KAIST LED mask quadruples skin injection gains SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - A wearable LED mask that conforms to the face's contours has made a common dermatology injection about four times more effective at restoring skin elasticity in a clinical trial. This result points to home beauty devices as a way to carry the benefit of a clinic visit into daily use, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science said Wednesday. According to the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the project was led by Lee Keon-ja September 2, 2026

Kakao restructuring delays Kakao Mobility's US listing SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - South Korea's Kakao has set in motion a sweeping corporate overhaul that is likely to push back Kakao Mobility's planned US share listing, leaving private equity backer TPG waiting longer to cash out of an investment it made nearly a decade ago. According to industry reports on Wednesday, Kakao Mobility's American depositary receipt (ADR) offering counts as a duplicate listing, which requires shareholder-protection procedures by parent Kakao a September 2, 2026

Police scandals test Korea's sweeping prosecution reform SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - South Korea carried out a sweeping reshuffle of senior police officials Tuesday, replacing 14 of the country's 18 regional police chiefs, as public distrust of police investigations deepens over a scandal on Jeju Island involving the false closure of missing-person cases. The shake-up came before South Korea's 78-year-old Prosecution Service is set to disappear on Oct. 2, adding urgency to questions over how police investigations will be checked September 2, 2026

Korean banks' bad loans hit 8-year high SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - South Korean banks' bad loans climbed to their highest level in eight years at the end of June as lending to small and midsized businesses sour amid rising interest rates. Nonperforming loans (NPLs), or loans that borrowers are struggling to repay, reached 18.9 trillion won ($13.8 billion) at the end of June. The amount was up 1.2 trillion won from three months earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the Financial Supervisory Service ( September 2, 2026

Foreign workforce hits record high amid rising manufacturing demand SEOUL, September 2 (AJP) - South Korea's foreign resident population rose 6.3 percent from a year earlier to more than 2.9 million as of July, while the number of foreign workers living and working in the country reached a record high. A total of 287,424 foreign workers holding E-9 non-professional employment visas were staying in South Korea as of July, according to data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor released on Wednesday. The figure has steadily increased from 1 September 2, 2026

Securities firms lead in six-figure salaries SEOUL, September 2 (AJP) - Employees at South Korea's top 500 companies earned an average 54.99 million won (US$40,100) in the first half of this year, according to an analysis by corporate tracker CEO Score and released Wednesday. The figure was up 3.63 million won or 7.1 percent from 51.36 million won a year earlier, based on its analysis of 345 of the country's top 500 companies. Six-figure salaries were most common among employees at securities firms. Of th September 2, 2026

Train tickets for Chuseok to go on sale this week SEOUL, September 2 (AJP) - Early booking for train tickets for Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving begins this week, KORAIL said on Wednesday. Tickets for KTX bullet trains and other trains for the country's biggest holiday, which falls from Sep. 24 to 27 this year, can be purchased online through KORAIL's website. People aged 65 and older, people with disabilities, pregnant women and those with national merits can reserve tickets online or by phone during the first two days o September 2, 2026

Korea's education race costs babies - study SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - South Korea's nascent fertility rebound could get a further boost if parents were freed from the country's relentless competition over children's education, according to an international study that puts a surprisingly large number on the demographic cost of the education arms race. A model calibrated to South Korean households found that women would have had 28 percent more children in the absence of what researchers call a "status exter September 2, 2026

S. Korea builds armored ambulance for combat evacuation SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - South Korea has completed development of an armored ambulance built to reach wounded soldiers in areas its current field ambulances cannot enter. Hyundai Rotem said Tuesday it had finished system development of the vehicle under a program run by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Design, prototype construction, and test and evaluation were carried out with domestic technology over about two years beginning in 2024. The program cost 1 September 2, 2026

S. Korea denies Korea-owned tanker hit in Hormuz SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - A tanker struck by rockets in the Strait of Hormuz was not owned by South Korea's Sinokor Merchant Marine and had no Korean crew aboard, a South Korean shipping industry group said Wednesday, disputing an earlier Financial Times report that described the vessel as South Korean-owned. The Korea Shipowners' Association said in a statement that the Senegal Prosperity, which was recently attacked while transiting the strategic waterway, was wholly ow September 2, 2026