Issues
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Issues · 3 min readWhy volcanic ash stops aircraft — not visibility, but glass hardening inside the engine
Mechanism — silicate melts in the combustor and resolidifies on turbine surfaces, blocking cooling passages
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Issues · 3 min readWhat a state visit is — the same trip, sorted into four grades of ceremony
Grades — state, official, working and private. Sorted by invitation source and ceremony, not by agenda
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Issues · 4 min readKorea's regular Assembly session — the four jobs packed into 100 days from September
Form — opens September 1 every year, up to 100 days. Unlike extraordinary sessions, the agenda is preset
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Issues · 4 min readKorea's National Cohesion Committee — ten ministers sit on it, and it can only advise
Status — an advisory body under the President, created by decree on May 30, 2022
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Issues · 4 min readChuseok 2026 falls on September 24-26 — and why no substitute holiday follows
Dates — Chuseok is Friday September 25; the holiday runs September 24–26
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Issues · 2 min readNepal flood toll reaches 1,114 — nine Koreans missing, a 44-person relief team lands September 2
Scale — at least 1,114 dead in Nepal, about 1,130 including China, as of September 2
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Issues · 2 min readWhat Korea's Overseas Emergency Relief Team is — why 37 of the 44 sent to Nepal were firefighters
Basis — created by Korea's 2007 Act on Overseas Emergency Relief
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Issues · 3 min readNepal flood toll reaches 919 on August 31, 2026 — three landslide-dam lakes, collapse risk peaks September 1
Toll — 919 dead and 4,793 missing as of August 31, including 16 dead and 546 missing on the Chinese side
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's August 30, 2026 reshuffle — the justice nominee led the drop-the-case caucus
Scale — six ministry nominees at once: finance, justice, defense, land, SMEs, gender equality
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Issues · 4 min readWhat a Korean confirmation hearing is — and why a minister is appointed anyway
Core — ministers are not subject to legislative consent; there is a hearing but no veto
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Issues · 3 min readGlacial lake outburst floods (GLOF) — 388 in the Himalaya, and no warning
Definition — the natural dam holding a glacial lake fails and the water arrives all at once
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's new child allowance and birth grant, July 2027 — up to 600,000 won a month for ages 0 to 1
New — A childbirth grant of 10 to 20 million won and a basic child allowance of up to 600,000 won a month. Both start July 2027
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Issues · 4 min readHow Korea's budget gets decided — why a ministry announcement is not a settled number
Structure — The government drafts, the National Assembly reviews and finalizes. Article 54 of the Constitution
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Issues · 4 min readHow South Korea expels a lawmaker — 157 votes for a resolution still leaves the seat
Vote — August 26 floor vote: 157 in favour, 1 against, 1 invalid of 159 present. Most PPP members walked out
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's justice minister leaves office (August 24, 2026) — a deputy will open the new prosecution service
Exit — letter submitted August 18, approved August 24. Cited health and completed reform legislation
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Issues · 3 min readLee Jae-myung approval falls to 40.2% — a sixth straight weekly decline
Numbers — approval 40.2% (-2.8pt), disapproval 56.9% (+2.8pt). Lowest of his term, sixth straight weekly fall
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Issues · 5 min readHow approval-rating polls work — why ARS and live interviews give different numbers
Method — ARS uses a recorded voice and buttons; live interviews use a person and speech. This is the biggest single source of divergence
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's new spousal miscarriage leave starts September 18 — five days, three of them paid
New — spousal miscarriage and stillbirth leave of five days, first three paid, effective September 18, 2026
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Issues · 4 min readWhat a substitute holiday is in Korea — why a Saturday Liberation Day means a Monday off
Principle — when a public holiday collides with a weekend or another holiday, the next non-holiday weekday is taken instead
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Issues · 4 min readWas Korea's Supreme Court nomination agreed in advance? The presidential office says no
The dispute moved — three days ago the question was whether writing was acceptable; now the two sides disagree on whether any consultation happened
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's chief justice nominated two justices in writing on August 18, 2026 — and skipped the visit
Nominees — Son Bong-gi (Daegu District Court) and Kim Seong-su (Seoul High Court), for two vacancies
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Issues · 4 min readWhat Korea's Supreme Court nomination power is — when the chooser and the appointer differ
Structure — the chief justice nominates, the National Assembly consents, the president appoints. All three steps are required
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Issues · 2 min readLee orders OPCON transfer within his term (August 18) — target year set in October
Lee instructed on August 18 that OPCON transfer proceed on the existing plan, within his term
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Issues · 4 min readWhat wartime operational control means — who commands Korean troops in a war
Scope — operational control directs how units are employed; it does not own or raise the military
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Issues · 3 min readKim Min-seok elected Korea's ruling party leader with 54.08%
Final result — Kim Min-seok 54.08%, Jung Chung-rae 45.92%, a margin of 8.16 percentage points
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Issues · 4 min readWhat preferential voting is — how third-place ballots pick the winner
The rule — eliminate the lowest candidate and transfer their next preferences until someone has a majority
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Issues · 2 min readKorea's Democratic Party picks its leader in Daejeon on August 17, 2026
Seoul-Gyeonggi round — Kim Min-seok 46.66% (148,245), Jung Chung-rae 46.28% (147,048), Song Young-gil 7.05% (22,410); margin of 1,197 votes
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's Liberation Day address: Lee proposes ending the old war
To Pyongyang — 'Set down our mutual intent to threaten each other and begin discussions among the parties to end the old war.' The framing is converting the armistice into a peace regime
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Issues · 2 min readKim Min-seok wins Honam with 57.54%, lead widens to 14.07 points
Honam round — Kim Min-seok 57.54% (139,307 votes) · Jung Chung-rae 32.65% · Song Young-gil 9.81%
