-
Stocks become family business in Korea SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - From cradle to grave. That's the extent of the stock craze sweeping South Korea. Active trading accounts have increased by more than 10 million this year.
-
Seoul plans K-LUCAS deployment in broader military drone overhaul SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - South Korea will pursue the deployment of a domestically developed long-range one-way attack drone, the Defense Ministry said Friday, as it seeks to rapidly expand its unmanned combat capabilities.
-
Samsung Elec expected to unveil over $600B 10-yr capex plan in Korea SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) -Samsung Electronics, foreseeing over $550 billion in profits across this and next year on an exceptional AI-related chip boom, is expected to pledge over $600 billion in investments to reinforce AI infrastructure in South Korea.
-
RIMPAC begins with S. Korean Navy taking first command role SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - The U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific exercise, the world’s largest multinational maritime drill, has begun in and around Hawaii, with the South Korean Navy taking charge of a major command role for the first time. -
Kakao union to halt work for a day as wage talks stall SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - Kakao's labor union will press ahead with a one-day "log-off day" on June 29, halting work across the South Korean tech giant's affiliates after negotiations with management failed to yield a wage and collective bargaining agreement. -
South Korea to launch CIA-style fund for security startups SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - South Korea will set up a government-backed venture fund modelled on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's In-Q-Tel (IQT) to nurture companies in emerging security technologies, pledging 50 billion won ($32.3 million) by next year. -
Lee calls for dialogue with North Korea in message to Washington advocates SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung has called for the resumption of dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea as well as between the two Koreas, saying that rebuilding trust is essential to achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula, in a message to a conference held in the U.S. earlier this week.
ASIA Insight>
Renewables ride the AI power boom, but the grid can't keep up SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - Renewables are being fully employed to feed the world's hungry AI data centers as farming Mother Nature is cheap and quick to build. Yet a widening gap between green ambition and grid reality — from Beijing to Naju — is exposing the limits of an energy transition running at full tilt. Global electricity demand from data centers is set to roughly double to about 945 terawatt-hours by 2030 and reach around 1,200 TWh by 2035, the International Energy Agency s by Kim Dong-young
Korea's new obsession: borrowing to buy stocks, not homes
SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - South Korea's stock craze has reached a point where borrowing to buy shares is becoming more socially acceptable than borrowing to buy an apartment. The shift reflects a profound change in a country long defined by its obsession with real estate, as millions of Koreans pour into a handful of AI-related stocks in pursuit of rapid wealth creation. Tuesday's selloff offered a reminder of how fragile that enthusiasm can be. The benchmark KOSPI crashed nearly 10 perc
AJP Focus>
Chipflation after Gulf-flation may keep prices sticky SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) -The KOSPI ended Friday at 8,411.21, nearly 8 percent below the 9,000 milestone it celebrated just a week earlier. Friday's rout — the second intraday plunge of more than 8 percent this week — cannot be dismissed simply as a long-overdue correction. The Gulf war inflation scare is fading. Oil has retreated toward pre-war levels and the immediate fear of an energy shock has eased. Yet investors are beginning to confront a second, potentially more persistent i
Hormuz or not, Korea's petrochemicals glut is far from over
SEOUL, June 25 (AJP) - South Korea's petrochemical makers, forgotten and forgiven under the silicon windfall, are biding time with their promised capacity cuts still unfinished while the Middle East drags on and the country's single largest petrochemical project prepares to flood the market with fresh supply. Chinese overcapacity has been swamping Asia with cheap basic chemicals, with or without disruption from the Middle East and stranded shipments at the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint.
