Korea to finance upgrading of local sports venues for K-pop concerts SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - South Korea will spend 12 billion won ($7.8 million) this year to upgrade six regional sports and multipurpose facilities for K-pop and other live music concerts, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday. The program is aimed at addressing the country's shortage of dedicated concert venues by upgrading existing public facilities rather than waiting for new arenas to be built. Many large music events in South Korea are held at stadiums and gymnasiums d June 23, 2026

Samsung develops industry's fastest UFS 5.0 storage chip for on-device AI SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has engineered the industry's fastest UFS 5.0 memory chip designed to power next-generation on-device artificial intelligence applications, the company said on Tuesday. As generative AI rapidly shifts from the cloud to local devices, the new memory chip is designed to significantly reduce latency and accelerate response times when running large language models (LLMs) in on-device AI environments. Built on Samsung's ninth-generation V-NAND tech June 23, 2026

KOSPI tumbles below 9,000 as Wall Street tech selloff hits Seoul rally SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) — South Korean stocks succumbed to foreign-led profit-taking Tuesday, pushing the benchmark KOSPI back below the 9,000 mark and sending the won toward 1,540 per dollar, as a broad correction in artificial intelligence stocks spread across Wall Street and Asia. As of 9:56 a.m., the benchmark KOSPI fell 1.73 percent to 8,957.02, while the junior KOSDAQ sank 3.40 percent to 935.47. The correction followed a record-setting streak in Seoul that had propelled the KOSPI to s June 23, 2026

Mandatory facial recognition to exempt foreign residents SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - South Korea will mandate facial recognition for all new mobile phone subscriptions starting in July to combat financial crimes, but the system will launch entirely without foreign residents. The exclusion creates an immediate regulatory loophole, as foreign-registered accounts make up nearly half of all illegal burner phones used in the country's voice phishing networks. By pushing ahead with a domestic-only rollout, the Ministry of Science and ICT risks driving crimi June 23, 2026

Nexon launches $162 million fund for early-stage game studios SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - Nexon is rolling out a five-year, 250 billion won ($162.2 million) investment program aimed at seeding early-stage game developers, moving to fill what it described as a widening capital gap in South Korea's domestic gaming market. The South Korean game maker said Tuesday it would channel money into studios at the seed and Series A stages, pairing large-scale private capital with government policy funds in a public-private structure designed to revive faltering invest June 23, 2026

FIFA sends hidden message to South Korea before final group match SEOUL, June 22 (AJP) - FIFA has sent a playful message of support to South Korea ahead of their final group match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The world football governing body posted a series of photos of South Korean players on its official Instagram account Monday in Korea, along with the message, “Fighting for the final group match,” written in Korean. The post featured Cho Gue-sung, Eom Ji-sung, Lee Han-beom, Lee Kang-in, Hwang Hee-chan and Hwang In-beom. Each photo contained June 22, 2026

HD Hyundai Heavy challenges KDDX evaluation over security penalty SEOUL, June 22 (AJP) - HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has filed a formal objection to the evaluation results for South Korea’s next-generation destroyer program after losing to Hanwha Ocean by less than one point, industry sources said Monday. The company submitted the objection to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration over the bidding process for the detailed design and construction of the lead vessel under the Korean Destroyer Next Generation, or KDDX, program. HD Hyundai Heavy i June 22, 2026

SME loan delinquency rate at top five banks hits record high SEOUL, June 22 (AJP) - Loan delinquencies among small and medium-sized enterprises at South Korea’s five major banks rose to the highest level in data going back to January 2020, underscoring growing stress among smaller companies and self-employed borrowers. The average delinquency rate on won-denominated loans at KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup stood at 0.51 percent at the end of May, according to financial industry data released Monday. That was up 0.05 percentage poi June 22, 2026

SK hynix edges out Samsung Elec as No. 1 as KOSPI hits new high SEOUL, June 22 (AJP) - South Korea's Kospi closed at a fresh record on Monday, rising 62.1 points, or 0.7 percent, to 9,114.6, as SK hynix overtook Samsung Electronics in market capitalization on a common-share basis for the first time in 25 years and seven months. The index swung between an intraday low of 8,900.7 and a high of 9,253.0 before settling higher. Retail investors were net buyers of 2.12 trillion won, while institutions bought 330.6 billion won. Foreigners sold 2.54 trillion wo June 22, 2026

Ex-justice minister sentenced to 25 years in martial law-related case SEOUL, June 22 (AJP) - Former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday over his involvement in disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law debacle in 2024. The Seoul Central District Court found Park guilty of carrying out key duties related to Yoon's Dec. 3 martial law declaration. In its verdict, the court harshly criticized Park, saying he had a "grave constitutional duty" as justice minister but chose to side with unlawful ac June 22, 2026