AJU PRESS ASIA FIRST NEWS AGENCY

Journalist

Kim Dong-young
Kim Dong-young김동영
ReporterSamsung Biologics, CJ CheilJedang, LG Chem, Celltrion, Naver, Krafton, Nexon, Hyundai Mobis etc. & energy, game, food, bio, petrochemical, AI
Kim Dong-young is a bilingual journalist at AJU Press (AJP), covering Korean tech, energy, and bio/pharma.
He reports from the field at events like CES and APEC, runs AJP's YouTube channels,
and is pursuing a master's at Sogang's MOT program. "I try everything in this AI era that can improve yet preserve the facts. Journalism still serves as my core."
Latest by Kim Dong-young
  • Naver, education institute team up on AI textbooks for seniors
    Naver, education institute team up on AI textbooks for seniors SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - Naver announced Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute for Lifelong Education (NILE) to jointly develop AI and digital literacy content tailored to senior citizens, as part of a broader push to narrow South Korea's digital divide. The agreement revealed Monday was signed on Aug. 7 at Naver's headquarters in Bundang, the company said. It aims to strengthen everyday AI and digital competency among seniors and other digitally underserved groups amid the wider shift toward AI. Under the partnership, the two organizations plan to co-develop and distribute lifelong education content on AI and digital tools. A key component will be a digital literacy textbook built on Naver's Whale browser, designed to walk users through practical services such as Naver Shopping and Whale's core functions. "By linking Naver's technology with the education field in the era of generative AI, we can innovatively bridge the digital literacy gap in daily life," said Kim Wol-yong, president of NILE. Naver said the collaboration would also feed into its commercial ambitions. Lee Yoon-sook, who heads Naver's shopping business division, said the company would keep upgrading its services for the "AI commerce era" while backing the educational push "so that AI-based services, including Naver Shopping, can become easy and convenient tools for anyone." 2026-08-10 11:05:19
  • Koreas data-breach wave hits creator media, 3Pro TV latest target
    Korea's data-breach wave hits creator media, 3Pro TV latest target SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) -South Korea’s widening data-security problem has spread from banks, telecom operators and major online platforms to creator-led media, with the operator of popular financial channel 3PRO TV disclosing that roughly 460,000 pieces of personal information were exposed through its mobile application. E-Broadcasting Co., which operates 3PRO TV, said it detected signs in early August that an outside actor had gained unauthorized access to other users’ personal information and immediately began an investigation. The investigation confirmed that an external actor had illegally accessed the 3PRO TV application and maliciously viewed user information, the company said in a notice posted on its website. The company currently estimates the scale of the exposed data at about 460,000 records. It individually notified members for whom it had contact information and issued the public notice for users it could not reach directly. Subscribers to 3PRO TV’s YouTube channel were not affected, the company stressed. The breach involved users of 3PRO TV’s own application rather than subscriber information held by YouTube. The incident adds an influential digital-media operator to the growing range of South Korean businesses facing data-security failures, highlighting how companies that began as content providers increasingly face the same cybersecurity risks as financial institutions and major online platforms once they build their own membership, payment and customer-data systems. The information exposed differed by user and included names, profile information, mobile phone numbers, email addresses, addresses, bank account information, service-generated records, device information, credit-card information and service-use histories. More sensitive information was exposed for a relatively small portion of the affected data. The company said 2,972 bank-account records were exposed, including bank names, account numbers and account-holder names. Information involving 317 credit cards and two addresses was also affected. The credit-card information consisted of card company names and partially masked card numbers. E-Broadcasting said eight of the 16 digits of the affected card numbers remained masked and that passwords and CVC security codes were not exposed. The company said the disclosed card information by itself could not be used for unauthorized payments or other direct misuse. Resident registration numbers and other unique identification or sensitive information were not affected because the company does not collect such data, according to E-Broadcasting. The breach underscores how South Korea’s data-security problem is extending beyond industries