The missing ingredient in Korea's AI cake: a foundation model SEOUL, July 08 (AJP) - "Seize this opportunity," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang exclaimed during his visit to South Korea last month, calling the country one of the few capable of owning the entire AI stack — from energy and memory to data-center infrastructure, AI models and applications. Huang may have overrated Korea. By almost every measure, South Korea is among the world's most enthusiastic adopters of artificial intelligence. Yet one crucial ingredient remains missing: a hom July 8, 2026

Hormuz oil shock splits Asian industry in two SEOUL, July 07 (AJP) - South Korea's factories just lived through the most violent oil shock in history, and the strange part is that the country posted record exports while it happened. The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway carrying about a fifth of the world's oil, did not hit Asian industry evenly in the first half of 2026. It split it. Semiconductors sailed through on artificial intelligence demand, automobiles took a glancing blow, and petroche July 7, 2026

Hyundai takes Asia's humanoid race beyond the dance floor SEOUL, July 06 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor reclaimed the 500,000-won threshold Monday, rising 2 percent even as the broader market retreated, after its growing robotics portfolio quietly stole attention from investors otherwise fixated on Samsung Electronics' earnings guidance due the following day. Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid robot, owned by Hyundai Motor Group, showcased a series of football-inspired celebrations during halftime of the Brazil-Norway World Cup round-of-16 match at MetLif July 6, 2026

Korea-Japan weak currency coupling tells different stories SEOUL, July 02 (AJP) - For South Korean policymakers battling a persistently weak won, the culprit is relatively straightforward: heavy foreign selling of Korean equities and an insatiable domestic appetite for dollar-denominated assets. The picture is more puzzling in Japan. Despite record foreign buying of Japanese stocks this year, the yen has continued to languish near multi-decade lows, defying the conventional expectation that capital inflows should support a country's currency. The July 2, 2026

China races past Japan, eyes 10 million car exports SEOUL, July 02 (AJP) - China is on pace to export nearly ten million vehicle units this year, according to global consulting firm AlixPartners' 23rd annual Global Automotive Outlook, released June 25. The expected export volume would be a jump from 7.1 million units in 2025, marking the fastest expansion yet for the Chinese automobile industry that, for most of its history, built cars almost entirely for its own drivers. For decades, exports were an afterthought in China's car industry. July 2, 2026

Two weak currencies, two different stories: Indonesia and Korea SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - Crisis-era exchange rates and relentless foreign stock selling have become familiar headaches for policymakers in both Indonesia and South Korea. At first glance, the two economies appear to face the same challenge. A closer look tells a different story. The Indonesian rupiah's slide to record-low territory has revived memories of past currency crises, putting renewed pressure on Jakarta as investors question whether the country's external buffers are strong enoug June 30, 2026

Europe's sweltering heatwave signals climate extremes in Asia and elsewhere SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - Europe is in the grip of another sweltering heatwave. Across the continent, from Denmark and Germany to Switzerland and France, temperatures have surged to record or near-record levels. At least 94 million people across Europe have been exposed to extreme heat of 35 degrees Celsius or higher, while more than 350 million people, roughly two-thirds of the continent's population, are living in areas where temperatures have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius, according to recent June 30, 2026

Tungsten race puts Kazakhstan between US and China SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - Last November, at a summit in Washington where President Donald Trump hosted the leaders of all five Central Asian nations, the United States signed a deal giving an American company development rights to what independent feasibility studies describe as the world's largest known undeveloped tungsten resource. The host country was Kazakhstan. The metal was tungsten. The company is Kaz Resources, a newly formed American firm backed by up to $1.6 billion in potential fed June 29, 2026

Renewables ride the AI power boom, but the grid can't keep up SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - Renewables are being fully employed to feed the world's hungry AI data centers as farming Mother Nature is cheap and quick to build. Yet a widening gap between green ambition and grid reality — from Beijing to Naju — is exposing the limits of an energy transition running at full tilt. Global electricity demand from data centers is set to roughly double to about 945 terawatt-hours by 2030 and reach around 1,200 TWh by 2035, the International Energy Agency s June 24, 2026

Korea's new obsession: borrowing to buy stocks, not homes SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - South Korea's stock craze has reached a point where borrowing to buy shares is becoming more socially acceptable than borrowing to buy an apartment. The shift reflects a profound change in a country long defined by its obsession with real estate, as millions of Koreans pour into a handful of AI-related stocks in pursuit of rapid wealth creation. Tuesday's selloff offered a reminder of how fragile that enthusiasm can be. The benchmark KOSPI crashed nearly 10 perc June 23, 2026