Following Enzo Maresca's maiden game as Manager, in which City drew 1-1 with Inter Milan before a 3-1 penalty shootout defeat, our attention now turns to our next friendly.
Live
The team have made the short trip from Hong Kong to South Korea in anticipation of our clash with the K-League All Stars on Wednesday 5 August, with kick-off set for 12:00 (UK).
Ahead of what is expected to be an exciting match-up against some of the Korean league's best players, here is all the key pre-match information you need, including how to follow all the action live, below…
The Blues take on the K-League All Stars at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Wednesday 5 August.

#league #august #manager

Having landed earlier this week, the players were again hard at work in preparation for our first game of pre-season.
As always, Enzo Maresca put his players through their paces ahead of Saturday's clash with Inter.
Subscribe to CITY+ to watch our tour matches
We face the Italian giants in the state-of-the-art Kai Tak Stadium at 12:30 (UK) on 1 August, with the match live on mancity.com and our official app for CITY+ subscribers.
After that, we'll travel to South Korean capital Seoul where we'll play the K League All Stars and Atletico Madrid.

#Inter

September S&P 500 E-Mini futures (ESU26) are up +0.24%, and September Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQU26) are up +0.32% this morning as a selloff in chipmakers abated, while investors awaited earnings from two of the world's largest AI spenders and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.
Chip and AI infrastructure stocks edged higher in pre-market trading, stabilizing after days of selling. Providing some relief was data storage company Seagate Technology Holdings (STX), which climbed over +5% in pre-market trading after posting blowout FQ4 results and issuing FQ1 guidance that smashed Wall Street's estimates. Also, SK Hynix executives said on the earnings call that strong memory-chip demand could persist for years, although shares of the memory chip giant tumbled more than -9% in Seoul as its 13-fold surge in quarterly net profit failed to impress investors.
Nasdaq Futures Plunge as Chip Selloff Rages On, FOMC Meeting and Earnings on Tap
Ahead of Microsoft Earnings, Here's What Barchart Data Says Comes Next for MSFT Stock
Broadcom Leads 3 AI Stocks Quietly Raising Their Dividends, One by 161%

#earnings #futures #selloff #investors

By Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL, July 29 (Reuters) - South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix reported **** per quarterly results on Wednesday but fell short of lofty investor expectations, heightening market concerns about slower AI spending by big tech firms.
To cushion itself against the industry's volatile demand cycles, the company is racing to lock in long-term supply deals .
The Nvidia ‌supplier's quarterly operating profit soared more than sixfold to a record high, but it said delays in shipments of some advanced products limited price gains for its mainstay dynamic random ‌access memory (DRAM) chips.
Shares in SK Hynix closed down 9.6% on Wednesday, as the weaker-than-expected earnings reinforced jitters about the sustainability of aggressive AI spending by tech firms. The benchmark KOSPI finished down 6%.

#wednesday #yang

Former Manchester City winger Mark Kennedy believes Erling Haaland is the perfect candidate to take on the captaincy role.
City have jetted off for their pre-season tour of Hong Kong and Seoul, but Enzo Maresca is yet to name the new club captain.
Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Kennedy said: "Every time I watch City I see a leader [in Erling Haaland].
"I see someone driving the team forward and someone not giving up. Every time I watch City, he catches my eye in terms of his leadership qualities."
During the 2024-25 campaign, Haaland captained Guardiola's side on occasions, but was not named the outright skipper for his side.

#kennedy

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Preparations for the next men's World Cup have already begun for teams in Southeast Asia, just weeks after Spain clinched the 2026 ****** le.
The ASEAN Cup has kicked off in Phnom Penh, and host Cambodia has already lost its opening games 2-1 to Singapore and 5-1 to Indonesia in Group A.
The biennial tournament features 10 national teams from the region of 650 million, and there's more on the minds of coaches and players than the trophy on offer in late August.
With Asian qualification for the 2030 World Cup starting next year, Southeast Asia's soccer powerhouses such as Indonesia — the only team from the region to appear on the global stage, when it competed as the Dutch East Indies in 1938 — Thailand and Vietnam, have an opportunity to start preparations early.
ASEAN Football Federation president Khiev Sameth said getting another team from the region into the World Cup is within reach.

