The fifth launch of the Nuri launch vehicle took place at 12:25 p.m. on Oct. 7 from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province. First- and second-stage separation, the altitude pass and satellite separation all proceeded on schedule, and the Korea AeroSpace Administration announced that 'every planned flight procedure was performed normally.' The payload of 15 satellites was the most ever. The primary payload was Nos. 2 through 6 of a micro satellite constellation (five satellites); the secondary payload was 10 CubeSats built by universities and companies. All five constellation satellites entered their target orbit; nine CubeSats separated and one was not deployed. At about 1:08 p.m. constellation satellite No. 6 made first contact with the King Sejong Station in Antarctica; No. 3 contacted the Svalbard ground station in the Arctic at 3:27 p.m., and No. 4 followed. Contact with the remaining satellites is being confirmed in sequence as their orbits allow. Nuri's cumulative success rate is now 80% (four of five). The space agency chief set the sixth launch for the second half of next year and a target of at least one launch a year through 2032.
The real test of this launch was releasing several satellites from one rocket at different moments. A satellite constellation works only if its members circle the same orbital plane at set intervals, so that the same area can be photographed several times a day. That requires the launch vehicle to eject the satellites in order and at precise spacing. The more satellites, the shorter the revisit time over any one spot. Pulling that off means more than 'four in a row.' It is Korea's first orbital insertion of a satellite constellation.
Nothing changes right away, but constellation satellites Nos. 2 through 6 are for national security and disaster monitoring. From next year, images of wildfires, floods and North Korean activity will refresh more often. And if 'one launch a year' holds, Korea putting its own satellites up on its own rocket stops being news and becomes a schedule.
Four straight successes, and now constellation deployment. Reliability is everything for a launch vehicle, and that reliability just went up as a number (80%). A step closer to the commercial launch market.
One CubeSat did not deploy, and contact is confirmed for only some satellites. An 80% success rate rests on a sample of five. Against foreign commercial rockets, Korea is still far behind on cost and cadence. Celebrate, but 'space power' talk is premature.
The sentence to remember today is 'all five constellation satellites placed in orbit.' More than the photo of a rocket rising, the picture that defines this launch is five satellites circling in a line. Tomorrow, watch for contact with the remaining satellites and an explanation of the one CubeSat that did not deploy. Only then will the scope of 'success' be settled.
Source ✓ Korea AeroSpace Administration launch briefing (relayed by Yonhap bulletins) · Yonhap AKR20261007100551017, AKR20261007119752017 · Financial News (contact) · Supple (No. 3 contact) · Korea Economic Daily (No. 4 contact) · Kyunghyang · Chosun · Newspim (president watching) (all Oct. 7) · cause of the undeployed CubeSat not announced
Nuri lifts 15 satellites, four successes in a row. This time the test was launching a flock
Liftoff at 12:25 p.m.; all five micro constellation satellites reached their target orbit. Nine of 10 CubeSats separated, one did not deploy. Contact confirmed with three by evening
Korea's Nuri launch vehicle (누리호) lifted off for the fifth time at 12:25 p.m. on Oct. 7 from the Naro Space Center and carried 15 satellites into orbit. The primary payload was five micro satellites, Nos. 2 through 6 of a satellite constellation built for national security and disaster monitoring; the secondary payload was 10 CubeSats from universities and companies. All five constellation satellites separated as planned, and nine of the CubeSats separated while one was not deployed, the Korea AeroSpace Administration (우주항공청) said. At about 1:08 p.m. satellite No. 6 made first contact with the King Sejong Station in Antarctica; No. 3 followed (3:27 p.m., the Svalbard ground station in the Arctic) and then No. 4. Contact with the rest is being confirmed in sequence, one orbit at a time.
From its second flight (2022) through its fifth, Nuri has now succeeded four times in a row, for a cumulative success rate of 80%. The space agency chief said reliability had "moved up a level" and set the sixth launch for the second half of next year, with a target of at least one launch a year through 2032. Since the fourth flight, Hanwha Aerospace has taken part in manufacturing and launch operations as the system integrator.
