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Open fire: Korean missile makers can now use U.S. test ranges, but should they?

Newly approved U.S. Army access could speed Korean missile makers' entry into the United States, but costs, export hurdles and data-security concerns remain. A Patriot surface-to-air missile is launched at a simulated target during a live-fire missile interception exercise over the Yellow Sea on Nov. 6, 2024. YONHAP Korean missile manufacturers are cautiously approaching whether to participate in the U.S. Army's newly opened test range opportunities, citing cost and potential logistical complications. The U.S. Army has opened five missile test ranges to private and allied companies, opening up Korean defense firms a way past a certification bottleneck that has long slowed their entry into the U.S. market. The measure comes as reports arise of munitions quickly depleting due to the Iran war, making Korea's participation in the test range a part of the effort to replenish weapons through allied nations. Announced Friday by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll at Camp Grayling in Michigan, the change covers four domestic ranges and one in Morocco, open to companies firing interceptor missiles they developed with their own money. An online reservation portal went live the same day, with access pledged within 30 days of a request. Driscoll said he hopes allied companies will use the ranges too. What changed? The bottleneck the change addresses is real. Companies have waited up to a year and a half for a testing slot, mostly at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. “It can take 12 to 18 months for a company that wants to go test the thing that can make a soldier's life better,” Driscoll said. “That is not sufficient.” Domestic sites now open are Camp Grayling, Camp Shelby in Mississippi, Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and West Cibola, an unused portion of Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, said Maj. Gen. Patrick Gaydon of Army Test and Evaluation Command. The international site is a multidomain training area in Morocco, where a startup called Covenant Industries has already fired its Anthem missile. For Korea, the appeal is physical. The country lacks suitable sites for testing ground firepower systems and missiles, and the constraints are severe enough that Korean firms already travel abroad to test, said Choi Gi-il, a professor of military studies at Sangji University. Korean 155-millimeter extended-range ammunition had to be tested in Israel because no domestic range could take it, he said, at a cost in the tens of billions of won. “K-defense gets a great deal of spotlight in the global market, but the test and evaluation process involves many difficulties and limitations,” Choi said. “By opening these test ranges to allies, the United States has given us an option we did not have.” The reservation website for the test range, operated by the U.S. Army SCREEN CAPTURE Not sold? That option has a price, which is where the enthusiasm thins. Korean reporting pointed to LIG D&A , which renamed itself from LIG Nex1 in March, and its Bigung guided rocket and Cheongung II air defense system, along with Hanwha Aerospace's guided weapons, as candidates to use the ranges. Those are inferences from Driscoll's expression of hope, as no Army statement has named Korean companies. Asked whether it will apply, LIG D&A said it is “not in a position” to say. “Even between allies, there are bound to be procedures involved or getting approval from the U.S. government,” said an LIG D&A spokesperson. “If the specific terms such as costs were too steep, then we wouldn't be able to go through with [the test].” The reservations run deeper than price. The Army has attached no procurement incentive, no undertaking that strong performers will be considered for adoption. Korea has its own firing ranges. And moving a weapon onto an U.S. range requires export procedures and U.S. government permission even between allies, which the official described as more complicated than the announcement suggests. There is also what leaves the country with a missile. Firing a weapon on a foreign range exposes sensitive test data and technical information, which argues for selective use, said Jang Won-joon, an associate professor specializing in the defense industry at Jeonbuk National University. He would confine it to essential tests with no domestic alternative, and to the testing and certification required to enter U.S. military procurement. “The opening is a new opportunity,” Jang said, “but given the security concerns around sensitive test data and technical information, firms need to use it selectively.” LIG D&A's medium-range surface-to-air missile, the Cheongung, is displayed at the Agency for Defense Development in 2020. YONHAP Why the door has opened If Korean firms are weighing the offer carefully, Washington had reasons of its own to make it. The timing is scarcity, not generosity. A CSIS analysis published on July 27 by Mark Cancian and Chris Park found Patriot inventories now under 1,000 and Thaad stockpiles at about 250 after the war with Iran. Secondary accounts citing the analysis put the Patriot's fall at 2,330, to between 759 and 827 missiles, and Thaad dropping 452 to between 234 and 278. “Diminished stockpiles may force the United States and its coalition partners to take more risks with interceptions,” the authors wrote, noting no good alternatives exist because Navy ships carrying standard missiles are generally too far away. Rebuilding would take more than three years. CNN, citing sources familiar with an internal report, put Thaad depletion at nearly four-fifths, a figure U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disputed. Choi reads the opening against that shortfall, arguing Korean manufacturing capacity gives Washington reason to keep allied suppliers close. “It can be a win-win structure,” he said. A surface-to-air missile is fired from a Cheongung-II air defense system during live-fire drills in an unspecified western coastal area in 2024. YONHAP There indeed have been past arrangements between the U.S Army and Korean defense manufacturers. The U.S. Army announced an enhanced use lease to Hanwha Defense USA at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Jefferson County, Arkansas on Jan. 28. The lease agreement used underutilized Army property, with proceeds to be reinvested into infrastructure. Hanwha plans to invest roughly $1.3 billion and create about 200 skilled jobs. “These days, you can easily secure all the data you need through things like AI simulations,” said a defense analyst on the condition of anonymity. “The real issue is that our country has extremely limited testing grounds.” “For example, the long-range air-to-air missile project, since the range on those is hundreds of kilometers it’s really difficult to test them here in Korea,” he continued. “If a missile were to fall mid-flight and cause damage to a civilian area, the entire country and the media would go absolutely haywire.” “The truth is, there’s simply nowhere to test them. So, testing in the U.S. is definitely the better option.” Two Cheongung-II medium-range surface-to-air missile systems are used during a drill in Korea in this undated stock photo JOONGANG PHOTO The payoff vs. the pay-in For Korean firms, the prize is real. Cheongung II, deployed in the UAE, intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles in March, and Bigung passed a U.S. comparative test in 2024. Combat-proven and U.S.-verified is stronger than either alone. But the Army will not subsidize travel, and Driscoll said the intent is not to bring in companies not far enough along in their funding. It is worth comparing to what Korean industry is being asked to pay elsewhere. In Spain, Hanwha Aerospace is buying European entry with technology and potentially design authority. In the United States, the currency is cash and test data. Two markets, two admission prices, and the same question underneath both: How much value stays in Korea once the door is open?