#World #preparations #next #already

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean authorities ordered civilians to evacuate on Tuesday after a suspected white phosphorus leak at a U.S. military base near the capital, Seoul.
Officials in the city of Pyeongtaek urged nearby residents to move to a safe location and avoid skin exposure after the leak at the Osan Air Base was detected at around 5 p.m. The alert was lifted several hours later following the completion of decontamination work, according to text messages sent out by the city.
The U.S. 51st Fighter Wing said it established a 300-meter cordon around the base "out of an abundance of caution" after experts conducting a routine inspection identified white phosphorus crystallization that left residue inside a munitions crate.
An explosive ordnance disposal unit was deployed and response plans were immediately activated to ensure the munitions remained fully contained, it said in a statement.
The cordon was lifted after emergency response personnel mitigated the situation, allowing the base to return to normal operations, it said. There were "no injuries resulting from this situation and no risk to personnel on or off installation."

#seoul #phosphorus

SEOUL, July 27 (Reuters) - Shares of South Korean internet and cloud service giant Naver jumped more than 10% on Monday after it said Nvidia would acquire $1 ‌billion of its new shares to finance a project to expand an AI data ‌centre.
The move underscores a deepening partnership between the two companies, which in June announced plans to build global AI infrastructure to tap demand for sovereign AI in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the Middle East.
As the first step, the two firms and investment group Brookfield announced on Friday plans to expand Naver's AI data centre in South Korea with up to $10 billion in funding.
Naver said on Monday it ‌will place 7.2 million new ⁠shares with Nvidia for 204,500 won each, or a 1% discount to its closing price on Friday, as part of the agreement. Brookfield will provide ⁠up to $9 billion in financing as the project's capital partner, Naver added.
With the investment, Nvidia would become one of the biggest shareholders of Naver, owning a 4.5% stake. The National Pension Service was the biggest shareholder of Naver with a 9.25% stake, followed by BlackRock Fund Advisors with 6.12% ‌as of end-2025.

#billion #service

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An Australian court has cleared Rebel Wilson of defaming the star of her directorial debut, "The Deb," in social media posts.
Charlotte MacInnes alleged Wilson defamed her or breached her confidence in four social media posts from September 2024 to July 2025 by falsely suggesting she had withdrawn a ****** ual harassment complaint against one of the film's producers to advance her career.
MacInnes denied ever making such a complaint but Justice Elizabeth Raper of the Federal Court of Australia ruled Wednesday that none of Wilson's posts were defamatory.
The dispute stemmed from an incident in September 2023 when MacInnes and the producer went swimming at Sydney's Bondi Beach before later sharing a bath at the apartment where they were staying. Wilson later said on Instagram that MacInnes told her the next day that the producer had asked her to bathe and shower with her, making her feel uncomfortable, but that MacInnes later retracted the complaint.
Raper ruled that MacInnes failed to prove Wilson's posts caused serious harm to her reputation or that Wilson breached her confidence. She dismissed the case and ordered MacInnes to pay costs, according to a written judgement provided by the court.

#posts

SEOUL, July 20 (Reuters) - Lee Seung-ho watched the nearly 300 million won ($202,515) stock trading fortune he built with a 500% margin loan evaporate in just four weeks in May, but he plans to borrow again and return to the market the moment he has ‌enough capital.
The 24-year-old South Korean university student in Seoul briefly turned the 20 million won he saved during mandatory military service into a 15-fold ‌windfall, all by tapping a "tiny circle **** on" on his trading app that instantly unlocked five-times leverage.
Then the market turned.
Violent swings in South Korean stocks triggered a cascade of forced liquidations by his brokerage, wiping out the gains. Within weeks, his account had fallen below his initial investment, leaving him under such strain that he said: "I literally could not breathe."
"But I'm sticking to margin loans," Lee said from his studio apartment, barely larger than a parking **** e, next to an empty Hibiki whisky and an unboxed electric fan gifted by his brokerage after he qualified as a VIP client.

