In South Korea, questions about cram schools, success and happiness https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/02/05/asia-pacific/south-korea-cram-schools-success-happiness/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #southkorea #education #mentalhealth #cramschools
South Korea’s efforts to stabilize its currency face a major obstacle at home — the record appetite of its retail investors for U.S. stocks that is fueling dollar demand as the won languishes at 17-year lows. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/02/05/markets/korea-fx-stability-wall-street-mania/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #markets #southkorea #forex #stocks
South Korea has enacted a comprehensive national law called the AI Basic Act to build public trust in AI technology. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/02/01/world/koreas-ai-revolution/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #southkorea #ai #artificialintelligence #chatgpt #deepseek
Japan’s fading global profile highlights a deeper diplomatic decline and raises questions about whether Takaichi or Japan’s next leader can restore influence in a shifting world. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/01/30/japan/japans-diminishing-relevance/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #japan #worldeconomicforum #davos #markcarney #canada #southkorea #us #donaldtrump #xijinping #g7 #canada #shigeruishiba #ukraine #sanaetakaichi #shinzoabe #russia #china #iran #northkorea #ukraine #greenland #asean
Alex Akselrod
boosted
⚠️🇺🇦Death of seahorses reported on Black Sea coast in Odesa possibly due to Russia’s ecocide oil contamination (more) https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-other_news/4085317-death-of-seahorses-reported-on-black-sea-coast-in-odesa.html #Ukraine #Poland #Warsaw #Netherlands #Norway #Sweden #Estonia #Latvia #Lithuania #Paris #Rome #London #Berlin #Canada #Finland #Brussels #Denmark #Germany #ICC #France #Italy #Cyprus #PACE #CoE #SouthKorea #Press #News #Taiwan #Media #Japan #USA #US #UK #EU #NATO #UnitedStates #UnitedKingdom #EuropeanUnion #Czechia #Romania #Austria
#RussiaIsATerroristState
⚠️🇺🇦Death of seahorses reported on Black Sea coast in Odesa possibly due to Russia’s ecocide oil contamination (more) https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-other_news/4085317-death-of-seahorses-reported-on-black-sea-coast-in-odesa.html #Ukraine #Poland #Warsaw #Netherlands #Norway #Sweden #Estonia #Latvia #Lithuania #Paris #Rome #London #Berlin #Canada #Finland #Brussels #Denmark #Germany #ICC #France #Italy #Cyprus #PACE #CoE #SouthKorea #Press #News #Taiwan #Media #Japan #USA #US #UK #EU #NATO #UnitedStates #UnitedKingdom #EuropeanUnion #Czechia #Romania #Austria
#RussiaIsATerroristState
A South Korean court has sentenced the country’s former first lady, Kim Keon Hee, to 20 months’ jail for corruption but acquitted her of alleged stock manipulation and other charges. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/28/asia-pacific/politics/south-korea-first-lady-corruption/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #politics #kimkeonhee #southkorea #yoonsukyeol
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is demanding that South Korea take concrete steps to implement its six-month-old trade deal with the U.S. in order to prevent tariffs from rising to 25%. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/01/28/tech/us-trade-south-korea-tech-laws/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #tech #us #donaldtrump #trade #tariffs #republicans #southkorea #tech #coupang #jdvance
South Korea is on track to overtake Japan as the top destination for Chinese travelers during the upcoming holiday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/01/27/economy/china-japan-tourism-south-korea/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #china #chinajapanrelations #tourism #southkorea #sanaetakaichi #leejaemyung #xijinping
North Korea has fired off at least two apparent ballistic missiles, Japan's Defense Ministry has said, following a military drill featuring a hypersonic missile system earlier this month. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/27/asia-pacific/north-korea-missile-january-27/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #northkorea #missiles #nuclearweapons #southkorea #defense #defenseministry
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he would raise tariffs on various South Korean goods to 25%, taking aim at the country for "not living up to" an earlier trade pact struck with Washington. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/01/27/economy/trump-korea-tariffs-again/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #southkorea #trade #tariffs #us #donaldtrump
South Korea's presidential chief of staff said he was heading to Canada with Hyundai executives and shipbuilder representatives in a bid to win a major submarine contract. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/26/asia-pacific/south-korea-canada-submarine-project/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #southkorea #canada #submarines #defense #hyundai
South Korean former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, an influential fixture on the country’s road to democracy, died during an official visit to Vietnam, both governments said. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/26/asia-pacific/politics/south-korea-pm-lee-hae-chan-democracy/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #politics #southkorea #leehaechan #democracy #vietnam
