White House discussing Howard Lutnick’s future as commerce secretary, sources say

South China Morning Post - Nov 12, 2026

Senior White House officials are discussing whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should be pushed out amid a spy scandal surrounding Nvidia’s now-former CEO Jensen Huang, two people familiar with the situation said on Thursday. A growing number of lawmakers criticised Lutnick for the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to a key US trade blacklist, and over whether the government was properly overseeing Nvidia’s exports to China. Criticism ‌of Lutnick’s actions...

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N. Korean Embassy in China undergoes renovation amid closer Pyongyang-Beijing ties

N. Korean Embassy in China undergoes renovation amid closer Pyongyang-Beijing ties

North Korea's Embassy in Beijing appears to have undergone expansion and renovation work recently amid strengthening ties and growing high-level exchanges between Pyongyang and Beijing, sources said Thursday. The interior expansion work involved two buildings, reportedly including dormitory facilities, with some of the work being detected around the time of leader Kim Jong-un's surprise visit to the Chinese city of Dandong last month, according to sources familiar with the matter. Construction safety netting was seen around buildings inside the embassy compound and near its main gate. The sources also said there were indications that Pyongyang had sought contributions from North Koreans staying in China to help cover the costs. The renovation work came as North Korea and China have stepped up efforts to strengthen bilateral ties through a series of high-level exchanges and concrete steps to expand cross-border cooperation. During a summit in Pyongyang in June, Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to elevate bilateral ties to a strategic level and expand cooperation in various fiel

Kim Go-eun, Gang Dong-won to star in new Netflix series

Kim Go-eun, Gang Dong-won to star in new Netflix series

Actors Kim Go-eun and Gang Dong-won have been cast in an upcoming historical romance drama, Netflix said Thursday, in what marks their first collaboration. Titled "The Twilight Between Us," the action-packed series follows a man and a woman from two families that have been locked in a long feud, who are forced to marry by royal decree, according to the streaming platform. Gang portrays Mu-yeong, an illegitimate son of the Kang family, who lives an isolated life despite his excellent martial arts skills and noble mind. Kim plays Su-ryeon, the only daughter of the Han family, who is compelled to marry Mu-yeong after failing to become crown princess. Park Ji-eun, who penned hit dramas such as "Queen of Tears" (2024) and "Crash Landing on You" (2019-2020), wrote the upcoming drama. It is directed by hit producer Kim Won-suk, known for "When Life Gives You Tangerines" (2025), "My Mister" (2018) and "Signal" (2016).

Korean researchers shrink augmented reality lenses to fit everyday eyewear

Korean researchers shrink augmented reality lenses to fit everyday eyewear

Researchers in Korea have developed an ultrathin optical lens system that keeps digital images bright and legible even in direct sunlight, overcoming one of the main engineering hurdles preventing augmented reality glasses from looking and feeling like ordinary eyewear. The joint team from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Samsung Research built a prototype featuring a 1.5-millimeter-thick waveguide—the transparent channel that guides light from a tiny projector into the wearer’s eye—using engineered nanostructures called metasurfaces. The findings were published Thursday in the journal Nature, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. For years, technology giants from Meta and Apple to Google and Samsung have raced to build lightweight smart glasses capable of overlaying turn-by-turn directions, translations and messages onto the real world. However, engineers have struggled with a stubborn trade-off: widening the viewing zone so a user can glance around without losing the image typically causes light to scatter and leak out of the lens, leaving displ

Lee's disapproval rating again outruns approval rating: poll

Lee's disapproval rating again outruns approval rating: poll

President Lee Jae Myung's disapproval rating rose to 47 percent this week, surpassing his approval rating, a survey showed Thursday. In a survey of 1,001 adults nationwide conducted Monday through Wednesday, positive assessments of Lee's job performance fell 2 percentage points to 44 percent from two weeks earlier, according to the National Barometer Survey (NBS). Negative assessments rose 3 percentage points to 47 percent. Lee's disapproval rating had remained higher than his approval rating for several weeks before the trend reversed in the previous poll. The survey also showed that 51 percent of respondents said Lee should scale back his use of social media to directly communicate with the public on his policy direction, citing concerns that remarks made "without sufficient deliberation" could cause confusion. Another 42 percent supported his use of social media for communication. Support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea fell 1 percentage point to 35 percent, while that of the main opposition People Power Party remained unchanged at 25 percent. The poll has a margin of error of p

