news highlight

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  Won, bonds stay quiet as BOJ risk fades, Fed decision looms SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - South Korea’s currency and bond markets remained calm Wednesday as investors looked past the Bank of Japan’s rate hike and shifted their attention to the Federal Reserve’s first policy decision under Chair Kevin Warsh. The won’s market average rate strengthened 5.3 won to 1,514.75 per dollar, showing limited volatility despite Tuesday’s BOJ decision to raise interest rates to 1 percent for the first time in 31 years. Korean gov June 17, 2026
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  Washington's new trade agenda poses fresh challenges for Seoul SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - Seoul should closely monitor Washington's evolving trade strategy and swiftly implement South Korea's trade deal with the U.S. agreed last fall, said an ex-trade chief on Wednesday. Speaking at a forum at the National Assembly in Seoul, former Trade Minister Jeong In-kyo also warned that the U.S.' annual trade report is increasingly being used as a platform for future enforcement actions beyond tariffs. "The National Trade Estimate (NTE) re June 17, 2026
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  FSS warns against leveraged bets as Samsung, SK hynix ETFs amplify market swings SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) — Leveraged ETFs tied to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix now account for nearly a third of trading in the two stocks, amplifying swings in South Korea's benchmark index and prompting an emergency warning from financial regulators. The Financial Supervisory Service on Wednesday convened investment banks, securities firms, asset managers and market researchers to warn against concentrated bets on a handful of stocks and excessive use of leverage, sayi June 17, 2026
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  KOSPI extends rally as SK hynix tops 2.5 Million won for first time SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - South Korea's benchmark KOSPI extended its gains Wednesday as investors rotated into semiconductors, power-cable shares and biotechnology, even as foreign investors turned heavy sellers on the main bourse. The benchmark KOSPI closed up 1.6 percent at 8,864.24, after moving between an intraday high of 8,872.18 and a low of 8,605.66. Foreign investors sold 1 trillion won worth of shares on the main bourse, while institutions bought 581.9 billion won ($384. June 17, 2026
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  KAIST develops memory-efficient image processing technique for AI SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - Researchers in South Korea have developed a technique with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Microsoft that allows artificial intelligence to process high-resolution visual details while using up to 16 times less computer memory, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Wednesday. The method, called Upsample Anything, restores fine visual details from compressed, low-resolution data without requiring additional machine le June 17, 2026
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  Some 150,000 applicants to sit for entry-level civil service exam this weekend SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - About 150,000 people are getting ready for a written test for this year's civil service exam for entry-level government positions this weekend. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Wednesday that some 141,546 people have signed up to take the nationwide exam scheduled for Saturday to fill about 23,390 openings, with a competition ratio of 6.1 to 1, down from 8.8 to 1 last year. About 14,530 of the 23,390 positions will be for administrative and June 17, 2026
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  Baekdu Mountain: many names, many maps SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - This year I climbed the West Slope on June 11 and the North Slope on June 12. On the 11th, the West Slope was buried in snow. Both the mountain and Cheonji, the Heaven Lake, were submerged in white, with only a dark blue gleam of water showing through. The next day, on the North Slope, the snow had thinned considerably, and the same lake looked like an entirely different place. The sky over Cheonji wouldn't hold June 17, 2026
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  Visitors wash hair in calamus water ahead of Dano festival SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - Foreign tourists and children participated in a centuries-old Korean tradition of washing their hair in water infused with calamus root at the National Folk Museum of Korea in Seoul on Wednesday, two days ahead of this year's Dano festival. The museum held the demonstration in the courtyard of Ochon-daek, a traditional house on its grounds, as part of its seasonal Dano program. Dano falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and has long been marked June 17, 2026
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  Housing prices near chip clusters in Seoul outskirts surge amid soaring demand SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - An ongoing artificial intelligence (AI)-driven semiconductor boom is spilling over into the housing market, pushing up apartment prices near facilities operated by chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in satellite cities across Gyeonggi Province. According to transaction prices disclosed through a database system operated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, an 84-square-meter unit at an apartment complex in Dongtan was traded for 2 June 17, 2026