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대구에서 광복 81주년 '이육사' 조명 문화 행사 잇달아 열려

대구콘서트하우스는 광복 81주년을 맞아 기획 공연 '이육사 시 노래 축제'를 개최합니다 8월 25일 오후 7시 30분에 열리는 이번 축제는 민족시인 이육사의 대표 작품인 청포도, 황혼, 은하수, 절정 등에 음악을 입힌 시 노래 형식의 작품을 선보입니다. 작곡가 홍신주, 나실인, 백소영, 남지영이 이육사의 시에 새로운 음악적 해석을 더한 곡을 공개하는데, 특히 이육사의 증손녀인 소프라노 이영규가 출연해 이육사의 시를 노래할 예정입니다. 대구오페라하우스는 창작 오페라 '264, 그 한 개의 별'을 유튜브를 통해 무료로 공개합니다. 2024년 대구 국제 오페라 축제에서 초연된 작품으로, 일제강점기 대표적 저항시인이자 독립운동가인 이육사의 생애와 발자취를 담았습니다. 영상은 8월 15일부터 31일까지 대구오페라하우스 공식 유튜브 채널 '오페라떼'(https://www.youtube.com/@DOH-Operatte)를 통해 무료로 감상할 수 있습니다. 위 이미지는 생성형 AI를 활용해 제작되었습니다

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한국 정치 유튜브 449개 무더기 폐쇄…구글 "여론조작 정황"

