An appeals court acquits Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, and he keeps his job

An appeals court acquits Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, and he keeps his job

The Seoul High Court acquitted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on October 23, overturning the fine that could have cost him his office, per Yonhap.

Why this matters. Under the Political Funds Act, a final fine of ₩1 million or more removes an elected official and bars them from public office for five years. That would also have kept Oh out of the next presidential race, per Kukmin Ilbo. Oh, of the People Power Party (PPP), won a fifth term as mayor in June.

What changed. In July, a lower court fined Oh ₩10 million. The charge was that a supporter paid ₩33 million for opinion polls Oh received 10 times from self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun before the 2021 by-election. The lower court accepted five polls and ₩21 million. The appeals court found none of it proven.

Worth knowing. Myung's testimony was the only direct evidence on the core issue, and the court called it inconsistent and in many places at odds with the objective circumstances, per Hankyoreh.

The last time. On July 16, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled 7 to 5 that then-Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung had not broken the election law. He kept his post, and the ruling cleared his path to the 2022 presidential race, per the Korea Times. Oh's case has not reached that court yet.

What's next. Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team called the ruling "very disappointing" and will appeal to the Supreme Court. The ruling Democratic Party (DP) called it unreasonable, per Yonhap. Hankyoreh expects a final ruling as early as January, because the special counsel law sets fast trial deadlines.

Korea This Week

Samsung books a record profit, then Korea's main stock index drops about 16%

Samsung Electronics said on October 8 that it made ₩107.4 trillion in operating profit from July to September, a first for any Korean company, per Kyunghyang Shinmun.

The numbers.

• Preliminary revenue was ₩195 trillion, per News1.
• On October 8 the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 6,625.93, and Samsung shares fell 2.42%.
• On October 13 the KOSPI closed at 6,035.35, down 5.46%. Samsung fell 7.39% and SK hynix 10.09%, per Korea Daily.
• On October 23 the KOSPI closed at 5,550.30, about 16% below the October 8 close, per Yonhap.

Worth knowing. ChosunBiz tied the October 13 drop to Chinese memory maker CXMT's claim of a DRAM breakthrough, steady foreign selling, and share buybacks at Samsung and SK hynix winding down.

The Bank of Korea holds at 3.00% and says it is still tightening

The Bank of Korea held its base rate (기준금리) at 3.00% on October 22, after raising it in July and August, per Yonhap.

What changed. All seven board members voted to hold, citing Middle East uncertainty and the need to see how the two hikes are working. Governor Shin Hyun-song said "it is necessary to continue monetary tightening." Consumer prices rose 2.8% in July, 3.1% in August and 2.9% in September.

What this means for you. A pause is not a cut. If you pay a variable-rate loan or a jeonse loan (전세대출), your rate does not go down. The next rate meeting is November 26.

Self-employed health premiums may be settled against real income every year

The National Health Insurance Service (국민건강보험공단, NHIS) told lawmakers on October 20 that it wants to settle every subscriber's premiums against their confirmed income once a year, per Yonhap.

What changed. Workplace subscribers already settle each April. Regional subscribers (지역가입자) pay first and must apply each November to pay more or get money back, per SBS Biz. In 2025, only 210,000 regional households got refunds that way. Under the plan, NHIS would take last year's confirmed income from the National Tax Service and settle automatically.

The numbers.

• Covered: 9.08 million regional households and 1.1 million employees with income outside their salary.
• 3.94 million households would pay ₩3.2911 trillion more.
• 2.32 million households would get ₩1.8014 trillion back.

What this means for you. Foreign residents who are self-employed, freelance or not on a workplace plan are usually regional subscribers. This is a plan, with no start date and no law passed. For how enrollment works now, see Seoulstart's NHIS enrollment guide.

Monthly rent now covers more than half of Seoul apartment leases

For the first time, monthly-rent leases (월세) made up more than half of Seoul apartment rentals, 51.0% from January to September, per Hankyung Business.

The numbers.

• 87,740 monthly-rent leases out of 172,027. Jeonse (전세) leases were 84,287.
• A year earlier, the monthly-rent share was 43.7%.
• Jeonse deals fell 27.5% year on year. Monthly-rent deals fell 2.8%.
• The full-year 2025 share was 44.5%.

Worth knowing. The average Seoul apartment rent rose ₩218,000 to more than ₩1.66 million, per TV Chosun.

What this means for you. For costs by district and housing type, see Seoulstart's Seoul rent guide.

Seoul offers border talks, and Kim Jong-un crosses into China

South Korea formally proposed military talks with North Korea on October 23 to agree on where the land border runs, per Yonhap.

What changed. Deputy Defense Minister Kim Hong-cheol proposed jointly checking the Military Demarcation Line, restoring military hotlines and preventing accidental clashes, possibly in a three-way meeting with the UN Command. Of 1,292 marker posts placed along the line under the 1953 armistice, only about 200 can still be identified.

