• Trump threatens to double Korea's bill over Alaska LNG holdout SEOUL, October 03 (AJP) - South Korea's bill will double unless it agrees soon to fund a natural gas project in Alaska, U.S. President Donald Trump warned Friday (local time). The threat came two days after he announced a Korean commitment that Seoul says it never made. Seoul's position is that neither the decision to invest nor the amount has been settled. The Alaska project would come out of the $
• Drone pratfalls expose gap in Korea's battlefield testing SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korea builds machines that patrol the depths, fly faster than sound and power entire cities. Yet at its military showcases, drones have lately struggled with something more basic: staying in the air.
• HBM heyday to continue - albeit at consumers' expense SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - Regardless of AI doomsayers and the industry’s own rhetoric about policing itself, big tech companies and frontier AI developers show little sign of slowing their race to build more powerful models, pushing an already strained memory supply chain harder.
• Chipflation hastens Korea's decline as a gaming powerhouse  SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korea is on course to become the fourth country to reach $1 trillion in annual exports, powered by chips that accounted for nearly half its $121 billion in overseas shipments last month alone. But the boom comes with a cost for consumers.
• High yields strengthen case for BOK pause, November still open SEOUL, October 2 (AJP) — South Korea’s fiscal authorities moved to contain surging bond yields by cutting planned debt issuance by about 5 trillion won ($3.7 billion), while softer headline inflation added to the case for the Bank of Korea to pause this month after two successive rate increases.
• Kazakhstan opens honorary consulate in Daejeon SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - A satellite company in South Korea's central city of Daejeon became home to Kazakhstan's newest diplomatic post on Friday, with its chairman serving as the Central Asian country's honorary consul.

AJP Briefing>

• Seoul stocks reclaim 7,000 as foreigners sell sixth day SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korea's main stock index closed back above 7,000 on Friday for the first time since before the Chuseok holiday even as foreign investors sold for a sixth straight session. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 32.4 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,003.7. Individuals sold a net 1.72 trillion won ($1.27 billion) and foreigners 143.8 billion won ($106.5 million). Institutional investors bought 381.4 billion won ($282.4 million). The group includes pens
• Seoul stocks stall as Samsung Electronics buyback winds down SEOUL, Oct. 2 (AJP) — The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) crawled toward 7,000 on Friday despite collective selling by foreign, institutional and retail investors. The market's floor now rests on corporate buying that Samsung Electronics has nearly finished. The main index in Seoul rose 11.7 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,983.0. Foreign investors net sold 216.1 billion won ($159.0 million), putting them on course for a sixth straight session of selling. Samsung Electronics ha

AJP ScaleUP

• Humanoid maker Aei Robot moves to mass production SEOUL, September 30 (AJP) - Aei Robot will spend 40 billion won ($29.5 million) on its first plant for mass-producing humanoid robots, the Ansan city government said. The company signs the agreement Wednesday at Hanyang University's ERICA campus in Ansan, south of Seoul, with the Gyeonggi Free Economic Zone Authority, the university and the city government. Construction of the three-story building, which will span about 10,000 square meters, begins in November and is due to finish in Octob
• NEX-I files for KOSDAQ IPO to raise up to 65 billion won SEOUL, September 28 (AJP) - South Korean cancer drug developer NEX-I has submitted a regulatory filing for a KOSDAQ listing, seeking to raise up to 65 billion won ($47.8 million) through an initial public offering (IPO). The company plans to offer 5 million shares at a proposed price range of 10,500 won to 13,000 won apiece, putting the total offering at between 52.5 billion won and 65 billion won. Korea Investment & Securities is the lead underwriter. Founded in 2021, NEX-I develops antib

ASIA Insight

• South Korea seeks military sovereignty, but still needs Uncle Sam SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was unequivocal on Armed Forces Day - Seoul should reclaim wartime operational control of its military, a goal he wants to achieve before his five-year term ends in 2030. “There is no country in the world that relies on another person or another country for its military command authority,” Lee said at a luncheon following the ceremony marking the 78th Armed Forces Day, in a country that maintains roughly 450,000 active-d by Lee Jung-woo
• Won slips out of comfort zone as Korea moves on U.S. investment deal SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) - Just when the won appeared to be stabilizing around 1,350 against the U.S. dollar, its year-end outlook has grown less certain as South Korea prepares to pay up to $10 billion toward U.S. nuclear reactor projects before December ends. The dollar-won exchange rate rose to 1,362.6 on Thursday as Seoul and Washington unveiled energy projects under their strategic investment framework. The commitments fall under Korea’s $200 billion investment pledge outside shipbui by Kim Yeon-jae

AJP Watch

• Energy-poor, tech-rich Korea must link renewables with storage: IRENA chief SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korea, an energy-poor but high-tech powerhouse, must pair renewables and hydrogen with storage technology to power its advanced manufacturing economy, a senior international energy expert said. “Korea has strong technological and industrial capabilities to advance its energy transition,” Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, said in an email interview with AJP. “The priority is to mobilize those capa
• G-Star goes global by chance as Korean publishers lose home ground SEOUL, September 30 (AJP) - South Korean game publishers are losing the battle for attention at home as short-form videos and streaming lure players away from marathon gaming sessions. Their retreat has a floor plan. Foreign publishers are filling the gaps at G-Star, the country's flagship game show in Busan this November, while Korean heavyweights chase audiences abroad. A floor plan released Tuesday for the Nov. 19–22 show in Busan lists Krafton and mid-sized Webzen as the only maj

AJP Focus

• Korean investors turn to Japan on weak yen and AI boom SEOUL, October 2 (AJP) — South Korean retail investors are increasingly looking across the Korea Strait as a stalling market at home and volatile U.S. bond prices turn their attention to Japan’s weak yen and expanding opportunities in the AI supply chain. South Korean investors bought $4.65 billion worth of Japanese stocks in the first nine months of 2026, up 94 percent from $2.40 billion a year earlier, according to the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). Purchases of U.S. shares r
• KOSPI enters fourth quarter fighting to reclaim 7,000 SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) — Much of the KOSPI’s early-year exuberance has fizzled out as 2026 enters its final quarter, with thinning trade, volatile bond markets and monetary tightening cooling the leveraged bets that helped propel its rally. After taking nearly five years to climb from 3,000 to 4,000, the benchmark swept past successive milestones to breach 9,000 in June. Now, 7,000 has become a resistance level, raising the question of how long the next breakthrough will take. The