| Mobile Web

All articles List

Finance

Household loans rise and multi-homeowner curbs set stage for tighter lending rules

Household lending across South Korea’s financial sector rose by 1.4 trillion won in January, reversing a month-earlier decline, while mortgage lending increased by 3 trillion won. President Lee Jae-myung raised fairness concerns over extending loan maturities for multi-homeowners, prompting regulators to launch inspections and form a joint task force. Authorities are also weighing broader application of debt service ratio rules and will announce this year’s household loan management targets after the Lunar New Year holiday.

Industry

K-food push drives Korean foodmakers to seek growth overseas

South Korean food companies are seeking growth abroad as a prolonged domestic slowdown weighs on sales. K-food items such as instant noodles, dumplings and snacks are leading the expansion. Samyang Foods’ exports account for about 80 percent of sales, supported by the global popularity of its Buldak series. CJ CheilJedang, Orion and Dongwon F&B are also relying on overseas subsidiaries to cushion weak demand at home and manage earnings volatility.

AI & Enterprise

Next-generation AI models flood the market

Major tech companies are unveiling new AI models and updates, with Chinese firms stepping up their push. Alibaba introduced Qwen 3.5, while ByteDance released its Seedance 2.0 video-generation model and plans stronger protections amid copyright controversy. DeepSeek is expected to launch V4, while Anthropic and OpenAI rolled out updates. Enterprise deployments, agent services, acquisitions and investments continued this week, alongside moves by Perplexity, Airbnb and others.