traditionally associated with large repositories of personal information. Banks and other financial companies have long been prime targets because of the financial and identity information they hold, while telecom companies and large e-commerce and internet platforms have faced heightened scrutiny as their customer databases have grown. Digital-media businesses are increasingly entering the same territory. A media outlet that once primarily distributed videos through an external platform can accumulate substantial amounts of personal and financial information after launching its own applications, subscriptions, memberships, payments and other direct-to-consumer services That transition has transformed companies such as 3PRO TV from content producers into custodians of customer data as well. 3PRO TV began as an economics podcast in 2018 before launching its first YouTube live broadcast in January 2019. It has since grown into one of South Korea’s most prominent online financial-media brands, offering lengthy daily programming covering the U.S. and Korean stock markets, macroeconomic trends, companies and investment issues. The channel built much of its following by departing from the short, standardized commentary typical of conventional financial television and giving economists, fund managers and market specialists more time to explain the background behind financial and economic developments. It has since expanded beyond YouTube through its own application and other digital services, turning a creator-driven channel into a broader financial-content platform. E-Broadcasting said it blocked the suspected attacker’s access route and IP address immediately after identifying the incident and strengthened additional security settings. The company has also commissioned an external cybersecurity firm to inspect its systems and reported the breach to the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Korea Internet & Security Agency, or KISA. The combination of names, phone numbers, email addresses and, in some cases, banking information could potentially be used to make phishing messages or impersonation attempts appear more convincing even where the leaked information is insufficient to directly access financial accounts. E-Broadcasting urged members to be particularly cautious of calls or text messages impersonating 3PRO TV and advised them not to open links or attachments contained in suspicious messages, emails or other communications. The company said it is preparing customer-support and damage-relief measures and will announce details by Aug. 31 at the latest. AJP Takeaways South Korea’s data-breach problem has reached creator-led media, with about 460,000 personal-information records exposed through the 3PRO TV app. Financial data were included in the breach, with 2,972 bank-account records and information involving 317 partially masked credit cards exposed. 3PRO TV’s YouTube subscribers were not affected. The breach occurred through E-Broadcasting’s proprietary app, underscoring the cybersecurity responsibilities facing media companies as they expand into memberships, payments and digital platforms. 2026-08-10 08:43:15
  • Kakao picks Coupang Eats as first AI agent partner
    Kakao picks Coupang Eats as first AI agent partner SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Kakao announced it has chosen Coupang Eats as the inaugural partner for its artificial-intelligence agent, allowing users to receive food recommendations and complete orders and payments without leaving a KakaoTalk chat window. The tie-up announced Thursday marks the first concrete step in the South Korean internet giant's push to turn its dominant messaging app, used by about 50 million people, into what it calls an "acting AI platform" that links everyday services such as commerce, reservations and travel. "As the first stage in expanding our agentic AI ecosystem, we are forging a partnership with Coupang Eats in the food-delivery vertical," Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a told an earnings conference call for the second quarter. Under the integration, Kakao's on-device AI model will read the context of a conversation and a user's accumulated preferences to suggest dishes, after which the customer can settle payment directly inside the chat room, the company said. Chung said the collaboration reaches beyond a simple ordering feature. "This is a first step toward forming a new habit in which AI connects a user's intent to real actions and transactions," she said, adding that the two firms were in detailed talks to bring the service to market soon. Kakao chose delivery as its opening front because the category is used frequently but demands little deliberation, making the value of a fast, convenient checkout especially clear, Chung said, calling it the field that best demonstrates an AI agent's usefulness. The company said it would broaden the ecosystem from Coupang Eats into other high-frequency verticals including commerce, reservations, travel