〈자료사진=로이터〉 구글이 올해 2분기 한국 정치 관련 콘텐트를 다룬 한국어 유튜브 채널 449개를 폐쇄한 것으로 나타났습니다. 오늘(17일) 정보통신기술 업계에 따르면 구글 위협분석그룹(TAG)은 지난달 31일 '2026년 2분기 영향 공작 보고서(Influence Operations Bulletin Q2 2026)'를 공개했습니다. 구글은 보고서를 통해 지난 4월에서 6월까지 차단한 한국어 채널은 모두 449개라고 밝혔습니다. 월별로 보면 4월 22개, 5월 367개, 6월 60개였습니다. 특히 6·3 지방선거를 앞둔 5월에 전체의 81.7%에 해당하는 채널이 집중적으로 폐쇄된 것으로 나타났습니다. 5월에 차단된 채널을 성격별로 보면 한국 정부를 비판한 채널이 142개로 가장 많았습니다. 이외에도 정부와 특정 정당 비판 채널(53개), 정부 지지 및 특정 정당 비판 채널(43개), 정부와 특정 정당 지지 채널(37개) 등이 폐쇄됐습니다. 4월에는 특정 정치인을 지지하면서 특정 정당을 비판하는 활동을 벌인 22개 채널이 차단됐으며 6월에는 특정 정치인을 비판하는 콘텐츠를 조직적으로 유포한 60개 채널이 제재됐습니다. 구글은 이 채널들이 다수의 계정을 활용해 개인 활동으로 위장하면서 특정 정치적 여론 형성에 조직적으로 개입한 것으로 판단했습니다. 다만 중국·러시아·이란 등 다른 국가와 관련된 사례와 달리 한국어 채널에 대해서는 배후 국가나 구체적인 운영 주체 등 세부적인 정보는 공개하지 않았습니다. 같은 기간 구글이 전 세계에서 폐쇄한 여론조작 의심 채널은 1만8454개로 집계됐습니다. 국가별로는 중국 연계망이 9186개로 가장 많았고, 러시아 2083개, 인도 1778개, 아제르바이잔 981개 순으로 뒤를 이었습니다.

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Nakasone Award winner Kim V. Narry discovers viral mechanism that extends mRNA lifespan

IBS researchers found a viral mechanism that nearly tripled linear mRNA’s lifespan in cells, potentially improving vaccines and therapeutics. Kim V. Narry, director of the Center for RNA Research at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), poses for a photo during an interview with JoongAng Ilbo on March 10, 2023. JUN MIN-KYU A research team led by Kim V. Narry, director of the Center for RNA Research at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), has uncovered the mechanism that viruses use to regulate RNA, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Friday. The team analyzed 337 viruses that infect vertebrates and found that they use RNA-regulating enzymes in host cells to protect their poly(A) tails. The poly(A) tail at the end of messenger RNA, or mRNA, helps maintain its stability. Applying the mechanism to mRNA vaccines and therapeutics could improve their performance. While mRNA, also used in Covid-19 vaccines, has emerged as a promising platform for next-generation therapeutics, it is easily broken down by enzymes after entering the body. The researchers found that an RNA regulatory element called Pt1 works differently from existing approaches. Rather than simply protecting the tail, it promotes synthesis of the poly(A) tail and extends it as it shortens. That continuous replenishment of the RNA tail slows the degradation of mRNA. When Pt1 was applied to linear mRNA, its lifespan inside cells increased nearly three-fold, from 7.6 hours to 23.1 hours. The lifespan approached that of circular RNA, which is known as the most stable form of RNA. An illustration of how tailons, RNA regulatory elements, work. Tailon sequences in mRNA bind to TENT4 or PAP proteins, which reinforce the mRNA’s poly(A) tail and stabilize the molecule. MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND ICT “The technology could serve as a foundation for improving the performance of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, since it increases RNA lifespan and protein production while retaining the advantages of linear mRNA, which is easier to manufacture,” the research team said. The findings were published in the journal Cell. Kim was also named the first Asian recipient of the Human Frontier Science Program’s (HFSP) Nakasone Award last month, in recognition of her achievements in mRNA research.

