South Korea

Hankyoreh - E | English | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | North Korea

President Lee Jae Myung has condemned the act of a civilian sending drones into North Korean airspace as an unacceptable security risk that could trigger military clashes between the two Koreas. He emphasized that such drone incursions violate the Armistice Agreement and international law, calling for a thorough investigation and punishment of those involved. Lee warned that individuals engaging in actions resembling acts of war would face consequences, reflecting concerns that the incident could destabilize the fragile armistice.

Investigations suggest the drone flights may not have been the work of a lone civilian. The man involved, Oh, initially claimed he was inspecting pollution from North Korean uranium factories, but evidence points to possible involvement from conservative political groups and the military’s Defense Intelligence Command. Oh’s connections to conservative media and his previous work in the presidential office during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration have fueled speculation of broader ties.

President Lee also criticized the Ministry of National Defense for failing to adequately detect the drone incursions despite radar indications. He called the surveillance failure unacceptable and urged improvements to military facilities and equipment to better prevent future threats. Lee’s strong response reflects his priority of safeguarding inter-Korean relations and preventing incidents that could undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts.

Lee’s denunciation of the drone incident is closely linked to his administration’s push to ease tensions with North Korea. Despite conciliatory gestures, North Korea has yet to respond, and Lee stressed the importance of seeking openings to improve engagement. The drone incursions risk derailing these efforts by provoking security concerns and hardening military stances on both sides.

카카오뱅크, 태국 인뱅 설립위해 합작법인 계약 체결

ZD Net Korea | Local Language | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedBizdev-Partnering

Kakao Bank has signed a joint venture agreement with Thai financial holding company SCBX to establish a virtual bank in Thailand. The virtual bank will operate solely through a digital platform without physical branches. Kakao Bank will initially acquire a 10% stake in the joint venture, with plans to increase its holding to 24.5%, becoming the second-largest shareholder. Kakao Bank will oversee front-end development, including user interface, user experience planning, and mobile app development.

China’s WeBank subsidiary, WeBank Technology Service, will also participate as a technology partner to enhance synergies. Kakao Bank intends to use its entry into the Thai market as a launchpad for further expansion into Southeast Asia and other regions.

This venture marks Kakao Bank’s return to the Thai market for the first time in 25 years since the Asian financial crisis. Previously, Kakao Bank made an international investment in the Indonesian digital bank Superbank, which has attracted 5 million customers. CEO Yoon Ho-young emphasized the goal of building a successful digital finance model based on Korea’s expertise to pioneer global markets.

SKT 'A.X K1', 옴니모달로 진화…“소버린 AI 마중물 될 것”

ET News | Local Language | News | Jan. 23, 2026 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

SK Telecom's ultra-large AI model, A.Dot X (A.X) K1, is advancing into an omnimodal model as part of the second phase of its independent AI foundation model project. This upgrade will enable the model to understand and process speech in real time alongside text and images, aiming to establish leadership in sovereign AI. The A.X K1, already a model with approximately 500 billion parameters, will sequentially incorporate multimodal functions, including voice and image recognition.

Professor Kim Geon-hee of Seoul National University highlighted the transition from multimodal models, which integrate text, photos, and videos, to omnimodal models that also include speech understanding. He emphasized the technical difficulty of implementing real-time voice conversations due to their bidirectional and simultaneous nature, requiring the model to handle interruptions, brief feedback, and emotional nuances. Past approaches using separate speech-to-text and text-to-speech systems faced delays and lost key information, such as breathing and emotional signals.

To address these challenges, recent developments focus on integrated language models capable of processing voice information directly. The core strategy involves fine-tuning a powerful pretrained language model using diverse data, including voice, to achieve comprehensive omnimodal capabilities. SK Telecom aims to deploy these advancements across various services like A.Dot, T map, and B tv, and expects the technology to play a central role in enhancing AI applications in gaming and mobility through partners Krafton and 42dot.

Professor Kim stressed that the success of sovereign AI depends heavily on effective use of national core data sovereignty, which includes largely unstructured data in multiple formats. An omnimodal model allows for direct training and operation of such data without relying on external platforms, thus reinforcing both digital sovereignty and sovereignty over physical infrastructure.