Deep in South Korea’s hinterlands lies a perfect replica of 1900s Seoul: welcome to Sunshine Land, the latest K-drama theme park to cash in on booming K-culture tourism.Fans of K-pop mega group BTS have long flocked to the South to see sites associated with the boy band, from the dorms where they slept as trainees to recent music video shoot locations.But as the popularity of South Korean drama has soared overseas — it is the most-viewed non-English content on Netflix, the platform’s data shows — more and more tourists are planning trips around their favourite shows.The idea that foreign tourists would pay good money and drive hundreds of miles out of the capital Seoul to see a K-drama set seemed “crazy” to tour guide Sophy Yoon — until she saw one of her guests break down in tears at Sunshine Land.”At that moment, it hit me: For me, it was just a studio, but for them, it was something much more,” she said.Preserved from the set of popular 2018 historical series “Mr Sunshine”, the location in Nonsan, 170 kilometres (106 miles) from Seoul, is replete with painstaking replicas of everything from a turn-of-the-century tram to South Korea’s most famous Buddhist bell.”It’s like when we go to the Spanish steps in Rome where Audrey Hepburn had ice cream,” Yoon said, referring to the 1953 classic movie “Roman Holiday”.For South Korea’s growing number of K-drama tourists, “every door, every wall has a meaning from a drama that impacted their lives”.”I get a lot more requests for specific ‘K-drama tours’ now,” she said.- ‘Felt right’ -The rise of South Korea as a global cultural powerhouse “has contributed to the appeal of Korean tourism,” said Kwak Jae-yeon, the Hallyu content team director at the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).South Korea welcomed 1.4 million tourists in September, up 33 percent year-on-year and the highest since the pandemic, with more than a third saying they had decided to come “after being exposed to Korean Wave content”, according to a 2023 KTO poll.In Seoul’s central Jongno district, tourists like Sookariyapa Kakij are typical. Wearing a hanbok, traditional Korean dress, the 40-year-old had travelled from Thailand specifically to see where her favourite dramas were filmed. “I want to find locations where ‘Itaewon Class’ was shot,” she told AFP, referring to the popular 2020 drama, filmed largely on location in its namesake district of Seoul.Jennifer Zelinski told AFP she had never left the United States before, but after she discovered K-drama — through the 2019 series “Crash Landing on You” — while stuck at home during the pandemic, she decided to visit South Korea.”I binged the whole show in a week. I barely slept and went through two whole boxes of tissues,” she said. This “snowballed” into her watching more and more K-drama, Korean variety shows and listening to K-pop, she said, until finally she “felt like I really wanted to see it in person”.”My family and friends were shocked when I said I was travelling to Korea and on my own,” said Zelinski, but for her “it just felt right.”- Beyond Seoul -The travel industry is racing to catch up: one South Korean tour company on the travel platform Klook said interest in its BTS day tour has “skyrocketed” recently, and they were “completely booked until next February.” “We are planning to add additional tours for other K-pop idol groups, including Seventeen and NCT 127,” they said.But most of this new type of tourism is concentrated in Seoul, Jeong Ji-youn, a Kyungpook National University professor, told AFP.Tourism in rural areas has tended to focus on more traditional Korean experiences, which is not interesting to younger travellers eager to explore the land of K-pop and K-drama.”There is a need to develop more tourism resources related to contemporary culture that allow people to experience hallyu outside of Seoul,” she said.The port city of Pohang is better known for shipbuilding and steel plants than tourism, but Emma Brown, 30, from Scotland, travelled more than 8,800 kilometres (5,468 miles) to see it because of “When the Camellia Blooms”.The 2019 romance series “changed my life”, she told AFP, adding that she felt she “had to feel the drama in person.””I just couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit Pohang when I was already in South Korea,” she added.