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NK's Kim expects "excellent future" with Russia

Trump posts photo of him and Kim Jong-un, saying they 'get along great' Kim Jong-un (Yonhap) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he expects "more excellent future" between the two countries, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. The news comes a few hours after US President Donald Trump posted a 2019 photo of him and Kim, claiming an amicable relationship between the two. Kim called Putin a friend and said he was "proud to be able to expect more excellent future in the bilateral relations" between Pyongyang and Moscow, in a response to Putin's congratulatory message for the 81th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Kim reportedly told Putin that he believes Russia would accomplish "the sacred cause of defending the sovereignty, security interests and territorial integrity of the country under your (Putin's) wise leadership." North Korea and Russia have been deepening economic, diplomatic and military cooperation, since signing a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2024. The agreement paved the way for North Korea's military support in Russia's war against Ukraine. Trump claims good relations with Kim US President Donald Trump on Saturday posted a throwback photo of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2019, saying that they "get along great" while joking about apparent the lack of smile on the two men's faces. “Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we’re smiling, Kim Jong Un and I get along GREAT!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, as he posted the photo taken in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in 2019. The White House has repeatedly said that the US leader is open to direct communications with Kim, without any preconditions. It is unclear if Pyongyang will respond to the call for talks, as local experts believe the communist state is moving to strengthen ties with China and Russia. North Korea, which in the past had accused Washington of "hostile policy," recently criticized security cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan. Trump's recent social post came after the US president shared a similar photo in June of him with Kim, which was taken during the US-North Korean summit in Singapore in 2018. It was posted without accompanying comment or caption, but sparked speculation that Trump may try to rekindle his connection with Kim.

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If Joseon had K-pop, it might have sounded like Seodo Band