#weeks

SEOUL, July 20 (Reuters) - Lee Seung-ho watched the nearly 300 million won ($202,515) stock trading fortune he built with a 500% margin loan evaporate in just four weeks in May, but he plans to borrow again and return to the market the moment he has ‌enough capital.
The 24-year-old South Korean university student in Seoul briefly turned the 20 million won he saved during mandatory military service into a 15-fold ‌windfall, all by tapping a "tiny circle ***** on" on his trading app that instantly unlocked five-times leverage.
Then the market turned.
Violent swings in South Korean stocks triggered a cascade of forced liquidations by his brokerage, wiping out the gains. Within weeks, his account had fallen below his initial investment, leaving him under such strain that he said: "I literally could not breathe."
"But I'm sticking to margin loans," Lee said from his studio apartment, barely larger than a parking ***** e, next to an empty Hibiki whisky and an unboxed electric fan gifted by his brokerage after he qualified as a VIP client.

September S&P 500 E-Mini futures (ESU26) are down -0.29%, and September Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQU26) are down -0.94% this morning, pointing to a lower open on Wall Street as chipmakers came under renewed selling pressure following a selloff in their South Korean peers.
Memory chip stocks tumbled in South Korea, sparking a selloff in AI-related stocks around the world. SK Hynix plummeted over -15% in Seoul, marking its steepest drop on record, as its historic U.S. trading debut on Friday triggered a "sell the news" reaction and profit-taking. SK Hynix's slump weighed on fellow memory giant Samsung Electronics, which sank more than -10%. U.S. chip and AI infrastructure stocks looked set to join the global selloff, with Sandisk (SNDK) falling over -6% and Micron Technology (MU) dropping more than -5% in pre-market trading. SK Hynix's ADRs were down over -9% in pre-market trading.
Taiwan Just Waved a Red Flag for Nvidia Stock
Taiwan Semi Stock Is Approaching Fair Value Ahead of July 16. How to Play TSM Here.
Forget GPUs. Nvidia's Next AI Gold Mine Could Be Even Bigger.

SEOUL, July 11 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said China's commitment to its traditional friendship with ‌North Korea would not change regardless of how ‌the international situation evolves, according to letters exchanged with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and published by North Korean state media KCNA on Saturday.
Kim, in a letter to Xi, said bilateral friendship and cooperation had risen to a "new strategic ‌level," KCNA reported.
North Korea's ⁠Premier Pak Thae Song arrived in Beijing on Friday for a three-day visit to ⁠attend an event marking the 65th anniversary of the neighbours' friendship treaty.
Xi travelled to Pyongyang last month for his first visit to North Korea in seven years, where he and ‌Kim agreed to expand cooperation across politics, economy and culture.
The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual ***** istance, signed on July 11, 1961, remains China's only active mutual defence pact.

By Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL, July 10 (Reuters) - When South Korean billionaire Chey Tae-won rang the Nasdaq's opening bell for SK Hynix's $26.5 billion listing on Friday, it marked the ultimate payoff of a bet many once considered risky: buying a loss-making chipmaker that has since become an AI powerhouse.
SK Group's 2012 acquisition of ‌Hynix was viewed as problematic even within the business conglomerate: Memory chips are cyclical and capital-intensive, and the company was losing money while trailing Samsung Electronics in ‌market share and technology.
But under Chey, seeking an edge over Samsung, SK Hynix has spent more than a decade betting on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, at the time a niche technology. The wager paid off as HBM became a critical component in Nvidia's AI accelerators, helping SK Hynix emerge as the world's biggest producer of the chip.
"This is a truly historical moment. We've been waiting for a long, long time," he said during an interview with CNBC on Friday. "It is a kind of dream and now it is a dream come true," he said.

By Hyunjoo Jin, Pritam Biswas and Kane Wu
SEOUL, July 9 (Reuters) - South Korea's SK Hynix priced its American Depositary Receipts at $149 on Thursday raising about $26.5 billion, a U.S. regulatory filing showed, highlighting strong investor appetite for a pivotal chipmaker in the AI supply chain.
The share sale comes as the company leverages its position as the leading supplier of high-bandwidth ‌memory chips, a critical component for the advanced processors powering global artificial intelligence systems.
SK Hynix priced the listing at a 2.7% premium over its average share price in the last three ‌trading days, the company said in a filing on Friday to the Korea stock exchange. Chip stocks have lost some momentum in recent weeks after a stellar run, partly due to investor concerns about slower AI spending.
SK Hynix shares were trading up 2.8% in Seoul at the open on Friday, lagging the wider market's 4.5% gain.

