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Korea's FX reserves fall $1.72 billion as U.S. investment commitments loom
SEOUL, October 06 (AJP) -South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.72 billion in September — the third-largest decline this year — as the country prepares to bankroll its pledged energy investments in the United States, highlighting potential pressure on its reserve holdings and the won.
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Vance softens Alaska LNG push after Trump tariff threat
SEOUL, October 06 (AJP) - Washington and Seoul still need to "work out" details of the long-delayed Alaska liquefied natural gas project, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Monday, striking a more measured tone days after President Donald Trump threatened to double tariff retaliation should South Korea fail to commit to the Alaska project.
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Foreign spending in Seoul jumps 60% as experience tourism grows
SEOUL, October 06 (AJP) - Foreign tourists’ credit-card spending in Seoul jumped 60 percent against a 22 percent gain in visitor numbers in the first eight months of the year as K-beauty and experience-based tourism gained traction, the city government said Tuesday.
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Hackers find weak links outside Korean banks' core systems
SEOUL, October 05 (AJP) - A wave of cyberattacks on South Korean banks has exposed a weak point outside their heavily protected core banking networks, with hackers targeting employee and sales-support systems that still contain sensitive customer data.
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Samsung earnings kick off key October for chip industry
SEOUL, October 05 (AJP) - The global semiconductor industry is heading into a busy stretch of October, with Samsung Electronics set to report preliminary earnings this week before a series of major chip events and earnings releases put the strength of the AI-driven boom to another test. Samsung is scheduled to release its preliminary third-quarter results on Thursday, Oct. 8, providing the first major earni
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Korea financial cyberattacks spread to online lenders as security gaps emerge
SEOUL, October 05 (AJP) - Cyberattacks targeting South Korea's financial industry have spread to online investment firms, while regulators say differences in basic security controls appear to have determined how much damage individual companies suffered. PFC Technologies and Mouda, both online investment-linked finance companies, have disclosed security breaches, expanding the list of affected instituti
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Zelensky says Seoul requested transfer of North Korean POWs
SEOUL, October 05 (AJP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said South Korea had requested the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul, while claiming Russia has shared jet-powered drone technology with Pyongyang. "South Korea asked us to give them North Korean soldiers," Zelensky told reporters Sunday. "By the way, according to their constitution, they are their citizens
South Korea seeks military sovereignty, but still needs Uncle Sam
SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was unequivocal on Armed Forces Day - Seoul should reclaim wartime operational control of its military, a goal he wants to achieve before his five-year term ends in 2030. “There is no country in the world that relies on another person or another country for its military command authority,” Lee said at a luncheon following the ceremony marking the 78th Armed Forces Day, in a country that maintains roughly 450,000 active-d
by Lee Jung-woo
Won slips out of comfort zone as Korea moves on U.S. investment deal
SEOUL, October 01 (AJP) - Just when the won appeared to be stabilizing around 1,350 against the U.S. dollar, its year-end outlook has grown less certain as South Korea prepares to pay up to $10 billion toward U.S. nuclear reactor projects before December ends. The dollar-won exchange rate rose to 1,362.6 on Thursday as Seoul and Washington unveiled energy projects under their strategic investment framework. The commitments fall under Korea’s $200 billion investment pledge outside shipbui
Korean investors turn to Japan on weak yen and AI boom
SEOUL, October 2 (AJP) — South Korean retail investors are increasingly looking across the Korea Strait as a stalling market at home and volatile U.S. bond prices turn their attention to Japan’s weak yen and expanding opportunities in the AI supply chain. South Korean investors bought $4.65 billion worth of Japanese stocks in the first nine months of 2026, up 94 percent from $2.40 billion a year earlier, according to the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). Purchases of U.S. shares r
Drone pratfalls expose gap in Korea's battlefield testing
SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - South Korea builds machines that patrol the depths, fly faster than sound and power entire cities. Yet at its military showcases, drones have lately struggled with something more basic: staying in the air. In just over five weeks, two loitering munitions plunged into the sea after launch from a Navy warship, six of 17 demonstrations faltered at a Defense Ministry technology showcase, and a small target drone fell from the sky during a nationally televised Armed Forces
Celltrion launches first US biosimilar to Xolair
S. Korea concludes North Korean mine injured troops south of border