Five-piece band transforms pansori, pop and nine years of experimentation into debut album Seodo Band poses for a photo before an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul, Aug. 6. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald) If there had been K-pop during the Joseon era, perhaps it would have sounded something like Seodo Band. Formed by five conservatory classmates, the band spent nine years circling around the material that would eventually become its first full-length album, "One: Circle," set for release Friday. The band — vocalist Seodo, guitarist Yeon Tae-hee, bassist Kim Tea-joo, drummer Jeong Hyun-bin and keyboardist Kim Seong-hyun — calls its music "Joseon-pop," a genre of its own making that combines traditional Korean musical elements from gukak with contemporary pop songwriting. Nearly a decade after coining the term, the band still largely occupies that territory alone. The band's beginnings were considerably less deliberate. Four labelmates entered the “21c Korean Music Project” competition in 2018 and formed a band because the contest required them to perform as a group. "We didn't originally plan to make band music," Seodo said during an interview with The Korea Herald on Aug. 6. "But going into that competition, we had to form a group — and that thought carried us all the way to now." The idea of making a full album came much later. "I never really thought about releasing a full album while we were doing this as a band. But if we ever did one, I thought it should be the 'Chunhyangga' set that was the start of our activities as Seodo Band. Now, nine years in, I strongly felt it might finally be time, and that pushed us to move forward," bassist Kim said. "Chunhyangga," or "The Song of Chunhyang," is one of the best-known works of pansori, the traditional Korean form of musical storytelling performed through singing and narration. Seodo Band has been performing its own 30-minute interpretation of the story since its early days. The result is a 12-track album structured more like a play than a collection of individual songs. Seven songs follow the narrative of "Chunhyangga" in sequence, from the lovers' meeting in "Arirang" and their vow in "Love Song" through separation, imprisonment and eventual reunion in the closing track, "As One." Seodo Band poses for a photo before an interview with The Korea Herald's building in Seoul, Aug. 6. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald) Five short instrumental pieces connect those chapters, each built around a different instrument. Their titles contain the letters A, N, I, R and I, which together spell "aniri," the spoken narration used in pansori to connect sung passages and move the story forward. "We wanted people to listen to the whole thing as one connected story," Yeon said. "When we perform the 'Chunhyangga' set live, there's no MC banter between songs. That narration bridges everything into one." That sense of connection extends to "As One," the final song written for the album, and to the album's title itself. "One" means "circle" in Korean. "This song holds the meaning of circulation that runs through the whole album," Seodo said. "There is no such thing as forever. Where there is meeting, there is parting. And where there is parting, there will be meeting again. That is the shape life keeps repeating." The album begins, fittingly, with "Arirang," named after Korea's best-known folk song. The choice comes as BTS has also used "Arirang" as the title of its latest album, but Seodo Band said the familiarity of the name did not make the members hesitant. "The Arirang most people know carries something more sorrowful, as you said. But the Arirang Seodo Band has always sung and played has always held warm emotions, so wanting to share that together came first — rather than feeling burdened," bassist Kim said. For Seodo, the appeal of "Arirang" reaches beyond nationality. "No matter which country's lullaby you hear, a lullaby feels like a lullaby. We all carry the same old feeling it stirs, because we are all human. I think Arirang holds that kind of power," he said. That Korean identity runs throughout "One: Circle," although the band says it was not something the members consciously set out to emphasize. Almost all the album's lyrics and song titles are in Korean. "There wasn't really a big intention behind it," Jeong said. "Looking at the whole album, the only English lyric is one word, 'You' in 'Love Song' — that's the one exception. It wasn't some deliberate decision to keep English out and only express Korean-ness. We just made and released what we had, and it turned out that way. If anything, I think that lets foreign listeners fall more into the charm of the Korean pronunciation and nuance itself." Seodo, the leader of Korean fusion group Seodo Band, performs during Africa Day 2026 at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul on May 20. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald) There have already been unexpected signs of the band's music traveling abroad. Yeon recalled receiving a video from a university classmate on a working holiday in the UK who unexpectedly heard the band's earlier single "City Lights" playing at a London pub with no apparent connection to Korean culture. The band said its highest social media engagement currently comes from the US. Yet even as Korean musical traditions underpin its sound, Seodo Band is reluctant to define itself as a traditional Korean music act. A judging panel for the Rising Star of Korean Traditional Music award on national broadcaster KBS in 2019 described the band's approach as "the most ideal collaboration between traditional music and popular music." Seodo draws a firmer distinction. "We say confidently that our music is not traditional music," he said. "Traditional music is music that inherits tradition. If our music has both inheritance and development, it's the developed form. That shouldn't be called traditional music. I studied pansori as a child, and I have real respect for it. Ours is just something more people can listen to easily." If Joseon-pop eventually takes the band to a larger international stage, the members already know where they would like to go. "I watched Coachella recently and it left a deep impression. If Seodo Band, carrying Korean sensibility, went there and put on a stage worthy of that, I think we could create something incredible," bassist Kim said. And they already have an image of what that stage could look like: a crowd performing Ganggangsullae, a traditional Korean communal dance in which participants join hands to form a large circle. "That's what we always talk about. The image of a Ganggangsullae circle made up of people who aren't even Korean," bassist Kim said. Seodo Band (Seodo Band)

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Who will care for Korea's elderly? Foreign workers enter troubled market