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Issues · 4 min readWhat Yasukuni Shrine is — and the year 14 war criminals entered it
Scale — about 2,466,532 enshrined, including 21,181 Koreans. The shrine decides enshrinement unilaterally, without the consent of families
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Issues · 4 min readGyeongnam drought: reservoirs at 34.1%, under half the seasonal norm
Reservoir level 34.1% against a 71.3% seasonal norm. June and July rainfall came in at 50% and 23% of normal
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Issues · 4 min readKorea's youth rent tax credit at 17% — the salary test would go
Current rule: 17% credit below 55m won total salary, 15% between 55m and 80m, on rent up to 10m won a year
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Issues · 4 min readHow Korea grades a drought — three scales, one word 'severe'
Agricultural drought — reservoir level against the seasonal norm: 70% or below attention, 60% caution, 50% alert, 40% severe
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's ruling party picks a leader on August 17 — 71% of votes are still uncast
Cumulative standing: Kim Min-seok 46.01%, Jung Chung-rae 44.53% — a gap of 1.48 points
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Issues · 3 min readHomeplus reopened 67 stores on August 13 — exactly one month after closing them
July 13 temporary closure → August 7 soft reopening → August 13 full reopening, exactly one month
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's substitute holiday is Monday August 17, 2026 — Liberation Day fell on a Saturday
August 15 (Sat) Liberation Day → August 17 (Mon) substitute holiday; the break runs August 15–17
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Issues · 4 min readWhat magnitude 7.4 means — one step up is 32 times the energy
One magnitude per earthquake, one intensity per location — they measure different things
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Issues · 5 min readKorea's 2026 policy changes — minimum wage, child allowance, unemployment pay
Minimum wage 10,320 won an hour — about 2.157m won a month on the 209-hour basis
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Issues · 3 min readSeoul restores vulnerability points for public housing — twelve days after deleting them
July 30 notice — 3,421 units across 155 complexes, with eight scoring items reduced to two
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Issues · 3 min readHow to watch the Perseids — a telescope makes it worse, not better
No gear needed — meteors scatter across the whole sky, so wider vision beats magnification
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's public rental housing points — qualifying and winning are two different gates
Two gates — clear the income, asset and no-home tests first, then compete on points
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Issues · 3 min readKorea's ballot recount is stuck on one question — who gets to do the counting
Democratic Party and Rebuilding Korea Party: proceed on Aug 18. People Power Party: tie it to the special counsel
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Issues · 4 min readWhat a recount is — and why counting again is never just counting
Two routes: judicial verification inside an election lawsuit, and negotiated verification during a legislative inquiry
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Issues · 3 min readKim takes Gangwon and Daegu-Gyeongbuk — and 71% of the vote is still ahead
Combined Gangwon, Daegu and Gyeongbuk vote: Kim Min-seok 48.54%, Jung Chung-rae 44.40%, Song Young-gil 7.06%
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Issues · 3 min readWhat a 'rights member' is — six dues payments buy a vote in Korean politics
Joining a Korean party is easy; voting inside it requires meeting tenure and dues conditions
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Issues · 2 min readKorea's special counsel system, explained — who investigates when prosecutors can't
Each special counsel is created by its own law, for one case, and disbands afterward
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Issues · 2 min readKim retakes the lead by 0.86 — a 5.67-point Jeju-Incheon win flips the race
Jeju-Incheon round: Kim Min-seok 47.75%, Jung Chung-rae 42.08%, Song Young-gil 10.17%
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Issues · 2 min read95.3 gigawatts — Korea's power demand is 1.8GW from its all-time record
Friday's peak demand of 95.321GW is this summer's high — 1.8GW below the 97.1GW record
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Issues · 2 min read'Number-smoothing' at the ballot office — Korea's election-commission probe widens
Joint task force raids nine more election commission offices, including Gangnam and Seocho
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Issues · 2 min readKorea's power reserve margin, explained — how close is too close to blackout
Reserve margin = spare generating capacity over current demand — heat waves carve into it
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Issues · 2 min readSeoul crosses 40°C for the first time in eight years
Seoul's Nowon district hit 40.2°C Friday — the capital's first 40-degree reading since August 2018
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Issues · 2 min readA race inside one percentage point — Korea's ruling party votes in Jeju and Incheon
Speech events ran in Jeju (morning) and Incheon (afternoon); results follow the Incheon event
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Issues · 2 min readKorea's touring primary: one election split into six
The touring primary reveals members' votes region by region ahead of the August 17 convention
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Issues · 1 min readA third of the votes in one region: Korea's leadership race hits Honam
All three candidates converged on Honam, the party's southwestern heartland, for all-out campaigns
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Issues · 1 min readKorea's ruling-party race flips again — by 1,514 votes
Jung Chung-rae took the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam round with 46.65% of the vote
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Issues · 1 min readHow Korea's ruling party actually picks its leader
Regional round 'wins' are rolling reveals of one nationwide tally, not delegate victories
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Issues · 1 min readKorea's two ladders: weather alerts vs disaster tiers
Korea runs two parallel ladders: KMA weather alerts and interior-ministry disaster tiers
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Issues · 1 min readKorea escalates heat to disaster footing
The interior ministry raised the central disaster HQ to level 2 at 1pm on 2 August
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Issues · 1 min readKorea's ruling party race is tied, one to one
Kim Min-seok took the Chungcheong round by 0.4 points; Jung Chung-rae answered in Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam
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Issues · 2 min readKorea's two rival KTX apps become one
The unified Korail+ app for KTX and SRT booking launches 3 August at 9am
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Issues · 2 min readKorea orders a 190,000-building fire audit
A cross-ministry factory fire safety package was announced on 31 July