding various K-culture-related events at concert venues overseas where K-pop artists are scheduled to hold concerts. It could be something like Korea House, Korea Arena or Korea Stadium."

The minister also pledged full-fledged support for the upcoming BTS performance in Gwanghwamun next month.

"There are a lot of things to do considering safety due to the expected crowds, and we are discussing it with HYBE," Chae said. HYBE is BTS's agency.

"A lot of tourists from abroad will come to Korea because of this performance, and we want them to have a good time here and make good memories. In order to make that happen, a lot of preparation should be done."

Chae took a cautious stance on progress toward lifting of China's unofficial ban on Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, which has been in place since 2016.

In recent months, there have been signs of thawing relations, such as the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange co-chair Park seen speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping next to Korean President Lee Jae Myung during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation last year in Korea. Dream Concert, one of Korea's longest-running K-pop concerts, was scheduled to be held in Hong Kong and aired across mainland China by a state-run broadcaster. However, earlier this month, the concert was indefinitely postponed less than a week before the event, and the thawing progress came to a halt.

"We are working to establish an atmosphere of trust with China," Chae said. "We are doing it in a way that's understandable and not uncomfortable."

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

Korea's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo on Thursday stressed the need for the swift passage of a pending trade and investment bill to de-risk U.S. tariff hikes, saying that nontariff issues, including digital regulations, should not stand in the way of reaching a bilateral trade agreement.

"[Digital regulations] are not something to worry about," Yeo said when pressed by Korean reporters on how much nontariff issues have affected the stalled negotiations.

He made the remarks at a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (Amcham) at the Grand Hyatt Seoul hotel in central Seoul, which was attended by more than 110 Amcham members, including corporate executives and stakeholders seeking to deepen bilateral economic cooperation.

"Ultimately, we just need to faithfully implement what we agreed to in the joint fact sheet. As long as we proceed steadily and stably, that should be sufficient."

Yeo's comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Korean goods to 25 percent from the previously agreed 15 percent, citing concerns that Seoul has been slow to pass legislation enabling a pledged $350 billion investment in the United States.

In Korea, the ultimatum has fueled speculation that Washington's stance may also reflect pent-up frustration over Seoul's tighter oversight of U.S. tech firms — including a probe into the Coupang data breach — as well as broader digital policy measures aimed at curbing misinformation and preventing market dominance by online platforms.

In response to U.S. pressure, the National Assembly recently established a bipartisan special committee to fast-track the investment bill, giving lawmakers a 30-day mandate to pass it by March 9.

In his opening address, Yeo emphasized the government's commitment to honoring the trade deal.

"The Korean government is strongly committed to implementing the agreed outcome for the tariff negotiations in order to ensure stability of the Korea-U.S. trade and investment relations," Yeo said in his opening remarks. "We are making every effort to see the [trade bill] enacted as soon as possible. We are also working closely with our counterpart to implement the follow-up measures, including nontariff issues outlined in the Korea-U.S. joint fact sheet."

Amcham Chairman James Kim expressed optimism that the two sides could reach an amicable resolution.

"Through Amcham's annual business environment inside report, we have seen tangible progress with approximately 40 percent of the issues that Amcham has raised," Kim said. "But we have 60 percent left […] So we look forward to sustaining this momentum on reducing nontariff barriers."

After the opening remarks, the rest of the event took place behind closed doors. Participants are understood to have discussed recent shifts in the global trade environment, Korea's policy direction, bilateral investment cooperation, and ways to improve conditions for foreign direct investment in Korea.

This article is by Jin Eun-soo and read by an artificial voice.

The state-run museum has joined forces with K-pop girl group Blackpink to celebrate the quartet's upcoming EP "Deadline" set to drop on Feb. 27.

The exterior of the museum, located in Yongsan District, central Seoul, and its outdoor plaza will beam with Blackpink's signature shade of pink during the event period starting from Feb. 27 to March 8.

A listening zone will be set up at the Path to History, located in the east wing of the museum, where all five tracks of the new album will be available for visitors to enjoy. The track list includes pre-release song "JUMP," title track "GO," as well as "Me and my," "Champion," and "Fxxxboy."

For reservation-only, a pre-listening session will be held a day prior on Feb. 26 after the museum closes. Reservation will be available on Naver from Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. The official listening session starting on Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. can be enjoyed by anyone visiting the museum.

An audio guide recorded by the four members on eight select artifacts at the museum will also become available.