and payments, and would ramp up marketing once users have firm reasons to return. AJP Takeaway: • What happened: Kakao said on August 6, 2026 that it has selected Coupang Eats as the first partner for its AI agent, enabling KakaoTalk users to receive food recommendations and complete orders and payments inside a chat window without switching to a separate app. CEO Chung Shin-a announced the tie-up on the company's second-quarter earnings conference call. • Why it matters: The partnership is the opening move in Kakao's plan to convert KakaoTalk — used by about 50 million people — into an "acting AI platform" that turns user intent into actual transactions, positioning the messenger as a commerce and payment channel rather than a passive chat service. • By the numbers: Kakao's on-device AI model draws on conversational context and each user's accumulated preferences to suggest menu items and route the order to checkout inside the chat room. The company chose food delivery first because it is high-frequency and low-deliberation, where a fast, convenient checkout carries the clearest value. • The bigger picture: Kakao said it will extend the AI agent ecosystem beyond Coupang Eats into commerce, reservations, travel and payments, and will scale up marketing once users have firm reasons to return. The rollout tests whether Kakao can monetize AI through transactions after a restructuring-driven earnings recovery that analysts have viewed as cost-led rather than growth-led. 2026-08-06 11:56:12
  • Trumps tariff on polysilicon cloud outlook for Korean firms
    Trump's tariff on polysilicon cloud outlook for Korean firms SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could unveil a set of measures curbing imports of foreign polysilicon, a step that stands to reverberate through South Korea's solar and semiconductor makers, multiple sources reported. Reuters, citing sources, said the administration plans to release the findings of its Section 232 investigation into polysilicon as soon as Thursday (local time), with a 15 percent tariff slated for imported polysilicon derivatives. Polysilicon is a core material in both solar products and semiconductors, leaving Korean companies exposed to whatever emerges from the U.S. probe. Bloomberg, in an article headlined on Trump's push to shore up U.S. polysilicon, reported that officials had spent recent days weighing a tariff of at least 15 percent alongside minimum import prices spanning raw polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules. The administration is also readying a temporary offset program to shield domestic manufacturers that rely on imported feedstock, though relief would hinge on the scale of each firm's U.S. capital investment. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act empowers the president to restrict imports through tariffs or other means where a product is judged to threaten national security. The Commerce Department opened its polysilicon inquiry in July of last year, the latest in a decade of intermittent U.S. efforts to loosen China's grip on a supply chain it overwhelmingly dominates. US domestic advocates have pressed the administration to train its fire on Chinese and China-linked polysilicon, arguing for duties steep enough to offset Beijing's overcapacity and below-cost pricing. Seoul, in comments filed with Commerce last August, urged special consideration so any restrictions could be applied flexibly to Korean firms, warning that sweeping tariffs risked disrupting supply chains bound up in Korean investments in U.S. solar and chip production. The government singled out Hanwha Qcells' panel plant in Georgia and OCI's solar-cell facility in Texas, asking that both be spared. Hanwha Qcells, which sources all its U.S.-bound polysilicon from Malaysia, proposed a $10-per-kg tariff on imports paired with duty-free quotas of about 20,000 tons a year from Germany and Malaysia, while OCI, citing a supply chain scrubbed of forced labor and foreign entities of concern, asked that fair-trade semiconductor-grade polysilicon be excluded altogether. AJP Takeaway: • What happened: The Trump administration could announce as early as Thursday (local time) a 15 percent tariff on foreign polysilicon derivatives, along with minimum import prices on wafers, cells and modules, following the conclusion of its Section 232 national security probe. • Why it matters: Polysilicon is a core input for both solar panels and semiconductors, and sweeping U.S. restrictions threaten to disrupt the supply chains underpinning billions of dollars in Korean investment in American solar and chip production. • By the numbers: The proposed rate is 15 percent — milder than the punitive duties U.S. producers sought — while relief under a temporary offset program would depend on the scale of each firm's U.S. capital investment. Hanwha Qcells has proposed a $10-per-kg tariff paired with duty-free quotas of about 20,000 tonnes a year from Germany and Malaysia. • The bigger picture: Korea's Hanwha Qcells and OCI have already built U.S. footprints in Georgia and Texas, which may be their strongest defense if the final proclamation offers no carve-out. Compounding the squeeze, Beijing renewed anti-dumping duties of up to 57 percent on U.S. and Korean solar-grade polysilicon in January, leaving Korean producers caught between two tariff walls at once. 2026-08-06 10:03:17