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By the numbers
15Satellites aboard. All five constellation satellites placed in orbit; 9 of 10 CubeSats separated
80%Nuri's cumulative success rate. One failure, then four straight successes on flights 2 through 5
3Constellation satellites in contact by evening (Nos. 6, 3 and 4). The rest to be confirmed in turn
The Fair Trade Commission has opened deliberation in a case alleging that SK Energy and HD Hyundai Oilbank colluded on gasoline, diesel and kerosene prices. The examiner (the investigating officer) found that for about four years, from February 2022, just before the Russia-Ukraine war, to March of this year, just after the U.S.-Iran war, the two companies exchanged price information such as supply price, final price and sales policy, and that in early March of this year there were signs they agreed on two occasions on what the specific supply price would be. Relevant sales come to 44.1 trillion won, and the two companies' combined share of Korea's gasoline, diesel and kerosene market last year was 49.1%. The examiner judged it a 'grave violation' and recommended a corrective order and a surcharge. Reports put the surcharge at up to the 4.6 trillion won range on a simple calculation, but the actual amount and the question of illegality will be decided after the commission's deliberation. HD Hyundai Oilbank said 'there was no price collusion whatsoever'; SK Energy said it would 'fully explain the facts and the company's position.' Both companies say it was merely a sharing of after-the-fact information.
These were four years of oil prices whipsawed by war. Throughout, drivers felt that pump prices rose fast when crude rose and fell slowly when it fell. The question is whether part of that feeling was the result of two companies coordinating information. And the 2021 amendment to the Fair Trade Act made it possible to treat an 'information exchange' of sensitive pricing data as collusion even without a direct agreement on price. This is a rare case in which that clause is applied head-on to a major matter.
This concerns everyone who buys gasoline. But nothing was decided today. Deliberation, then a ruling, then (if contested) an administrative lawsuit usually take one to two years. Even if a surcharge is imposed, the money does not flow back to consumers. Getting it back would take a separate damages suit, and that comes only after the FTC rules.
If two companies holding half the market traded price information for four years, that alone wrecked the market. The information-exchange ban was written for exactly this case, and the 44 trillion won figure shows the weight of it.
Refiners pay nearly identical crude import prices, exchange rates and taxes, so it is natural for their prices to move together. 'Sharing after-the-fact information' and 'agreeing on prices' carry entirely different legal weight. The examiner's opinion is one side's argument, and the commission has overturned examiners more than a few times.
In the headline '44 trillion won collusion,' the 44 trillion is not money made from collusion; it is the total sales over that period. It is only the base for calculating the maximum surcharge. Two things were confirmed today: the FTC decided to hold a trial, and the two companies deny the charge. Watch for the deliberation date and for what evidence of the 'two agreements in March' is made public.
Yonhap AKR20261007079801002 (wrap) · Edaily · ET News · eToday · Segye Ilbo · Global Economic · Newsway (company positions) · Chungcheong Ilbo (all Oct. 7) · the FTC examiner's report itself is not public; attributed to press reports
Four years of war. Did two companies set the price of gas? SK Energy, HD Hyundai Oilbank face a 44 trillion won collusion case
'Opening deliberation' is the equivalent of an indictment. It means a trial has begun, not that anyone is guilty. The 'up to 4.6 trillion won' surcharge is a simple calculation: sales multiplied by the maximum rate.
An examiner at the Fair Trade Commission (공정거래위원회) has concluded that SK Energy and HD Hyundai Oilbank exchanged information on supply price, final price and sales policy for gasoline, diesel and kerosene for about four years, from February 2022 to March of this year, and that there are signs they agreed on prices themselves twice this March. The examiner recommended a corrective order and a surcharge. HD Hyundai Oilbank says "there was no collusion whatsoever"; SK Energy says it will "explain itself fully." The verdict comes after the commission's deliberation.
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Word of the day
collusionAntitrust
Companies that should be competing secretly coordinating prices, volumes or terms of trade. Since 2021, even without a direct agreement on price, merely sharing sensitive price information, an 'information exchange,' can break the law. That clause is the heart of today's case.