Asian markets were mixed Thursday as another blockbuster earnings from chip titan Nvidia smashed forecasts but still left investors disappointed, while sentiment was also being swayed by geopolitical concerns.Bitcoin reached an all-time peak above $95,000 as it continued its run towards $100,000 on optimism that the incoming US president will usher in an era of deregulation for cryptocurrencies.All eyes had been on the release from Nvidia, which has been at the forefront of a global tech surge that has helped push some markets to multiple records owing to voracious demand for all things linked to artificial intelligence.And once again, the firm topped expectations, announcing Wednesday that it made a $19 billion profit on record high revenue in the July-September quarter, while sales reached $35.1 billion — about $2 billion more than estimated.However, its shares fell in after-hours trade, even as chief executive Jensen Huang declared that the “age of AI is in full steam, propelling a global shift to Nvidia computing” and that its keenly anticipated Blackwell processing platform is in full production.Observers said investors had been hoping for an even bigger blowout report, with Bloomberg saying some had been hoping for sales of as much as $41 billion.Its shares — which have soared more than 200 percent year to date — dropped four percent at one point after-hours.With Nvidia now the world’s most expensive listed company, its results have become a bellwether of the tech industry.”I have a feeling we’ve reached peak Nvidia,” said Pendal Group’s Amy Xie Patrick on Bloomberg Television. “This is a stock that beat analyst estimates but didn’t beat enough.”And SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes added: “The bigger question remains: where exactly is the bar for Nvidia now? With expectations veiled in sky-high optimism, even seasoned analysts struggle to get a clear read.”With so many portfolios already brimming with Nvidia stock, some investors might see this quarter’s results as a minor letdown.” But he added: “Still, the strength of the numbers, paired with the pipeline of Blackwell chip orders, is enough to keep the dream alive.”Markets in Asia were mixed in early trade, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Taipei and Manila in negative territory, while Singapore, Seoul, Wellington and Jakarta slipped.Bitcoin topped out at more than $95,004 as it continued its march to the $100,000 mark on expectations Donald Trump will push through measures to ease regulations on cryptocurrencies. It has surged almost 40 percent since the US election at the start of the month.Investors have also been spooked by developments in the Ukraine war after Russia said Kyiv had fired US-supplied missiles into the country. That was followed by reports that UK-supplied rockets had also been used.After Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that the use of US missiles showed Western countries wanted to “escalate” the conflict, adding that “we will be taking this as a qualitatively new phase of the Western war against Russia”.Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons.Investors are also keeping watch on Trump’s picks for his cabinet, with the fingering of China hawk Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary fuelling worries of another painful trade war.Lutnick has expressed support for a tariff level of 60 percent on Chinese goods, alongside a 10 percent tariff on all other imports.- Key figures around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 38,033.22 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 19,691.54Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,361.09Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0547 from $1.0545 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2654 from $1.2652Dollar/yen: DOWN at 154.95 yen from 155.45 yenEuro/pound: UP at 83.35 pence from 83.33 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $69.11 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $73.14 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 43,408.47 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,085.07 (close)

As civil war pounds Myanmar’s economy and drives up prices, garment worker Wai Wai often starts her shift making clothes for international brands on an empty stomach.The orders she and thousands of others churn out for big names including Adidas, H&M and others bring in billions of dollars in export earnings for Myanmar.It is a rare bright spot in an economy crippled by the military’s 2021 coup and subsequent slide into civil war.But for 12 hours of sewing clothes for export to China and Europe in a bleak industrial suburb of Yangon, Wai Wai earns just over $3 a day, which has to cover rent, food and clothes. It must also stretch to supporting her parents in Rakhine state at the other end of the country, where conflict between the military and ethnic rebels has wrecked the economy and driven food prices up.With times so hard, Wai Wai “decided to mostly skip breakfast” to save extra money, she told AFP, asking to use a pseudonym.”Sometimes we just have leftover rice from the night before and save money, because if we use money for breakfast, there will be less money to transfer to our family.”In a nearby factory, Thin Thin Khine and her two sisters work 12 hours a day sewing uniforms for a Myanmar company and earn a monthly salary of around 350,000 Myanmar kyat.That’s about $165 according to the official exchange rate set by the junta of just over 2,000 kyat to the dollar.On the open market, a greenback can fetch around 4,500 kyat.”All my sisters are working, but there is no extra money at all,” she said.”In the past, we could buy two or three new items of clothing every month, but now we can’t afford to buy new clothes, cosmetics or things for our personal care.” – Lights out -Since the coup, Zara owner Inditex, Marks and Spencer and others have left Myanmar, citing the difficulties of operating amid the turmoil.Others such as Adidas, H&M and Danish company Bestseller have stayed, for now. Adidas told AFP it worked closely with its suppliers in Myanmar to safeguard workers’ rights, while H&M said it was gradually phasing out its operations in the country.Estimates of the apparel industry’s export earnings vary.Myanmar’s commerce ministry said exports were worth more than $3 billion in the past financial year.But the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar said export earnings were higher, surging from $5.7 billion in 2019 to $7.6 billion in 2022 — with more than half of exports going to the bloc.The European body said the rise in Myanmar exports was helped by low labour costs compared to Cambodia and China, along with trade preferences granted by the EU and United States.Keeping the factories running is a challenge.In May, the junta said the national electricity grid was meeting about half of the country’s daily electricity needs.To keep the lights on and the machines spinning, factory owners rely on expensive generators — themselves vulnerable to the regular diesel shortages that plague Yangon. “The working situation right now is like we invest more money and get less profits,” said small factory owner Khin Khin Wai.Cotton spindles have more than doubled in price from 18 cents to 50 cents, she said.”Our lives here are not progressing year by year, they are falling apart,” she said. Wai Wai’s factory supplies Danish clothing brand Bestseller.A Bestseller spokesman told AFP that sourcing from Myanmar was “complex” and the company “continuously assessed” the situation, publishing regular reports on its operations in the country.According to its September report, “on average” workers at Myanmar factories supplying it were paid a daily wage of 10,000-13,000 kyat ($5-6.50 at the official rate), including bonuses and overtime.- Crackdown -Abuses in the sector have spiked since the military took power, rights groups say.This month, Swiss-based union federation IndustriALL Global Union said the junta had banned unions and arrested union leaders.”There are widespread, comprehensive reports on the extensive violations of workers’ rights,” IndustriALL general secretary Atle Hoie said in a statement.AFP has sought comment from the junta about conditions in the industry.The latest concern is a conscription law enforced from February to shore up the military’s depleted ranks.In its most recent report on Myanmar, Bestseller said two workers at factories that supply it had been drafted between March and September of this year.Women are included in the draft, although the junta has said it will not recruit them for now.For migrant workers like Wai Wai who do not have the means to pay bribes to avoid any draft, it is a huge worry.”I am full of fear about how I will face it if I am called up for conscription,” Wai Wai said.