As South Korea turns to foreign students to fill a shortage of caregivers, experts warn that bringing in new workers without first improving pay, conditions and career prospects could leave the underlying crisis unresolved Foreign students at Seojeong University in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, practice repositioning a patient as part of a caregiver training course. (Seojeong University) South Korea’s rapidly aging population has created an issue that is at once demographic and deeply personal: Who will care for the growing number of older people? The arithmetic appears daunting. Korea is projected to face a shortfall of roughly 116,000 eldercare workers by 2028, according to government data. The Health Ministry estimates the country will need 990,000 additional caregivers by 2043. Yet beneath that headline shortage lies a contradiction. Nearly 2.3 million people have obtained caregiver qualifications but are not working in the field, according to the care workers’ union affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. That has led workers and labor experts to question whether Korea simply lacks people capable of providing care — or whether it lacks care jobs attractive enough for people to enter and remain in. As policymakers search for ways to expand the care workforce, one increasingly prominent part of their strategy is to open new pathways for foreign residents and international students. With Korea firmly a super-aged society and demand for elderly care rising, the government has begun creating routes for international students to train as caregivers and remain in the country for work. But if poor pay and working conditions are part of what keeps qualified Koreans out of the sector, another question follows: Will those same jobs prove attractive enough for the foreign students now being recruited to fill them? A shortage of workers — or of good jobs? Care work occupies a paradoxical place in Korea’s labor market. Society increasingly depends on it, yet the work remains relatively poorly compensated and socially undervalued. Workers assist with some of the most intimate parts of daily life — bathing, toileting, feeding and mobility — while also performing emotional labor for elderly people suffering from loneliness, dementia and declining health. Yet the occupation offers little career progression, and workloads can be severe. "Although stereotypes against caregivers have subsided, the job remains difficult compared with other careers," Jeon Hyun-wook, head of the KCTU-affiliated care workers’ union, told The Korea Herald. Caregivers are generally paid around the minimum wage, with pay rising largely in line with increases in the statutory minimum. There is no wage system recognizing seniority or accumulated experience, while night shifts and overtime are difficult to avoid at nursing homes that operate around the clock. Jeon said those conditions help explain why many qualified workers stay away from the field. "We keep telling authorities that there needs to be better treatment," he said. Lee Kyu-yong, a senior researcher at the Korea Labor Institute, said the large pool of inactive certificate holders suggests Korea’s shortage cannot be explained simply by a lack of qualified people. "There are a great many Koreans who hold caregiver qualifications," Lee told The Korea Herald. "They are not going into the field because the wages and working conditions are poor." For Lee, the problem is one of sequencing. "Improving caregivers' working conditions should come first," he said, questioning whether bringing in foreign workers should precede efforts to make the existing jobs more sustainable. Kim Ok-nyu, a Sookmyung Women's University professor who studies migration and care work, put the problem more bluntly. "The care sector is already one of the occupations Koreans avoid," Kim said. "If Koreans don't want to do the work, migrants won't necessarily want to do it either." That is the central risk facing Korea’s new strategy. Migration may expand the pool of potential workers, but it does not by itself make care work more attractive. Looking abroad for caregivers To address the looming shortage, the Justice Ministry and the Health Ministry announced in March 2025 that 24 universities nationwide would be allowed to operate degree programs for foreign students seeking caregiver qualifications from 2026. Under the two-year pilot program, designated universities can establish departments for international students and offer degree courses leading to caregiver certification. The curriculum must follow government guidelines and include customized Korean-language training. The government has also introduced visa-related incentives aimed at recruitment and settlement. “With a shortage of caregivers expected going forward, the foreign caregiver training university program could serve as a way to secure a stable workforce,” Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong said when the program was announced. For policymakers, international students offer a potential source of long-term workers. They are younger than much of the existing caregiver population, can build Korean-language skills while studying and may remain in Korea after graduation. For students themselves, the program can also create