Saturday, Oct 03, 2026
  • Drone pratfalls expose gap in Korea's battlefield testing SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korea builds machines that patrol the depths, fly faster than sound and power entire cities. Yet at its military showcases, drones have lately struggled with something more basic: staying in the air.
    Drone pratfalls expose gap in Koreas battlefield testing
  • HBM heyday to continue - albeit at consumers' expense SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - Regardless of AI doomsayers and the industry’s own rhetoric about policing itself, big tech companies and frontier AI developers show little sign of slowing their race to build more powerful models, pushing an already strained memory supply chain harder.
    HBM heyday to continue - albeit at consumers expense
  • Chipflation hastens Korea's decline as a gaming powerhouse  SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korea is on course to become the fourth country to reach $1 trillion in annual exports, powered by chips that accounted for nearly half its $121 billion in overseas shipments last month alone. But the boom comes with a cost for consumers.
    Chipflation hastens Koreas decline as a gaming powerhouse 
  • Hyundai, Kia set U.S. sales record
    Hyundai, Kia set U.S. sales record SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor and Kia posted record U.S. sales in the third quarter as hybrid deliveries jumped more than 50 percent. Hyundai, Genesis and Kia sold a combined 506,200 vehicles from July through September, up 5.4 percent from a year earlier.
  • KB Kookmin Bank reports data breach trailing Shinhan leak
    KB Kookmin Bank reports data breach trailing Shinhan leak SEOUL, October 2 (AJP) — KB Kookmin Bank, one of South Korea's largest commercial banks, reported a data breach that exposed about 100 customer records through unauthorized external access, following a much larger breach at another bank giant Shinhan a day earlier.
  • Samsung chiefs son spotted interpreting at South Korea-U.S. Navy meeting
    Samsung chief's son spotted interpreting at South Korea-U.S. Navy meeting SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - Lee Ji-ho, the eldest son of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, served as an interpreter at a high-level South Korea-U.S. Navy meeting last month, according to military officials and a photograph published by the Korea Defense Daily.
  • Lee accuses Ukraine of making him a liar in deepening POW dispute
    Lee accuses Ukraine of making him a 'liar' in deepening POW dispute SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) -South Korean President Lee Jae Myung issued his bluntest rebuke yet of Ukraine on Friday over its disclosure of the confidential transfer of North Korean prisoners of war.
motionary

ASIA Insight>

South Korea seeks military sovereignty, but still needs Uncle Sam SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was unequivocal on Armed Forces Day - Seoul should reclaim wartime operational control of its military, a goal he wants to achieve before his five-year term ends in 2030. “There is no country in the world that relies on another person or another country for its military command authority,” Lee said at a luncheon following the ceremony marking the 78th Armed Forces Day, in a country that maintains roughly 450,000 active-d
South Korea seeks military sovereignty, but still needs Uncle Sam
Won slips out of comfort zone as Korea moves on U.S. investment deal Won slips out of comfort zone as Korea moves on U.S. investment deal SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) - Just when the won appeared to be stabilizing around 1,350 against the U.S. dollar, its year-end outlook has grown less certain as South Korea prepares to pay up to $10 billion toward U.S. nuclear reactor projects before December ends. The dollar-won exchange rate rose to 1,362.6 on Thursday as Seoul and Washington unveiled energy projects under their strategic investment framework. The commitments fall under Korea’s $200 billion investment pledge outside shipbui

AJP Focus>

Korean investors turn to Japan on weak yen and AI boom SEOUL, October 2 (AJP) — South Korean retail investors are increasingly looking across the Korea Strait as a stalling market at home and volatile U.S. bond prices turn their attention to Japan’s weak yen and expanding opportunities in the AI supply chain. South Korean investors bought $4.65 billion worth of Japanese stocks in the first nine months of 2026, up 94 percent from $2.40 billion a year earlier, according to the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). Purchases of U.S. shares r
Korean investors turn to Japan on weak yen and AI boom
KOSPI enters fourth quarter fighting to reclaim 7,000 KOSPI enters fourth quarter fighting to reclaim 7,000 SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) — Much of the KOSPI’s early-year exuberance has fizzled out as 2026 enters its final quarter, with thinning trade, volatile bond markets and monetary tightening cooling the leveraged bets that helped propel its rally. After taking nearly five years to climb from 3,000 to 4,000, the benchmark swept past successive milestones to breach 9,000 in June. Now, 7,000 has become a resistance level, raising the question of how long the next breakthrough will take. The

AJP Lens