Korean

• South Koreans are casting votes in mayoral and local elections to determine the level of public support for President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal government. • The elections coincide with the one-year anniversary of Lee's presidency this Thursday, during which he has maintained approval ratings above 60%. • Lee's popularity is largely attributed to his "pragmatic diplomacy," which has successfully mitigated concerns regarding the stability of South Korea's ties with the U.S. and Japan.

• North Korean team Naegohyang won the Asian Women's Champions League on Saturday, marking the first time a North Korean sports team has visited South Korea in eight years. • The victory secures the team's qualification for next year's FIFA Women's Champions Cup, a global tournament featuring champions from six continental confederations. • This event is significant as it represents a rare athletic exchange between the two nations and demonstrates the competitive strength of North Korean women's football.

Naegohyang FC due to play Suwon FC in semi-final of Asian Women’s Champions League on WednesdayA North Korean women’s football club has arrived in South Korea for an AFC Women’s Champions League semi-final, marking the first visit by athletes from the isolated state to the South in eight years.The delegation of 27 players and 12 staff entered the country on Sunday before Wednesday’s match between Naegohyang FC and South Korea’s Suwon FC Women in Suwon. Continue reading...

• North Korean state-sponsored hackers are deploying AI tools to scan and exploit cybersecurity blind spots in target networks, according to a new Google cybersecurity report. • The report details how these actors use generative AI for reconnaissance, automating vulnerability discovery at scale beyond traditional manual methods. • This development underscores AI's dual role as both a defensive asset for cybersecurity firms and an offensive weapon for nation-state adversaries.

• Global hedge funds ramped up investments in Asia, with weekly buying of South Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese stocks reaching a 10-year high for the week ending May 7, according to a Morgan Stanley report. • The surge, the heaviest in over a decade in notional terms, was driven by clients across all regions and strategies targeting Asia's technology sector amid the AI boom. • Hedge funds' net exposure to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan has risen to its highest since 2010, now at about 19% of global positioning, focusing on semiconductors and hardware in the AI supply chain.

• Conservative opposition leader Han Dong-hoon on May 8, 2026, launched a fierce attack against progressive President Lee Jae-myung and his ruling Democratic Party. • He criticized the government's aggressive legal campaigns using special counsels against former President Yoon Suk-yeol and associates. • Key Democratic Party plans include dissolving the prosecution service and expanding the Supreme Court bench massively to consolidate judicial influence.

Leader mentions for first time lengths to which troops go to avoid falling into enemy hands while fighting for RussiaKim Jong-un has praised North Korean soldiers who blew themselves up with grenades in order to avoid capture while fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia’s western Kursk region, confirming the existence of the extreme battlefield policy.Mounting evidence, including from intelligence reports and testimonies of defectors, has indicated North Korean soldiers are explicitly told to resort to self-detonation or other forms of suicide to avoid falling into enemy hands. Continue reading...