South Korea

Joongang Ilbo | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedInitiative

Seoul has discontinued its foreign caregiver pilot program launched in August 2024 due to ongoing controversies surrounding wages, working conditions, and legal protections for the recruited Filipino caregivers. The initiative aimed to address a shortage of child care workers caused by Korea’s low birthrate and to reduce child care costs while supporting women’s workforce participation. However, the program faced immediate challenges, including absenteeism by some caregivers, high service fees for families, and labor rights concerns amid ambiguous job definitions and visa constraints.

Caregivers in the program earned approximately half the average Korean monthly wage, with significant deductions leaving take-home pay low despite high costs charged to households. The program’s structure involved multiple stakeholders, including government bodies and private platform companies, which weakened worker protections, fostered rigid management controls, and contributed to dissatisfaction among caregivers. The E-9 visa system restricted workers’ employer mobility and residency security, exacerbating vulnerabilities inherent in the pilot.

The initiative revealed deeper systemic issues in Korea’s approach to migrant labor and care work, including fragmented oversight across ministries and undervaluation of caregiving jobs. Experts highlighted that improving domestic working conditions might better address caregiver shortages. Despite ongoing demand for child care, program critics argue that without coordinated reforms to labor policies and residency rights, integrating foreign caregivers effectively remains unlikely.

Yonhap | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | North Korea

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung revealed that North Korea is producing enough nuclear material annually to build 10 to 20 new nuclear weapons, emphasizing the critical need to resume diplomatic talks with Pyongyang to curb its nuclear weapons program. This disclosure, considered rare and based on classified intelligence shared by South Korean and U.S. agencies, highlights North Korea's ongoing expansion of its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea is operating highly enriched uranium production facilities in Yongbyon and Kangson, along with plutonium production at Yongbyon. These facilities can generate dozens of kilograms of nuclear material a year, sufficient for multiple weapons. Estimates from the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses indicate North Korea possessed between 115 and 131 uranium-based weapons and 15 to 19 plutonium-based weapons as of 2025, potentially rising to 216 uranium-based and 27 plutonium-based weapons by 2030, and further increasing through 2040.

President Lee stated that while complete denuclearization is the ideal outcome, the reality suggests North Korea is unlikely to abandon its nuclear program voluntarily. He proposed a practical approach starting with halting North Korea’s nuclear activities, then pursuing gradual reductions, and ultimately aiming for full denuclearization. Lee’s use of the term "disarmament" signals a renewed push to bring North Korea back to negotiations, despite Pyongyang’s firm stance that its nuclear arsenal is non-negotiable and essential for national security.

Joongang Ilbo | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

Gwangju Metropolitan City has been designated as South Korea's first citywide autonomous driving test zone to accelerate AI-powered vehicle development and close the technology gap with the United States and China. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that about 200 self-driving vehicles will operate on public roads across Gwangju starting in the second half of 2026. This initiative is part of a broader economic growth strategy aimed at boosting the country's competitiveness in autonomous driving by utilizing the entire city as a large-scale testing environment, similar to trials in San Francisco and Wuhan.

The government plans to appoint the Korea Automobile Testing and Research Institute to manage the program and will select about three autonomous driving companies through an open call by April. These companies will receive test vehicles based on their technical capabilities, beginning with autonomous driving accompanied by safety drivers and moving toward fully driverless operations after annual reviews. A standardized system will collect and preprocess driving data to train AI, with support for large-scale GPU-based training at the national AI data center. Additional measures include remote monitoring, safety management systems, and a specialized insurance product to mitigate compensation risks from accidents during testing.

South Korea has already implemented advanced regulatory frameworks, including safety standards for Level 3 conditional automation and performance certification for Level 4 automation, but has been limited to smaller testing zones until now. Officials emphasized that larger-scale real-road testing is essential for AI systems that learn from extensive data and make independent driving decisions. Land Minister Kim Yun-duk noted the urgent need to catch up with global leaders, characterizing Korea's current autonomous driving technology level as elementary compared to more mature development in the U.S. and China.