• FTC weighs penalties over government bond bid collusion SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) -South Korea's antitrust regulator is preparing to rule on allegations that 15 banks and securities firms colluded in government bond auctions involving 76.2 trillion won ($53.6 billion).
• Korea charts clean Arctic course amid shadow fleet SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Russia's growing shadow fleet has exposed the environmental and regulatory risks lurking behind the rapidly opening Arctic shipping route, creating an unexpected opportunity for South Korea to market itself as a cleaner and more transparent alternative.
• Dormant debt market exposes non-chip Korean Inc. slump SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Summer arrived early for South Korea's corporate debt market as only a handful of investment-grade issuers broke the drought amid rising borrowing costs and subdued investor demand, exposing the slump across much of non-chip Korean Inc.
• Seoul housing forum warns tax overhaul could worsen rental shortage SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - The first public debate over the Lee Jae Myung administration's proposed property tax overhaul quickly laid bare tenants' biggest fear: being forced from their homes as landlords reclaim properties or sell them to qualify for lower taxes.
• Police raid KFA as World Cup fiasco revives coach probe SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - South Korea's football association was raided by police Thursday after its former president and former national team coach were grilled by lawmakers over the country's embarrassing exit from the latest FIFA World Cup.
• Korea's chip windfall swells C/A to record black while foreign equity exit deepens SEOUL, August 6 (AJP) - South Korea's semiconductor-driven export boom lifted its current account surplus to a record US$191 billion in the first half, nearly four times a year earlier.

AJP Briefing

• Hanwha Solutions and OCI shares benefit from U.S. solar curbs SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) —Shares of South Korean solar producers gained upside momentum after the United States erected new price and tariff barriers against low-cost polysilicon and solar imports, raising expectations that Korean producers could gain ground as Washington pushes more of the solar supply chain onto U.S. soil. As of 10:56 a.m., Hanwha Solutions was trading at 32,750 won, up 7.73 percent from the previous session. The stock had surged as much as 26.81 percent to an intraday hi
• Seoul rebound fragile on SK hynix lag SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) -The KOSPI struggled to claw back into positive territory Friday as heavyweight SK hynix remained under foreign attack, leaving the market's rebound on shaky footing. By 9:45 a.m. the KOSPI was 0.20 percent lower at 6,284.46 after opening higher. Samsung Electronics rose 2.82 percent to 237,000 won ($166), double the 1.40 percent gain that lifted SK hynix to 1,516,000 won ($1,064), even though SK hynix fell far harder on Thursday. Foreign investors turned buyers at t

AJP ScaleUP

• Crest, ROBROS to test hot-swappable battery system for humanoid robots SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - Crest, a South Korean developer of battery systems for industrial robots, has been selected to lead a government-backed project to test domestically developed components for humanoid robots, the company said Friday. Under the 2026 Demonstration Project for Humanoid Robot Components overseen by the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, Crest will work with AI humanoid developer ROBROS to demonstrate a hot-swappable battery system and charging station for the IG
• Semiconductor parts maker Dongwon Parts seeks KOSDAQ listing SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) — South Korean semiconductor parts maker Dongwon Parts has launched its initial public offering (IPO) process, seeking a KOSDAQ listing after a sharp rise in earnings driven by stronger demand from global chip equipment makers. The company said Friday it submitted a preliminary listing application to the Korea Exchange (KRX), with Samsung Securities serving as the lead underwriter. Revenue rose to 92.3 billion won ($64.7 million) last year from 59.5 billion won a y

ASIA Insight

• Kangaroo families become the new normal from Seoul to San Francisco SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Suddenly, kangaroos seem to be multiplying around the world. Not in the Australian outback, but in family homes from South Korea to the United States, where growing numbers of young adults are delaying independence and staying in — or moving back to — their parents' houses as soaring housing costs outpace wages. The once-stigmatized "kangaroo family," in which adult children remain in the parental home, is increasingly becoming an economic nec by Lee Jung-woo
• Korean won emerges as winner in U.S. "prosper-thy-neighbor" yen defense SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - Currency intervention has long been viewed as a classic beggar-thy-neighbor policy, with governments weakening their currencies at the expense of trading partners. The latest U.S.-Japan operation appears to be doing the opposite, giving the South Korean won an unexpected tailwind alongside the yen. That raises an obvious question: Has Washington suddenly become more generous? Why would an administration that has championed "America First" intervene in a way th by Kim Yeon-jae

AJP Watch

• Won rides U.S.-Japan intervention as Seoul stays muted, Beijing cries foul SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - South Korea has kept a studied silence over the first openly acknowledged U.S.-Japan currency intervention in decades, even as the won emerged as one of its biggest beneficiaries, while China condemned the operation as a self-serving bargain that is unlikely to alter the yen's long-term decline. The contrasting reactions underscore how Washington and Tokyo's joint defense of the yen has rippled differently across Asia. Seoul has avoided publicly commenting on th
• Korean scam ring shifts to Central Asia on SE Asia crackdown SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) -South Korean fraud rings are spreading from Southeast Asia into Central Asia to stay ahead of law enforcement, with authorities dismantling their first known Korean-run scam operation in Kazakhstan and bringing home 14 suspects. The arrests underscore what South Korean police called a "secondary balloon effect," in which criminal organizations relocate to increasingly distant countries as crackdowns close traditional operating bases across Southeast Asia. A go

AJP Focus

• Korea's battery makers find ESS gold rush at home SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - In a high-profile display, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, flanked by chip titans Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics and Chey Tae-won of SK Group, unveiled a nearly $1 trillion vision to transform the country from the world's high-tech factory into an AI factory. That ambition extends far beyond semiconductors. Every AI factory — from chip fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities to hyperscale data centers and AI inference clusters — r
• Odds of Korea's back-to-back rate hike fall on softer headline inflation SEOUL, Aug. 4 (AJP) — The surprising stall in South Korea's inflationary run in July has lowered expectations for a back-to-back interest-rate increase by the Bank of Korea this month, although policymakers remain wary of persistent underlying price pressures. Consumer prices rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier in July, slowing from 3.2 percent in June and falling below the 3 percent mark for the first time in three months. Core inflation, which Bank of Korea Gov. Shin Hyun-song has