Domestic builders are facing growing concerns over the possibility of a series of bankruptcies amid worsening investor sentiment in the wake of the recent slump in the real estate market, according to industry officials on Thursday, the Korea Times reported. Late last month, Wooseok Construction, a medium-sized builder based in South Chungcheong Province, failed to repay its debt in time. If the company fails to make the payment again, it will be forced into bankruptcy.

A missed debt payment by the developer of Legoland Korea theme park adds to difficulties faced by the nation’s real estate market already weakened by surging interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. The amusement park opened in May just as turmoil in global debt markets made it much pricier for Korean borrowers including developers to refinance debt. Commercial paper repackaging 205 billion won ($144 million) of loans for the Legoland Korea project wasn’t paid on the maturity date of Sept. 29, according to backers of the project.

Interpol has issued a “red notice” for the search and arrest of Do Kwon, the South Korean co-founder of Terraform Labs, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said on Monday, the New York Times reported. The South Korean authorities had requested assistance from the global police agency to trace Mr. Kwon’s whereabouts earlier this month. Mr. Kwon and his company faced investigations by the South Korean government after the value of his cryptocurrencies, Luna and TerraUSD, plummeted and contributed to a $300 billion crash across the crypto economy in May.

A court in South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon, the founder of the Terraform Labs cryptocurrency ecosystem, whose implosion earlier this year sparked a global crypto rout, Bloomberg News reported. The court in Seoul issued a warrant for Do Kwon and five others on allegations that include violations of the nation’s capital markets law, according to a text message from the prosecutor’s office. All six individuals are located in Singapore, the prosecutor’s office said. Do Kwon didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong said he would join Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in tightening the focus on inflation if prices remain out of control, keeping the door open for another outsized interest-rate hike, Bloomberg News reported. Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Kathleen Hays at Jackson Hole, Rhee said Powell’s remarks at the gathering of central bankers were largely in line with his expectations. But he added that higher US rates may still weaken the won further and lead to stronger inflation in Korea among other uncertain factors influencing policy.

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, accusing it of helping hackers, including from North Korea, to launder proceeds from their cyber crimes, Reuters reported. A senior Treasury Department official said that Tornado Cash, one of the largest mixers identified as problematic by the Treasury, has reportedly laundered more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since it was created in 2019.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering may face a court-ordered rehabilitation process unless action is taken on a month-long strike there, the company’s main creditor Korea Development Bank said Friday, the Korea Herald reported. “It would be more difficult for DSME to repay its debts as the strike drags on … we’re not going to help the builder unless it gets back to work,” an executive at the state-run bank said, suggesting that the country’s third-largest shipbuilder would have no choice but to ask the court for help if the strike results in a poorer liquidity.

South Korea's June inflation accelerated to the fastest pace since the Asian financial crisis, fanning expectations the central bank could deliver a 50 basis point rake hike for the first time next week to cool prices and curb capital outflows, Reuters reported. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 6.0% in June from a year earlier, government data showed on Tuesday, the fastest since November 1998 and exceeding the central bank's 2% target for the 15th consecutive month. The CPI also sped up from a 5.4% rise in the previous month and exceeded the 5.9% tipped in a Reuters poll.

The South Korean won hit its lowest point against the U.S. dollar in nearly 13 years on Thursday, opening at 1,299 won and weakening to more than 1,300 in intraday trading, the New York Times reported. The last time the country’s currency breached the 1,300-won threshold was in the summer of 2009, toward the end of the global financial crisis. The won also passed this threshold during the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998. South Korea’s export-driven economy makes it particularly sensitive to conditions in the global economy, which have been deteriorating recently.

The South Korean government reached a deal with truckers to extend a minimum-wage plan, ending a weeklong strike that had snarled supply chains in one of Asia’s export powerhouses, the Wall Street Journal reported. The truckers union agreed to return to work immediately after reaching a deal with the transport ministry late Tuesday, bringing a close to the standoff over wages that had been aggravated by rising fuel prices. Under the deal, the transport ministry will extend a minimum-wage plan that was set to expire at the end of the year.