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Chip bonuses drive a third of Korea's wage gains
\SEOUL, September 20 (AJP) - Semiconductor bonuses accounted for about a third of the rise in South Korean workers' average monthly pay in the first half of 2026, the Korea Enterprises Federation said Sunday. Regular employees earned an average 4.318 million won ($3,115.3) a month in January to June, up 3.1 percent from a
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Coupang offers blanket cash aid to Incheon fire neighbors
SEOUL, September 20 (AJP) - About 28,000 residents near a Coupang warehouse in Incheon that burned for more than four days in July will receive cash aid without having to prove any damage, the company's logistics arm said Sunday. Coupang Fulfillment Services (CFS) will pay 50,000 won ($36.07) per person and 100,000 won per household in parts of Seoknam 1-dong and Sinhye
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South Korea triples KTX network gear for Chuseok rush
SEOUL, September 20 (AJP) - Mobile network equipment along the main routes of South Korea's KTX bullet train has been tripled ahead of the Chuseok holiday rush, lifting average download speeds by more than 20 percent, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Sunday. Chuseok, the autumn harvest festival often l
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Samsung joins $231 million bet on Dutch AI chips
SEOUL, September 19 (AJP) - Samsung has co-led a $231 million funding round in Dutch semiconductor startup Euclyd, backing a young company developing an artificial intelligence chip system with an architecture different from Nvidia’s dominant graphics processing units.
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Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games begin 16-day run
SEOUL, September 19 (AJP) - The 20th Asian Games officially open in Japan on Saturday, launching 16 days of competition across Aichi Prefecture and other parts of the country as Japan hosts the continental sporting event for the first time in 32 years.
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Samsung Electronics union shifts to semiconductor-only membership
SEOUL, September 19 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ largest labor union has voted overwhelmingly to restrict membership to employees in its semiconductor division, effectively splitting the organization along the company’s chip and consumer-electronics businesses after months of disputes over performance bonuses and bargaining strategy.
Seoul draws Hormuz line as Tokyo weighs mine-clearing role
SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung on Friday ruled out any South Korean military deployment that would draw the country into the war involving Iran, while leaving room for a narrowly defined mission to protect Korean vessels, citizens and energy routes around the Strait of Hormuz. The remarks marked Lee’s clearest attempt yet to draw a line between joining a war and contributing to maritime security as Seoul faces sustained U.S. pressure over Hormuz. “There will be
by Kim Hee-su
The world of K-beauty, pulled into one Seoul office
SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) — K-beauty spent years carrying Seoul to bathroom shelves, beauty counters and social-media feeds around the world. Inside one skincare office in southern Seoul, that current is running the other way: the world has come to work. At Mary&May, a Korean skincare brand sold in more than 60 countries, employees from 15 nationalities sit inside the machinery of K-beauty's global expansion — choosing products, creators, words and images for markets thousan
Trump-Xi chip bargaining puts Korean memory makers on alert
SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) -From tariffs and rare earths to Iran and artificial intelligence, the U.S.-China summit on Sept. 24 has a crowded agenda. For South Korean chipmakers, the business issue to watch would be whether semiconductors become bargaining currency in a broader trade deal between the world's two largest economies. Chinese President Xi Jinping is said to be assembling an unusually large business delegation, possibly to match the high-profile entourage U.S. President Donald T
Korean battery makers under Trump whims – from EV retreat to datacenters
SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump's retreat from Biden-era electric-vehicle policies has upended the American growth plans of South Korean battery makers, leaving factories built for an EV boom idled, scaled back or searching for a new purpose. Now, some are finding one in the power-hungry data-center boom. Canceled U.S. EV and battery projects between January 2025 and August this year had promised about 27,000 jobs, according to a Reuters analysis of Atlas Public Poli
Samsung, LG tapped for revived AI draft perk
Long-term residents drive record foreign jobless payouts
