November 2: Exports exceed $930 billion, middle class turns around, North Korea is blamed for Binance hacking and 821 trillion won speech is made

Korea's exports in October surged 93.7% compared to the same month last year, reaching $115.28 billion (approximately $115.3 billion), ranking second all-time monthly, and the average daily exports considering the number of working days were $5.24 billion, with cumulative exports from January to October this year reaching $930 billion for the first time ever. surpassed (Yonhap News, Electronic Newspaper, Chosun Ilbo). In particular, semiconductor exports in October were $56.4 billion, continuing in the $50 billion range for two consecutive months, leaving only about $70 billion to reach $1 trillion per year. Accordingly, it is predicted that Korea will become the fourth country in the world to reach $1 trillion in annual exports this month, following the United States, China, and Germany (Yonhap News, Electronic Newspaper, Chosun Ilbo). President Lee Jae-myung said, “We will make more efforts to expand our economic territory based on pragmatic and national interest diplomacy” (Yonhap News, Electronic Newspaper). In the online community, Theku's article '[Breaking News] Korea ranks 4th in exports in the world' was shared about 45,000 times, Natepan's article comparing trade balance was shared 8,334 times, and DC Inside's (7,127) and Clian's (5,961) articles about exports exceeding $900 billion were shared.

In contrast to the strong macro exports, household income, financial soundness, and housing cost indicators all turned on warning lights. According to income mobility statistics from the National Data Center, among the middle class (income 3rd quintile), the proportion of income decreased compared to the previous year was 38.9%, the highest in four years since the shock of COVID-19 in 2020 (41.2%), and 32.9% of those whose income decreased saw their income plummet by less than half (Yonhap News, Dong-A Ilbo), and the five major banks including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup at the end of September. Non-performing loans (non-performing loans) amounted to KRW 7.6133 trillion, an increase of approximately KRW 1.3 trillion in one year, the highest in 8 years and 6 months, and the delinquency rate of loans to small and medium-sized enterprises was also the highest in 10 years at 0.6% (Dong-A Ilbo). From January to July of this year, the number of national pension recipients exceeded 8 million, reaching 8,062,142, but about two-thirds of the total received less than 600,000 won per month (Dong-A Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo), and while monthly rents for apartments in Seoul rose by a cumulative 7.68% from January to September, Nowon-gu The increase rates for sales (11.54%), lease (12.96%), and monthly rent (12.88%) all showed double digits (Yonhap News, Dong-A Ilbo). Meanwhile, it was reported that the initial 4-week prescription cost of Hanmi Pharmaceutical's first domestically produced glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) obesity treatment 'Epee' was set at 165,000 to 200,000 won, which is about 40% cheaper than Maunjaro and about 25% cheaper than Wigobi (Yonhap News), and in the community, Ruliweb's 'News) Employment crisis update' (about 30,000 times) and 'Wegobi' 'Recent status of recession in the delivery industry' (approximately 29,000 views), Pomppu's 'Delivery amount that surprised even delivery drivers.jpg' (approximately 25,000 views), Instiz's article on obesity (approximately 16,000 views), and Ddanji Ilbo's article on decline in middle-class income (6,109 views) had high views.

Instead of attending a domestic ceremony on the 1st, the 57th anniversary of the founding of Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong made a surprise visit to the Advanced Package Lab (APL), a semiconductor packaging research organization in Yokohama, Japan, which opened last September, inspected the current status of development of next-generation packaging element technologies, and requested expanded cooperation with the Japanese materials, parts, and equipment ecosystem (Yonhap News, Dong-A Ilbo, Electronic Times). As advanced heterogeneous integration packaging that unites high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and logic chips has emerged as a key battleground that determines the yield and performance of AI semiconductors, the move was interpreted as a move to directly encourage local research personnel and reveal the will to secure super-gap technology (Dong-A Ilbo, Electronic Newspaper). Meanwhile, in the wearable market, Samsung Electronics' first clip-type open earphones, 'Galaxy Buds On', which were introduced on the 27th of last month, sold out all of the initial online stock within three days of launch and switched to a reservation delivery system (Electronic Newspaper, Chosun Ilbo).

On the other hand, in the U.S. financial market, credit default swaps (CDS) to hedge the risk of bankruptcy of the five big tech companies whose cash flow is tight due to astronomical AI data center capital expenditures, and put option trading to prepare for a decline in stock prices soared to the highest level, even derivatives betting on a decline in GPU rents appeared, and U.S. semiconductor stock prices plummeted (Yonhap News, Chosun Ilbo). It is reported that the domestic industry is also paying close attention to the possibility that investment in AI infrastructure in North America will decline if the Democratic Party, which advocated for stronger data center power and environmental regulations, takes control of Congress in the U.S. midterm elections (Dong-A Ilbo). In the online community, posts related to Pomppu's announcement of AI robots on November 3 (about 32,000 views, 9,028 views), DC Inside's articles about the AI industry (about 21,000 views), robot release announcement posts (about 14,000 views), and posts about comparing and using foldable and duo smartphones from Pomppu, Ruliweb, and Naver Cafe (about 17,000 views, about 16,000 views). (8,198 times), Ruliweb's post about the Open AI CEO's recent status (approximately 12,000 times) attracted attention (the claim that a specific adult AI robot was disclosed on November 3 mentioned in the community post was not confirmed in the 1,135 articles collected on that day).