The National Museum of Korea, which greeted a record-breaking 6.5 million visitors last year, has been expanding its approach to foreign visitors in various ways and one of them has been collaborating with K-pop stars.

Korean singer Woodz filmed a live performance in front of the stela of King Gwanggaeto the Great at the National Museum of Korea upon his comeback last year.

"The National Museum of Korea will continue to expand the possibilities of the 'K-museum' concept through various collaborations as an open institution that can communicate with global citizen transcending generation and borders."

The author is a research professor of Big Data Innovation Convergence College at Seoul National University and head of AI Center at DLG Law Firm.

Global financial markets witnessed an unprecedented shock on Feb. 3, described by some as a "SaaS-pocalypse," or the collapse of the software-as-a-service model.

Just three weeks after Anthropic unveiled its AI agent service Claude CoWork, the combined market value of global software companies fell by $285 billion. The decline reflected growing concern that AI had entered a stage where it could replicate and operate other AI systems, undermining pricing models based on the number of human users.

CoWork represents the arrival of autonomous agents that can access user systems, read and modify files and execute tasks. AI is no longer a support tool but an operational actor capable of judgment and action.

The impact was most visible in the legal sector. Shares of Thomson Reuters fell 15.83 percent in a single day while LegalZoom dropped 19.7 percent, signaling a structural shift in knowledge-based industries.

Traditional legal technology focused on the "how," such as in case searches or document editing. CoWork-based legal plug-ins, however, have pushed the value of routine legal labor close to zero. By providing open-source rule files in formats such as JSON or Markdown, AI agents can automate more than 90 percent of junior lawyers' tasks almost instantly.

Even a simple update of a company's legal playbook allows AI to review contracts, flag risky clauses using a traffic light system and propose specific revisions with practical alternatives.

AI is now both a platform reshaping industries and a solutions provider. What remains as a human competitive advantage is originality and philosophy. This idea is similar to the concept behind the Netflix series "Culinary Class Wars" (2024-), a creative cooking competition where success depends not only on technique but also on each chef's philosophy and creative vision. AI can generate the optimal recipe, but the reason for creating a dish and the values it conveys come from the chef's worldview.

In the future, law firms will need to sell not precise wording but a vision of justice. When legal strategy begins with the question, "What does this ruling leave for our society?" AI becomes an engine that implements that philosophy.

Organizations focused only on execution risk falling behind. Those that provide judgment, trust and value will endure. In this period of disruption, the winners will be those who design strategy, purpose and meaning.

History offers a parallel. In 1638, Crown Prince Sohyeon of Joseon (1612–1645) reflected on why a new civilization was needed when his country was preoccupied with neo-Confucian formalities. Today, society needs leaders who, like him, ask why before how.

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.

Lee Ji-young

The author is a Culture and Sports news editor at the JoongAng Ilbo.

After a long hiatus, BTS is set to return with a new album titled "Arirang." Beginning with a concert at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on March 21, which will be streamed live on Netflix, the group will embark on a world tour covering 34 cities. The traditional folk song Arirang is entering the global pop stage as contemporary content intellectual property. For Arirang, it marks another crossing — from a national song to a global one.

Arirang is not the title of a single composition but a general term for songs that share refrains such as "Arirang" or "Arari." Its origins are unknown and there is no single original version. Over generations and across regions, countless variations of lyrics and melodies have emerged. This fluidity is the source of Arirang's vitality. Themes of separation and longing, resignation and resistance, solidarity and hope have been layered over time, turning Arirang into an emotional language for Koreans.

The song was also part of everyday life. It was sung at work, on the road and at gatherings and farewells. In 1896, American missionary Homer Hulbert, who first transcribed the melody, wrote that Arirang was "as essential as rice" to Koreans. A record in "Maecheon Yarok" (early 20th century), a historic chronicle by Hwang Hyeon, notes that King Gojong summoned entertainers to perform Arirang in the palace in 1894. Variants such as Jeongseon Arirang, Miryang Arirang and Jindo Arirang show how widely the song spread across the peninsula.

A nationwide version emerged largely through the success of the film "Arirang" (1926), directed by Na Woon-gyu. The story follows a student driven mad by torture after the March 1, 1919 Independence Movement. After killing a landlord who attempts to assault his sister, he is arrested and taken away by Japanese police. As he is led over Arirang Hill, villagers sing the song, which came to symbolize national grief and the longing for independence. Although the original film has been lost, recordings from the 1930s preserved the song's sound and helped standardize its melody.

