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🇰🇷South Korea Reopens Rail Link to DMZ Station South Korea's unification ministry announced that tourist rail service between Seoul Station and Dorasan Station will resume Friday, restoring a connection that had been suspended since late 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dorasan Station sits at the northern end of South Korea's rail network, just south of the inter-Korean border. The station was established following a 2000 inter-Korean summit, after which freight trains operated through it to supply the Kaesong Industrial Complex — a jointly run factory park in North Korea that was shut down in 2016. Since then, the station functioned solely as a tourist destination before closing entirely. The unification ministry stated that the reopening will allow tourists to travel by train beyond the Civilian Control Line, which limits public access near the Demilitarized Zone. The government, local municipalities, and the rail agency plan to develop additional tourist programs near the border station. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷IAEA Chief to Visit Seoul Next Week IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi will make a two-day trip to Seoul beginning Tuesday, South Korea's foreign ministry announced. He is scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and other officials during the visit. Grossi and Cho are expected to discuss North Korea's nuclear program, the situation in the Middle East, and cooperation on nuclear safety technology. South Korea's foreign ministry spokesperson Park Il described the meeting as an opportunity to advance the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The visit coincides with South Korea's pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines and efforts to secure uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing rights for civilian use under a prospective agreement with the United States. Acquiring nuclear-powered submarines would require Seoul to sign a separate agreement with the IAEA covering inspection requirements and other safeguards. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷Fire Hits South Korea Navy Submarine in Drydock A fire broke out aboard the ROKS Hong Beom-do at 1:58 p.m. on Thursday at the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan, approximately 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Around 40 personnel were evacuated from the vessel, which was undergoing hull and equipment maintenance at the time. Fire authorities deployed some 30 pieces of equipment and brought the blaze under full control roughly two hours after it started. One worker, a woman in her 60s employed by a contractor, remained unaccounted for during that period. Authorities subsequently identified the missing worker's location inside the submarine but were unable to reach her due to a narrow entry path. Her condition had not been confirmed at the time of reporting. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷Prosecutors Seek Ten Years for Yoon Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team demanded a 10-year prison term for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the Seoul High Court appeals hearing on Monday. The sentence sought is double the five-year term a lower court imposed in January. Yoon was convicted in the lower court of obstructing investigators attempting to detain him and of convening only select Cabinet members to review his martial law plan. He was also found guilty of creating and then discarding a false proclamation after the martial law decree was lifted in December 2024. The special counsel team argued Yoon abused his presidential position to destroy constitutional order and had not apologized since the first ruling. The court is expected to deliver its verdict before the end of June. Yoon has been jailed since July and is standing a total of eight trials, including a separate case in which he was sentenced in February to life imprisonment for insurrection. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷Seoul Seeks Envoys to Secure Oil Supplies South Korea's ruling Democratic Party and government officials agreed to dispatch special envoys to Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Algeria to secure crude oil supplies after the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed amid the US-Israeli war with Iran. Representative Ahn Do-geol announced the decision following a consultative meeting at the National Assembly. Authorities are also pushing to send five South Korean-flagged vessels to the Saudi Arabian port city of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. Officials discussed releasing strategic oil reserves to private refiners to address supply shortages, with swaps to be conducted once overseas shipments arrive. The government is conducting daily supply chain checks across 50 major industries due to disruptions in naphtha supply, a feedstock used in petrochemical production. The reviews followed US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran that intensified domestic supply disruptions. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷Seoul Asks GCC to Secure Energy Supply Chains South Korea's Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol met with ambassadors from the six Gulf Cooperation Council states in Seoul on April 3 to discuss energy supply cooperation amid Middle East tensions. Koo and the ambassadors identified heightened volatility in global oil prices and financial markets as a shared concern, citing potential strain from disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea imports approximately 70 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East, with over 95 percent of those shipments transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Koo called on GCC states to ensure uninterrupted deliveries of crude oil and key industrial materials including naphtha and urea. The South Korean government plans to implement fuel tax cuts, petroleum price stabilization measures, and financing support for affected businesses. A supplementary budget of 26 trillion won ($17 billion) is also planned to limit broader economic fallout. