• LG chiefs gather to sharpen AI strategy SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and executives from major affiliates gathered to review the conglomerate's investment strategy as artificial intelligence reshapes industries and technology, the group said Thursday.
• Korea blames domestic procedure for U.S. investment delay SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - South Korea's delayed announcement of its first investment project in the United States stems from domestic procedure rather than a dispute with Washington, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Thursday.
• Finance nominee set to take post after clearing parliamentary hearing SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - Lee Hyung-il, nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy, moved a step closer to taking the post as the National Assembly's finance committee adopted his confirmation hearing report on Thursday.
• Korean refiners' windfall meets a supply test SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - South Korean refiners, fresh from a record first half, face uncertain crude supply for November after Saudi Arabia shut its main pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, industry officials said on Thursday.
• Hanwha, EDGE team up on integrated UAE air defense network SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - Hanwha Systems and the UAE’s EDGE Group have agreed to jointly develop an integrated air defense network for the UAE.
• Seoul's Jongno 3-ga named world's 'coolest neighborhood' by British magazine SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - Seoul's Jongno 3-ga has been named the world's "coolest neighborhood" for 2026 in a list released Wednesday by British travel magazine Time Out. Jongno 3-ga, which ranked third on the magazine's 2021 list, rose to No. 1 this year.

AJP Briefing>

• Fed hike stalls KOSPI as shipbuilders outrun chipmakers SEOUL, Sept. 17 (AJP) — Investors in Seoul rotated out of chipmakers and into shipbuilders on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2023, leaving the KOSPI flat as foreigners sold for a seventh straight session. Foreign investors dumped a net 2.3 trillion won ($1.6 billion) of shares, lifting their seven-session total above 13 trillion won, as SK hynix and Samsung Electronics slipped and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries jumped 6.6 percent. The
• Korea's first-half knowledge-services deficit tops $6bn amid AI use SEOUL, Sept. 17 (AJP) — South Korea's knowledge-services trade deficit widened to $6.44 billion in the first half, the largest since the second half of 2010, as payments for overseas software and copyrights surged amid wider AI deployment, central bank data showed Thursday. The shortfall widened by $1 billion from the previous six months and was the second-largest half-year deficit in data going back to 2010, behind only the $7 billion deficit recorded in the second half of that year,

AJP ScaleUP

• AI voice technology firm set to debut on KOSDAQ next week SEOUL, September 16 (AJP) - Neosapience, a generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI voice technology company will be listed on the KOSDAQ next week, according to its report filed with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Wednesday. Some 23.21 percent of its shares will be available for trading starting from next Monday, down from an earlier estimate of 28.66 percent. The smaller number of shares available for trading comes after institutional investors agreed to lock up 44.02 perce
• Korean robots may lag, but stocks are flying SEOUL, September 16 (AJP) -South Korean humanoid robots may still be grounded and stand awkwardly compared with their Chinese peers, but stocks of their makers are flying, helping sustain the junior KOSDAQ market against broadly bearish sentiment in Seoul. A correction took hold Wednesday, but robotics stocks have stood out throughout the month and remained strong through Tuesday despite renewed anxiety over artificial intelligence investment in the United States. Shares of Robotis fell 5.24

ASIA Insight

• The world of K-beauty, pulled into one Seoul office SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) — K-beauty spent years carrying Seoul to bathroom shelves, beauty counters and social-media feeds around the world. Inside one skincare office in southern Seoul, that current is running the other way: the world has come to work. At Mary&May, a Korean skincare brand sold in more than 60 countries, employees from 15 nationalities sit inside the machinery of K-beauty's global expansion — choosing products, creators, words and images for markets thousan by Ryu Yuna
• K-fashion next big K-thing in Japan after K-pop SEOUL, September 15 (AJP) - Takuya Enomoto, a 32-year-old pharmacist in Tokyo, watched his girlfriend's infatuation with South Korea move from SEVENTEEN on her playlist to her clothing collection. She first became a fan of the K-pop group, particularly member Hoshi, before branching out to other Korean acts and then Korean dramas, he said. Following K-pop artists on Instagram brought still more Korean content into her feed. "I think the algorithm exposed her to more and more Korean by Joonha Yoo

AJP Watch

• AI music can make the charts. Can it win fans? SEOUL, September 14 (AJP) - Pitchfork, one of America's best-known music publications, does not hand out zeroes often. But in August, American rapper Tyga's "$TARFACE" got one. The album had already drawn attention after Tyga acknowledged using artificial intelligence as a production tool, including for 1980s-style synthesizers and guitar solos, while saying the lyrics and vocals remained his own. Pitchfork did not reject the album simply because AI was involved. Its critici
• Korean shamanism finds new life in pop culture SEOUL, September 11 (AJP) - Drums pound, bells shake and chants rise as a mudang, or Korean shaman, appears to slip between worlds, communicating with spirits through an electrifying ritual of music, dance and trance. For millions of moviegoers, the spectacle became familiar through a famous gut scene in director Jang Jae-hyun's 2024 occult blockbuster "Exhuma." Gut, an ancient Korean shamanic ritual performed to communicate with spirits, comfort the dead, seek blessings or ward

AJP Focus

• Korean battery makers under Trump whims – from EV retreat to datacenters SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump's retreat from Biden-era electric-vehicle policies has upended the American growth plans of South Korean battery makers, leaving factories built for an EV boom idled, scaled back or searching for a new purpose. Now, some are finding one in the power-hungry data-center boom. Canceled U.S. EV and battery projects between January 2025 and August this year had promised about 27,000 jobs, according to a Reuters analysis of Atlas Public Poli
• Chip binge intoxicates Korean Inc. stakeholders, waves of strikes spread SEOUL, September 16 (AJP) - Two years on, the still-strong chip bonanza of the AI-driven economic age has bestowed on South Korea a double-digit growth in national wealth in nominal terms unseen in more than three decades, thrusting stakeholders — employees and shareholders — into brawls for a bigger share of the newfound riches. Strikes and strike threats have become a recurring scene this year, spreading from chipmakers and shipbuilders to digital platforms such as Kakao. A weak