  • Koreas battery makers find ESS gold rush at home
    Korea's battery makers find ESS gold rush at home SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - In a high-profile display, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, flanked by chip titans Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics and Chey Tae-won of SK Group, unveiled a nearly $1 trillion vision to transform the country from the world's high-tech factory into an AI factory. That ambition extends far beyond semiconductors. Every AI factory — from chip fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities to hyperscale data centers and AI inference clusters — runs on one indispensable input: electricity. As booming AI power demand collides with South Korea's renewable-heavy southwest, the country's rechargeable battery makers have unexpectedly found a new domestic growth engine after years of slowing electric-vehicle demand and brutal price competition from Chinese rivals. On a stretch of reclaimed coastal land in South Korea's southwestern Jeolla region, ground was broken this month on the National AI Computing Center, the first physical step toward what the government calls the backbone of its "AI Expressway." Not far from the ceremony, another race is unfolding. SK On, Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution are competing to supply the energy-storage systems (ESS) that will keep those AI facilities running while stabilizing a power grid increasingly strained by intermittent renewable energy. What began as competition for utility-scale storage contracts has rapidly evolved into a strategic home-market battleground, one the three battery makers hope will cushion their businesses as global EV growth slows. The attraction of South Jeolla is rooted as much in physics as policy. The province hosts roughly one-fifth of South Korea's installed solar capacity, the highest concentration in the country. Solar generation floods the grid with electricity during the day, only to leave it short after sunset — creating an ideal market for batteries that store excess power and discharge it when demand peaks. The government has increasingly embraced that logic. About 93 percent of the roughly 1,128 megawatts awarded in the first two rounds of its long-duration ESS central contract market went to projects in South Jeolla, turning what began as a regional grid-balancing effort into one of the country's most important infrastructure investments. All three battery makers secured projects. The rapid emergence of AI only strengthens the investment case. According to the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption by data centers rose 17 percent in 2025, compared with just 3 percent growth in global electricity demand overall. As AI workloads create increasingly large and volatile swings in electricity use, the agency expects battery storage inside data centers worldwide to reach between 20 gigawatts and 25 gigawatts by 2030. "Through the National AI Computing Center, the government and the private sector will work together to secure advanced GPUs and foster Korea's homegrown AI chip ecosystem," Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said during the groundbreaking ceremony in Haenam, describing the project as the core hub of the country's AI strategy powered by abundant renewable energy. For Korea's three battery makers, all of which returned to operating profit in the second quarter, the timing could hardly be better. Samsung SDI has emerged as the early domestic leader. The company secured about 56 percent of capacity awarded in the first two ESS auctions, benefiting from strong demand for its prismatic battery cells. In July's tender for AI-linked grid storage projects, operators using Samsung SDI cells accounted for roughly two-thirds of awarded capacity. SK On captured about half of the 565-megawatt second auction, all allocated to South Jeolla projects, while repositioning ESS as a standalone business alongside electric-vehicle batteries. LG Energy Solution secured roughly 19 percent of the combined auction volume and is expanding beyond batteries themselves. The company will operate a virtual power plant linking 140 megawatt-hours of storage across seven distribution lines in Jeolla, a system expected to absorb an additional 52.4 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity annually over two decades beginning in 2027. Government policy could provide another boost. The finance ministry plans to introduce domestic-production tax credits beginning in 2027 for six strategic future industries, including secondary batteries. The specific