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷South Korea Restarts Gori-2 Nuclear Reactor South Korea restarted the Gori-2 nuclear reactor on Saturday, three years after it was suspended for safety inspections and facility improvements. The reactor is located at the Gori Nuclear Power Plant in Busan, 325 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Gori-2 began commercial operations in April 1983 as the country's third nuclear reactor. Its 40-year operating permit expired in April 2023, triggering the mandatory suspension. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., the plant's operator, received permission to resume operations last November before completing the restart on Saturday. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷Seoul Orders Supply Transparency Amid Iran Conflict South Korean President Lee Jae Myung convened an emergency economic meeting on April 1, directing ministries to publicly disclose supply and demand conditions for key materials. The move follows reports of hoarding of standard plastic garbage bags driven by a sharp rise in polyethylene prices. Lee instructed relevant ministries to compile a list of items whose supplies could be affected by the US-Iran conflict and to monitor prices and market activity daily. Ministries were also directed to maintain close communication with industries and review distribution channels. To reduce dependence on affected supply routes, Lee ordered South Korean overseas missions to identify alternative supply sources abroad and link those efforts with private-sector supply chain diversification. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷Seoul Weighs Public Driving Curbs Amid Oil Surge South Korea's Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said the government could expand passenger car restrictions beyond public institutions if crude prices rise to $120–$130 a barrel, up from the current $100–$110 range. Supply strains linked to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran have driven the increase. If extended to the general public, the measure would be South Korea's first nationwide driving curbs since the 1991 Gulf War, when a 10-day vehicle rotation system was imposed. The government last week already enforced a mandatory five-day rotation scheme for the public sector. The finance ministry said mandatory private-sector curbs remain undecided pending assessment of energy supply conditions and broader economic factors. South Korea imports around 70% of its crude oil from the Middle East, making it highly exposed to regional supply disruptions. Major conglomerates including Samsung Electronics and SK Group have urged employees to reduce private car use, and Energy Minister Kim Sung-whan said authorities are reviewing wider demand-management measures if the national crisis alert level rises further. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷South Korea Delivers First Mass-Produced KF-21 Jets South Korea held a delivery ceremony on March 25 for its first mass-produced KF-21 fighter jets at Korea Aerospace Industries headquarters in Sacheon. President Lee Jae Myung attended and stated the aircraft represents self-reliant defense capability in the air domain, complementing existing land and sea systems. The KF-21 development program launched in 2015 with the goal of replacing the Air Force's aging U.S.-made F-4 and F-5 jets with a domestically produced supersonic fighter. Lee cited the K9 self-propelled howitzer and Cheongung surface-to-air missile as prior demonstrations of South Korea's defense production capacity. Lee said the government intends to use the KF-21 program as a basis for reaching top-four status among global defense powers, and pledged further investment in high-end aircraft technologies. South Korea currently plans to sign an export agreement covering 16 KF-21 jets with Indonesia. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷South Korean Won Hits 17-Year Low The South Korean won fell to 1,517.30 per dollar on March 23, its weakest level since the global financial crisis of 2009, when it reached 1,549. The currency has now remained below the 1,500-won threshold for more than two consecutive sessions for the first time since that period. Geopolitical tensions tied to the Iran conflict drove demand for hard currency, with offshore investors selling a net 3.67 trillion won worth of South Korean equities. The benchmark KOSPI index fell 6.49 percent, closing at 5,405.75. South Korea's markets have shown heightened volatility since the conflict began earlier in the month, reflecting the country's heavy dependence on energy imports. Iran threatened to strike Gulf neighbors' energy and water infrastructure if the United States targeted Iran's electricity grid. #SouthKorea @asianomics

🇰🇷KOSPI Drops 6.5% as Hormuz Tensions Mount South Korea's benchmark stock index fell 375.45 points, or 6.49 percent, to 5,405.75 on March 23, its sixth sell-side sidecar trigger of the year. Foreign and institutional investors sold a combined net 7.5 trillion won worth of equities, while retail investors absorbed a net 7 trillion won. The selling was concentrated in large-cap chips, defense, and finance shares, driven by high oil prices, uncertainty over US Federal Reserve rate policy, and the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. Samsung Electronics lost 6.57 percent, SK Hynix fell 7.35 percent, and KB Financial declined 6.38 percent. The Korean won fell to 1,517.3 against the US dollar, its weakest level since March 2009. Three-year Treasury yields rose 20.7 basis points to 3.617 percent, and five-year government bond yields added 21.6 basis points to 3.837 percent. #SouthKorea @asianomics