• Hanwha Ocean wins $1 billion LNG tanker deal SEOUL, September 3 (AJP) - Hanwha Ocean has secured an additional order from a Taiwanese shipping company to build six liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered container ships, according to industry sources on Thursday.
• Gyeonggi brings in real-life 'Teach You a Lesson' experts SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education has launched a 300-member team of specialists to support and defend South Korea teachers exposed to malicious complaints, harassment and attacks from students and parents.
• Korean planes are newer after Muan crash. Is flying safer? SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - South Korea's airliners are spending a record 17.45 trillion won on safety this year, up more than 30 percent from 2025, in a clear sign of heightened investment following the Jeju Air disaster that killed 179 of the 181 people aboard nearly two years ago.
• U.S. moves to deploy multi-domain forces to South Korea SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - The United States is moving to deploy elements of its Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) to South Korea, potentially strengthening the U.S. military’s ability to counter China’s anti-access and area-denial capabilities in the region, according to reports and sources Wednesday.
• S. Korea targets physical AI, expert warns against imitation SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - South Korea can reach the top tier of physical artificial intelligence by pairing its factory base with the data those factories generate, Prime Minister Han Seong-sook told a technology forum in Seoul on Wednesday.
• Bad loans hit 8-year high, but banks can absorb losses, FSS says SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - Corporate debt is souring at a faster pace in South Korea, but financial authorities say the increase in bad loans is unlikely to pose a broader financial risk as banks remain profitable and well capitalized.

AJP Briefing

• Seoul rebounds as bond yields ease, chip tariffs loom SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - The KOSPI rebounded at Thursday's open, clawing back part of the previous session's 4 percent slide after U.S. Treasury yields pulled back from a nearly three-year high and Wall Street snapped a two-day losing streak. The main index in Seoul was quoted at 6,661.27 in morning trade. The index added 98.55 points, or 1.5 percent. The recovery is narrow. The KOSPI 200 gained 1.4 percent, while the KOSDAQ, the junior board for smaller and technology companies, s
• T'way Air gears up for Trinity Airways debut with new livery SEOUL, September 3 (AJP) - Low-cost carrier T'way Air is in its final preparations for its transition into the new Trinity Airways, unveiling its first aircraft to feature the new livery ahead of the launch next week. The carrier said Thursday that it held an event at Gimpo International Airport on Monday to mark the delivery of a Boeing 737-8 featuring its new logo and design. Crew members wearing the airline's new uniforms also attended the event ahead of the aircraft's first flig

AJP ScaleUP

• Airbility raises 6.5 billion won to shoot down drones with drones SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - A Seoul aerospace startup has closed a Series A round to build small aircraft that hunt other aircraft, betting that the cheapest way to stop an incoming attack drone is another drone rather than a missile. Airbility said Tuesday that the 6.5 billion won ($4.7 million) round was led by Sazze Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, with existing backer Stonebridge Ventures returning and the Industrial Bank of Korea joining as a new shareholder. Cumulative fun
• Margin debt swells back as investors rotat into KOSDAQ SEOUL, September 1 (AJP) - South Korean margin borrowing rose for a ninth straight trading day and returned to the levels of mid-July as investors migrated to KOSDAQ outperforming the main index since last month. Outstanding margin loans across the two markets stood at 33.34 trillion won ($24.36 billion) as of Aug. 28, up 8.96 billion won ($6.5 million) from a day earlier, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA). The increase was driven by KOSDAQ stocks, where margin b

ASIA Insight

• Uzbekistan looks to its Islamic golden age to build a new future SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - The Center for Islamic Civilization, sprawling across a site roughly the size of 14 soccer fields, embodies in its glittering magnificence and grandeur what “New Uzbekistan” envisions: ushering a young, increasingly digital population into the AI age while keeping it firmly anchored in Islamic heritage and spirituality. The sprawling cultural and research complex cost about $161.8 million to build, according to a government construction directorate. Its t by Lee Jung-woo
• Humanoids can beat Bolt. The harder race starts on the factory floor SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - A humanoid robot ran 100 meters in 8.64 seconds at Beijing's World Humanoid Robot Games last week, nearly a full second faster than Usain Bolt's world record. Except that it kept going. Tiangong Ultra hurtled past the finish line, slammed into a padded barrier and crashed to the floor in a shower of sparks, leaving staff to rush in with fire extinguishers before the machine was carried away. Impressive as the machines are, much of humanoid robotics still ends w by Kim Dong-young

AJP Watch

• Korea's squishy toy craze puts 14+ labels under scrutiny SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) -South Korea's squishy-toy craze is getting a sober safety check. In Seoul's Dongdaemun toy district, the old staples of childhood are still everywhere. Children weave between shops packed floor to ceiling with transforming robots, Lego sets, dolls and BB guns. Wedged among them is a newer kind of toy, designed less to build or shoot than to squeeze, stretch and crack. There are croissant-shaped squishies, tubs of brightly colored slime, stretchy "slan
• When the crowd becomes the court SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - The Korean social media audience can be punishing and unforgiving toward celebrities and public figures. Its frenzied, vindictive pile-ons persist despite tragic casualties such as actor Lee Sun-kyun. The latest target is South Korean YouTuber Park Wi. The controversy began after Park, a wheelchair user who runs the popular YouTube channel Weracle, fell while getting off a KTX train on Aug. 14. A week later, he uploaded CCTV footage showing his wheelchair overturning

AJP Focus

• Will AI contracts shield Korean chipmakers from boom-and-bust cycle? SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - Investment banks and market trackers are betting South Korea's memory giants can extend their red-hot earnings streak into a third year in 2027 and possibly beyond, as AI pushes the business away from the spot-price-driven boom-and-bust cycles that have long defined memory chips. Before the rise of AI, earnings at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were heavily exposed to prices for mass-market DRAM and NAND flash, commodities notorious for swinging between shortag
• Korean jobseekers face an AI test with no rulebook SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - AI literacy is becoming the latest addition to the long list of so-called "specs" young South Koreans need to compete for already-scarce entry-level jobs. The problem is that employers themselves are still figuring out what they want. SK hynix is removing its traditional personal-statement questions from applications in the second half of this year. Instead, applicants will be asked to describe how they have used AI in projects, research and problem-solvin