products eligible for the incentives and the amount of each credit, however, will be determined later through a presidential decree. "For the secondary-battery industry, the specific eligible products and tax-credit amounts still need to be defined before the impact on individual companies can be assessed," said Chang Jung-hoon, an analyst at Samsung Securities. "For battery-cell makers, whose production is increasingly overseas, the direct benefit may be limited. But as domestic ESS auctions expand, companies with the largest local production capacity — particularly Samsung SDI and, to a lesser extent, LG Energy Solution — are likely to benefit the most." The opportunity is unlikely to remain confined to the southwest. Solar accounted for 79.4 percent of South Korea's renewable generation capacity at the end of last year, suggesting that the grid congestion now visible in Jeolla will gradually spread nationwide. The Korea Energy Economics Institute estimates that storing the country's projected annual renewable electricity surplus by 2038 will require batteries and pumped-storage facilities with a combined capacity of 119.4 gigawatt-hours. The government is preparing a third central-market ESS auction, widely expected around September with a value of roughly 1 trillion won ($720 million). For battery makers that have spent the past two years navigating the global EV slowdown, South Korea's AI push is creating an unexpected second act. In the emerging AI economy, semiconductors may provide the computing power, but batteries are becoming equally essential infrastructure — storing the electricity that keeps AI factories running long after the sun goes down. AJP Takeaway: • What happened: South Korea's AI-industrial strategy is unexpectedly creating a new domestic growth engine for Samsung SDI, SK On and LG Energy Solution as energy-storage systems become essential infrastructure for AI data centers and renewable-powered grids. • Why it matters: After two difficult years of slowing EV demand and aggressive Chinese competition, Korea's battery makers are finding a second growth market at home by supplying grid-scale storage rather than automobiles. • By the numbers: About 93% of the first two government ESS auctions were awarded to projects in South Jeolla. Samsung SDI captured 56% of total awarded capacity, SK On secured roughly half of the second-round auction, while LG Energy Solution won about 19% overall. • The bigger picture: The IEA expects battery storage inside data centers worldwide to reach 20–25 GW by 2030 as AI sharply increases electricity demand. South Korea is positioning its battery industry to benefit not only from EV electrification but also from the build-out of AI infrastructure, making ESS a potential second pillar of long-term growth. 2026-08-05 14:51:06
  • Korea eyes July 2027 start for Honam chip cluster utilities
    Korea eyes July 2027 start for Honam chip cluster utilities SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - South Korea aims to break ground in July 2027 on the electricity and water supply facilities that will underpin its planned semiconductor cluster in the Honam region, the government said, as the timeline for the flagship project takes firmer shape. The government intends to select a project operator and formally designate the cluster site — a stretch of land around the Gwangju military airfield — before the end of this year, officials said Wednesday. According to the government and the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, the city is in talks with Korea Electric Power and Korea Water Resources to map out how power and water will reach the site. Electricity would be drawn from the Honam region's 345-kilovolt grid, including the Sinjangseong substation, through new transmission lines and switching facilities. Running four chip fabrication plants would require about 6.3 gigawatts of power, the government estimated. It plans to meet that demand in stages by tapping the Hanbit nuclear plant and local renewable sources, while weighing a liquefied natural gas cogeneration plant on-site should the manufacturing process need heat and steam. Industrial water demand is projected at about 650,000 tons a day. Officials proposed drawing on the Dongbok, Juam, Jangheung, Boseonggang and Naju dams, with treated water from a Gwangju wastewater facility reused for general process needs. