• Korea's new household loans hit three-year low in Q2 SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - South Korean consumer borrowing fell to its lowest in more than three years in the second quarter amid tighter caps on mortgage lending.
• Iran blacklists five ships linked to S. Korean carrier Sinokor SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - Iran has blacklisted five vessels linked to South Korean shipping company Sinokor Maritime over alleged violations of its rules for crossing the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran steps up pressure over the strategic waterway.
• Korea's Aug consumer confidence falls on volatile stocks and prices SEOUL, Aug. 25 (AJP) — South Korea's consumer confidence fell for the first time in four months in August as a stock-market correction and accumulated price pressures weighed on sentiment despite solid economic conditions, central bank data showed Tuesday.
• Korea's food costs climb across home meals and dining out SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - Korean households are facing renewed food-cost pressure across home cooking and dining out as extreme summer weather damages crops and fresh produce, adding to already elevated import costs.
• Jeju woman's death raises questions over handling of missing adult cases SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - A body believed to be that of a woman who went missing on Jeju Island more than three months ago was found earlier this week, raising questions over how police handle and investigate missing people after her case was apparently closed prematurely without confirming her safety.
• Lee to hold private meetings with Samsung, Hyundai chiefs SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung is reportedly arranging to meet with Samsung Group chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Eui-sun this week, following a private dinner with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won last week.

AJP Briefing

• KOSPI extends losses on deepening chip selloff SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - South Korean stocks fell more than 3 percent Tuesday morning as foreign investors took their cue from an overnight rout in U.S. chip stocks to dump Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The benchmark KOSPI opened at 6,539.37, down 2.35 percent from Monday's close, and extended its decline to 6,490.65, down 3.08 percent, as of 10:22 a.m. The junior KOSDAQ fell 2.9 percent to 789.48. Selling was broad, with 247 stocks advancing and 610 declining, while 41 were unchanged.
• BOK allocates 20 billion won for flood-hit Gyeongnam SMEs SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - The Bank of Korea on Tuesday allocated 20 billion won ($14.5 million) in emergency funding to support small and medium-sized businesses hit by torrential rain in South Gyeongsang Province. The funds will be drawn from reserves under the central bank's Bank Intermediated Lending Support Facility and assigned to its Gyeongnam branch, the BOK said. Eligible businesses must have received official certification of flood damage from a local government or administrative o

AJP ScaleUP

• H.PIO stock bolstered by stock retire scheme SEOUL, August 24 (AJP) -South Korean health supplement maker H.PIO's shares rose Monday after the company announced plans to cancel all of its treasury shares. Its shares closed 2.64 percent higher at 2,135 won ($1.54) on the KOSDAQ. The KOSDAQ-listed company said its board approved the cancellation of 191,003 common shares, according to a regulatory filing Monday. The cancellation is scheduled for Sept. 11. The cancellation represents about 0.46 percent of its 41.29 million outstanding co
• Chip equipment maker rides surprise rally in tandem with Moderna's triple-digit surge SEOUL, August 20 (AJP) - Shares of semiconductor equipment maker N2TECH hit their daily limit on Thursday as investors rushed into related South Korean stocks following Moderna's positive results from a late-stage cancer vaccine clinical trial. N2TECH's shares closed at 1,925 won on the junior KOSDAQ, up 29.98 percent from the previous session. The stock opened at 1,831 won and fell as low as 1,646 won before rebounding to the daily limit. The rally came after U.S. biotech firm Moderna

ASIA Insight

• How Seoul's hillside neighborhood becomes hidden gem for foreigners SEOUL, August 21 (AJP) - On a steep hillside beneath Mt. Namsan, a neighborhood once known for cheap housing is giving foreigners a reason to look beyond Seoul's better-known hotspots. It is not as crowded as Seoul's hip Hongik University neighborhood, a popular nightlife district known for its youthful energy or as busy as nearby Itaewon, Seoul's best-known international and entertainment district. Yet Haebangchon has plenty of bars, restaurants and cafés within walking dis by Ryu Yuna
• Viet Nam's Gen Z protests without gathering SEOUL, August 21 (AJP) - The flowers under the tree outside No. 55 Nguyen Huy Tu Street arrived one at a time, which is why the police had nothing to break up. Over roughly a week in August, young Vietnamese walked to the spot in central Hanoi, left a bouquet, photographed it and went home. By the time the pile was large enough to be a problem, no crowd had ever formed. The tree marks the place where a car crossed into oncoming traffic on May 30, 2025, and struck a motorbike carrying a father a by Park Sae-jin

AJP Watch

• 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.
• In Busan, Overwatch stops visiting and moves in BUSAN, August 22 (AJP) - A row of Overwatch's heroes had stepped off the screen onto a strip of astroturf — D.Va flashing her decorated pistol, Reaper looming under his hood, while Genji meditated on an orange beanbag, eyes shut tight in ease. All around the packed halls of BEXCO, thousands of fans of Blizzard's tactical shooter Overwatch buzzed with hype, clutching tote bags branded with the iconic circular pattern and the stamp-rally cards that would soon be creased from a full

AJP Focus

• Sovereign AI race pulls world deeper into Nvidia's orbit SEOUL, August 24 (AJP) - When South Korea named the three teams last week that will carry its bid for a homegrown artificial intelligence model, the reward that mattered most was not cash or recognition. It was more Nvidia. The government said on Aug. 18 that SK Telecom, LG AI Research and startup Upstage had cleared the second round of its sovereign AI foundation model contest. For the next stage, each team will receive access to roughly 1,000 Nvidia B200 graphics processing units, up from ab
• BOK August rate call splits 5-4 over back-to-back hike SEOUL, August 24 (AJP) - The Bank of Korea has made clear that monetary policy is biased toward further tightening after its July rate increase, but economists are narrowly divided over whether it will deliver a back-to-back hike this week or wait until the fourth quarter to assess inflation and a sharp repricing in global bond markets. Five of nine economists in a combined AJP and Aju Business Daily survey expect the Monetary Policy Board to hold the benchmark rate at 2.75 percent on Thursday