SEOUL, July 10 (Reuters) - North Korea has decided on measures to strengthen its ‌nuclear forces "quantitatively and qualitatively" as leader ‌Kim Jong Un called for modernising its military, state media KCNA reported on Friday.
The measures and Kim's remarks came during an enlarged meeting of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Military ‌Commission on Thursday, ⁠KCNA said.
Kim said North Korea's security and "true peace" could only be ⁠guaranteed by building a powerful military capable of controlling all threats, according to the report.
The meeting set plans to renew the technical infrastructure ‌of combat systems, expand and strengthen nuclear forces, and standardise, specialise and modernise military bases, KCNA said.
It also discussed expanding the role of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North ‌Korea's military intelligence agency, to improve its reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering capabilities, the report added.

Our ******* ysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here.
Samsung posted a monster preliminary quarter, and chip stocks sold off anyway. That sounds backward until you remember how much optimism was already baked into the AI trade. Samsung's operating profit surged almost 19-fold from last year, but investors dumped shares across Asia, Europe, and the U.S. as doubts grew about whether AI infrastructure spending can keep rising at this pace. In chip land, great numbers are only great if they beat the fantasy.
Global semiconductor stocks fell on Tuesday after Samsung Electronics released preliminary second-quarter results that looked spectacular on paper but failed to satisfy investors.
Samsung forecast operating profit of 89.4 trillion won, or about $58.4 billion, nearly 19 times higher than a year earlier. Revenue is expected to more than double to 171 trillion won. The profit figure also beat ******* yst expectations.
That still was not enough. Samsung shares fell around 7% in Seoul, while rival SK Hynix dropped about 6%. South Korea's KOSPI index slid almost 5%.

September Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQU26) are down -0.97% this morning as chipmakers came under renewed selling pressure after a blowout forecast from Samsung Electronics failed to impress investors.
Samsung, the world's largest memory chipmaker by market value, delivered a rosy update today, projecting a 19-fold surge in Q2 operating profit. However, that was not enough to satisfy investors' lofty expectations. The company's shares sank as much as -10% before closing down -6.9% in Seoul, triggering a global selloff in chip stocks. U.S. memory chipmakers Sandisk and Micron Technology slumped over -5% in pre-market trading.
Broadcom's Largest AI Customer Is Fleeing to MediaTek. AVGO Stock Is Still a Buy.
Mark Cuban Asks What If You Didn't Need Health Insurance — And Hospitals Just Treated You, Then Took 10% of Your Pay?
Oklo Stock Just Got a Major Win. 2026 Could Still Be Its Breakout Year.

K League 1 returns this weekend after the World Cup break, with Round 16 marking the start of the second half of the season. A top-four showdown between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Gangwon FC headlines the weekend's action, while Gwangju FC look to kickstart their campaign following a busy transfer window. Elsewhere, teenage midfielder Son Jeong-beom continues to emerge as one of the league's brightest young talents as leaders FC Seoul resume their ***** le charge.
Unbeaten Runs on the Line as Jeonbuk Host Gangwon
After a month-long break, K League 1 returns this weekend, and Round 16 features a heavyweight clash between third-placed Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (26 points) and fourth-placed Gangwon FC (24 points). With just two points separating the sides, the result could see the teams swap places in the table.
Jeonbuk head into the match unbeaten in their last six league games (W4 D2) and had looked increasingly solid. They conceded twice in a 2-2 draw with Pohang Steelers in Round 10 but thereafter allowed just one goal across their last five matches, building their recent success on a strong defensive foundation.
Up front, Tiago Oroba had been in fine form, scoring three goals in his last five appearances and netted a dramatic stoppage-time winner against Gimcheon Sangmu in Round 15 to secure all three points for Jeonbuk. But the Brazilian has been ruled out through injury, prompting the Green Warriors to sign Gytis Paulauskas on loan from Jeju SK.