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources reaffirmed in a policy briefing on the previous day its goal of breaking ground on the cluster and beginning production within the current administration's term. The Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City is pressing the central government to raise its share of funding for site development and utility construction. Under the semiconductor special act's enforcement decree, which takes effect Aug. 11, the state and local governments may cover 50 to 100 percent of the cost of building such infrastructure in clusters designated outside the greater Seoul area. AJP Takeaway What: The South Korean government advanced its timeline for the Honam semiconductor cluster, targeting a July 2027 groundbreaking for the power and water supply facilities that will serve the site at the Gwangju military airfield. When: Announced Aug. 5, 2026, by the government and the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City; operator selection and site designation targeted before end-2026. Core requirement: Running four fabrication plants will need an estimated 6.3 gigawatts of power — drawn from the Honam 345-kilovolt grid, the Hanbit nuclear plant and renewables — and about 650,000 tons of industrial water per day. Context: Comes as the semiconductor special act's enforcement decree, effective Aug. 11, 2026, lets central and local governments fund 50 to 100 percent of infrastructure costs for clusters designated outside the greater Seoul area. 2026-08-05 12:33:20
  • Krafton to bring five games, including new PUBG title, to Gamescom 2026
    Krafton to bring five games, including new PUBG title, to Gamescom 2026 SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - South Korean game publisher Krafton announced it will present five upcoming titles at Gamescom 2026, the industry's largest trade fair, headlined by an unannounced project built on its blockbuster PUBG franchise. The lineup, to be shown from Aug. 26 to 30 at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, spans internally developed games and second-party publishing projects, underscoring the company's push to broaden beyond the battle royale format that made its name. The unnamed PUBG Studios title will make its global debut at the show. Set in the deep forests and small towns of the Pacific Northwest, it is an action-driven first-person shooter that Krafton said stays true to the franchise's roots while forging a new story with every playthrough. Rounding out the slate are No Law, an immersive open-world FPS from Neon Giant set in the cyber-noir port city of Port Desire; Project Zeta, a multi-team tactical arena game pitting four three-player squads against one another; and Age Twisters, a two-player cooperative adventure that sends a grandfather and granddaughter across a near-future Barcelona. The fifth title, Tarae: The Unbound, is a quarter-view Eastern dark fantasy action RPG drawing on the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation, in which players choose one of six classes to confront a being bent on shattering the order of rebirth. 2026-08-05 10:13:05
  • HMM to open India-East Africa container route in September
    HMM to open India-East Africa container route in September SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - HMM, South Korea's largest container carrier, said it would launch a new service linking India and East Africa in September, extending the hub-and-spoke network that has become the centerpiece of its expansion strategy. The service announced Wednesday, branded Gulf-India-East Africa (GIA), will connect the Indian gateway ports of Nhava Sheva and Mundra — where cargo from India and Central Asia converges — with Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Mombasa in Kenya. It marks the carrier's second African feeder line under a strategy pursued since Choi Won-hyuk took over as chief executive. The first vessel is scheduled to depart Nhava Sheva in the fourth week of September, with about five container ships of 2,800 twenty-foot equivalent units deployed on the loop. HMM will run the route jointly with China's COSCO Shipping Lines, Singapore's Pacific International Lines and Taiwan's Interasia Lines, and plans eventually to extend the service into the Gulf. The new line complements HMM's existing north and west African route out of Algeciras, Spain, giving the carrier what it called a firm bridgehead across the continent. Kenya and Tanzania, both undergoing steady port and inland-logistics development, rank among East Africa's principal gateways. HMM has said it aims to grow its container fleet to 1.47 million TEU across 166 ships by 2030, and is securing feeder tonnage to work in tandem with its larger ocean-going vessels as shippers increasingly prize schedule reliability and destination reach amid a fractured global supply chain. "This India-East Africa service is an important milestone in extending our hub-and-spoke strategy across the whole of Africa," said an HMM spokesperson, adding that the company would keep building out its network in high-growth markets. 2026-08-05 09:48:17
  • New humanoids break from the two-legged mold
