Jinwoo wins reelection as head of Korea's largest Buddhist order SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Ven. Jinwoo won reelection Thursday as head of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect, becoming its first chief executive in 13 years to secure a second term. Jinwoo, the incumbent 37th president of the Jogye Order's General Affairs Office, was elected the order's 38th president with 183 votes, or 57 percent, in an indirect election held at the Korean Buddhist History and Culture Memorial Hall in central Seoul. All 321 membe September 3, 2026

Korea-backed mega logistics center begins operations near Chicago SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - A massive logistics center jointly developed by a South Korean logistics company and the Korea Ocean Business Corp. has begun full-scale operations in Elwood, Illinois, near Chicago, as Seoul expands its overseas logistics network. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Thursday that the Elwood logistics center was built through a joint investment by the Korean logistics company and the state-run Korea Ocean Business Corp (KOBC). The facility sits o September 3, 2026

TVING data breach exposes 40 million user accounts SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Personal information of some 39.5 million users of South Korean streaming service TVING was leaked through a cyberattack, the government said Thursday. The information breach is the biggest among a recent series of cyberattacks in the country. A joint public-private investigation team under the Ministry of Science and ICT said the compromised information included names, birth dates, mobile phone numbers, email addresses and connecting information, cove September 3, 2026

Korean FX authorities reportedly absorb $20 billion SK hynix funds SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - South Korea's foreign-exchange authorities reportedly absorbed about $20 billion of SK hynix's U.S. share proceeds off market, while the won closed Thursday at its strongest level in about 14 months. The Foreign Exchange Stabilization Fund, or FESF, bought about $20 billion in dollars repatriated after SK hynix raised $26.5 billion through an American depositary receipt offering in July, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing a source with direct know September 3, 2026

Trump renews pressure on Korea, Japan over Alaska LNG SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump renewed pressure on South Korea and Japan on Wednesday (local time) to participate in Alaska energy development, again speaking as though the two Asian allies were already moving toward involvement in one of his administration’s signature energy projects. “You have Japan, you have South Korea, you have all these people now going to Alaska to load up with fuel, load up with oil, build pipelines, everything else,&rd September 3, 2026

Court tells LG dynasty to work out family feud SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) -A bitter feud inside the founding family of LG, South Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate, deepened Thursday after a court rejected the late chairman's widow's bid to sever her legal mother-son relationship with Koo Kwang-mo, the nephew adopted more than two decades ago to preserve the Koo family's tradition of male succession. The Seoul Family Court dismissed the petition filed by Kim Young-sik, widow of former LG Group Chairman Koo Bon- September 3, 2026

Solution firm LaonPeople surges on gov't-led physical AI project SEOUL, September 3 (AJP) - Artificial intelligence (AI)-related solution company LaonPeople surged to its daily trading limit on Thursday after being selected for a government-backed physical AI project aimed at developing autonomous manufacturing technology. Its shares jumped 29.84 percent to 3,220 won (US$2.35) on the junior KOSDAQ as of around 2:40 p.m., reaching the market's daily price ceiling. The rally came after the company said it had been selected for a research pro September 3, 2026

Will America risk New York for Seoul? SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and ordered scale-back in U.S.-South Korea military drills that anger Pyongyang and cost Washington heavily, reigniting a long-running question in Seoul: Should South Korea arm itself with nuclear weapons? Once taboo, the idea is gaining broader public acceptance. Sixty-five percent of South Koreans support the country possessing nuclear weapons, while 30 percent oppose it, acc September 3, 2026

KOSPI edges higher despite selling across the board SEOUL, September 3 (AJP) - South Korea's benchmark KOSPI closed higher on Thursday, even though individual investors, foreigners and institutions all pulled money out of the main board. It was the third time in four sessions that the index rose as all three major investor groups were net sellers. The index rose 16.76 points or 0.3 percent to close at 6,579.48. Underneath the gain was a rotation rather than a recovery. Shipbuilders, insurers and banks were bought hard, the s September 3, 2026

S. Korea to move ministries and state bodies out of Seoul SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Central government ministries and about 350 public institutions will start leaving the Seoul metropolitan area in 2027, advancing a project the Constitutional Court forced South Korea to scale back more than two decades ago. Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said Thursday the government would publish its list of institutions to be moved in the fourth quarter of this year and begin relocating them the following year. The list will be built under what she cal September 3, 2026