Korea's Gen Z is running out of first-job options SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - Gen Z may be an unlucky lot. The pandemic stole much of their college life, and the shift to artificial intelligence is now stripping away some of their first chances to gain real work experience. Lee Jae-hong, 27-year-old living in Seoul with his parents, has been applying jobs for two years, and this year, he finds fewer places to apply. "I feel like standing nowhere. I've started hard all my life and graduated from a decent school. But I cannot even pass September 9, 2026

Seoul's nuclear sub project reaches IAEA, yet nowhere with Washington SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) - South Korea has moved to clear a major safeguards hurdle for its nuclear-powered submarine program, formally opening consultations with the International Atomic Energy Agency. But substantive negotiations cannot advance far until Washington provides clearer guidance on how Seoul can secure nuclear fuel for the submarines. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said Monday that South Korea "has formally notified the Secretariat of its intention to start consultatio September 8, 2026

Robotics may be the destination for Louisiana steel mill SEOUL, September 07 (AJP) - The $5.8 billion Louisiana mill backed by South Korea's two biggest steelmakers is designed primarily to feed America's auto industry, but its largest customer and investor Hyundai Motor Group has a deeper ambition for the metal — robotics. Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun said Sept. 4 that steel from Hyundai-POSCO Louisiana Steel (HPLS) should eventually find its way into Atlas, the humanoid robot being developed by group-owned Boston Dynamic September 7, 2026

Chip windfall finally arrives on the FX front SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - The South Korean won is looking entirely different from the first half, closing at its strongest level in 14 months Friday as a swelling current-account surplus increasingly offsets heavy overseas equity investment and other capital outflows, giving authorities room to absorb a reported $20 billion in dollars from SK hynix's landmark U.S. share sale without reversing the currency's rally. The dollar fell 8.9 won to close Friday's daytime trading at 1,350. September 4, 2026

AI spending binge steepens Korea's bond curve SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - As the race for AI supremacy sends government and corporate spending into the stratosphere, investors are demanding more to lend for decades — a shift showing up starkly in South Korea, where yields have risen progressively faster toward the long end of the government bond curve. The yield chart over the past year shows an increasingly steep repricing toward longer maturities. The 30-year yield has climbed the most, touching a record 4.751 percent in August, wh September 3, 2026

Will AI contracts shield Korean chipmakers from boom-and-bust cycle? SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - Investment banks and market trackers are betting South Korea's memory giants can extend their red-hot earnings streak into a third year in 2027 and possibly beyond, as AI pushes the business away from the spot-price-driven boom-and-bust cycles that have long defined memory chips. Before the rise of AI, earnings at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were heavily exposed to prices for mass-market DRAM and NAND flash, commodities notorious for swinging between shortag September 2, 2026

Korean jobseekers face an AI test with no rulebook SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - AI literacy is becoming the latest addition to the long list of so-called "specs" young South Koreans need to compete for already-scarce entry-level jobs. The problem is that employers themselves are still figuring out what they want. SK hynix is removing its traditional personal-statement questions from applications in the second half of this year. Instead, applicants will be asked to describe how they have used AI in projects, research and problem-solvin September 1, 2026

U.S. EV plants may lay "golden eggs" for Korean battery makers SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - South Korea's battery industry, groomed to build on the EV boom, is hurriedly moving to ride a new power "golden goose" — data centers — anchored in the United States' drive to catch up with China in AI infrastructure. "Let data reign," U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed Monday. "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," September 1, 2026

Two Koreas reshuffle military command for very different battles SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - South and North Korea are reshaping their military leadership at the same time, but for markedly different challenges. Seoul is turning back to a career general to steady an institution unsettled by contentious reforms, while Pyongyang is tightening party control for stronger push into weapons modernization. President Lee Jae Myung's nomination of retired four-star Gen. Kang Shin-chul as defense minister effectively puts a career military officer back in charge afte August 31, 2026

AI windfall buys homes, cars and luxury watches in Korea's chip enclave HWASEONG, August 27 (AJP) - At Lotte Department Store in Dongtan, a saleswoman sizing up a customer offers a pitch that would sound peculiar almost anywhere else. "Your husband makes a lot of money this time. You can afford to treat yourself," she coos. There is no need to specify who the husband works for. Dongtan sits inside South Korea's semiconductor heartland, within commuting distance of Samsung Electronics' chip operations in Hwaseong and Giheung as well as SK hynix I August 27, 2026