Billionaire Indian industrialist Gautam Adani has been charged with paying hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes and hiding the payments from investors, US prosecutors said on Wednesday.With a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement and media, the chairman of Adani Group has been rocked in recent years by corporate fraud allegations and a stock crash.The close acolyte of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a fellow Gujarat native, is alleged to have agreed to pay more than $250 million in bribes to Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.The deals were projected to generate more than $2 billion in profits after tax, over roughly 20 years.None of the multiple defendants in the case, including Adani, are in custody, the prosecutor’s office told AFP.Prosecutors say one of Adani’s alleged accomplices meticulously tracked bribe payments, using his phone to log the bungs offered to officials.”This indictment alleges schemes to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller.- ‘Fear of reprisal’ -“Gautam Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses… while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government’s investigation,” said the FBI’s James Dennehy.A self-described introvert, Adani keeps a low profile and rarely speaks to the media, often sending lieutenants to front corporate events.Adani was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, to a middle-class family but dropped out of school at 16 and moved to financial capital Mumbai to find work in the city’s lucrative gem trade. After a short stint in his brother’s plastics business, he launched the flagship family conglomerate that bears his name in 1988 by branching out into the export trade. His big break came seven years later with a contract to build and operate a commercial shipping port in Gujarat.Adani Group’s rapid expansion into capital-intensive businesses previously raised alarms, with Fitch subsidiary and market researcher CreditSights warning in 2022 it was “deeply over-leveraged.”In 2023 a bombshell report from US investment firm Hindenburg Research claimed the conglomerate had engaged in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.”Hindenburg said a pattern of “government leniency towards the group” stretching back decades had left investors, journalists, citizens and politicians unwilling to challenge its conduct “for fear of reprisal.”

Global stocks were mostly flat or lower Wednesday while the dollar strengthened ahead of an eagerly anticipated report from artificial intelligence giant Nvidia that showed it crushed its earnings expectations.Following a down day in Tokyo and on European bourses, equities had a choppy session in New York, with the S&P 500 finishing flat.”Now that the initial post-election euphoria has faded, it is clear that markets are struggling for a catalyst to provoke a new rally,” said market analyst Chris Beauchamp at online trading platform IG, referring to the US presidential poll.One day after Walmart impressed investors with a bullish report ahead of the US holiday shopping season, Target lost more than one-fifth of its market value as the retailer projected flat comparable sales in the coming quarter.The war in Ukraine has also burst back into the thoughts of traders this week after the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use deep-strike weapons against targets in Russia, ramping up tensions.The Nvidia earnings were released after US markets closed on Wednesday.The chip company made a $19 billion profit on record high revenue in the last quarter as demand continued for its hardware to power artificial intelligence. Shares fell 1.4 percent in after-hours trading, despite the strong earnings, with some analysts fretting about an ebbing in profit margins compared to the prior quarter.The US dollar firmed against rivals as futures markets slash the odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next month.On Tuesday, US President-elect Donald Trump named China hawk Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, bolstering expectations that the Republican’s administration will make good on a pledge to enact tough tariffs on Beijing and other countries.Lutnick has expressed support for a tariff level of 60 percent on Chinese goods, alongside a 10-percent tariff on all other imports.With Lutnick’s appointment, “we’re all set for another tit-for-tat trade war between the two superpowers,” said a note from Forex.com analyst Matt Simpson.Surveyed economists now see a greater risk of a resurgence in US inflation next year, said Simpson, adding “odds of Fed cuts next year continued to diminish.”- Key figures around 2145 GMT -New York – Dow Jones Industrial Average: DOWN 0.3 percent at 43,408.47 (close)New York – S&P 500: FLAT at 5,917.11 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 18,966.14 (close) London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,085.07 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,198.45 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.3 percent at 19,004.78 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,352.34 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 19,705.01 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,367.99 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0545 from $1.0596 on TuesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2652 from $1.2682Dollar/yen: UP at 155.45 yen from 154.66 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.33 pence from 83.54 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.7 percent at $72.81 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $68.87 per barrelburs-jmb/aha