    New humanoids break from the two-legged mold SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - A horned, chainsaw-wielding machine that looks less like a factory helper than a creature from Greek myth went viral online this week, the latest sign that the humanoid robot — long imagined as a two-legged mechanical twin of its maker — is quietly shedding the human silhouette that once defined it. The machine, named Threehalves, is being developed by Satyress Robotics, a startup based in Auburn, California. It grafts a humanoid upper body onto a four-legged base, standing about two meters tall, and is built to work in places too dangerous for people, from wildfire fronts to collapsed structures. The company positions it as a force multiplier for skilled workers rather than a replacement. Threehalves is teleoperated, and by the firm's own account it is not yet a functioning robot — the images circulating online are static renders. The design echoes a concept Korean engineers know well: "Centaur," the country's first humanoid, built decades ago at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) with a horse-like lower body rather than legs. Chipmaker Nvidia, whose processors power most humanoids in development, defines them as general-purpose, bipedal robots modeled on the human form and designed to work alongside people. Yet many machines now marketed as humanoids stray far from that description, from wheeled torsos to faceless frames. "The definition of 'humanoid' itself is still unclear," Park Dong-il, director of the Advanced Robotics Research Center at KIST, said in an earlier interview. "There's no ISO standard. We call robots with only an upper body humanoids, and we also call robots with both upper and lower bodies humanoids." Google DeepMind last week unveiled Gemini Robotics 2, a general-purpose AI model that steers a humanoid's whole body — walking, crouching and manipulating objects — rather than the upper half its predecessor was limited to. Meanwhile, South Korea's Robotis has open-sourced its AI Sapiens humanoid platform, releasing hardware designs, source code and simulation assets to cut the months of groundwork that precede AI training. Korea's industrial giants are moving too, and increasingly into defense. Samsung affiliate Rainbow Robotics and Hyundai Rotem jointly developed the RB-01K, a four-legged combat robot set for deployment with the South Korean Army by year-end, as a shrinking pool of conscripts pushes the military toward automation. Four-legged machines like the RB-01K may look nothing like a humanoid, but they lean on the same mechanical DNA. The quasi-direct-drive actuators that give quadrupeds their agile, shock-absorbing legs — pioneered in MIT's Cheetah robots — are now the joints of choice for humanoids as well, and Korean engineers say China vaulted into the humanoid race largely by porting that four-legged know-how onto two legs. Engineers argue Korea's edge lies not in spectacle but in what these machines can eventually do. "The essence of a humanoid robot is what it does for work," said Han Jae-kwon, robotics professor at Hanyang University and chief technology officer of Aei Robot. "Replace dangerous, undesirable labor. Help address the population cliff." Whatever shape the next generation takes — two legs, four, or none — the machines increasingly answer to a common master: the AI learning to move them. 2026-08-04 12:59:01
  • South Korea says AI factories lift factory output, cut defects
    South Korea says AI factories lift factory output, cut defects SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - South Korea's manufacturers have posted measurable gains from deploying artificial intelligence on their production lines, the industry ministry said, pointing to sharper output and fewer defects across semiconductor, automobile and shipbuilding plants. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that its flagship AI Factory initiative has backed the AI transformation of about 170 worksites, and that an inspection of 42 early adopters found productivity had climbed an average of 30.1 percent while defect rates fell 15.5 percent. The results were released ahead of the ministry's second-half briefing to the government, part of a drive it calls M.AX to steer traditional industry toward automation. Individual cases were striking. Surplus Global, which dismantles and recovers parts from used chip equipment, raised productivity by 66.7 percent after weaving AI into its sorting process, while Asan Sungwoo Hitech slashed quality-inspection time for electric-vehicle batteries by 90 percent through an unmanned manufacturing system. In shipbuilding, HD Hyundai Samho lifted productivity by 50 percent after adopting AI-driven autonomous welding for rudder trunks, the ministry said, adding that it now aims to spread such field-tested models to smaller firms that lack the expertise to build their own. The ministry plans to establish 500 AI factories by 2030 and expand its cluster of testbed industrial complexes to 25, alongside developing full-stack facilities that run entire production processes without human intervention. "As gains in productivity and quality have now been confirmed on the ground, we will move quickly to spread these proven models to small and mid-sized firms and regional industrial complexes," Minister Kim Jung-kwan said, pledging support to make the country a manufacturing-AI powerhouse by 2030. 2026-08-04 11:24:36