South Korean football is dead - those words on the sign floating above the angry crowd said it all.
Fans had gathered outside Seoul's Incheon airport to confront the national team as they returned home after being knocked out of the World Cup in the group stage.
Their ire was directed at one man in particular: coach Hong Myung-bo, a former captain and footballing hero now faulted for his team's unimpressive run on the biggest sporting stage.
And they couldn't have made that clearer. Supporters beat drums and shouted, "Hong out!", some even following him all the way to his car, even as others cheered for the players walking behind Hong. One football fan told the BBC that ahead of the World Cup, people talked less about the team and "kept saying Hong should step down".
His appointment was met with opposition right from the start, embroiling the Korea Football **** ociation (KFA) in a drawn-out controversy. Critics have long accused it of lacking transparency and fairness, saying coaches and key figures were often picked because of personal connections rather than a merit-based process - an allegation the KFA has denied.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, two of the largest makers of memory chips on the planet, will invest a combined $590 billion alongside the South Korean government to build a sprawling new manufacturing complex in an effort to relieve the AI-driven shortage that has sent the price of computer memory soaring worldwide.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, standing alongside Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, unveiled the plan on Monday at the Blue House in Seoul. The president announced plans to strengthen the country's leadership in semiconductors and expand its AI infrastructure through large-scale investments and new manufacturing capacity, saying South Korea must move faster than rivals to secure the technologies underpinning the AI era, according to CNBC (1).
Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one
Robert Kiyosaki says this 1 ****** et will surge 400% in a year and begs investors not to miss this 'explosion'
Millionaires under 43 hold only 25% of their wealth in stocks. Here's where their money is actually going

SEOUL, July 1 (Reuters) - South Korea's Oceans Ministry said on Wednesday the cargo vessel Namu, operated by HMM, would exit ‌the Strait of Hormuz in mid-July at the earliest once ‌the damage sustained in an attack in May was repaired.
The bulk carrier's hull was hit near the stern in the attack, which Seoul said on May 27 probably involved an Iranian anti-ship missile, summoning the Iranian ambassador to share the results of its investigation and lodge a protest.
Saeed Koozechi, Iran's ‌ambassador to South Korea, ⁠denied Tehran's involvement, the Yonhap news agency reported, and South Korea later said it could not conclusively determine ⁠who was responsible or whether the attack was intentional.
There are currently two vessels stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, including Namu, with 35 crew members on board, Nam Jae-heon, vice oceans minister, told a press briefing on ‌Wednesday. Nam added that 21 South Korean-operated vessels had passed safely through the strait since Washington and Tehran signed a ceasefire two weeks ago.
HMM is paying for the repairs, a ministry official said at the briefing.

BIGBANG's Daesung and KARA's Hur Youngji are denying rumors that they're dating.
The speculation began after the two K-pop idols were spotted sitting next to each other at Mamamoo's concert in Seoul, South Korea, last week.
COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what's next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.
"They became closer after [appearing on his YouTube series] ZIP DAESUNG, and they went to watch Mamamoo's concert together. They are just close peers, and the dating rumors are not true," said a source from Daesung's agency, R&D Company, according to Soompi.
As seen in footage circulating online, Oh My Girl's Hyojung was also seated next to the pair at the event.

By Hyunjoo Jin, Joyce Lee and Heejin Kim
SEOUL, June 26 (Reuters) - Samsung Group will unveil a sweeping decade-long investment plan on Monday, pledging 1,000 trillion won ($648 billion) to anchor South Korea's next growth cycle, ‌including a possible 300 trillion won push to build chip factories in the country's southwest, a media report ‌said.
The investment, which would include AI data centers, batteries and displays, will be announced at a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential office, the Maeil Business Newspaper said on Friday, without citing sources.
Top executives from heavyweights including Samsung Electronics and its rival SK Hynix will attend the meeting and lay out investment plans targeting regions beyond Seoul and its surrounding hubs, the report said.
The report did not say when the investment would be made.

