South Korea

From the FIFA Peace Prize to Trump to short-term visas for Iranian players, the 2026 edition will be the biggest with 48 teams and 104 matches, but also very controversial. Nine Asian teams will take part, with two newcomers: Jordan and Uzbekistan. The hopes of a continent rest with South Korea and Japan. Despite billions invested in football, China failed to qualify.

With advance polling open today and tomorrow, the 3 June elections are already underway, the first test for the incumbent president elected a year ago after his predecessor’s attempt to impose martial law. In the capital, conservative incumbent Mayor Oh is seeking a fifth term, but is feeling the heat from his challenger Chong. Housing is the hot issue in this election campaign.

Tensions are rising around Samsung Electronics in South Korea. Some 48,000 workers are set to go on strike for 18 days after negotiations with the company over semiconductor profits fail. The government wants to avoid repercussions on the domestic and global economies, reopening the debate on its controversial special powers in such cases.

Kim Yong-beom, President Lee's chief of staff for policy, calls for sharing excess tax revenue from business giants like Samsung and SK hynix, generated by global chip demand. The proposal was inspired by Norway's sovereign wealth fund based on oil revenues. Kim warns that without it, inequality will worsen. After markets react negatively to the proposal, presidential office says Kim’s views are personal.

The Seoul Welfare Foundation is launching a digital transformation programme in six facilities, introducing artificial intelligence and robotic assistance to reduce staff workload and improve elderly safety. The initiative is part of South Korea's broader effort to address its aging population and growing shortage of caregivers.

A trade union is threatening an 18-day production stoppage if its demand for bonuses proportional to the group’s record revenues is not met. The production halt would create a shortfall of nearly $700 million. President Lee calls on workers and trade unions to act “responsibly” against excessive demands and urges greater “solidarity”.

The meeting between North Korea’s leader and Belarus’s Lukashenko marks a new course. The North Korean regime is managing its isolation as a strategic resource rather than simply enduring it. Pyongyang is choosing its interlocutors, building relationships, and using the diversification of its partners as a tool to maintain its autonomy from Beijing and Moscow with a growing focus on Southeast Asia at the expense of South Korea.

This year, the award went to six women activists for their work defending ecosystems and local communities. Among them, Papuan Theonila Roka Matbob, who played a crucial role in the long struggle for the cleanup of the Panguna mine, and South Korean Borim Kim, who led a legal battle over climate that culminated in a constitutional ruling in favour of future generations.

In the South Korea, single-person households now represent 36 per cent of the population. Faced with rising numbers of people hard pressed to cope with loneliness, the city administration is boosting its support services, including moving assistance and emotional support. The programme, already in place for hospital visits with high satisfaction rates, aims to combat loneliness and daily difficulties.

Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho spoke in harsh terms to describe adoptions from South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s that were marked by serious irregularities. The government announced steps to facilitate compensation, stating that it will waive appeals in proceedings initiated by victims, although delays remain.

After liberation from Japanese rule, Chinese characters were dropped in favour of Hangul, the Korean writing system; nevertheless, 57 per cent of the Korean vocabulary is derived from them. At present, due to overuse of smartphones and video games, two out of ten students struggle to understand words in textbooks; for this reason, some educators are pushing for the reintroduction of Hanja to improve literacy. But the issue remains politically divisive.

The low costs and efficiency demonstrated by the Cheongung-II missile defence system in the United Arab Emirates are reviving South Korea’s ambitions, having more than doubled the volume of its arms exports over the last 15 years. But the conflict is also highlighting the opacity of the political agreements signed in 2009 with Abu Dhabi by then-President Lee Myung-bak.