Korea has much to gain from helping refugees, UNHCR official says

Korea has much to gain from helping refugees, UNHCR official says

Korea has much to gain from supporting refugees, including making a safer and more stable international environment, according to the United Nations' refugee agency representative in Afghanistan. During an interview with The Korea Times during his visit to Seoul, Tuesday, Arafat Jamal, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) representative in Afghanistan, said supporting countries such as Afghanistan is not simply an act of charity, but an investment in a more stable world. "Korea is a responsible member of the international community. And helping a country like Afghanistan is for global public good. I think that we can only gain if countries are more open and more willing to build international solidarity and to look beyond themselves," he said. Jamal expressed deep gratitude to the Korean government and people for their continued support, urging them "to continue to build solidarity with the world." Afghanistan's strategic location, bordering seven countries including China, Pakistan and Iran, makes its stability a matter of wider international concern, the U.N. official said. A

Ruling party lawmaker accused of defamation for calling journalists 'pack of hyenas'

Ruling party lawmaker accused of defamation for calling journalists 'pack of hyenas'

A police complaint was filed Thursday accusing ruling party Rep. Choi Min-hee of defamation for referring to journalists as "a pack of hyenas." The complaint against Choi of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) was filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency a week after the lawmaker made the comment in a KakaoTalk group chat while referring to an image of photo and video journalists covering a general meeting of DPK lawmakers. She also described the journalists as "doing everything to take videos that sow discord." The complainant, Lee Jong-bae, a former Seoul city councilmember affiliated with the main opposition People Power Party, said Choi's comments revealed her perception of the press and exposed a double standard that chants democracy but scorns journalists that cause discomfort. Choi held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday and apologized for her remarks.

HUFS institute hosts policy dialogues on diplomatic strategies in Singapore, Malaysia

HUFS institute hosts policy dialogues on diplomatic strategies in Singapore, Malaysia

A research institute affiliated with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) hosted policy dialogues in Singapore and Malaysia last week to strengthen cooperation between Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The university said Wednesday that the HUFS Institute for International Strategy (HIIS) organized the dialogues in collaboration with leading overseas universities and policy research institutions ahead of its official launch. The events brought together diplomatic, security and economic experts from Korea and ASEAN member states as part of the International Eminent Persons’ Track 1.5 Dialogue on Foreign Policy Strategy, an initiative led by Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Participants explored strategic responses to the rapidly changing international order and discussed ways to deepen Korea-ASEAN ties. The Singapore Policy Dialogue was held Nov. 2 at Hotel Waterloo Singapore under the theme “Rethinking Foreign Policy Strategies in a Changing International Order: Perspectives from South Korea and ASEAN.” The event drew faculty members of the S

Joint research team develops new method to produce high-efficiency perovskite LEDs

Joint research team develops new method to produce high-efficiency perovskite LEDs

A joint research team from Kookmin University, Sungkyunkwan University and Hanyang University has developed highly efficient perovskite light-emitting diodes (LEDs) without the need for a separate post-synthetic ligand-exchange process. The findings were published in Advanced Functional Materials, an international journal in the field of materials science, under the title “Direct Integration of Conductive, Emissive Perovskite Nanocrystals into Efficient Light-Emitting Diodes Without Post-Synthetic Ligand Exchange.” The team was led by Kim Young-hoon, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Kookmin University; Lee Bo-ram, a professor in the Department of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University; and Lee Tae-kyung, a professor in the Department of Organic and Nano Engineering at Hanyang University. The three professors served as co-corresponding authors of the collaborative study. Lee Yu-bin, who has completed her master’s coursework at Kookmin University, also participated as a co-first author alongside Kim Ji-geon, a researcher at the university,

