Stories from South Korea

Ha Jong-hoon, the Blue House Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning, has left his post to run for office in Busan. Born in 1977, Ha was the youngest senior secretary in the Blue House.

Police are considering adding drug-driving charges following blood test results from the National Forensic Service.

A woman in her 40s, identified as Person A, admitted to taking more sleeping pills than prescribed for insomnia the day before a fatal car accident. The driver stated she had taken an unusually high dose due to insomnia.

A research team has successfully completed a pilot production of 50kg of liquid hydrocarbons per day. The project aims to design a commercial process with a capacity exceeding 100,000 tons to reduce dependence on petroleum imports.

A vinyl manufacturer has reduced its operations to less than half capacity due to a sharp decline in naphtha supply. Naphtha prices have risen 50 percent in the month since the war began and are projected to double next month.

South Korea and Ghana signed three Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) to expand cooperation in climate change, artificial intelligence, and maritime security. Police have referred a case involving a child's death to prosecutors.

A major strategy has overtaken BlackRock in terms of total Bitcoin holdings. The entity reportedly consumed 3.7 trillion won worth of Bitcoin over a single week.

South Korea's Ministry of National Defense announced that its fifth satellite has completed its testing phase. The announcement was made in a statement released today. This marks the first successful deployment of this specific satellite type by a private entity.

This initiative aims to transition police vehicle fleets toward electric mobility. They characterized the US actions as an infringement on South Korean judicial sovereignty and an intervention in internal affairs. The lawmakers claim US officials are attempting to link the investigation into e-commerce giant Coupang's user data leak to bilateral diplomatic or security cooperation. Electric vehicle sales in South Korea reached 107,000 units by mid-February. One in five new cars sold in the country is now an electric vehicle. Tesla accounted for half of all electric vehicle sales during this period. The total number of electric vehicles currently operating in South Korea has exceeded 1 million units. Increased sales are attributed to high oil prices and a wider variety of available models, including SUVs and commercial vehicles.

Thirteen passengers were rescued within approximately 30 minutes after an elevator stopped at Seoul Asan Hospital in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The elevator was carrying passengers when the malfunction occurred around 2:20 PM. The hospital plans to investigate the exact cause of the incident. The warehouse mentioned in a separate report contained shoe materials and tires. The rescue operation took about 30 minutes to complete.