opportunities that did not previously exist. For 37-year-old Uyanga, a Mongolian student studying global nursing at Sahmyook Health University, the new track has offered a chance to pursue both a new career and long-term settlement in Korea. "I heard it is difficult to obtain a D-2 visa past your late 20s," Uyanga told local media. "I am now able to study what I enjoy in Korea, a country I was always interested in." Uyanga majored in veterinary medicine in Mongolia and later worked at a processed-food factory testing chemical treatments. She said she had long wanted to work in social welfare, particularly elderly care. "I am confident that I can provide care and support services to elderly people better than anyone," she said. "I had a strong desire to work in social welfare, especially in elderly care." For students like Uyanga, the program offers something tangible. It provides a degree, a profession and a possible path to staying in Korea. But the same conditions that deter Koreans will still be waiting for them after graduation. Can migration work without reform? Both Kim and Lee questioned whether the government has sufficiently prepared for what happens after those students graduate. Kim said students entering the new tracks may not have been given a realistic picture of the wages and working conditions awaiting them. "They aren't necessarily studying with an accurate understanding of the working conditions or wages they will face as caregivers," she said. Kim said some students could arrive expecting wages in Korea to translate into greater purchasing power than they actually provide once housing, food and other living costs are taken into account. The program also contains a built-in mismatch. Foreign students are being asked to complete college-level programs to enter an occupation whose Korean certification system currently has no requirement for academic qualifications. Kim questioned whether the sector has created a wage and career structure capable of recognizing that additional education. "If someone has earned at least an associate degree, are they going to receive the same pay as someone with no educational requirement?" Kim said. "The wage system itself has not been properly established." Without better pay or meaningful career advancement, Kim warned, the caregiver track risks becoming a stepping stone into other industries rather than a lasting occupation, cutting directly against the policy’s goal of securing a stable care workforce. "The students need to be given accurate information and asked whether they still want to come," she said. "Only when they come with clear information can both the foreign students and Korea reduce the risk of harm." Lee likewise questioned whether policymakers had adequately worked through the realities of the existing caregiver market before launching the foreign-student pathway. "The sequence is somewhat wrong," he said. "To put it strongly, I think the people who designed this system may not sufficiently understand the reality of the caregiver market." Lee also warned against assuming foreign workers can simply be substituted one-for-one for experienced Korean caregivers under existing staffing arrangements. Facilities operate with set staffing levels, he said, and newly arrived caregivers may need time to adapt to language and workplace barriers. Without additional staffing support, that adjustment period could increase existing workers’ workloads rather than relieve them. Migration is part of the answer, not the whole answer Despite those concerns, even labor representatives acknowledge that migration will likely form part of Korea’s response to its shrinking workforce. "The union had held a lot of debates and there were a lot of opinions on whether we should oppose the government policy to host more foreign caregivers," Jeon said. "In the end, the union decided we would not oppose it because we are ultimately in a shortage." The debate, then, is less about whether foreign caregivers should enter Korea than about the conditions under which they do — and whether migration supplements reform of the care industry or becomes a substitute for it. For Kim, making that strategy sustainable starts with recognizing caregiving as skilled work. Caregivers frequently work with elderly people with serious medical conditions, requiring them to recognize emergencies and make rapid judgments. Language difficulties can have consequences beyond inconvenience if workers cannot immediately understand a resident or communicate during a medical emergency. "This is work with highly vulnerable people, often people with serious conditions, so the service has to be provided professionally," Kim said. High turnover can also affect the quality and continuity of care. If foreign students use caregiving merely as a temporary route into Korea before moving elsewhere, elderly recipients could repeatedly see their caregivers replaced. For foreign recruitment to become sustainable, Kim said, the sector needs better working conditions and a career structure that recognizes skills and experience. Prospective recruits must also understand what the job offers before committing to study and work in Korea. Korea can broaden the pool of people willing to enter care. The harder task is giving them a reason to stay.

