2026년 11월 2일 주요기사 5편

IN ENGLISHSouth Korea's October exports rose 93.7% from a year earlier to $115.3 billion, with chips at $56.4 billion, or 49% of the total; imports rose 36.0% and the trade surplus was $42.5 billion. The ministry notes the Chuseok holiday fell in October last year but in September this year, adding working days; working days rose from 20 to 22, and on a daily-average basis exports rose 76.1%. Exports for January-October topped $900 billion for the first time. The trade minister said annual exports will "surely" reach $1 trillion in November, a forecast, not yet an achievement.

IN ENGLISHThe 2027 budget bill totals 820.9 trillion won in spending, up 12.8%; rounding 820.9 to the nearest trillion gives 821, not 820. The dispute is over a new "future response fund" of 162.3 trillion won, which a government presenter split into 45.4 trillion won for programs, 12.5 trillion won to cut new bond issuance and 104.4 trillion won in idle funds. A bill would exempt changes of up to 30% in major fund items from submitting a revised plan to parliament. Its published summary specifies prompt submission of changes involving transfers to the general account to cover revenue shortfalls and the use of excess tax revenue; this does not establish the same reporting duty for every change within 30%. The opposition calls it a "blank check"; the ruling party denies it escapes parliamentary control. At the manuscript cutoff, President Lee was scheduled to deliver his budget speech on Nov. 2; the speech text and actual remarks were not obtained.

IN ENGLISHThe Korea Exchange named 151 listed companies, 96 on the main board and 55 on KOSDAQ, as persistently low price-to-book firms, after screening 2,431 companies as of Oct. 22 and excluding 34 that had disclosed value-up plans. Under the rules set out by the FSC in July, firms in the bottom 25% (KOSPI) or 10% (KOSDAQ) of their sector are listed each May and November. Headlines spoke of "tags" and "stigma," but the listing itself carries no legal sanction; brokers will display tags on their own schedules.

IN ENGLISHThe FBI said on Oct. 31 that North Korea stole "more than $6 billion" in virtual assets from Binance on or about Oct. 29, naming the activity TraderTraitor and publishing laundering addresses. Binance put losses at about $6.3 billion and pledged to cover them from company funds and its SAFU fund, saying it had secured about 80% of matching tokens. Estimates range from $6.23 billion to $6.43 billion depending on the firm and pricing time. Elliptic reported $2.85 billion frozen or seized and a partial resumption of withdrawals. Pledges and freezes are not the same as repayment.

IN ENGLISHPresident Lee posted on X on Oct. 31 that the country is "enduring" on "the hard road toward normalizing asset markets," quoting a user's post that linked an Oct. 27 article in which Gangnam realtors forecast falling prices if policies continue. In the Korea Real Estate Board's Oct. 26 survey, Seoul apartment prices rose 0.09% while Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa all fell. Year to date, Seoul is up 8.73%, but among the three districts only Gangnam is down (−1.64%); Seocho is up 0.14% and Songpa 4.35%. The figures do not by themselves show any policy's effect.