• Korea's convenience stores sharpen food rivalry SEOUL, August 30 (AJP) - South Korea's three biggest convenience store chains are sharpening their food rivalry, rolling out products tuned to increasingly granular consumer tastes as shoppers weigh texture, drink preferences and health alongside the traditional draws of price and convenience. GS25, E-mart24 and 7-Eleven are each leaning on sales dat
• South Korean rescuers struggle to reach flood site in Nepal SEOUL, August 29 (AJP) - South Korean government officials and rescue workers are struggling to reach a hydropower plant construction site in northern Nepal.
• Pump prices fall for 15th straight week as fuel caps remain SEOUL, August 29 (AJP) - Pump prices fell slightly this week, extending their decline for a 15th consecutive week, while the government kept its fuel price ceilings unchanged.
• Travel advisory for Nepal expanded amid risk of more floods SEOUL, August 29 (AJP) - A special travel advisory has been issued for four provinces in flood-hit Nepal amid the risk of further flooding and landslides, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.
• Trump traded Coupang shares again in June, reviving conflict-of-interest concerns SEOUL, August 29 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump traded shares of South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang twice in June, according to his latest financial disclosure released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Friday.
• BTS' 'Arirang' tour sets record as highest-grossing concert run SEOUL, August 29 (AJP) - K-pop juggernaut BTS raked in US$120.5 million in ticket sales in July through their ongoing world tour "Arirang," making it the group's highest-grossing tour.

AJP Briefing

• Chip stocks drag KOSPI down despite Wall Street, Tokyo gains SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - Memory chip heavyweights dragged South Korea's main stock index down 1.8 percent on Friday, despite gains on Wall Street overnight and in Tokyo. Seoul's benchmark KOSPI fell 123.49 points or 1.8 percent to close at 6,788.88. The losses were concentrated among large-cap stocks. The KOSPI 200 fell 2.1 percent, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ edged up 0.1 percent to close at 838.41. SK hynix took the heavier hit. The chipmaker fell 4.5 percent to 1,653,000 won (US$1,
• T'way Air's Incheon-Paris route carries 200,000 passengers in 2 years SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - T'way Air has carried more than 200,000 passengers between Incheon and Paris since launching the service two years ago, the budget carrier said on Friday. The service began on Aug. 28, 2024, and served over 200,000 passengers through about 490 round-trip flights over the past two years. The milestone comes as the airline continues to strengthen its presence on long-haul routes to Europe through both passenger and cargo services. South Korean travelers accounted for

AJP ScaleUP

• PARU extends rally after share consolidation SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - South Korean renewable energy company PARU surged for a second straight session Friday after trading resumed following a two-for-one share consolidation. Shares of PARU closed 10.82 percent higher at 1,475 won ($1.08) on the KOSDAQ on Friday, after rising as high as 1,630 won in early trading. The gains followed a 29.98 percent surge Thursday, when the stock hit its daily upper limit on the first session after trading resumed. According to a regulatory filing on DART,
• Genians, SANDS Lab jump on AI cyberattack warning SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - South Korean cybersecurity stocks surged Friday after more than 100 global technology and security companies warned that AI-powered cyberattacks could become far more widespread and sophisticated in the coming months. Shares of Genians, which provides security software for corporate networks and individual devices, jumped 26.76 percent to 18,330 won as of 10:55 a.m. on the KOSDAQ, after rising as much as 28.56 percent to an intraday high of 18,590 won. SANDS Lab, which

ASIA Insight

• Kazakhstan feels familiar. Family duty runs in reverse SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - Kazakhstan can feel unexpectedly familiar to a Korean visitor. Across Astana, there are faces that at first glance would not look out of place in Seoul. Dark hair, familiar facial contours and gestures of deference toward older people can create fleeting moments of recognition in a country separated from the Korean Peninsula by thousands of kilometers of mountains, desert and steppe. The sense of familiarity runs deeper around the family table. Younger people wait for by Joonha Yoo
• For Kazakhstan's Koryo-saram, exile became home ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Elena Ko has little difficulty answering a question that history made complicated for her family. "I'm Korean, but I think like Kazakh," she said through an interpreter. Ko, 55, is a third-generation Koryo-saram, a descendant of ethnic Koreans who settled across the former Soviet Union. She keeps Korean traditions, stays close to Kazakhstan's Korean community and travels to Seoul roughly once a year. But when she talks about home, there is little a by Joonha Yoo

AJP Watch

• Korean games chase first Gamescom win since 2022 SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - South Korea heads into Gamescom 2026 with two award contenders and its biggest industry push in years, seeking to end a four-year trophy drought since Neowiz's "Lies of P" swept the show in 2022. Pearl Abyss's open-world action title "Crimson Desert" is nominated for Most Epic and Best PC Game, while "Age Twisters," a two-player adventure developed by Krafton subsidiary Piccolo Studio, is competing for Most Wholesome. The nominatio
• Blizzard rules out Korea-only balance patches for Overwatch BUSAN, August 23 (AJP) - Blizzard Entertainment will keep balancing Overwatch as a single global game rather than tailoring patches to Korea even under its new Nexon partnership, its game director said, even as Korean players keep pulling the shooter's meta in their own direction. "We typically don't try to balance the game differently per region," Aaron Keller said at a press conference at BEXCO, on the second and final day of Overwatch Day, the fan festival staged by Nexon.

AJP Focus

• AI windfall buys homes, cars and luxury watches in Korea's chip enclave HWASEONG, August 27 (AJP) - At Lotte Department Store in Dongtan, a saleswoman sizing up a customer offers a pitch that would sound peculiar almost anywhere else. "Your husband makes a lot of money this time. You can afford to treat yourself," she coos. There is no need to specify who the husband works for. Dongtan sits inside South Korea's semiconductor heartland, within commuting distance of Samsung Electronics' chip operations in Hwaseong and Giheung as well as SK hynix I
• BOK front-loads tightening, but disinflation tests early hikes SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - The Bank of Korea (BOK) has front-loaded monetary tightening with its first back-to-back rate hikes since January 2023, betting that South Korea's chip-powered economic resilience and increasingly persistent inflation warrant acting before price pressures become harder to contain. The BOK raised its base rate by 25 basis points to 3.00 percent on Thursday, following an identical increase in July. Governor Shin Hyun-song, proving to be a hawk by delivering two rate