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Korean builders double down on AI data centers

Shorter project timelines and multibillion-dollar orders draw firms beyond housing Pacific Sunny Data Center built by Hyundai E&C in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province (Hyundai E&C) Korean builders are racing into data centers, chasing multibillion-dollar opportunities as the generative AI boom fuels a global surge in demand for computing infrastructure. Global real estate consultancy JLL estimates that the data center market will grow at an annual average rate of 14 percent through 2030, while global data center power consumption is expected to nearly double from around 103 gigawatts in 2025 to 200 GW by 2030, led by an infrastructure super-cycle requiring up to $3 trillion in total spending. According to JLL, the average construction cost of data centers rose 38 percent over five years, from $7.7 million per megawatt in 2020 to $10.7 million in 2025. The figure is expected to climb further to $11.3 million per MW this year, underscoring the rising value of data center construction projects. Hyundai E&C has the largest data center construction track record among Korean builders, having completed four data center projects in the country. The company is participating in an AI data center project in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, and began construction on the 40-MW Ansan Sihwa AI Data Center in June. Daewoo Engineering & Construction is emerging as a major contender, establishing a dedicated data center-dedicated task force in April to strengthen its design, technology and construction capabilities and develop new projects. The builder also signed a partnership with data center operator KINX in July to connect development, construction, and operations as part of its longer-term strategy to expand from construction into land acquisition, development, operations and eventual asset sales. Daewoo E&C completed the 40-MW Empyrion Digital AI Campus in Gangnam last year and is participating as both an investor and constructor in the up-to-60-MW Pine Data Center in Jangseong, South Jeolla Province. The builder is also pursuing projects with capacities of 200-300 MW in the Jangseong and Gangjin areas of South Jeolla Province. Samsung C&T is pursuing orders from global technology giants while looking beyond Southeast Asia to the Middle East and Australia. It won a 40-MW Ansan Global Cloud Center project worth 400 billion won ($283 million) in November 2024 and has also participated in data center projects ordered by Samsung affiliates. For a 2.4-MW data center project in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, Samsung C&T said it would use modular construction methods designed to shorten construction time and facilitate future expansion. GS E&C is taking on one of the largest projects in the domestic pipeline, working with the local governments of Gangwon Province and Donghae to develop an AI data center campus with a total planned capacity of 2.4 GW. The first 1.2-GW phase is estimated to require around 10 trillion won, with the groundbreaking targeted for early October. Rendering of Jangseong Pine Data Center in South Jeolla Province (Daewoo E&C) Having constructed a 20-MW AI data center in Seoul, DL E&C is developing an 80-MW data center project in Gimpo, and DL Construction won a 126.8-billion-won contract for a 9.8-MW AI computing-focused facility in Bucheon in May. SK Ecoplant, which is participating in the construction of the 103-MW SK-Amazon Web Services data center in Ulsan, recently set up an AI data center-dedicated team to better handle the rising demand for AI infrastructure. The economics of the business offer a lucrative source of revenue for builders. Compared with housing developments, data centers typically have shorter construction periods while offering project values ranging from hundreds of billions of won to several trillion won. "Construction firms are paying close attention to data centers because they can generate sizable orders within a relatively short construction period," a construction industry official said. "Once builders expand into land development, equity investment and operations, they can continue generating rental and operating income long after construction is completed." Policy is adding another layer of momentum as the Korean government laid out plans to support the construction of 8.4 GW of AI data centers by investing 550 trillion won through 2029 in cooperation with the private sector. According to a recent report by the Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy, AI data centers are increasingly being treated as strategic infrastructure assets rather than simple buildings. Developers are seeking contractors capable of coordinating the entire project lifecycle from grid connections, substations and backup power systems to cooling infrastructure, telecommunications networks and regulatory approvals. "The capabilities of builders in the future data center market will depend on how effectively they can integrate shorter power procurement lead times, modular prefabrication, parallel construction processes and early commissioning," said Lee Gyu-eun, an associate research fellow at the Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy. “In the near term, construction companies are likely to focus on strengthening their position in the terrestrial AI data center market. Over the longer term, however, accumulating expertise in modular construction, robotics, remote operations and thermal management could lay the groundwork for entering the emerging space infrastructure market.” DCI SEL1 Data Center in Seoul (DL E&C)

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