While extensive road closures were in place for the '2026 JTBC Seoul Marathon' (won by Hwang Bo Han-bin and Jeong Da-eun in the domestic men's and women's division) held in downtown Seoul on the 1st due to rain, service disruptions occurred one after another on Seoul Subway Lines 7 and 2 during the afternoon, causing great inconvenience to weekend travelers (Yonhap News, Chosun Ilbo). At around 12:23 p.m., a train bound for Jangam stopped due to a breakdown at Boramae Station on Line 7, causing all passengers to get off and the upbound train service being delayed for over an hour. At around 6:52 p.m., a power outage occurred between Seocho Station and Sports Complex Station on Line 2, temporarily disrupting train service (Yonhap News, Dong-A Ilbo). In the online community, Theku's 'Jamsil Station status after the marathon;;;' It ranked 9th overall with about 68,000 posts per day, followed by Instiz's post about Seoul citizens' complaints and congestion at Jamsil Station (approximately 31,000 times, about 18,000 times), Funny University's post about marathon road control text and rainy weather event (about 20,000 times, about 18,000 times), Bobae Dream (about 15,000 times, 6,043 times), and DC Inside (about 14,000 times). On-site complaints also spread in Inven (6,436 times) and Inven (6,436 times).

Ahead of the 2027 College Scholastic Ability Test to be held on the 19th, a new type of cheating using AI smart glasses is on alert. When researchers at a German university had AI solve images of 720 questions from the American College Admission Test (SAT) taken at a blurry and distorted angle, Google Gemini recorded a correct answer rate of 82.78% (87.96% in math) and OpenAI GPT-4o recorded a correct answer rate of 75.69% (Chosun Ilbo), and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education It was decided to deploy a separate headquarters agent dedicated to detecting ‘smart glasses’ at the test site (4,310 test rooms) to conduct detailed inspections (Dong-A Ilbo). In the community, related discussions continued in Pomppu's 'CSAT is being abolished' (approximately 34,000 views), Instiz's 'Reasons for CSAT emergency' (approximately 24,000 views), cheating posts (approximately 14,000 views), and Clian (6,518 views). Meanwhile, among the 450 popular posts from domestic communities collected on this day, the top rankings were Theku's 'Obstetrics and gynecology nurse bullied by mother's husband.jpg' (about 87,000 views, 1st place overall), 'Death in Korean Pediatrics' (about 77,000 views, 2nd place), 'People born in 8090 / Characteristics of today's kids' (about 74,000 times, 3rd place), and 'Employees in their 20s go to work without bags. 'Is it an old man if you tease him?' (about 72,000 views, 7th place, about 38,000 posts on the same topic on Instiz), but the facts of each story were not separately confirmed in the collected articles that day.

While the funeral and funeral mass of the late national actor Choi Bul-am, who passed away at the age of 87, were strictly observed on the 2nd, a procession of junior actors including Lee Je-hoon continued to pay their respects at the mortuary of Asan Medical Center in Seoul until the last day (Yonhap News, Dong-A Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo). In particular, actor Kim Hye-soo, who followed the deceased couple like a parent since they met in the 1987 drama 'Samogok', was moved to the funeral by guarding the funeral for three days as if she were a mourning resident, supporting his wife, Kim Min-ja, and personally greeting the mourners (Yonhap News, Chosun Ilbo). On the other hand, actor Kim Yong-gun, who played the role of the eldest son in the drama 'Country Diary' for 22 years, confessed his feelings ahead of the marriage of his son and actor Ha Jung-woo next month, saying that he was unable to visit the funeral due to dissuasion from colleagues around him, including Baek Il-seop, and said, "I should be by his side, but I feel tired every day. I will visit the grave after the wedding."

In the music and broadcasting industry, T.O.P (Choi Seung-hyun), a former member of the group Big Bang, posted an apology on social media when his representative fan page, which had supported him for 20 years, was shut down, saying, "I am sorry for hurting those who have been a great support and I hope that the precious years will not remain as a misunderstanding." (Chosun Ilbo, Segye Ilbo). The 8th episode of the SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Doctor In the online community, Theku's 'Top Instagram Post' ranked 4th overall with about 74,000 views, Kim Yong-gun's story about not attending the funeral received a great response from Theku (about 55,000 views) and Bobae Dream (8,516 times), Kim Hye-soo's condolence anecdote received a big response from Bobae Dream (about 21,000 views), and Theku (about 44,000 views) The 'Doctor