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Hanwha's Philly Shipyard wins U.S. missile test vessel contract tied to Golden Dome
SEOUL, July 18 (AJP) - Hanwha Philly Shipyard has been selected to build two next-generation missile range instrumentation vessels (MRIVs) for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), marking a major defense contract that will support the Trump administration's planned Golden Dome missile defense system. The U.S. shipbuilder, acquired by South Korea's Hanwha Group last year, said on Saturday it had b
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Samsung's rebate drive sparks estimated $2.9 bln sales, doubles voucher payout
SEOUL, July 18 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics' nationwide rebate campaign, launched as part of its pledge to share the benefits of its semiconductor windfall with the public, generated an estimated 4 trillion won ($2.9 billion) in sales, industry estimates showed Friday, prompting the company to more than double the value of vouchers it plans to distribute. Samsung is expected to issue more than 800 billi
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Small-, mid-cap stocks outperform as chip rout weighs on Korea's blue chips
SEOUL, July 18 (AJP) - South Korea's small- and mid-cap stocks outperformed large caps this month as a sharp selloff in semiconductor shares weighed on the broader market and prompted retail investors to rotate into theme stocks and defensive sectors. The KOSPI large-cap index fell 20.6 percent between July 1 and July 16, underperforming the benchmark KOSPI's 19.5 percent decline over the sam
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US caps foreign student visas at four years in sweeping overhaul
SEOUL, July 17 (AJP) - The United States will limit foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists to fixed periods of stay under a sweeping rule finalized by the Department of Homeland Security, ending a decades-old system that let them remain as long as they kept up their studies or work. Under the rule, students on F visas and exchange visitors on J visas will be admitted for
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Lee names Dec. 3 'National Sovereignty Day'
SEOUL, July 17 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung said he would designate every Dec. 3 as "National Sovereignty Day," vowing to preserve the spirit of the mass protests that turned back an attempted power grab so that it endures for generations to come. The date marks the night in 2024 when lawmakers rushed to parliament to overturn a short-lived martial law declara
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North Korea condemns 'warmonger' South over RIMPAC role
SEOUL, July 17 (AJP) - North Korea denounced South Korea's leading role in the U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific naval exercise, branding Seoul a "puppet warmonger" and warning of "proportional" countermeasures against the drill's participants. In a commentary carried b
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Seoul, one of Asia's richest cities, leaves one village behind
SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - The journey takes barely two minutes. Yangjae-daero, a six-lane boulevard cutting through southern Seoul, is little more than another busy artery carrying commuters toward Gangnam's gleaming office towers and luxury apartment complexes. Thousands cross it every day without giving the road a second thought. Yet few roads in South Korea separate two different economic realities more starkly. On one side stand apartment towers where homes now sell for more than
by Han Jun-gu and Joonha Yoo
A very Korean dream hatched in the country's most unlikely place
SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - Before Cheon Young-hwan tells visitors about Guryong Village, he tells them about his sons. Forty years ago, he walked down the hill from the cluster of shacks where his family had settled after being displaced by Seoul's redevelopment drive and knocked on the door of a stranger living across Yangjae-daero. He was not asking for money. Nor was he asking for food. He was asking to borrow an address. Without one, his two boys could not enroll in school. "I beg
Former K-pop idols face tough job market once spotlight fades
SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - K-pop's global rise has drawn a steady stream of young people hoping to become idols. But rising to stardom is only part of the story. When groups disband or contracts expire, many former performers must enter a job market where years of training and stage experience do not fit neatly into a conventional resume. They also face a difficult employment climate. As of February 2026, South Korea's employment rate for people aged 15 to 29 stood at 43.3 percent, down for
Seoul aims for AI's top two, plans nationwide model this year
SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - South Korea's technology chief announced the country would push to break into the world's top two artificial-intelligence powers, buoyed by an international assessment ranking it third, and vowed to build a frontier model rivalling those Washington now guards as strategic weapons. Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, told a presidential briefing on Thursday at the Cheong Wa Dae that a second round of model evaluations due in Augus
TSMC lifts forecasts as AI demand cools peak fears
Chey urges patience on SK hynix as AI demand set to surge
