It will not only be South Korean stocks dipping this week, but likely most of the world as well:
South Korean stocks fell 3 percent to a near two-month low Monday ahead of U.S. reciprocal tariffs set to be announced later this week amid the removal of a short selling ban. The local currency sharply fell against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 76.86 points to close at 2,481.12, marking the lowest closing since Feb. 3, when it finished at 2,453.95.
Trade volume was slim at 385.5 million shares worth 8.1 trillion won (US$5.5 billion), with losers sharply outnumbering winners 824 to 87.
Foreigners sold a net 1.5 trillion won worth of stocks, while institutions and individuals purchased a net 666.9 billion won and 789.9 billion won, respectively.
Analysts said investors were concerned that U.S. President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, slated for Wednesday (U.S. time), would trigger a global trade war. He also confirmed 25 percent tariffs on all imported cars set to take effect Thursday.
It the coming years USFJ is going to turn into a warfighting headquarters much like USFK in Korea:
U.S. Forces Japan has begun reorganizing into a “warfighting headquarters,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday during his first trip to the Indo-Pacific since taking office. Hegseth that day discussed restructuring USFJ amid regional security challenges with Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani at Camp Ichigaya, the Ministry of Defense headquarters in central Tokyo.
The Defense Department has begun the first phase of upgrading USFJ into a joint force command better equipped to coordinate with its Japanese counterpart, Hegseth told reporters after the meeting. “This also means reorganizing U.S. Forces Japan into a warfighting headquarters, increasing its staff and giving its commander the authorities needed to accomplish new missions,” he said
You can read more at the link, but a difference I see between the future USFJ and USFK is that the USFK commander has operational control of US and ROK forces during a conflict. The future USFJ will instead coordinate with Japanese Joint opeational command during conflict.
South Koreans, especially youths, overwhelmingly choose the US! It's even higher than the polling company results. This is in Shinchon, Korea. https://t.co/cHd6Y3aM7z
Wildfire in southeastern region This photo, taken March 29, 2025, shows a scorched mountain in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea, after a wildfire ravaged the region. (Yonhap)
It appears that the horrible wildfires in South Korea are finally contained:
A massive wildfire that began in Sancheong County and swept through nearby regions in South Gyeongsang Province has been fully contained, authorities said Sunday.
The main fires were under control as of 1 p.m. Sunday, nearly 10 days after they first broke out March 21, according to forestry officials.
The wildfire has scorched an estimated 1,858 hectares of woodland, equivalent to around 2,600 football fields.
At least 30 people have died from the recent wave of nationwide wildfires, including 26 reported in North Gyeongsang Province.
Meanwhile, police authorities said they have booked a man suspected of starting the massive wildfires in North Gyeongsang Province.
The 56-year-old man is accused of causing the fire at around 11:25 a.m. on March 22 while performing an ancestral rite at a family grave on a hill in Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang Province.
The fire then spread rapidly to nearby Andong, Cheongsong, Yeongyang and Yeongdeok for days due to gusty winds amid dry conditions.
You can read more at the link, but investigators are still trying to determine who started the other wildfires.
Ex-minister’s daughter attends 1st hearing of appellate trial Cho Min, daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, appears at the Seoul Central District Court in the capital on March 26, 2025, to attend the first hearing of her appellate trial over her alleged college admission fraud. She was ordered by a lower court to pay a fine of 10 million won (US$7,510). (Yonhap)
Having driven this stretch of I-40 in Arizona many times before I know from first hand experience how treacherous the hill west of Williams can be in snowy weather. Unfortunately this time the accident that occurred was extremely deadly:
Arizona officials are working to determine whether additional human remains discovered in the debris of a fatal pileup crash on Interstate 40 on March 13 are those of the South Korean family who went missing in the area at the time of the crash.
Jiyeon Lee, Taehee Kim and Junghee Kim have been missing for nearly two weeks after driving through a winter storm on their road trip between the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.
Investigators have confirmed that one of the vehicles in the collision, which involved multiple passenger vehicles that “were rear-ended, pushing them into, and in some cases, underneath crashed tractor-trailers,” was a BMW SUV, an update from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday. The family had been traveling in a BMW rental vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
20-meter-wide sinkhole at intersection in Seoul This photo, taken March 24, 2025, shows a 20-meter-wide sinkhole at an intersection in Seoul’s Gangdong Ward after it opened and swallowed a motorcyclist. (Yonhap)
