• Seoul denies plan to buy large amounts of U.S. Treasuries SEOUL, November 5 (AJP) —Seoul authorities denied they were mulling to buy a large amount of long-term U.S. Treasuries.
• South Korea to postpone crypto gains tax again until 2029 SEOUL, November 5 (AJP) - South Korea said Thursday it would postpone taxes on cryptocurrency gains for a fourth time, delaying their introduction by two years until 2029.
• Marriages, births fall, divorces rise in Korea's multicultural families SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) -Fewer weddings and births and more divorces painted an unhappy picture of South Korea’s multicultural families last year, complicating President Lee Jae Myung’s claims of preferential treatment, official data showed Thursday.
• S. Korea expands Cheonghae for future Hormuz operations SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) - South Korea plans to expand its anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit's operations and deploy additional maritime patrol and mine-clearing assets to waters south of Oman, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.
• Samsung backs Korea's scientific ambitions in AI era SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) - South Korea has yet to win a Nobel Prize in science whereas neighboring Japan has produced 23 science laureates since 2000, but the growing presence of artificial intelligence in human life may offer new opportunities for a breakthrough.
• Job woes turn Korean university graduates eyes on factory roles SEOUL, November 5 (AJP) —South Korean jobseekers with university degrees are looking to the factory floor amid a prolonged youth employment squeeze, with production, on-site and quality-control jobs topping their career choices in a survey released Thursday.

AJP Briefing>

• KOSPI plunges over 5% as US election fallout hits chip stocks SEOUL, November 5 (AJP) - South Korean stocks plunged more than 5 percent on Thursday as heavy foreign selling battered semiconductor shares amid fears that the Democrats' sweeping victory in the U.S. midterm elections the previous day could lead to tighter regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and slower investment. The selloff stood in sharp contrast to gains on Wall Street and in mainland China, as shares related to AI infrastructure came under pressure while other sect
• Korea widens fight against overseas K-content piracy SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) - South Korea is stepping up efforts to protect K-content overseas as industry groups seek broader emergency blocking of illegal distribution, action against pirate IPTV services and a crackdown on counterfeit K-pop goods in China, the Culture Ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the proposals would be discussed at the 10th Overseas Intellectual Property Protection Council in Seoul, bringing together seven government agencies, seven p

AJP ScaleUP

• Preneu, DamsTech win South Korea's drone warfare contest SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) - South Korean drone maker Preneu and a consortium led by DamsTech won top honors in a government-organized competition testing drones against counter-drone systems, the Defense Ministry said Thursday. The two-day competition was held on Nov. 3 and 4 at the Seungjin Training Ground in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, bringing together six teams selected through preliminary rounds in June. Three drone teams and three counter-drone teams competed in six matches, testing their
• South Korean space firm Innospace joins defense offset list SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - South Korean space company Innospace has become the first domestic firm to have its satellite launch service selected for a government program that encourages foreign defense contractors to use Korean products and services, the company said Tuesday. The selection means foreign companies selling weapons to South Korea could potentially use Innospace's launch service to meet their defense offset obligations. Under such arrangements, foreign defense suppliers are re

ASIA Insight

• Is regulation best answer to Korea's teen social media addiction? SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) - South Korea is mulling restrictions on children’s access to social media, joining a global push to shield young users from addictive feeds and harmful content. A country that once ordered teenagers off online games at midnight faces a déjà vu question over whether state intervention is the best answer. President Lee Jae Myung — himself an active social media user — instructed the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC) at a Ca by Lee Jung-woo
• Chinese robots steal the Seoul show, Korea's work offstage SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - China came to Robo World 2026 to show what its robots can do. South Korea came to show what its robots will keep doing, hour after hour, on factory floors no crowd will ever see. Three Unitree G1 humanoids danced in step to "Abracadabra" by K-pop group Brown Eyed Girls, while a Unitree robot dog wandered between booths. Service robots with holographic displays and small screens rolled through the aisles. At Rainbow Robotics' booth, HUBO, the Einstein-fa by Kim Dong-young

AJP Watch

• Nikke falls latest prey to cyberattacks on Korean entities SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) - Nikke is a shooter in which android heroines battle invading machines to save humanity. But their guns were of no use against the hackers who slipped through the game's PC launcher this fall, joining a cyberattack barrage hitting South Korean businesses and institutions from banks to universities. The PC launcher for "Goddess of Victory: Nikke," one of South Korea's biggest game exports, became a gateway for malicious software that could put players&
• South Korea gets new supercomputer to get back in race amid global AI boom SEOUL, November 3 (AJP) - The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is often told as a story of chips and data centers, but underneath both lies a race for raw computing power that South Korea has just rejoined. Hangang, the country's sixth supercomputer, was switched on Monday at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) in Daejeon. Its theoretical peak of 614 quadrillion calculations per second is 24 times that of Nurion, the 2018 machine it replaces. That f

AJP Focus

• Qualcomm's AI shift could reshape Samsung chip ties SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) - Qualcomm is redefining itself beyond the phone chips that built its name, pursuing growth in AI data centers and autonomous vehicles in a shift that could give longtime customer Samsung Electronics a larger role as a supplier. The U.S. chipmaker’s processors power Samsung’s premium Galaxy phones. Its expansion into AI infrastructure could, in turn, create demand for Samsung’s memory chips — although any new supply arrangements remain unconfirme
• Midterm shock: US-fueled datacenter boom faces political test SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - AMD’s stellar third-quarter earnings and ambitious AI growth outlook position the fabless chipmaker as a formidable challenger to Nvidia, but the U.S. midterm upset for Republicans could slow the so-called “Wild West” expansion and send shockwaves through South Korean chipmakers. Decision Desk HQ projected Democrats would take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate following Tuesday’s elections. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hino