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NPS posts 27% H1 return as KOSPI doubles
SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - South Korea's National Pension Service posted a 27.22 percent return in the first half, roughly seven times the average for the same six-month period over the previous six years.
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SK hynix breaks ground on first U.S. HBM packaging plant, targets 2029 production
SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - SK hynix broke ground Thursday on a more than $4 billion advanced packaging facility in Indiana, laying the foundation for its first U.S. production base for high-bandwidth memory as the Korean chipmaker moves closer to major American AI customers. The world's leading HBM supplier held a groundbreaking ceremony at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, attended by SK hyni
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UPDATE: BOK stays hawkish after summer back-to-back hike
*Updated with additional information, economic outlook and market response SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) -The Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday opted for a back-to-back increase to lift the key rate to 3.00 percent - the highest since January 2025 - in preemptive action to rein in inflationary pressure renewed from an economy expected to grow at its fastest pace in five years on the chip boom. The mo
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Google-backed study finds Korean workers use AI more adeptly
SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean workers apply artificial intelligence with a sophistication about 1.7 times the global average, a report commissioned by Google Korea found, as employers increasingly treat fluency with the technology as a hiring priority.
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
Westinghouse stake report exposes US-Korea nuclear divide
SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump has hardly been shy about expressing displeasure over the slow progress in Seoul's execution of its pledged $350 billion investment commitment, and the latest pressure involves the nuclear reactor business. Seoul has denied a report that Washington proposed jointly acquiring an equity stake in Westinghouse Electric, even as the Trump administration presses to draw Korean capital and construction muscle into a sweeping revival of American
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
Chip payouts may give Korean won more room to run
SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - South Korea's won, already near its strongest level in almost a year, has more upside room as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are expected to dole out massive shareholder returns. The dollar influx, however, won't likely match the recent boost from SK hynix's $26.5 billion American depositary receipt issuance, traders say. The won has strengthened sharply in recent weeks as exporters increased dollar selling and SK hynix converted part of its ADR proceeds.
