• Korea's Lee pitches for record budget to drive AI-led growth SEOUL, November 02 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung on Monday pitched South Korea’s largest-ever budget of 820.9 trillion won ($612.8 billion) for 2027 to accelerate the transition to artificial intelligence (AI) and modernize defense, channeling this year’s extraordinary chip windfall into stronger long-term growth.
• Nongshim's US unit sues for Trump tariff refunds SEOUL, November 02 (AJP) - Nongshim's U.S. subsidiary has taken the U.S. government to court to claw back tariffs levied under President Donald Trump's emergency powers, the first major South Korean food maker to mount such a challenge.
• Korea plans next-day stock settlement in 2028 SEOUL, November 02 (AJP) —South Korean investors could receive cash the next business day after selling shares under a new settlement system planned for 2028, a day sooner than under the current system. Buyers would also have to pay a day earlier.
• Season's 1st dust blankets Seoul SEOUL, November 2 (AJP) - Heavy smog blanketed the Seoul metropolitan area and Jeju Island on Monday afternoon, bringing the first dust of the season and also the first November occurrence in the capital in six years.
• Korea launches drone headquarters after test failures SEOUL, November 02 (AJP) - South Korea inaugurated a new drone headquarters directly under the Defense Ministry on Monday following a string of demonstration failures that exposed gaps in testing unmanned systems under military operating conditions.
• Korea's PMI slows to its weakest in 6 mos: S&P survey SEOUL, November 2 (AJP) — South Korea's manufacturing sector growth stretching for an 11th consecutive month in October slowed to its weakest pace in six months as output and new orders lost momentum, a private survey showed Monday.

AJP Briefing>

• KOSPI rebounds while Asian stocks end mixed SEOUL, November 2 (AJP) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI rebounded about 2 percent on institutional buying, while Japan's Nikkei 225 and Taiwan's TAIEX slipped after last Friday's selloff in U.S. technology shares. In Seoul, the KOSPI rose 128.34 points or 2.24 percent to close at 5,859.08 after opening lower and falling as much as 1.99 percent to 5,616.50 early in the session. Institutional investors bought a net 1.23 trillion won (US$915 mil
• Hyundai Motor suffers sluggish sales in October SEOUL, November 2 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor saw its sales decline last month while its affiliate Kia posted strong growth, largely driven by robust demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs). According to sales figures released on Monday, the automaker sold some 329,773 vehicles worldwide in October, down 6.3 percent from a year earlier. Its domestic sales fell 8.9 percent to 49,042 units, while overseas sales dropped 5.9 percent to 280,731 units. In contrast, Kia sold 291,219 vehicles, up 10.3 perc

AJP ScaleUP

• Aei Robot sounds China alarm after Robot World win SEOUL, November 02 (AJP) - South Korean humanoid developer Aei Robot won a top prize at Robot World 2026 for its Alice 5 robot and warned that Chinese machines already hold more than 95 percent of the global humanoid market, the company said Monday. Alice 5 was named one of 10 Vanguard winners, the award's highest tier, at the exhibition running Wednesday to Friday at KINTEX in Goyang, just outside Seoul. Judges weighed technical innovation, readiness for industrial use and originality, an
• YoungKwang doubles on KOSDAQ debut SEOUL, November 2 (AJP) — South Korean shipbuilding and industrial equipment maker YoungKwang more than doubled its initial public offering (IPO) price on its KOSDAQ debut Monday, following strong demand from institutional and retail investors. Shares traded at 34,100 won ($25.58) as of 9:40 a.m., up 100.59 percent from their IPO price of 17,000 won. The stock opened at 21,350 won and rose as high as 37,400 won, 120 percent above its offering price, before paring some of its gains. Retai

ASIA Insight

• AI necessity draws Korean chipmakers closer to Japan SEOUL, November 02 (AJP) - History has often intruded on business between South Korea and Japan, two of Asia’s technology powerhouses. In 2019, a dispute over compensation for wartime forced labor spilled into semiconductor supply chains. Japan tightened export controls on critical chipmaking materials, and the two countries removed each other from lists of preferred trading partners. Since then, Korean manufacturers accelerated efforts to replace Japanese supplies with domestic products by Candice Kim
• US visa refusals raise concerns over bilateral alliance SEOUL, October 29 (AJP) - The recent refusal of a U.S. visa to a senior South Korean lawmaker has raised fresh concerns about the bilateral alliance, with lawmakers across the political spectrum and a U.S. security expert offering sharply differing views on what the incident means for relations between the two allies. The controversy began on Wednesday when Rep. Jin Seong-joon of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), chairman of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, disclosed that by Lee Jung-woo

AJP Watch

• Seoul stocks stumble as record chip earnings fail to lift sentiment SEOUL, October 29 (AJP) - South Korea's stock market has turned bullish again, with renewed foreign buying and more than 90 trillion won (US$67.33 billion) in cash held in brokerage accounts raising hopes for a recovery. Yet the KOSPI slipped back below 6,000 on Thursday as retail investors remained wary of taking on more risk after last month's sharp selloff. The benchmark KOSPI closed 1.24 percent lower at 5,937.66 points on Thursday, a day after surging 6.63 percent to 6,012.44. The
• AJP On-site: Korean biotech gets hands-on in AI's shadow SEOUL, October 28 (AJP) - A glove at the Samsung Bioepis booth turned a reporter's fingers stiff as plaster at BIX 2026 in Seoul on Wednesday. The knuckles would barely bend. The glove simulates the difficulty of moving hands affected by severe rheumatoid arthritis. Even with it on, pulling the cap off the company's pen-type injector took just a flick of the thumb. Pressed against a silicone skin model, the device released its spring-loaded needle with a sharp click. "Patients wi

AJP Focus

• Koreans aren't rushing to embrace homegrown weight-loss drug — yet SEOUL, November 02 (AJP) - Weekly weight-loss injections have become common among appearance-conscious South Koreans, and a homegrown alternative has joined the ever-expanding market. Following a familiar path taken by Korean challengers in industries from cars to cosmetic injections, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is betting that a lower price can steal some Korean users from Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro. Hanmi's Eppe, or efpeglenatide, reached selected clinics on Oct. 29,
• AI boom boosts Big Tech earnings, but rising costs raise questions SEOUL, October 30 (AJP) - America's tech giants are seeing a surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) computing, with cloud businesses gaining momentum at Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft. However, their massive spending on data centers and other infrastructure has raised questions about how quickly they can turn those investments into profits. The latest earnings from the three cloud providers, alongside Meta Platforms and chipmaker Intel, show how the AI boom is reshaping the techno