• Samsung, SK hynix dominate Korea's stock-rich C-suite SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) -Nine out of 10 stock-rich C-suite executives are affiliated with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, underscoring the sharp rise of the stock-market stature of South Korea’s two chipmakers.
• Hot Stock: SK Innovation up 6% on $1 billion U.S. battery deal SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Shares of South Korean energy company SK Innovation jumped nearly 6 percent Monday after its battery unit SK on secured a major order for energy storage system (ESS) batteries in the U.S.
• LG Electronics hunts for U.S. talent for AI push SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - LG Electronics is stepping up its hunt for U.S.-based engineering talent in robotics, AI data-center cooling and mobility as the Korean electronics giant builds up new businesses beyond its traditional home appliance operations.
• Lee's approval rating nosedives below 40% SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung's job approval rating fell for a seventh consecutive week, dropping below 40 percent for the first time since he took office, according to a poll released Monday.
• T'way Air set to begin new chapter as Trinity Airways next week SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - T'way Air is set to rebrand as Trinity Airways next week, the budget carrier said on Monday. The airline said it has set Sept. 10 as the date for the launch of flights under its new name, with all domestic and international routes featuring new logo.
• Chinese robotaxis to hit Seoul roads by 2028 under Pony.ai deal SEOUL, August 30 (AJP) - South Korean autonomous driving firm FutureLink has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China's Pony.ai to bring 200 robotaxis onto the country's roads, aiming to launch a commercial driverless service in Seoul by around 2028. FutureLink announced the deal on Sunday, saying the two co

AJP Briefing

• Korea opens Boston sci-tech hub to sell homegrown biotech SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - South Korea launched its first government-backed science and technology hub in Boston, planting a beachhead in the world's largest biotech cluster to carry research from its state-funded institutes into global markets. The National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced Monday that it officially opened the G-KIC-NST center in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Aug. 28 (local time), designated by
• Bibigo takes Korean seaweed snacks to U.S. sports crowds SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - CJ CheilJedang has pushed its flagship Korean-food brand Bibigo into American stadiums, sampling roasted seaweed to tens of thousands of baseball and soccer fans in a campaign to make "gim" a mainstream Western snack. The food giant said Monday it had wrapped up seaweed-sampling events at the home grounds of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, distributing around 2,000 packs of Bibigo seaweed across th

AJP ScaleUP

• Y-Biologics expands employee share ownership after KOSDAQ listing SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - South Korean antibody drug developer Y-Biologics has completed its third employee share purchase since its KOSDAQ listing, bringing the shareholding ratio among employees to about 65 percent of its workforce. The company said Monday that employees bought shares on the open market this month through its Employee Stock Ownership Association (ESOA), which enables employees to acquire and hold shares in their employer. The latest round follows two previous purchases since t
• PARU extends rally after share consolidation SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - South Korean renewable energy company PARU surged for a second straight session Friday after trading resumed following a two-for-one share consolidation. Shares of PARU closed 10.82 percent higher at 1,475 won ($1.08) on the KOSDAQ on Friday, after rising as high as 1,630 won in early trading. The gains followed a 29.98 percent surge Thursday, when the stock hit its daily upper limit on the first session after trading resumed. According to a regulatory filing on DART,

ASIA Insight

• Kazakhstan feels familiar. Family duty runs in reverse SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - Kazakhstan can feel unexpectedly familiar to a Korean visitor. Across Astana, there are faces that at first glance would not look out of place in Seoul. Dark hair, familiar facial contours and gestures of deference toward older people can create fleeting moments of recognition in a country separated from the Korean Peninsula by thousands of kilometers of mountains, desert and steppe. The sense of familiarity runs deeper around the family table. Younger people wait for by Joonha Yoo
• For Kazakhstan's Koryo-saram, exile became home ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Elena Ko has little difficulty answering a question that history made complicated for her family. "I'm Korean, but I think like Kazakh," she said through an interpreter. Ko, 55, is a third-generation Koryo-saram, a descendant of ethnic Koreans who settled across the former Soviet Union. She keeps Korean traditions, stays close to Kazakhstan's Korean community and travels to Seoul roughly once a year. But when she talks about home, there is little a by Joonha Yoo

AJP Watch

• Korean games chase first Gamescom win since 2022 SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - South Korea heads into Gamescom 2026 with two award contenders and its biggest industry push in years, seeking to end a four-year trophy drought since Neowiz's "Lies of P" swept the show in 2022. Pearl Abyss's open-world action title "Crimson Desert" is nominated for Most Epic and Best PC Game, while "Age Twisters," a two-player adventure developed by Krafton subsidiary Piccolo Studio, is competing for Most Wholesome. The nominatio
• Blizzard rules out Korea-only balance patches for Overwatch BUSAN, August 23 (AJP) - Blizzard Entertainment will keep balancing Overwatch as a single global game rather than tailoring patches to Korea even under its new Nexon partnership, its game director said, even as Korean players keep pulling the shooter's meta in their own direction. "We typically don't try to balance the game differently per region," Aaron Keller said at a press conference at BEXCO, on the second and final day of Overwatch Day, the fan festival staged by Nexon.

AJP Focus

• AI windfall buys homes, cars and luxury watches in Korea's chip enclave HWASEONG, August 27 (AJP) - At Lotte Department Store in Dongtan, a saleswoman sizing up a customer offers a pitch that would sound peculiar almost anywhere else. "Your husband makes a lot of money this time. You can afford to treat yourself," she coos. There is no need to specify who the husband works for. Dongtan sits inside South Korea's semiconductor heartland, within commuting distance of Samsung Electronics' chip operations in Hwaseong and Giheung as well as SK hynix I
• BOK front-loads tightening, but disinflation tests early hikes SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - The Bank of Korea (BOK) has front-loaded monetary tightening with its first back-to-back rate hikes since January 2023, betting that South Korea's chip-powered economic resilience and increasingly persistent inflation warrant acting before price pressures become harder to contain. The BOK raised its base rate by 25 basis points to 3.00 percent on Thursday, following an identical increase in July. Governor Shin Hyun-song, proving to be a hawk by delivering two rate