October 22: Worldwide website PHP hacking emergency, Kim Yo-jung's loudspeaker threat, the world's Big 5 semiconductor exporters, sharks released in Busan

Marking the first month of North Korea's landmine provocation in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Vice Minister of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Yo-jong inspected the fortification construction site along the southern border with Park Jong-cheon, the highest-ranking military official, and Vice Chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission, and threatened, "New countermeasures are on standby for duty along the border, and loudspeakers for South Korea will also be on standby within a few days (in October)." The Dong-A Ilbo analyzed that Chairman Kim Jong-un is refraining from sending messages to the outside world, but Kim Yo-jong is taking the brunt of the onslaught against South Korea and the United States and is sharing the role of leaving room for the supreme leader to be diplomatic.

There were also a series of remarks surrounding the strategic flexibility of the ROK-US alliance and US forces stationed in Korea. Christopher Hilbert, commander of the 8th U.S. Army in Korea, said, “It would be irresponsible for the U.S. Forces in Korea to only focus on threats within the Korean Peninsula,” and stated that they should also prepare for missions outside the Korean Peninsula, formalizing the expansion of the role of keeping China in check beyond defending against North Korea. The U.S. Ambassador to Korea diagnosed the current ROK-U.S. relationship as “turbulent,” but noted that the door to dialogue is open toward North Korea. Meanwhile, the site that evaluated Korea's military power as the world's fifth-largest military force, cited by President Lee Jae-myung, said, "Providing the data is for entertainment purposes" (Chosun Ilbo exclusive), and regarding the controversy over the attendance of the head of the Heavy Water Investigation Agency's Cabinet meeting, the ruling party's rebuttal was reported as "I asked Gemini and the theory that attendance was not possible was far-fetched" (SBS).

In the domestic community, posts about the former commander of U.S. Forces Korea's evaluation of the South Korean military were recorded about 20,000 times on Ruliweb, and Kim Yo-jong's post about the operation of loudspeakers for South Korea in October was recorded about 15,000 times. On Pomppu (9,763 times) and DC Inside (7,986 times), posts about North Korea's Internet failure and internal trends attracted attention.

The shark (nicknamed Bukangi), which attracted the attention of citizens by appearing in the area of the Oncheon Stream waterway, an urban river in Busan, wandered in front of the waterway late at night even after the previous release attempt, and returned to the sea after the third release induction operation that lasted 8 hours. On Ruliweb, three posts covering the real-time status of the Busan shark Bukan dominated the best bulletin board with approximately 31,000, 28,000, and 24,000 views, respectively. News of the successful release was also shared in real time on Instiz (approximately 17,000 views), PGR21 (5,123 views), and Clian (4,212 views).

There have been a series of reports pointing out structural blind spots in education, youth, and daily life. In the first half of this year, the number of suicide deaths among elementary, middle, and high school students reached 112, but the deployment rate of professional counselors in schools was only 42.5% (Yonhap News), and one in 10 college students was found to be delaying graduation due to employment instability (76%) (Yonhap News). In addition, a report (Dong-A Ilbo) that foreigners are getting free rides after being shared as a tip for traveling to Korea on overseas social media (Dong-A Ilbo), a controversy over a restaurant offering different amounts of noodles for men and women at the same price (Dong-A Ilbo), and a controversy over reverse discrimination in the first place for multicultural families to enter daycare centers (Dong-A Ilbo) also came to the fore.

In the online community, a Ruliweb post (approximately 27,000 views) that realistically found it difficult to detect cheating with AI smart glasses, which are similar in appearance to regular glasses in the upcoming College Scholastic Ability Test, and a story on Reddit in the U.S. where a test grading assistant was caught grading a student's essay by pasting it directly into ChatGPT attracted attention. Meanwhile, on the morning of the 22nd, the temperature in Seoul dropped to 5 degrees, and cold wave warnings and frost and ice were observed throughout the inland, including Jinan and Muju in Jeollabuk-do, making it the coldest commute to work this fall. The northward path (SBS) of a super-strong typhoon in late October also emerged as a weather variable.

The topic surrounding the new group A2O LITE, which topped the music charts just 29 hours after its debut and ranked first on music shows within a week, heated up the online community. On Theqoo, a post about an influencer's reaction that he couldn't understand why A2O's dance was difficult recorded 102,191 views and ranked first in the entire domestic community on the morning of the 22nd, and on Instiz, a post about the member's visuals recorded about 34,000 views. In addition, Theqoo's Ive Ahn Yu-jin dance post (approximately 51,000 views), Jang Won-young's short and medium hair styling post (approximately 47,000 views), and actress Hwang Jeong-eum's broadcast comment on Instiz in which she expressed her longing for Kim Yong-jun, whom she broke up with 11 years ago, saying that he was a friend with many good memories (approximately 43,000 views) also had high views.

In the culture and gaming world, news of AI creative ethics and the closure of large studios was shocking. The suspicion of AI ghostwriting of a novel that had been excluded from the Goncourt Prize, France's most prestigious literary award, turned out to be true, and even the publisher announced its separation from the author (Yonhap News, Chosun Ilbo), and the suspicion of AI in Choi Jong-sim's work for the literary award was also mentioned at Haeyeon Gallery (2,948 times). In addition, Electronic Arts (EA) decided to shut down BioWare, a famous RPG, ending its 30-year history and halting development of the next Mass Effect, causing a great stir in the gamer community, including Reddit in the United States.

In sports, a playoff match between KIA Kim Do-young and Samsung's Kim Young-woong, both born in 2003, took place in the playoffs, with the Gwangju stands filled with red at the mention of Kim Do-young of the professional baseball KIA Tigers (Chosun Ilbo), and a report (Chosun Ilbo) that Manchester City of the English Premier League (EPL) received a warning from the chairman of the investigation committee regarding the investigation of violation of financial regulations, with the possibility of a forced sale and no right of veto.