The government moved from reshuffling ministers to restructuring institutions, exports broke records while household pressure persisted, and a policing failure exposed a wider missing-person problem.
The Bank of Korea tightened again while the government prepared a larger fiscal program, a Jeju policing scandal became a national accountability issue, and regional-growth policy moved from slogans toward prices and infrastructure.
Household debt crossed a historic threshold as chip stocks surged, renewed diplomacy with North Korea ran into missile launches, and record rain followed a prolonged heat emergency.