Ten standing committees met on Oct. 7, the second day of the parliamentary audit. In the Judiciary Committee's audit of the Supreme Court, one analysis reported a call to order roughly every seven minutes, with the chairman's remarks taking up a third of the proceedings. People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-kyu, after being stripped of the floor, reportedly told the chairman outside the chamber, 'Did you scrape yourself on Owl Rock?' among other things, and the ruling party demanded his 'expulsion.' In the Defense Committee, the ruling party stressed the 'first DMZ mine clearance' and the opposition a 'slow investigation and attempted cover-up' over the DMZ landmine accident, and the Defense Ministry answered that it would respond to the MDL incursions with a joint UNC investigation. The Health and Welfare Committee's first day, with the Health Ministry and the disease control agency, took up a pause in the National Pension Service's asset rebalancing and the introduction of abortion medication.
The audit exists to scrutinize the executive branch, but what got reported most on day two was not scrutiny but disorder. If, as the Segye Ilbo analysis found, the Judiciary chairman's remarks took a third of the time, that much less went to questions. If the 25-day audit drifts into a 'Cho Hee-dae audit' and a 'shouting audit,' the questions in the economic and livelihood committees get buried.
The two items on the Health Committee's first day touch daily life. A pause in the National Pension Service's rebalancing means my pension holds stocks longer, and abortion medication changes medical practice depending on whether it is introduced. Those two lines, hidden behind the noise, are the substance of today's audit.
Rough clashes between the parties are part of the audit too. A quiet audit is not a good audit.
A call to order every seven minutes is a fight, not questioning. What the public wants to see is the government's answers, not lawmakers' rhetoric.
What to remember from today's audit is not the shouting but the Health Committee's two lines (the rebalancing pause and abortion medication). From tomorrow, rather than the disorder, we will collect the sentences in which the government answered 'we will' in each committee.
Segye Ilbo 20261007516563 ([exclusive] once every 7 minutes) · Money Today (Kim Tae-kyu's remarks, ruling party response) · OBS · Cheonji Ilbo (10 committees, Defense Committee exchanges) · Yakup, Korean Nurses Association News (Health Committee agenda) (all Oct. 7) · minutes not yet checked directly
PoliticsPress ✓ 4 outlets · remarks attributed to speakers
Audit, day two — 'a shouting match every seven minutes' in Judiciary; pensions and abortion pills in Health
On the second day of the parliamentary audit, with 10 standing committees in session, one analysis reported that in the Judiciary Committee's audit of the Supreme Court a call to order came roughly every seven minutes and that the chairman's remarks took up a third of the proceedings. After People Power Party lawmaker Kim Tae-kyu was stripped of the floor, the ruling party demanded his 'expulsion' over what he said to the chairman outside the chamber ('Did you scrape yourself on Owl Rock?' among other things). The Defense Committee split over the DMZ landmine accident: 'first DMZ mine clearance' on one side, 'delay and cover-up' on the other.
Behind the noise there was substance. The Health and Welfare Committee's first day took up a pause in the National Pension Service's asset rebalancing and the introduction of abortion medication. It is a question of whether my pension holds stocks longer, and whether medical practice changes.
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On Oct. 7 the Seoul High Court's 7th Criminal Division (presiding judge Koo Hoe-geun) acquitted former President Yoon Suk Yeol and political broker Myung Tae-kyun on appeal of charges of violating the Political Funds Act. The trial court had sentenced them to two years and 18 months in prison, respectively. The appeals court said there was 'no evidence whatsoever of an agreement, request or consultation between the former president and his wife and Mr. Myung to conduct and provide opinion polls free of charge,' and that 'intent to donate political funds is hard to establish.' What was received, it found, was not a financial benefit but political benefit: a read on public opinion, political advice, introductions to influential politicians. Former first lady Kim Keon Hee was acquitted earlier on the same charge. Yoon still faces trial in other cases, including insurrection.
