The Minute to Read (Weekdays) series provides a quick overview of significant events in Korea everyday, conveniently condensed into a one-minute read. Here’s a recap of what happened yesterday: Feb. 20.
Court convicts ex-officials for deporting North Korean defectors in 2019
A South Korean court found four former government officials guilty of forcibly repatriating two North Korean fishermen in 2019 despite their pleas to defect, suspending their prison sentences for two years. The court ruled the officials violated the fishermen’s rights but justified the leniency, citing the fishermen’s confessed murder of 16 crewmates before fleeing to the South. Legal experts criticized the ruling as a “soft” decision that failed to hold the officials fully accountable, while prosecutors vowed to appeal. The court also dismissed the defense’s claim that the fishermen were not South Korean citizens, referencing the Nationality Act, which recognizes all North Koreans as South Korean nationals by birth.
Naver debuts smarter HyperCLOVA X model to power next-gen AI services
Naver announced on Feb. 20 that it has completed an update to its HyperCLOVA X foundation model, significantly boosting performance while reducing operating costs by over 50%. Despite having 40% fewer parameters than its predecessor, the model outperformed the previous version across 19 benchmark categories, achieving a 79.6% accuracy rate in the MMLU test. The update enhances multi-modal capabilities, including video comprehension, while advancing Naver’s “On-Service AI” strategy to integrate AI into search, commerce, and other services. The new model will be integrated into Naver’s CLOVA X conversational AI in March and made available to businesses via CLOVA Studio.
South Korea to build 3 new reactors under 2038 energy plan
South Korea finalized its 11th Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand on Feb. 19, outlining energy strategies through 2038, including the construction of three new reactors—two large-scale and one small modular reactor (SMR)—to raise nuclear power’s share to 35.2%. The plan, delayed by political disputes, was revised to cut one large reactor while boosting solar capacity by 2.4 gigawatts (GW), bringing the renewable share to 29.2% and carbon-free energy to over 70%. It also calls for expanding energy storage capacity to 138 gigawatt-hours (GWh), though experts question the feasibility of adding 50 GW of domestic solar capacity by 2038, given its current 27 GW level.
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