October 24: Oil price drops to $117 due to mine collision on Hormuz tanker, iPhone Duo screen damage controversy, Solidigm withdraws listing, Yang Hong-won explains

Military tensions in Middle Eastern waters are reaching their peak again. As Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced that two large oil tankers had collided with mines in the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns about an environmental disaster due to the spread of oil belts, U.S. President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. could launch another small-scale, grandiose Operation "Overwhelming Fury" against Iran. Iran responded by saying that there was no red line and that it would strike submarine cables in the Gulf waters if the U.S. military resumed its attack, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz mentioned that the war with Iran could last for more than a year. Due to fears of an escalation of war, Brent crude oil, the international oil price benchmark, exceeded $117 per barrel, hitting its highest level in six months.

Domestic and international politics in the United States and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula also became tense. Ahead of the midterm elections in November, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit requesting to withhold the confirmation of Alaska's election results, sparking controversy in advance, and pushed for the elimination of some tariffs on Canadian products in consideration of votes in close battleground states. Meanwhile, North Korea's Chairman Kim Jong-un, whose health and death rumors have spread online, personally led the 3rd Company Commanders' Conference of the Korean People's Army held in Pyongyang and showed off his health by ordering the construction of a strong army by fostering the strongest company.

North Korea and international conflict issues also attracted a lot of attention in online communities. In Naver Cafe Diesel Mania, a post about a North Korean Air Koryo flight attendant photographed by a foreigner was viewed about 46,000 times. On Pomppu, a post about Kim Yo-jong coming to the fore and Kim Joo-ae disappearing amid rumors of Kim Jong-un's death was viewed about 17,000 times. Instiz and DC Inside's posts about North Korea's current status were also viewed about 14,000 times each. In addition, an article on Elon Musk's recent news on restricting access to the Ukrainian military's Starlink was viewed approximately 26,000 times on Ruliweb, and an article on the controversy over the First Lady regarding the incident in France, which deployed 70,000 police officers and armored vehicles to weekend protests, was viewed approximately 15,000 times on Bobae Dream. In Japan's Hatena bookmark, an article on Trump's lawsuit to withhold approval of the election results ranked high.

In the global financial market, risk aversion has rapidly spread due to concerns over excessive investment in AI and a surge in oil prices from the Middle East. Yonhap News reported that global corporate bond credit spreads have widened to the highest in 17 months due to caution about the profitability of AI investments, and Dong-A Ilbo reported a Wall Street analysis recommending reducing the proportion of stocks, saying that the U.S. stock market is currently in a more bubble than the past dot-com (IT) bubble. The New York stock market also showed weakness, with the U.S. consumer sentiment index in October falling to its lowest level in five months amid concerns about rising prices and the Dow closing down 1.2%.

On the other hand, in the domestic stock market, SK Hynix decided to stop listing its NAND flash subsidiary Solidigm on the U.S. stock market, resolving concerns about corporate value dilution due to multiple listings, causing the stock price to surge by around 4% (SBS). Bobae Dream also recorded 6,907 posts covering the news of Solidigm's US listing withdrawal, and DC Inside posted about 16,000 posts satirizing the volatility of the domestic stock market.

In the real economy and real estate market, labor-management conflicts and high interest rate transaction cliffs were highlighted. While POSCO labor and management declared a breakdown in wage negotiations and the union announced that it would go on an indefinite strike starting from the 2nd of next month, POSCO E&C won an order for the Isu Shindonga Complex 4 remodeling project worth 526.4 billion won. In the real estate field, Clien's post predicting a decline in house prices for high-rise apartments in Gangnam (6,987 times) and the post that houses will not sell even if house prices are lowered due to the mortgage interest rate reaching 7% (5,114 times) garnered sympathy.

In response to the suspicion of rapper Yang Hong-won's motel affair that arose five days after his wedding, he officially denied that although it is true that he accompanied him to the motel through his label, there was no romantic relationship, and that he would take legal action against the accuser's planned manipulation and threats (Chosun Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo). However, as circumstances surrounding Yang Hong-won and his wife Won Hyeon-ju's unfollowing each other on social media and a summary of the exposer's live broadcast were posted one after another, on TheQu, posts collecting related comment responses (116,223 times), posts pitting the couple against each other (110,460 times), and posts in the official statement (90,904 times) ranked first and second in daily views. Regarding idols, Naver Cafe Diesel Mania's post about Ive An Yu-jin's speed experience (95,000 views) and Theku's A2O LITE Music Bank stage outfit feedback post (approximately 59,000 views) were strong.

Major breaking news continued in domestic professional sports. The Samsung Lions, ahead of the professional baseball playoffs, were put on alert as relief pitcher Kim Jae-yoon left due to an injury and had to rest for at least two weeks, and the Lotte Giants officially announced that they would not renew their contract with manager Kim Tae-hyung, whose three-year contract had expired (Chosun Ilbo). In professional soccer K-League 1, a cloud of spectators gathered at Seoul World Cup Stadium 2 hours and 30 minutes before kick-off ahead of FC Seoul's home game, which will confirm its first early victory in 10 years by defeating Gangwon FC (Dong-A Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo).

The enthusiasm for international sports and e-sports was also high. Ahn Se-young, world number one in badminton women's singles, defeated China's last hope in the semifinals of the French Open and advanced to the finals, where she will face a Japanese veteran in her return match for the second week in a row. In the men's 400m track and field event at the Asian Para Games, Min-ho Jang set a world record for the first time in 16 years with a time of 46.24 seconds, winning the event twice (Chosun Ilbo). In the community, posts about Faker's performance on the North American server while participating in the League of Legends World Championship (DC Inside about 27,000 views), Gen.G and Hanwha Life's post about the game's whooping ratings (about 27,000 and 25,000 views, respectively), and a post about the abolition of military service benefits for Asian Games gold medals (Bobae Dream about 13,000 views) attracted attention.