Daily Woody — English Edition · April 24, 2026
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared at a Pentagon briefing Thursday that the U.S. Navy has turned back 34 Iranian vessels and seized two ships from Iran's shadow fleet since the counter-blockade began. He called on Asian and European allies to join the operation, saying: "Europe needs the Strait of Hormuz far more than we do."
Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine announced the same day that the U.S. would intensify its full blockade of the strait. Three aircraft carrier strike groups are now deployed in the region — the Abraham Lincoln, Gerald R. Ford, and the newly arrived George H.W. Bush. Washington has also ordered the Navy to sink any vessel laying mines in the waterway after Iran was confirmed to have laid a second set of mines this week.
Iran signaled willingness to resume ceasefire talks, with its diplomatic team reportedly arriving in Islamabad, Pakistan late Friday. A New York Times report revealed that Iran's Revolutionary Guard commanders — not the foreign ministry or supreme leader — are effectively running the country's war strategy, having twice torpedoed negotiations at the final hour.
Prosecutors demanded a 30-year prison term for former President Yoon Suk-yeol at Thursday's sentencing hearing, over charges he ordered military drones flown into Pyongyang to provoke North Korea — manufacturing a pretext for his December 3, 2024 martial law declaration. Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun faces 25 years.
The trial was held behind closed doors on national security grounds. A separate appellate ruling on Yoon's obstruction charges is set for April 29 — and will be broadcast live on national television.
SK Hynix reported Q1 2026 revenue of 52.6 trillion won and operating profit of 37.6 trillion won, its best quarterly result ever. At 72%, its operating margin now exceeds TSMC's 58.1% — a reversal from the -67% trough just three years ago.
The results pushed the KOSPI index above 6,500 for the first time, extending a four-session streak of all-time highs. Goldman Sachs raised its KOSPI target from 7,000 to 8,000. Samsung and SK Hynix together now account for 41% of the entire index's market cap.
The USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group arrived in the Indian Ocean Thursday, joining the Abraham Lincoln and Gerald R. Ford already operating in the region. The U.S. Central Command publicly posted the ship's position — a deliberate signal. Iran, meanwhile, was confirmed to have laid a second set of mines in the strait this week.
The NYT reported that Supreme Leader Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, lacks his father's grip on power, with Revolutionary Guard generals effectively running Iran's war policy. The IRGC is credited with ordering the Hormuz blockade, attacking Gulf Arab infrastructure, and — according to the report — killing the ceasefire deal at the eleventh hour.
Trump told reporters "time is not on Iran's side" while leaving the door open for a deal. Iranian diplomats were due in Islamabad Friday night, with sources suggesting a second face-to-face round could begin over the weekend.
Secretary Hegseth stated Thursday that no vessel may transit the Strait of Hormuz without U.S. Navy clearance. The statement amounts to a unilateral U.S. claim over one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints — through which roughly 20% of global oil supply normally flows.
Two tankers bound for China had already been forced to turn back since the counter-blockade began on April 13. Trump warned that any country supplying weapons to Iran would face a 50% additional tariff — a direct threat to Beijing, which has been buying Iranian oil throughout the conflict.
British Prime Minister Starmer convened 35 countries to discuss diplomatic paths to reopening the strait. The UAE sent a letter to the UN Security Council invoking Article 7 of the UN Charter, demanding immediate action.
President Trump warned he would cut off U.S. weapons supplies to Ukraine if European NATO members refused to join the Hormuz operation. He called NATO "a paper tiger" and said he was "strongly considering" withdrawal. The statement came days after he threatened 50% tariffs on China for arms sales to Iran.
Britain's Starmer has sought a multilateral diplomatic path, convening 35 nations and promising British military strategists would join the planning. The UAE, whose shores border the strait, invoked the UN Charter and called for immediate international intervention.
Brent crude futures briefly surpassed $100 per barrel after the counter-blockade announcement. Analysts at the Economist warned prices could reach $150 by end of April if the double blockade holds, as importing nations drain strategic reserves.
President Lee Jae-myung landed in Seoul Friday after a five-night state visit to India and Vietnam, accompanied by an economic delegation of roughly 200 business leaders including the heads of Samsung and Hyundai. The tour yielded approximately 35 bilateral agreements with India and 70 with Vietnam, including a nuclear energy development MOU.
In Hanoi, Lee met Vietnam's full new leadership — party secretary-general To Lam, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, and National Assembly Speaker Tran Thanh Man — signing deals that include cooperation on Vietnam's planned nuclear power complex at Ninh Thuan (4 reactors, estimated cost $20–25 billion). A contract for Korean rail vehicles for Ho Chi Minh City's metro system was also signed.
Both countries agreed to expand bilateral trade from $94.6 billion to $150 billion by 2030. National Security Adviser Wi Seong-lac separately acknowledged that the Coupang legal dispute — involving billionaire chairman Bom Kim — is already affecting U.S.-Korea security talks.
General Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea and the Combined Forces Command, told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that he has submitted a roadmap to the Pentagon for meeting the conditions for wartime operational control transfer by Q1 2029 (U.S. fiscal Q2 2029). President Lee has made completing the transfer within his term — which runs to June 2030 — a central security objective.
Brunson rated South Korea's army as the world's fifth strongest, but cautioned that "political convenience must not outpace conditions." He had given the same warning to the Senate Armed Services Committee the day before. National Security Adviser Wi Seong-lac pushed back, saying the government's push is based on military readiness, not political expediency.
The timing is complicated by U.S. politics: Trump's term ends January 20, 2029 — weeks before the target date. Whether the next U.S. administration will honor the current trajectory remains an open question.
The special prosecution team asked the Seoul Central District Court to sentence Yoon Suk-yeol to 30 years in prison for ordering military drones flown over Pyongyang in October–November 2024, allegedly to provoke a North Korean response that would justify declaring martial law. Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun received a 25-year sentencing demand.
Prosecutors argued the operation raised actual military tensions on the Korean peninsula, and that a drone crash during the mission exposed classified military intelligence. Former counterintelligence chief Yeo In-hyong and former drone operations commander Kim Yong-dae received 20-year and 5-year sentencing demands respectively in an earlier hearing.
On April 29, Seoul High Court will broadcast live its appellate ruling on Yoon's obstruction-of-arrest charges — the first time such proceedings have been televised in South Korean legal history. Yoon received a 5-year sentence at first instance; prosecutors sought 10 years on appeal.
SK Hynix posted Q1 2026 revenue of 52.6 trillion won ($38.5bn), operating profit of 37.6 trillion won, and net income of 40.3 trillion won. Its 72% operating margin eclipsed TSMC's 58.1% — a figure the chipmaking world had long treated as the industry's profitability benchmark. Year-on-year operating profit growth reached 405.5%.
The company attributed the performance to surging demand for HBM (high-bandwidth memory), high-capacity server DRAM modules, and enterprise SSDs — the infrastructure layer beneath the global AI buildout. Conventional DRAM contract prices also surged over 90% quarter-on-quarter, meaning every product tier contributed to the result.
Cash on hand reached 54.3 trillion won by quarter-end, up 19.4 trillion won from December. Net cash (after debt) stood at 35 trillion won. The company said it sees AI evolving from large-model training into "agentic AI" — real-time inference across distributed systems — which it expects to expand memory demand across both DRAM and NAND.
South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index closed at 6,475.81 on Wednesday, having breached 6,500 intraday — its fourth consecutive all-time high. Samsung Electronics closed above 224,500 won for the first time, surpassing its prior record. Samsung and SK Hynix together now command a combined market cap of 2,186 trillion won, equal to 41.17% of the entire KOSPI.
South Korea's Q1 2026 GDP grew 3.6% year-on-year and 1.7% quarter-on-quarter, beating estimates. Semiconductor and IT exports led the expansion. Exports for April 1–20 hit a record $50.4 billion, with semiconductor shipments up 182.5%. Foreign investors reversed course from 35 trillion won in net selling in March to 5.9 trillion won in net buying in April.
Goldman Sachs raised its KOSPI year-end target to 8,000. However, South Korea's consumer sentiment index fell below 100 for the first time in a year, signaling that energy inflation anxiety is filtering through to household confidence even as financial markets surge.
| Date | Conditions | Low (°C) | High (°C) | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 25 (Sat) | ☀️ Clear | 4–12 | 20–26 | None |
| Apr 26 (Sun) | 🌤️ Mostly clear | 6–13 | 21–26 | Showers: Gyeongnam / Jeju (5–10mm) |
| Apr 27 (Mon) | 🌥️ Cloudy → clearing | 7–14 | 18–24 | Possible rain: Seoul metro / Gangwon / South Chungnam (evening) |
| Apr 28 (Tue) | 🌥️ Cloudy | 8–14 | 17–23 | Morning rain possible in parts of central Korea |
The war in the Gulf is generating two incompatible realities at once — and South Korea is living inside both of them.
One reality: the Strait of Hormuz is contested, oil prices threaten to breach $150 a barrel, and Washington is demanding Seoul send ships to a conflict on the other side of the world. The other: Korean chipmakers just posted the most profitable quarter in semiconductor history, the stock market is at an all-time high, and Goldman Sachs sees another 23% upside from here.
This is not a contradiction that will resolve itself neatly. The same AI infrastructure boom driving SK Hynix's 72% margins is also accelerating the data center buildout that makes stable energy supply non-negotiable. The same war that threatens Korea's energy lifeline is the war Washington is using to demand Korea prove its alliance credentials.
Seventy percent of South Korea's crude travels through Hormuz. If the strait stays closed and oil hits $150, the consumer price shock will erode the very confidence that stock market records are built on. The question is not whether Korea can afford to get involved — it is whether it can afford to pretend the two realities don't share the same cause.
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