The appeals court rejected the trial court's framing that 'free polling equals political funds.' The question is whether a favor involving no money can count as political funds, and the appeals court sided with the view that an agreement must be proven. Whichever way the Supreme Court rules, it will set a standard for 'free services' across politics.
Nothing touches you directly. But because the trials involving the former president run on several tracks, it is worth reading this acquittal as unrelated to the other cases, including insurrection.
Criminal trials run on evidence. The objection that the trial court convicted without evidence of an agreement was there from the start.
That free polling was used in the election campaign is not in dispute, and treating it as 'political benefit' rather than political funds leaves a gap in the law. Expect a Supreme Court ruling and calls to amend the statute.
Two courts read the same facts in opposite ways. That alone is news. Watch whether prosecutors appeal and what standard the Supreme Court sets for treating 'free services' as political funds. Mixing this with the former president's other trials gets it wrong.
Newspim 20261007001092 (wrap) · Hankook Ilbo · Munhwa Ilbo · Seoul Economic Daily · HuffPost Korea · News1 (sentencing preview) (all Oct. 7) · ruling text not checked
Yoon Suk Yeol acquitted on appeal in 'free polling' case — the two-year sentence is overturned
The Seoul High Court's 7th Criminal Division (presiding judge Koo Hoe-geun) acquitted former President Yoon Suk Yeol and Myung Tae-kyun of violating the Political Funds Act. The trial court had given them two years and 18 months in prison. The appeals court said there was "no evidence whatsoever of an agreement, request or consultation to conduct and provide opinion polls free of charge," and that intent to donate political funds was hard to establish. What was received, it found, was not money but 'political benefit': a read on public opinion, political advice, introductions to influential politicians.
Former first lady Kim Keon Hee was acquitted earlier on the same charge. Because the two courts read the same facts in opposite ways, the Supreme Court's judgment will set the standard. This case is separate from Yoon's other trials, including the insurrection case.
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In its briefing to the National Assembly Defense Committee's parliamentary audit on Oct. 7, the Defense Ministry said it would pursue a joint investigation with the United Nations Command into North Korea's incursions across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) during its 'border fortification' work, formalize whether the Armistice Agreement was violated, and send the North a notice of violation demanding that it 'halt the violations and restore the status quo.' The ministry said it would 'respond in coordination with the UNC, which is responsible for administering the armistice, to North Korean acts that shrink or dismantle the buffer zone specified in the Armistice Agreement.' The step follows the Sept. 21 accident in which soldiers of the Army's 25th Division were wounded by North Korean landmines during a search operation in the DMZ. The North's Foreign Ministry said it would 'respond strongly to even a 1 mm incursion,' and the government warned of 'corresponding measures.' At the audit, the ruling party stressed the 'first DMZ mine clearance' and the opposition a 'slow investigation and attempted cover-up.'
Until now, 'North Korea crossed the line' was our military's claim. If the UNC investigates jointly and concludes there was a violation, that becomes the official record of a party to the Armistice Agreement. The North will not accept it, but a record that exists and one that does not make for different starting points when responsibility is argued at the next clash. It is also the government's choice to turn the landmine accident from a question of 'our military's responsibility' into one of 'North Korea's violation.'
Tension along the border rises, but nothing touches daily life yet. Still, with the North talking of a 'strong response' and the South of 'corresponding measures,' this is a period in which small incidents become big news, and it will last a while. Until the Defense Committee's audit ends late this month, this topic will come up every day.
Confirming an armistice violation together with the UNC and serving notice is the most orthodox response there is. Building a record beats an emotional tit-for-tat over the long run.
Joint investigations and notices are procedures the North has already ignored dozens of times. The heart of the wounded-soldiers issue was our own guard and search procedures, and formalizing the North's responsibility has the effect of shifting the focus.
Today's phrase is 'notice of violation.' Watch whether the UNC announces the start of the joint investigation in its own name, and whether the findings cover landmine locations as well as the line crossings. The North's reaction is always the same, so that is not news.
