• More Koreans see themselves as better off than Japanese SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - South Koreans increasingly see themselves having a higher standard of living than people in Japan, a survey released ahead of Liberation Day showed.
• Korea's legacy M2 growth hits 53-mo high, reviving liquidity concerns SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - South Korea’s legacy broad-money measure rose 12.3 percent in June from a year earlier, its fastest pace in four years and five months, reviving concerns that liquidity is building too quickly even as the current M2 gauge remained below its long-term average.
• S. Korea delivers first upgraded PKMR Batch II patrol craft to Navy SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - South Korea delivered the first Geomdoksuri-B Batch II fast patrol craft to the Navy on Friday, strengthening its frontline maritime capabilities near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean sea border.
• Trump shipbuilding order opens MASGA lane for Korea SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) -U.S. President Donald Trump has opened a potentially significant procurement route for South Korean shipbuilders under Seoul's $150 billion MASGA partnership, allowing qualifying foreign yards to build the first two ships in selected U.S. naval programs at home.
• Samsung brings AI brains as chip rivalry with SK hynix heats up SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has recruited two artificial intelligence specialists to accelerate the use of AI in semiconductor research and manufacturing.
• Fund inflows defy KOSPI rout, firms turn to banks SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - South Korean equity funds attracted 11.4 trillion won ($8.0 billion) in fresh money in July despite the steepest stock-market rout since 2008, while corporate bank loans increased by 7.7 trillion won as the bond market remained in net repayment.

AJP Briefing

• Foreigners lift KOSPI while other Asian market quiet SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) -Foreign money kept buying Seoul for a fifth straight session Friday, but this time the leadership came from telecom and automakers rather than the two chipmakers that drove both the market's first-half rally and its July collapse. The KOSPI closed at 6,977.94, up 164.60 points, or 2.42 percent, ending the week 11.5 percent higher and edging back toward the 7,000 level it surrendered a month ago on July 13. Foreign investors bought a net 3.04 trillion won ($2.14 billi
• Ottogi second-quarter net profit falls 2.7% as margins tighten SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - Ottogi, one of South Korea's largest food manufacturers, announced that its second-quarter net profit fell 2.7 percent from a year earlier, as rising costs squeezed margins even though sales climbed on the back of instant noodles and stronger overseas demand. According to regulatory filings released Friday, net profit for the April to June period came to 33.2 billion won ($23.4 million). Revenue rose 4.6 percent to 943.8 billion won and operating profit edged up 0.

AJP ScaleUP

• Satellite antenna maker jumps 41% in KOSDAQ debut SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) — Shares of South Korean satellite communications equipment maker KNS Inc. surged on their KOSDAQ debut Thursday, trading more than 40 percent above their initial public offering price. The stock was trading at 15,480 won ($10.93) as of 2:37 p.m., up 40.73 percent from its IPO price of 11,000 won. It more than doubled to an intraday high of 24,600 won before giving back some of the gains. The strong debut comes as the company expands from commercial maritime equi
• Shares of chip parts maker jump on strong Q2 earnings SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - Shares of semiconductor parts maker Wonik QnC rose on Wednesday after it posted a more than twofold increase in second-quarter operating profit from a year earlier. Its shares closed 5.31 percent higher at 31,750 won (US$22.44). The gain came as consolidated operating profit jumped 119.1 percent from a year earlier to 30.9 billion won ($21.8 million) for the period between April and June, according to its preliminary earnings report released the same day. Revenue also

ASIA Insight

• Why North Korean leader keeps putting his daughter in spotlight SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - In one of the world's most closed societies like North Korea, what matters may lie in what happens before a successor is ever named. For decades, the isolated country's hereditary Kim dynasty has shown that power is not simply passed down when the previous leader dies. It has to be prepared, groomed and carefully managed to prevent any chaos. That process now appears to be underway for current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's daughter Ju-ae. In recent years by Lee Hugh
• Central Asia emerges as South Korea's AI frontier SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) -South Korea wants to become one of the world's top three artificial-intelligence powers, and Central Asia may offer something lacking at home - ample space, energy and governments willing to build the physical infrastructure that AI requires. But Seoul is arriving at a market where U.S., Gulf, Chinese and Japanese players are already staking out positions. Kazakhstan is planning a data-center zone with eventual capacity of 1 gigawatt. Uzbekistan is courting billi by Lee Jung-woo

AJP Watch

• Korea still looks cheap on paper. Why doesn't it feel that way? SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - South Korea can still look remarkably cheap to someone arriving from New York or Berlin. For Koreans earning and spending in won, it increasingly does not feel that way. Years of rising prices have made more spending discretionary as household incomes struggle to keep pace, squeezing what remains after necessities. Yet for visitors earning dollars or euros, a restaurant bill or cab fare in Seoul can still look like a bargain. A three-course meal for two at a mid-range
• Chinese snacks spread across Korean shelves, drawing curiosity and scrutiny SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - Step into an unmanned snack shop in Seoul and the shelves resemble a miniature world market — with China taking an outsized share, from mala konjac and latiao to spicy seafood and candy. The novelty is drawing shoppers, but also closer scrutiny as Korean regulators flag bacterial contamination, high sodium and labeling problems in some imported products. The Chinese packaged fish snack, bought from an unmanned store in downtown Seoul, looked as forceful as its sm

AJP Focus

• China cracks memory club, but harder test looms SEOUL, August 14 (AJP) - China's heavily government-backed chipmakers are breaking into the once-exclusive global memory club, with Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) vaulting into the world's top three NAND flash suppliers for the first time. But just as China closes the gap in manufacturing scale, artificial intelligence is moving the industry's profit pool toward a harder target. YMTC captured 14 percent of global NAND bit shipments in the second quarter, overtaking Japan
• Korea takes AI race from chips to chillers SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - An AI agent on a laptop or smartphone may appear almost weightless. Behind every prompt, however, sit warehouses of processors and memory running around the clock — consuming enormous amounts of electricity and generating heat that must be removed before the machines can keep thinking. For South Korea, already a powerhouse in the memory chips feeding those machines, that physical burden is becoming the next AI opportunity. Samsung Electronics has already put mone