South Korea

누리호 4차 발사 성공, 韓 민간 우주개발 시대 활짝 [K-뉴스페이스·上]

Newsis | Local Language | News | Dec. 1, 2025 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

The Korean launch vehicle Nuriho successfully completed its fourth flight on November 27, 2025, marking the first time a vehicle manufactured and assembled entirely by the private sector, specifically Hanwha Aerospace, carried out a nominal mission. This launch, conducted at night to meet specific orbital conditions, represents a significant milestone in Korea's transition from government-led to private-sector-led space development. Hanwha’s role expanded not only to vehicle manufacturing but also to participate in launch preparations alongside the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which still led launch operations.

The government plans the fifth and sixth Nuriho launches in 2026 and 2027, respectively, as critical tests to verify the stability of private-sector-led launch operations. From the fifth launch onward, Hanwha’s involvement will increase, including expanded personnel presence in key launch control centers, with the expectation that by the sixth launch, Hanwha will handle most operations except for mission director and launch operations director roles. This gradual handover is designed to confirm the feasibility of a privately centered launch system through repeated successful launches.

Concerns remain about a potential gap in launch activity following the sixth launch in 2027, which could disrupt the emerging private-sector ecosystem. The government is working to secure funding for a seventh launch planned for 2028 under the ‘Nuriho Heritage’ project, intended to cover the gap until a next-generation launch vehicle is tested in 2031. However, this project faces delays due to ongoing preliminary feasibility study requirements, raising fears of another launch hiatus. Such interruptions risk weakening industry expertise, supply chains, and operational continuity, as experienced during the 2.5-year gap between the third and fourth launches.

To prevent this, the government intends to incorporate the seventh launch budget into the next fiscal year and aims to maintain annual launches from the eighth launch onward. Experts emphasize that sustaining the private transition requires continuous launch activity to maintain personnel proficiency, industry networks, and operational data. The future role and funding structure for Nuriho beyond the initial program phase remain key to securing Korea’s private space development momentum.

"6.5초마다 에어컨 한 대씩"…中 샤오미, 전기차 이어 가전까지 '제조 독립'

Digital Daily | Local Language | News | Dec. 1, 2025 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

Xiaomi has announced the opening of a new R&D building at its smart appliances factory in Wuhan, marking a significant step toward manufacturing independence. The facility consolidates technology development, manufacturing, and verification with around 300 engineers working in one space. This development completes Xiaomi's "Human x Car x Home" ecosystem, integrating its smartphone, electric vehicle, and home appliance businesses.

The Wuhan smart factory, operational since October and equipped with the self-developed Fengpai Smart Manufacturing Platform and AI vision inspection system, can produce one premium air conditioner every 6.5 seconds. Core components are subjected to 100% precision inspection, highlighting the factory's high throughput and automation level. Xiaomi plans to shift major white goods production, including air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines, to a fully in-house design and manufacturing system, moving away from outsourced production and badge engineering.

By achieving manufacturing capabilities across smartphones, electric vehicles, and home appliances, Xiaomi has created a hardware triangle and is advancing smart home and IoT strategies to provide integrated connectivity across its products. This expansion and ecosystem strengthening are anticipated to challenge established Korean firms like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, potentially reshaping the competitive dynamics of the global smart home market.

'한국' 타켓 삼은 북한 해킹조직 라자루스·김수키

Hankyung | Local Language | News | Dec. 1, 2025 | North Korea

North Korean hacking groups Lazarus and Kimsuky have been intensively targeting South Korea, with Lazarus notably linked to a large-scale cryptocurrency exchange hack involving 44.5 billion won. According to a report by security firm AhnLab covering October last year to September this year, Lazarus was mentioned 31 times and Kimsuky 27 times among APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) group activities, with North Korean groups having the highest number of attacks at 86 cases.

Both groups focus on political, diplomatic, financial, and cryptocurrency sectors for financial gain and intelligence gathering. They employ sophisticated tactics such as spear phishing, supply chain attacks, multi-platform malware, privilege escalation, and MFA (multi-factor authentication) bypasses. Lazarus recently expanded its targets to cryptocurrency, finance, IT, and defense, developing malware compatible with macOS and Linux that can monitor clipboard activity and steal cryptocurrency wallet information.

Lazarus also executed a notable "Operation Sinkhole" attack, exploiting software vulnerabilities through watering hole techniques to infect organizations in IT, software, and finance sectors in South Korea. Their tactics in the recent Upbit hack echoed their established methods seen in past foreign crypto exchange attacks, including signature manipulation, address-modifying malware, stealthy asset transfers, and wallet address tampering.

Kimsuky employs disguise and social engineering spear phishing, often distributing malware disguised as event invitations or interview requests. They hide origins using Russian email domains and Korean free domains while frequently utilizing ISO files and Hangul documents in attacks. The group deploys multi-stage attacks over social platforms like Facebook and Telegram and has recently used AI-generated fake IDs. Subgroups such as Larva-24005 and Larva-24009 specifically target South Korean users with keylogging and link-based attacks.