Korean chip stocks reverse a 3% morning plunge SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Korean semiconductor stocks absorbed the full force of Friday's selloff in New York technology shares and then reversed it inside a single session, pulling the main index in Seoul back into positive territory from a loss of more than 3 percent earlier in the day. The reversal was not a verdict on the U.S. Federal Reserve. It was concentrated in a handful of memory and component names, and the broader market did not follow them. The KOSPI ended 31.14 points, or 0.46 August 31, 2026

FSS to hold public hearing before toughening financial consumer rights SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) -South Korea's financial watchdog will put its consumer protection efforts under public scrutiny next month as regulators face mounting criticism over safeguards surrounding leveraged single-stock ETFs, which intensified a retail investment frenzy before the market rout left individual investors nursing heavy losses. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Monday it will hold a public forum on Sept. 17 in Seoul with about 250 participants, including consumers, August 31, 2026

Seoul steps up ferry safety checks ahead of Chuseok SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - South Korea will conduct special safety inspections of 141 coastal passenger ferries nationwide ahead of the Chuseok holiday, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Monday. The joint inspections will run for 12 days from Aug. 31 through Sept. 11, involving the ministry, the Korea Maritime Transportation Safety Authority, the Korea Coast Guard, local governments and civilian safety inspectors. This year’s four-day Chuseok holiday runs from Sept. 24 to 27. The K August 31, 2026

Korea opens Boston sci-tech hub to sell homegrown biotech SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - South Korea launched its first government-backed science and technology hub in Boston, planting a beachhead in the world's largest biotech cluster to carry research from its state-funded institutes into global markets. The National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced Monday that it officially opened the G-KIC-NST center in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Aug. 28 (local time), designated by August 31, 2026

Bibigo takes Korean seaweed snacks to U.S. sports crowds SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - CJ CheilJedang has pushed its flagship Korean-food brand Bibigo into American stadiums, sampling roasted seaweed to tens of thousands of baseball and soccer fans in a campaign to make "gim" a mainstream Western snack. The food giant said Monday it had wrapped up seaweed-sampling events at the home grounds of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, distributing around 2,000 packs of Bibigo seaweed across th August 31, 2026

Nexon extends MapleStory into Busan theme park SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - MapleStory joins the Lotte World Adventure Busan to deepen the all-time favorite game outreach beyond the screen and into physical spaces in the port city of South Korea that has become one of the fastest-growing attractions for foreign visitors, according to Nexon. The autumn-season event opened Aug. 29, titled "MapleStory in Lotteworld Busan," runs across the entire Busan park through Nov. 22, spanning 86 days. At the heart of the event sits "Create Y August 31, 2026

Rate-hike fears drag KOSPI, Nikkei down 2% SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Korean stocks opened sharply lower Monday as a hawkish turn by Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh knocked the chip trade that has carried the market all year. The KOSPI, the main index in Seoul, was down 2.0 percent in early trading. The index shed 138.63 points to 6,650.25. Tokyo took the same blow. The Nikkei 225 was down 1,375.83 points at 65,029.73. The fall of about 2.1 percent left the region's two big chip-exposed markets moving together. Samsung Electro August 31, 2026

Chip stocks drag KOSPI down despite Wall Street, Tokyo gains SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - Memory chip heavyweights dragged South Korea's main stock index down 1.8 percent on Friday, despite gains on Wall Street overnight and in Tokyo. Seoul's benchmark KOSPI fell 123.49 points or 1.8 percent to close at 6,788.88. The losses were concentrated among large-cap stocks. The KOSPI 200 fell 2.1 percent, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ edged up 0.1 percent to close at 838.41. SK hynix took the heavier hit. The chipmaker fell 4.5 percent to 1,653,000 won (US$1, August 28, 2026

T'way Air's Incheon-Paris route carries 200,000 passengers in 2 years SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - T'way Air has carried more than 200,000 passengers between Incheon and Paris since launching the service two years ago, the budget carrier said on Friday. The service began on Aug. 28, 2024, and served over 200,000 passengers through about 490 round-trip flights over the past two years. The milestone comes as the airline continues to strengthen its presence on long-haul routes to Europe through both passenger and cargo services. South Korean travelers accounted for August 28, 2026

KOSPI slips on chip losses despite Nvidia rally SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) — South Korean shares retreated Friday as investors digested the Bank of Korea's back-to-back rate hikes, with losses in major chip and biotech stocks overwhelming the positive spillover from Nvidia's overnight surge. The KOSPI traded at 6,818.87, down 1.29 percent, as of 10:30 a.m. amid broad selling and thin turnover. Losers outnumbered gainers 575 to 294. Foreign investors led the outflows, selling a net 233.5 billion won ($169.1 million). Institutions u August 28, 2026