Through liberation, division and war, Arirang's meaning expanded. For separated families and overseas Koreans, it became a song of diaspora and memory. At international sporting events, it has also served as a symbolic anthem when athletes from the two Koreas marched together.

In contemporary arts, Arirang functions as a cultural vessel capable of holding different emotions and narratives. The musical "Mongyudowon" (2025), now being performed at the National Theater of Korea, uses three variations of the melody to express sorrow, determination and ultimately joy. In the long-running musical "Hero" (2009), the song appears in a moment of humor, as independence fighters sing and dance while awaiting a life-and-death confrontation.

This emotional range is possible because Arirang does not impose a fixed message — Its open structure allows performers and audiences to attach their own meanings. When Unesco inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012, it cited the song's diversity and adaptability.

BTS's reinterpretation marks another turning point. This is not simply a revival of tradition. Arirang is becoming a song that can enter global playlists and potentially the Billboard charts. Once shared within communities, it is now positioned to circulate within the global music industry.

The Scottish song "Auld Lang Syne" (1788) offers a useful comparison. Known worldwide as a New Year's anthem of remembrance, it demonstrates how a traditional melody can gain global cultural recognition.

Yet BTS's Arirang differs in that it enters the core of the global pop industry. It represents a rare case in which a traditional folk song becomes a cultural asset within a modern commercial music market.

The transformation also brings challenges. Without historic context, Arirang risks be...

The author is a professor of communications at Seoul National University.

Less than 20 minutes into a meeting, participants begin picking up their smartphones one by one. Some check messages while others glance at the news. In meetings in the United States or Europe, such behavior is often seen as a sign of disinterest or boredom and may be considered rude. Yet the scene has become familiar in Korea.

Another distinctive feature of media use in Korea is the strong preference for short-form content. According to a survey of 48 countries by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 50 percent of Koreans rely on YouTube for news, far exceeding the global average of around 30 percent. Short videos dominate. Data from market tracker WiseApp shows that Koreans spend an average of 52 hours per month consuming short-form content such as YouTube Shorts and TikTok, seven times more than the time spent on over-the-top streaming services such as Netflix.

The urban environment reinforces this attention economy. Buildings in central Seoul are covered with large digital billboards, drawing the eyes of drivers and pedestrians alike. Even daily movement through the city increasingly involves constant competition for attention.

Algorithm-driven media are designed above all to maximize user time on platforms. When one video ends, another begins immediately, leaving little room to pause. Because most short-form videos run under a minute, platforms can extract far more behavioral data within the same viewing time than from longer content. Whether a clip is skipped after five seconds, watched to the end or replayed, dozens of data points can be collected within an hour. These patterns allow platforms to predict even unconscious preferences with growing precision.

Without realizing it, users' attention becomes a resource for platform companies. Many people look up only after spending far longer than they intended, having assumed the experience would take just a moment.

Interactions with AI show a similar pattern. A single question rarely ends with one answer. Follow-up prompts encourage further queries, suggesting related tasks or additional information. Over time, it can become unclear where a user's own intention ends and the system's guidance begins.

AI can be a powerful assistant, especially when it anticipates useful questions. But if users gradually stop verifying or reconstructing responses and instead rely on them uncritically, the result may be an outsourcing of independent thinking. Over time, the mental capacity for sustained reasoning could weaken.

There is also a growing tendency to treat quiet time for reflection or imagination as empty or wasted time. Many people feel compelled to fill every pause, unable to tolerate boredom. In fragmented patterns of passive consumption, the value of cognitive space created by stepping back is easily overlooked. Expectations for immediate response become the norm.

Philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote that when he struggled with a problem, solutions often came to him during a walk. Creative insight, he suggested, emerges when the brain is released from overload and allowed to shift into a different mode.

Research in neuroscience and cognitive science has repeatedly warned that fragmented information consumption and constant digital use may erode deep reading abilities and weaken the motivation for sustained thought. The so-called popcorn brain describes a mental state in which attention jumps rapidly from one stimulus to another, making it difficult to focus fully on a single task.

Sustained attention and the creativity that grows from it are among the capabilities humans must preserve in an age shaped by AI. Just as climate change has been driven by extracting fossil fuels from the earth, media technologies risk disrupting the mental ecosystem by extracting human attention as raw material.

The effects of technological change tend to be overestimated in the short term but underestimated o...