🇰🇷 South Korea · Policy & regulation
157 storiesKorea sees capital-region housing starts at 218,000-235,000, short of 268,000 goal
At its first regular housing supply briefing on 16 October, the Korean government said 99,000 or more homes had started construction in the capital region by the second week of October, about 37% of the 268,000 annual target. It forecast 21…
South Korea's new serious-crime agency chief orders team to tackle setup shortfalls
Kim Ji-yong (김지용), the first head of South Korea's serious-crime investigation agency (중대범죄수사청), ordered a task force to organize staffing, facilities and systems on his first working day, October 16. Reports said the agency had begun opera…
South Korean police consider electronic tags for domestic violence offenders
South Korean police are considering electronic monitoring and stronger detention measures for domestic violence offenders. The proposals were due to be presented at an interministerial crime meeting on October 15; implementation had not bee…
Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to review ending joint guarantees in restart support
Korea Credit Guarantee Fund chairman Kang Seung-jun (강승준) said on October 15 that he would actively consider ending joint-guarantee requirements remaining in business-restart support. He made the comments during a parliamentary audit after …
South Korean employers' group urges phased re-employment over blanket retirement rise
South Korea's employers' federation urged a phased approach centred on re-employment after retirement instead of uniformly raising the statutory retirement age. In an October 11 report, it cited Japan's experience and called for changes to …
Korea's FSC chief apologises over leveraged ETF losses, denies presidential office order
Financial Services Commission chairman Lee Eog-weon (이억원) told a National Assembly audit in Seoul on October 8 that single-stock leveraged ETFs were not introduced on orders from the presidential office (Cheong Wa Dae), saying the FSC adopt…
South Korea probes food companies over suspected price fixing
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission began on-site inspections of food companies including Daesang, Ottogi and CJ CheilJedang on October 14, local outlets reported. The investigation concerns suspected price fixing in six processed-food cate…
South Korea's Lee orders probe into bank data leaks, regulator calls emergency meeting
President Lee Jae-myung ordered a thorough investigation and countermeasures on Oct. 4 after being briefed on personal data leaks at financial institutions and public bodies, the presidential office said. The incidents began with Shinhan Ba…
South Korea to spare non-speculative farmland from disposal after nationwide survey
South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said on 8 October that Farmland Act violations found in its nationwide farmland survey will not lead to disposal orders or enforcement fines unless they involve speculation. Five…
South Korea's Lee orders CPTPP talks restarted from the beginning amid farm concerns
President Lee Jae-myung instructed at a cabinet meeting on Oct 6 that the government should not fix a conclusion on joining the CPTPP and should “restart dialogue from the beginning,” saying the pact's strategic value is cited alongside ver…
US proposes $70,000 fee for foreign students' OPT work permits
The US Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 7 proposed a $70,000 fee for F-1 student visa holders' first application to Optional Practical Training (OPT), the program that lets foreign graduates work in the US, and $30,000 for later appl…
South Korea's LH chief warns of possible house-price fall amid loan-rule criticism
Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) chief Lee Seong-hun (이성훈) told a parliamentary audit on October 12 that increased housing supply and higher interest rates could lead to a sharp fall in home prices. He said his earlier call for tight…
Defense minister: arts, sports military service exemption to be cut and abolished
South Korea's defense minister said on Oct 7 that the goal is to gradually reduce the arts and sports military service exemption and ultimately abolish it, after controversy over remarks by Asian Games football gold medallists about the exe…
South Korea to guarantee one-third of jeonse deposits for fraud victims from Nov. 13
South Korea's cabinet approved an enforcement decree amendment to the special act on jeonse fraud victims on Oct. 6, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, with the measure taking effect on Nov. 13. Victims whose total rec…
Korea's top individual tax delinquent Kwon Hyuk to pay 393.8 billion won
The National Tax Service said on Oct 7 that Kwon Hyuk, chairman of Sido Group and the country's largest individual tax delinquent, has submitted a plan to pay his personal back taxes of 393.8 billion won in full, 15 years after the tax was …
Indian man says Hwaseong detention staff taped his mouth and choked him during deportation
An Indian man deported from South Korea on August 27 has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission, alleging that staff of the Hwaseong Foreigners' Detention Center wrapped duct tape over his mouth, covered his face with a…
Korea police reform panel recommends hiring 100+ lawyers a year as investigators
A South Korean police investigation reform committee announced 12 recommendations on October 6, 2026, including hiring more than 100 lawyer-qualified police officers each year for five years and recording investigation directives as electro…
Seoul sends two unlicensed real estate ad posters to prosecutors
Seoul's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Division said it sent two people to prosecutors last month on suspicion of violating the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act by posting real estate advertisements online without a broker's licence. A person…
Seoul makes all road land a land-transaction permit zone to curb share-splitting
Seoul's city government said on October 8 that its urban planning committee had newly designated all land registered as "road" across the city as a land transaction permit zone, for one year from October 17. The city said the aim is to bloc…
South Korea's CIO opposes moving presidential investigations to new agency
South Korea's Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials said it opposes moves in the ruling camp to transfer authority to investigate the president, prime minister, ministers and lawmakers to a proposed Serious Crime Invest…