One complication. A day earlier, Kim Yo-jong, director of the North's Workers' Party general affairs department, said new "response means" along the whole border would go on standby, and loudspeakers aimed at the South would be ready within days, per Hankyoreh.

Worth knowing. On October 24, Kim Jong-un crossed the New Amnok River Bridge into Dandong, China. Xinhua said he met Wang Huning, who chairs China's top political advisory body, and returned the same day, per Yonhap. It was his sixth trip to China.

What's next. North Korea did not answer a similar talks offer last year.

Watch This Week

• Thursday October 29 to Friday October 30. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visits Seoul and holds a summit with President Lee Jae-myung on Thursday, the first bilateral visit by a German chancellor in three years, per Yonhap.
• Friday October 30 to Sunday November 1. Seoul police restrict vehicle access in stages in Itaewon, Hongdae, Seongsu, Myeongdong and Ikseon-dong as Halloween crowds build, with 4,594 officers deployed, per Yonhap. Police ask people not to carry or wear prop guns, knives or police uniforms. This is the fourth Halloween since the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush killed 159 people.

In Conversation

Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae called firefighting a "fiscal straw." People answered with straws.

What changed. At a parliamentary audit on October 13, Choo said firefighting "seems like the biggest, most troublesome fiscal straw," with personnel costs alone at ₩1.1 trillion in 2027, per Kyunghyang Shinmun. Firefighter unions demanded an apology. Fire lieutenant Kim Jin-seok, who died fighting a factory fire in Bucheon, had his funeral on October 19.

Worth knowing. Comedian Lee Sang-min, known for impersonating politicians, posted a photo of 250 straws delivered to the Gyeonggi provincial office, per Hankyoreh. Firefighter Na Kyung-jin of Jincheon Fire Station posted a wordless video for Kim, swapping a yellow straw in a glass of water for a white chrysanthemum. It had about 220,000 views by the next morning, per Maeil Shinmun.

One complication. Choo apologized at Kim's funeral altar "since you want an apology," then again on October 19. The PPP called it a forced apology, per KBS.

Korea Decoded

When to drop the polite endings in Korean

Korean grammar lists six speech levels, but three do almost all the everyday work.

Worth knowing. Polite informal speech (해요체), ending in "-yo," is the safe default outside close friendships. Casual speech (반말), including the everyday "hi" (안녕), sounds rude to a stranger or an older person. Switching to it is called dropping formality (말 놓기), and the senior person offers it.

One complication. A senior may speak casually to you while you stay polite. Some younger companies, such as Kakao, use English names at work partly to avoid this. See Seoulstart's guide to Korean speech levels.

Festivals worth checking out

• November 4 to 8. Cheongsong Apple Festival (청송사과축제): the 20th edition runs along the Yongjeoncheon stream in Cheongsong-eup, North Gyeongsang Province, per Kyungbuk Maeil.
• Through November 15. Gwangju Biennale: the final weeks of the contemporary art show. Major wall texts are in English and Korean, and the main hall takes at least three to four hours.

Good Reads

• JoongAng Ilbo. “A patriot's calligraphy turns out to be a collaborator's, and it belonged to the museum director.” The National Museum of Korea showed a scroll as the work of independence activist Park Won-geun. After his family raised questions, it was traced to pro-Japanese collaborator Park Jung-yang, who once used the same name. The scroll belonged to museum director You Hong-june. (link)

• Seoulstart. “NHIS National Health Screening (건강검진) in Korea for Foreign Residents.” Employee members, self-employed householders and dependents aged 20 or older get a general checkup every two years, or every year for non-office workers, and NHIS covers all of it. Foreign-language help is on 1577-1000, extension 6.

• Newsis. “Foreigners who started learning Korean because of K-pop and dramas.” A Malaysian student who came for the idol groups NCT and TXT and a Brazilian-Korean woman tracing her family roots explain why they started. Online learners say double consonants and writing down what they hear are the hard part. (link)

• Yonhap. “Over 80 production houses, 95,000 people in S. Korea involved in Netflix content over past 10 yrs.” Netflix's own figures for ten years in Korea: more than 200 Korean originals, filmed at more than 100 locations, one in three from a first-time director or writer. (link)

• The Asia Business Daily. “FC Seoul revives a storied club, three years into Kim Gi-dong's tenure.” Coach Kim Gi-dong, a Pohang Steelers great with 501 K League appearances, took over a club stuck in the lower half for four straight years. Home crowds now average 22,093, the only K League 1 club above 20,000. FC Seoul then clinched its first title in 10 years on October 24, per Yonhap. (link)

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New on Seoulstart this week

• Housing shows where your rent budget fits, and the fair rent check compares an offer with recent leases. New guides cover rent in Seoul, apartment prices by district and where to live in Seoul.
• New calculators estimate unemployment benefit (실업급여) and weekly holiday pay (주휴수당), in six languages.
• Jobs now filters by whether Korean is needed and by visa route, with email alerts that match your list. New guides cover jobs without Korean and working at a K-pop company.

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That's Seoulstart Korea Weekly for this week. See you next week.