Journalist
Park Sae-jin박세진
swatchsjp@ajupress.com
Assistant EditorForeign embassies in Seoul & Geopolitics, Diplomacy, Policy
Experienced journalist and editor at AJU PRESS specializing in multilingual news. I cover international diplomacy, geolpolitics, and policy, consistently delivering highly accurate, compelling reporting for a worldwide audience.
"Reporting the facts. Shaping the narrative. Every second counts."
Latest by Park Sae-jin
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Media giant JoongAng Ilbo defaults on 22 bln won SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo has suffered an initial default on 22 billion won in commercial paper after failing to meet a creditor's early repayment demand due to a lack of funds. The financial failure marks a shocking development in the local media industry, as JoongAng Ilbo stands as one of South Korea's most iconic and influential major media groups. The default publicly exposes the severity of an escalating liquidity crisis threatening the publisher and its broader parent conglomerate. In a regulatory filing submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service on Friday, the company confirmed the default took place the previous day. The publisher stated that a creditor presented the paper for payment on Thursday, but the company could not clear the settlement amount due to insufficient bank deposits. The defaulted commercial paper is held by local brokerage Hanyang Securities. The original maturity dates for the debt were scheduled for December 7 this year for 12 billion won and March 30 next year for the remaining 10 billion won. Hanyang Securities moved to recover the funds early after an event of default clause was triggered by the media group's ongoing financial distress. These contractual provisions allow creditors to demand immediate repayment before the official maturity date if a borrower faces significant adverse conditions, such as a drop in credit ratings. JoongAng Ilbo released a public statement on Thursday addressing the demand, explaining that it is currently pushing for a corporate workout program with its main creditor bank and cannot grant special treatment to a single debt holder. "JoongAng Ilbo, which is pursuing a workout, must maintain equity among all creditors," the company said. "Therefore, it is difficult to make an early repayment before maturity to a specific creditor individually." 2026-06-19 11:21:59 -
Pyongyang calls Russo-NK treaty legal weapon SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - North Korea on Friday marked the second anniversary of its mutual defense treaty with Russia, hailing the pact as an essential legal weapon to reshape the global order. The declaration solidifies a permanent military alignment that directly threatens the security architecture of South Korea. The formalization of the alliance comes as Pyongyang completely shuns Seoul, having recently redefined South Korea as a permanently hostile enemy state rather than a partner for reunification. By anchoring itself to a nuclear-armed superpower, North Korea is establishing a battle-hardened military axis aimed at isolating its southern neighbor. According to security reports, this defense pact has already translated into massive frontline cooperation, with North Korea funneling an estimated 20,000 troops to support Russia's war effort. The deployment has exacted a heavy toll on North Korean forces, resulting in thousands of casualties near the front lines. The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, reported that the treaty signed during the June 2024 summit between Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin provides a powerful legal framework. The state media outlet stated that the agreement guarantees the future of bilateral relations despite any international challenges or obstacles. The newspaper emphasized that the treaty serves as a reliable guarantee for a new international order amid an increasingly chaotic and unstable global political environment. It added that the North Korean government and its people maintain an immovable stance to permanently expand and develop their traditional friendship with Moscow. Pyongyang highlighted several milestones achieved under the pact over the past two years, including the resumption of passenger flights between Pyongyang and Moscow, the construction of a joint hospital, and the deployment of troops. The military assistance is rooted in Article 4 of the treaty, which mandates immediate military intervention if either nation is attacked. The United States-based monitoring group NK News, citing a Ukrainian intelligence report, recently estimated that approximately 14,000 North Korean soldiers remained stationed in the Kursk region of Russia early this year. The report estimated that cumulative North Korean casualties from the deployment have reached approximately 7,000 soldiers. 2026-06-19 11:11:47 -
Energy watchdog warns looming transit fees in Hormuz SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - A temporary truce between the United States and Iran has reopened the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, providing a critical lifeline to energy-dependent manufacturing hubs in South Korea and Southeast Asia. The International Energy Agency warned Thursday (local time) that despite the immediate relief, the crisis has permanently altered the global energy map. The unblocking of the maritime chokepoint eases a severe bottleneck for production-based Asian economies that rely heavily on the unhindered flow of Middle Eastern crude. While the resumption of shipping rescues industrial supply chains currently suffering from energy shortages, governments in Seoul and across the region face a ticking clock to secure alternative energy sources before the toll-free period expires. International Energy Agency (IEA)'s Executive Director Fatih Birol welcomed the unconditional reopening as a positive development during an event in Istanbul, but cautioned that the temporary nature of the agreement leaves global markets vulnerable. "The vase is broken," Birol said, noting that multiple countries are currently reviewing their energy policies. "Now all parties know that the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked once and can be blocked again." Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding released by Washington on Wednesday, the U.S. will immediately begin lifting its naval blockade on Iran. A full withdrawal is scheduled within 30 days. In return, Iran committed to clearing mines and other military hazards within the same timeframe to guarantee the free, two-way transit of commercial vessels. The agreement guarantees passage without transit fees for only 60 days, setting the stage for future geopolitical clashes over the flow of oil. Birol stated that the IEA will monitor how the negotiations conclude and coordinate new energy strategies with partner nations to prepare for the end of the grace period. Iranian officials have already signaled their intent to capitalize on the strait once the window closes, casting doubt on whether the situation will ease further or deteriorate. Speaking on state television, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the waterway will not return to its pre-war status. "After 60 days, we will naturally collect fees for the services we provide," Qalibaf said. 2026-06-19 10:57:24 -