Segye Ilbo 20261007506043 · OhmyNews A0003273319 · Weekly Wolyo · Digital Times (North's Foreign Ministry and government warning) · Cheonji Ilbo (audit exchanges) · Korea Economic Daily, Kyunghyang, Dong-A (feeds) (all Oct. 7) · the Defense Ministry's briefing text not yet checked directly
'They crossed the line' will go on paper. Defense Ministry seeks a joint UNC investigation of North Korea's MDL incursions
At the Defense Committee's parliamentary audit on Oct. 7, the Defense Ministry said it would conduct a joint investigation with the United Nations Command (유엔군사령부), which administers the armistice, into North Korea's crossings of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) during its 'border fortification' work, formalize any violation, and send the North a 'notice of Armistice Agreement violation' demanding a halt and restoration. The step follows the Sept. 21 accident in which soldiers of the Army's 25th Division were wounded by North Korean landmines while searching the DMZ. After the North's Foreign Ministry warned of a "strong response to even a 1 mm incursion," the government answered with "corresponding measures."
In the audit room, the ruling party stressed the achievement of the 'first DMZ mine clearance' and the opposition a 'slow investigation and attempted cover-up.' The 'empty rifles' guard-duty controversy from yesterday's front page came up again in the same session.
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In brief
Bank of Korea names Choi Young-ju deputy governor for international affairs and Yoon Kyung-soo, head of the international department, to lead its Economic Research InstituteYonhap · Chosun Ilbo
Boston Dynamics names Amazon veteran Rohit Prasad CEO — Hyundai Motor Group steps up 'physical AI'Hankyung · SBS
Korean Air pilots' union withdraws its request for labor dispute mediation — strike threat averted for nowSBS
India's central bank raises its repo rate (policy rate) for the first time since 2023 — food prices, oil, a weak rupee. The first major country to hike while others ease. Size of the increase not confirmed in the primary textNikkei · CNBC · Reuters
Samsung Electronics' chip special bonus to be paid around late March next year, taxed at 49.5% — union proposes a joint donation of 0.2% to 1%Yonhap · SBS · Dong-A Ilbo
Seoul apartment auctions in September fetched 94.7% of appraised value — lowest in 19 monthsKorea Economic Daily
Two Chinese fishing boats seized for illegal fishing off Baengnyeong IslandChosun Ilbo
Incheon manhole accident that killed two: 18 people, including the former head of the Incheon Environmental Corporation, referred to prosecutorsKyunghyang Shinmun
Seven minutes every evening, one front page — see About
Unverified — what we could not confirm
"Nuri was a perfect success."Launch and orbital insertion succeeded. One CubeSat did not deploy; contact confirmed with only three satellites by evening.
"Refiners fined 4.6 trillion won for collusion."Examiner's opinion stage. 4.6 trillion is a simple maximum-rate calculation, before the commission rules.
"North Korea's MDL crossing signals an imminent provocation."What is confirmed: line crossings during fortification work and a landmine accident. No joint investigation findings yet.
What to watch
Thu 10/8Samsung Electronics preliminary third-quarter earnings (morning) · Nobel Prize in literature (evening Korea time) · audit day three · contact with Nuri's remaining satellites.This weekWhether the FTC publishes a deliberation date · a UNC announcement that the joint investigation has begun · whether foreigners sell for a third day.For readersIf you pick one thing, make it Samsung's operating profit number tomorrow morning. Whether it clears 100 trillion won is the key to another run at KOSPI 7,000.
Glossary · dotted words — economics, law, security and science terms explained in the context of the story. The list grows every day.
INSIDENuri lifts 15 satellites, four successes in a row. This time the test was launching a flockScience · SpaceFour years of war. Did two companies set the price of gas? SK Energy, HD Hyundai Oilbank face a 44 trillion won collusion caseEconomy · AntitrustAudit, day two — 'a shouting match every seven minutes' in Judiciary; pensions and abortion pills in HealthPoliticsYoon Suk Yeol acquitted on appeal in 'free polling' case — the two-year sentence is overturnedCourts'They crossed the line' will go on paper. Defense Ministry seeks a joint UNC investigation of North Korea's MDL incursionsSecurity