On Tuesday, global financial markets plunged. The main blow hit tech giants and the semiconductor sector. The epicenter of this tectonic shift was Asia, or more precisely, South Korea. During Tuesday's trading on the Seoul exchange, circuit breakers were triggered twice due to a drop in the Kospi Index ($KSIC). At closing, the index recorded an unprecedented nearly 10% drop.
Most financial ****** ysts rushed to explain what was happening through purely technical factors: overheated valuations in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, an avalanche of forced margin position closures (margin calls) among local retail investors, and profit-taking in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares ahead of a key quarterly report from Micron (MU).
D-Wave Just Unveiled a Major Quantum Breakthrough. QBTS Stock Looks Ready for Another Surge.
Micron Technology Earnings: Bull Put Spread Trade
Ahead of Micron Earnings, Here's What Barchart Data Says Comes Next for MU Stock

By Heekyong Yang, Hyunjoo Jin and Heejung Jung
SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) - The global AI boom has turned South Korean chipmaking giants SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics into stock market darlings. It has also thrust their employees into the top tier of the country's highly competitive marriage market.
South Korean matchmaking ‌firms say people working at the firms are now being ranked alongside doctors, lawyers and people from other traditionally elite professions as hefty bonuses linked ‌to the global AI boom create a new class of affluent employees.
Career consultants say job seekers are increasingly going after roles at Samsung and SK Hynix, including high school students, while some cram schools have started courses to help applicants prepare for job interviews at the chip giants.
"If SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics employees used to be classified as B+ or A-grade candidates, today they are closer to A+," said Son Dong-gyu, chief executive of matchmaking agency Bien Aller.

By Jack Kim and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, June 23 (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said exercising the country's position as a nuclear state is the only way to cope with an unpredictable and complicated ‌global security situation, KCNA state news agency reported on Tuesday.
"Unimaginable, astonishing incidents and events" are occurring because ‌of the "gangster-like" greed of hegemonic forces, making confrontations around the world more violent, Kim said, blaming the U.S. for worsening bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East.
He was speaking at a Central Committee meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, running from Saturday to Monday, KCNA said.
Kim accused the U.S. and South Korea of making the security situation on the Korean Peninsula more dangerous by steadily upgrading their combined nuclear posture, the only purpose of which, he said, is to attack North Korea.

By Joyce Lee and Kyu-seok Shim
SEOUL, June 19 (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to consider his proposal to prioritise halting ‌North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes in the short term, while keeping denuclearisation as a longer-term objective.
Lee ‌said Trump told him on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France it was "time to pay attention" to North Korea and appeared keen to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, though was frustrated over how to proceed.
"Without giving up on denuclearisation, I explained that we should go step by step — short term, medium term and long term — rather than immediately," Lee told a press briefing after returning from France.
Lee said the short-term goal should be stopping North Korea from ‌producing additional nuclear material, transferring weapons or ⁠materials overseas, and further developing intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

Johnny Somali has asked a South Korean court for forgiveness after being handed a six-month prison sentence following his indictment on multiple charges including obstruction of business.
According to The Daily Chosun, the 25-year-old American streamer (born Ramsey Khalid Ismael) appeared before the Seoul Western District Court's Criminal Appeals Division 1 on Thursday morning (June 11).
Somali's legal counsel apologized on behalf of their client for his actions and asked for leniency as prosecutors pushed for a significantly harsher sentence.
"We reflect on our disrespectful behavior toward the Republic of Korea. This will never happen again," Somali told the court via his attorney. "Please consider as a sentencing factor that while I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and took medication in the U.S., I stopped taking it after entering the country."
COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what's next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.

SEOUL, June 15 (Reuters) - South Korea's Mirae **** et Securities apologized to investors on Monday for failing to secure an allocation of **** eX shares from the ‌U.S. company's initial public offering, adding that it would consider financial compensation for ‌those affected.
In a letter to clients reviewed by Reuters, Mirae **** et Securities co-CEOs Kim Mi-seob and Heo Sun-ho said that despite being qualified to offer **** eX shares to Korean investors, the brokerage, one of the underwriters for the **** eX IPO, was ultimately left out of the final allocation by the U.S. lead underwriter.
On Friday, **** eX's stock market debut sent the company's value past $2 trillion, turning ‌Elon Musk into the world's ⁠first trillionaire.
Earlier this month, the brokerage collected deposits worth $500 million from investors participating in a private placement. The offering's two tranches sold out ⁠within a few minutes, according to a person familiar with the matter.
"We made every effort until the very end to secure an allocation of shares. However, due to the discretionary final decision made by the lead underwriter in the United States, no shares were ultimately allocated to ‌us," according to the letter. It said it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the decision.