Japan is moving from ambiguity to clarity on Taiwan, signaling a shift in East Asian security that challenges China and pressures Europe to make harder choices. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/01/23/europe-should-follow-japans-taiwan-lead/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #japan #china #taiwan #europe #eu #southkorea #us #northkorea #russia #eujapanrelations #chinajapanrelations
In the newly released U.S. National Defense Strategy, the Pentagon takes a softer stance on China and says it will offer “more limited U.S. support” to allies and partners — a shift likely to unnerve Japan. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/24/asia-pacific/us-national-defense-strategy-2026/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #us #usmilitary #budgets #defense #donaldtrump #uschinarelations #china #pla #taiwan #northkorea #southkorea
Prime Minister Takaichi is advancing a more assertive security agenda, but insufficiently refined strategic signaling risks diplomatic friction and undermining the coherence and credibility of its foreign policy. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/01/22/japan/takaichis-strengths-and-strategic-signaling/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #japan #sanaetakaichi #apec #southkorea #china #ldp #komeito #jip #taiwan #nuclearweapons #freeandopenindopacific #chinajapanrelations #usjapanrelations #defense
I do appreciate all the work the EU has done with regulatory work around data sovereignty and the DMA. But they would still be gigafucked if the US ordered Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to cut them off. They may not even have the encryption keys accessible entirely in the EU. The fact that their data physically resides in Europe don't mean shit if a US corp can kill their whole infrastructure with a single command to lock their accounts.
@JessTheUnstill If the #EU gets on as accelerated a course to shifting to tech alternatives as they did to renewable energy when Russia started using gas export cutoffs to oppose arms assistance to Ukraine, so they can issue a credible threat of losing Europe’s business, they could sell Microsoft, Amazon, and Google on a relatively easy solution:
Reorganize and split the companies, such that Microsoft Europe, Amazon Europe, and Google Europe become separate non-subsidiary legal entities, headquartered in European democracies and tied to their American counterparts not by ownership or common leaders, but only by contracts, irrevocable IP licenses, and bidirectional API keys.
They could legally permit the European counterparts to fail to compete with the American counterparts, and even to work at the American companies’ direction except as necessary to comply with laws of the European headquarters country or compatible laws of jurisdictions of customers of the European entity, or with legal agreements under those laws with customers subject to those jurisdictions.
As a condition of retaining Europe’s business, they only must prohibit any part of the European company being owned or led by the American company, nor by any entity which owns or administers any part of that company, and to prohibit any person answerable to the American company or its government having administrative access to the European company.
Once the American companies have no technical, legal, or organizational ability to fire staff, delete data, or shut down infrastructure of the European companies, the European companies can continue as the American companies’ proxies, and can even remit the vast majority of their profit to the American companies so long as the Americans uphold their side of the contract.
#Canada and a few other large jurisdictions (such as #SouthKorea) could implement similar solutions, and then the rest of the world could choose between the American entity or its non-subsidiary foreign proxy. Each of the mutually independent yet mostly cooperating international doppelgänger companies would then have exactly one axis of competition: which best respects the sovereignty of the customer government or the private customer’s country.
South Korea’s economy shrank in the final quarter of 2025 due to a broad pullback in demand. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/01/22/economy/south-korea-contraction-fragility/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #economy #southkorea #economicindicators #economy
South Korea introduced on Thursday what it says is the world's first comprehensive set of laws regulating artificial intelligence, aiming to strengthen trust and safety in the sector. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/01/22/tech/south-korea-ai-startups-law/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #business #tech #southkorea #ai #startups
A South Korean court sentenced former prime minister Han Duck-soo to 23 years in prison on Wednesday for aiding and abetting a declaration of martial law that briefly suspended civilian rule. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/21/asia-pacific/south-korea-han-jail-martial-law/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #asiapacific #southkorea #handucksoo #yoonsukyeol