• Korea's mid-October exports double at fresh high SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) — South Korea's chip-led export boom remained firmly intact through the first 20 days of October, with monthly outbound shipments more than doubling from a year earlier to a record $61.6 billion.
• Korean retailers lose nearly $5B on single-stock ETPs even before rout SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) -South Korean retail investors accumulated more than 6.3 trillion won in realized and unrealized losses on leveraged and inverse products tied each to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix within two and a half months of their launch.
• Korea's producer inflation cools as chip prices retreat SEOUL, Oct. 21 (AJP) — South Korea’s producer inflation plateaued in September as weaker chip prices and a stronger won offset holiday food demand and higher utility charges. The producer price index rose 0.2 percent from August to 129.78, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK), while the annual increase slowed to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent.
• Nonregular workers make up the bulk of Korea's wage job gains SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) -Nearly four in 10 of South Korea’s 22.5 million wage earners are nonregular workers, adding 103,000 from a year earlier as of August to account for almost all of the 113,000 net increase in wage employment.
• Global bio leaders rally around AI in Seoul SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) - Health officials, drugmakers and AI developers converged on Seoul on Wednesday to map how artificial intelligence could reshape biomedical science, from drug discovery to pandemic defense.
• Korean retail outlook splits as convenience stores take hit SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) - South Korea's retail outlook diverged sharply heading into the fourth quarter, with department stores and large supermarkets remaining optimistic while convenience stores and neighborhood supermarkets turned markedly weaker, a business survey showed Wednesday.

AJP Briefing>

• KOSPI rebounds over 3% ahead of BOK's rate decision SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) - South Korean stocks rose 3.3 percent on Wednesday as chipmakers gained and foreign investors returned to the main market. The won also strengthened, while government bond yields fell, just a day ahead of the Bank of Korea's rate decision. The benchmark KOSPI gained 182.92 points or 3.29 percent to close at 5,735.66, recovering most of the previous day's 3.73 percent drop. It opened 2.05 percent higher at 5,666.34 and climbed as much as 4.75 percent to 5,816.43
• Samsung's chip plans put schools, roads and water on Gwangju's agenda SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has outlined infrastructure needs for a planned semiconductor cluster in Gwangju, including international schools, wider roads and recycled wastewater facilities, according to the local government Wednesday. The requests came during a visit by officials from the Gwangju-Jeonnam Special Metropolitan Government to Samsung's Pyeongtaek semiconductor campus on Tuesday. Samsung representatives stressed the need for international or foreign schools t

AJP ScaleUP

• LS ELECTRIC shares fall despite major deal for US data center project SEOUL, October 19 (AJP) - Shares of South Korean power equipment maker LS ELECTRIC fell more than 4 percent in early trading on Monday amid broader concerns over a potential artificial intelligence (AI)-related investment bust, despite securing a 168.9 billion won (US$125.2 million) contract to supply electrical equipment for a U.S. data center project in 2027. The stock fell as low as 150,000 won before recovering to 158,800 won as of around 9:50 a.m. LS ELECTRIC will supply switchgear to its
• Four firms win preliminary approval for KOSDAQ listings SEOUL, October 16 (AJP) — Four South Korean companies have cleared preliminary reviews for listings on the KOSDAQ, moving closer to initial public offerings (IPOs) on the country's junior stock market. The Korea Exchange (KRX) approved listing applications on Thursday from four companies across financial technology, pharmaceuticals, battery materials and manufacturing artificial intelligence (AI). They include E9pay, an international money transfer company, and Innovo Therapeutics, a

ASIA Insight

• Korea and Taiwan reap chip bounty, but currencies split the harvest SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) — Chip powerhouses South Korea and Taiwan have been enjoying a bumper harvest, but their stock and currency markets have shared unevenly in the bounty in the second half. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which powered a stock-buying frenzy that nearly doubled the KOSPI earlier this year, have surrendered much of their gains. The Korean benchmark’s remaining advance is now roughly half Taiwan’s 60-percent surge. In the currency market, however, Korea h by Kim Yeon-jae
• In Mongolia, school can mean leaving home at six: UNICEF representative SEOUL, October 20 (AJP) - Few children like going to school, but for a six-year-old girl in rural Mongolia the reason can be more straightforward as going to one costs her time with her family for much of the year. For rural herders, sending children to school often means sending them away. More than 36,000 children in Mongolia live apart from their families for up to nine months of the school year, according to UNICEF. "The price they are paying for good education is a very high pric by Lee Jung-woo

AJP Watch

• Samsung turns up the volume on its audio heritage SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics excels at making memory and smart devices for the hand, home and office, and screens big and small. But one element of its sprawling electronics empire called for a richer pedigree: sound. Its biggest acquisition to date brought that heritage into the family. The $8 billion deal to buy Harman International completed in March 2017 added the storied American audio brand JBL alongside a major automotive electronics business. Posh Britain audio brand Bo
• Loose fit, firm grip: Hands on Samsung's first clip-on Galaxy earbuds SEOUL, October 20 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ latest Galaxy earbuds perched comfortably around the ears instead of plugging into them. A few jumps and jogging motions later, they were still there, intact with lighter feel. That was the main takeaway from trying the Galaxy Buds On at Samsung’s media briefing in central Seoul on Tuesday. They felt loose enough to raise doubts about their grip, but soon became so unobtrusive that it was easy to forget you had them on. For people who

AJP Focus

• Korea's rice farmers struggle to keep a staple—and a livelihood—alive SEOUL, October 20 (AJP) - Rice farming is a labor as old as Korea’s 5,000-year history, its harvest a staple of daily meals and an essential ingredient in the country’s cuisine. Yet the farmers sustaining that legacy face a difficult squeeze: aging hands, costly machinery and a changing appetite for the grain they grow. In Icheon, a city in Gyeonggi Province famed for its premium rice, autumn brings both the harvest and a festival celebrating it. Beyond the festival grounds, the wo
• Lee Soo-man puts a new label on a familiar K-pop playbook SEOUL, October 20 (AJP) - Lee Soo-man, the septuagenarian pioneer of K-pop, did not retire from the idol business when he sold his stake in SM Entertainment in 2023. Three years after leaving the company he founded, he is back with two new groups, a familiar production formula and a fresh pitch for taking it global. The market has given him an early hearing. A2O LITE, a nine-member girl group introduced alongside the 15-member boy group A2O SOUL, topped Melon’s Top 100 chart with its de