S. Korea closely watching possible US-China-Russia summit: vice FM

S. Korea closely watching possible US-China-Russia summit: vice FM

South Korea is closely watching developments surrounding the possibility of a trilateral summit among the leaders of the United States, China and Russia on the sidelines of next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a senior Seoul official said Thursday. First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo made the remarks during a session of the parliamentary foreign affairs and unification committee in response to Rep. Park Sung-joon of the ruling Democratic Party's question about the prospect of such a meeting. "We are closely monitoring developments involving the U.S., China and Russia, as the possibility of discussions on issues concerning the Korean Peninsula (during the meeting) cannot be ruled out," Park said. There have been discussions about a possible first-ever trilateral meeting among U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, according to foreign media reports. The lawmaker said North Korea's strategic value and leverage ha

Trio sentenced to prison terms over gambling sites linked to NK hackers

Trio sentenced to prison terms over gambling sites linked to NK hackers

Three members of a criminal ring were sentenced to prison terms on Thursday for collaborating with North Korean hackers to create and distribute illegal gambling websites in South Korea. The Seoul Central District Court sentenced one member of the criminal ring to four years in prison and a four-year suspension of qualifications after finding him guilty of violating the National Security Act and operating illegal gambling sites. The two other ring members indicted in the same case were both sentenced to three years in prison, while one of them also received a three-year suspension of qualifications. The three individuals were brought to trial as accomplices to the ringleader, surnamed Kim, who was convicted of the same offenses in September and sentenced to five years in prison and a five-year suspension of qualifications. Kim was found guilty of creating 16 illegal gambling sites in collaboration with North Korean hackers between 2022 and 2024 and selling them to domestic gambling site operators. Kim earned about 23.5 billion won ($17.6 million) from the sales and transferred more than

Korean composer Lee Hanurij wins top award at Geneva Competition

Korean composer Lee Hanurij wins top award at Geneva Competition

Korean composer Lee Hanurij has won first prize in the composition category of the prestigious Geneva Competition. The 20-year-old clinched the top prize with his work "Stuff #1" at the final round of the music competition held in Geneva on Wednesday, according to the competition's website. Lee also swept all six special prizes, including the Audience Prize, the Young Audience Prize and the Student Prize. He called the win a "big honor" and thanked the jury, noting how the Geneva Competition is special as it provides a favorable environment for composers to advance their work. Currently studying at the Korea National University of Arts, Lee studied composing at an academy for music prodigies affiliated with the Seoul Arts Center at the age of 10. In 2024, he won first prize in the composition category of the Bartok World Competition, and his work has since been performed in numerous classical music festivals. The Geneva Competition is a prestigious music contest established in 1939. The composition competition is held every two years.

Women flock to Seoul's Namdaemun Market for viral 'Scarf Man'

Women flock to Seoul's Namdaemun Market for viral 'Scarf Man'

“Take a few. I can come back again.” “Oh, thank you, sis. Bless you.” At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, middle-aged women gathered outside Hanyangsa, a scarf shop at Namdaemun Market in central Seoul, were sharing scarves with one another. The shop had already closed for the day, but women who had purchased scarves earlier were handing them to those leaving empty-handed. Some visitors had traveled by train from cities such as Daegu and Daejeon. Namdaemun Market has been swept up in the craze for the “Scarf Man.” A merchant identified only as A, who sells scarves at the market, has become an online sensation for his witty banter on social media, drawing huge crowds eager to see him in person. At 1 p.m. that day, the real-time population indicator for the Namdaemun Market area stood at approximately 25,000, classified as severely crowded. When A emerged from his shop after closing, a barrage of smartphone camera flashes greeted him. He made his way through the crowd with help from privately hired security guards. His appeal lies in his down-to-earth personality and gruff, humorous way of

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