Researchers develop unified database to reduce AI errors SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - Artificial intelligence agents often struggle with generating false information, a major obstacle for corporate adoption. To solve this, researchers have developed next-generation database technology that simultaneously understands documents, data, and their relationships to improve answer accuracy and processing speed. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Friday. Current artificial intelligence retrieval systems typically rely on vector searches to find relevant text, which limits their ability to handle complex queries requiring an understanding of entity relationships or structured conditions. The newly developed system, AkasicDB, integrates vector, graph, and relational databases into a single engine. This allows the system to process the meaning of texts, connections between entities, and structured data simultaneously, rather than relying on multiple separate systems that cause response delays. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said that the technology was developed by a research team led by Professor Kim Min-soo at the KAIST School of Computing, in collaboration with the faculty-founded startup Graphy. By combining these database functions, the research team created a new retrieval-augmented generation technique named Omni RAG. Testing showed that this integrated approach reduced the tendency of artificial intelligence to create false information, improving answer accuracy by up to 78 percent compared to existing models. The system also minimized unnecessary data movement, cutting the time required to process complex search queries from 21.3 seconds to under one second, resulting in a 20-fold increase in performance. Corporate data is often scattered across unstructured documents, knowledge graphs, and traditional data tables. Previously, finding specific information required building separate databases and manually combining the results at the application layer, which caused significant management complexity. AkasicDB simplifies this by using a unified architecture that allows users to perform composite queries through a single command structure. "A data infrastructure that can integrate and process vector, graph, and relational data in a single system is essential for artificial intelligence agents to accurately understand and utilize vast amounts of corporate data," Professor Kim Min-soo said. "AkasicDB is a next-generation database technology for the artificial intelligence agent era, and we expect it to be used as a core data infrastructure in fields requiring high reliability, such as defense, manufacturing, finance, law, and science and technology." The research was led by KAIST doctoral student Lee Geon-ho as the first author, alongside co-authors Park Jung-ho and Han Dong-hyung from Graphy. The findings were presented as a demonstration paper at the ACM SIGMOD 2026 conference on June 2, 2026. (Reference Information) Journal/Source: ACM SIGMOD 2026 Title: AkasicDB: Demonstrating Omni RAG with a Unified Vector-Graph-Relational DBMS Link/DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3788853.3801609 2026-06-19 10:44:04 -
Researchers develop stretchable self-powered wearable sensor SEOUL, June 18 (AJP) - Wearable health monitors, artificial skin, and soft robots require sensors that can stretch naturally with human movement without needing constant battery replacements. To meet this need, researchers in South Korea have created a self-powered sensor that generates its own electricity and can stretch up to 668 percent without losing performance, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Thursday. Conventional stretchable sensors often rely on materials that create electricity when pressed or bent, but older fiber-based versions easily broke or lost signal strength when repeatedly stretched. While twisting fibers into coils helped them stretch further, it made their electrical output highly unstable because the internal layers would separate. The newly designed sensor solves this by interlocking tiny elastic particles inside the fibers, acting like microscopic hook-and-loop fasteners to maintain shape and electrical connection even under extreme stress. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said that the research team was led by Professor Kim Mi-so at the KAIST Department of Mechanical Engineering. The foundational study for this technology was published in the scientific journal ACS Nano on March 10, 2026. To ensure the sensor could handle severe physical stress, the researchers engineered a seamless boundary between the layer that generates electricity and the layer that collects the signal. When applied to a coiled structure, the device maintained a stable electrical output even when stretched to 6.7 times its original length. The team also tested the sensor by tying it into knots, confirming it continued to work reliably despite continuous pressure and sudden impacts. The researchers then combined the sensor with artificial intelligence to analyze the generated electrical signals. The system accurately distinguished between different types of movements, such as pressing, bending, and stretching. This makes the technology suitable for continuously tracking vital signs like heart rates and breathing, or powering the sensory network of soft robotics. "The key achievement of this research is simultaneously securing mechanical resilience and electrical reliability by combining fiber structure design with electrode interface engineering," Professor Kim said. "We expect it to be applied to wearable medical devices requiring long-term wear, electronic skin, and sensory sensors for soft robots, enabling more accurate and continuous biosignal monitoring." (Reference Information) Journal/Source: ACS Nano Title: Mechanically and Functionally Resilient Piezoelectric Fiber Coils and Knots for Reliable Self-Powered Sensing Link/DOI: doi/10.1021/acsnano.5c19628 2026-06-18 15:30:28 -
How US-Iran ceasefire will reshape Asia and global economy The world breathed a collective sigh of relief this week when the United States and Iran agreed to a sudden ceasefire. The newly released 14-point Memorandum of Understanding officially hits pause on a highly explosive conflict, bringing quiet to the Middle East. However, when we look closely at the actual promises made on paper, the deal is quite shocking. The agreement requires the U.S. to immediately lift its naval blockade, unfreeze billions of dollars in restricted Iranian money, and allow Iran to sell its oil freely to the world. Washington has even promised to help put together a massive $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran's economy. In exchange, Iran has agreed to a temporary 60-day ceasefire, promised to stop building a nuclear weapon, and agreed to let commercial ships pass through the vital Strait of Hormuz without charging them a toll for two months. What makes this so notable is the sheer imbalance. Washington is handing over a massive, immediate economic jackpot to Tehran in exchange for very temporary promises, all before a final, permanent peace treaty is even signed. To fully grasp why this deal is so surprising, it helps to look at how we arrived at this moment. This war, which escalated intensely starting in late February, saw the U.S. and its allies fighting to dismantle Iran's military power and its network of armed groups across the Middle East. For years, the U.S. strategy under the Donald Trump administration was to apply "maximum pressure," using harsh economic sanctions to force Iran into total submission. Yet, just as the military and economic squeeze was reaching its peak, Washington suddenly shifted gears. By front-loading so many generous financial rewards and pulling back its forces, the U.S. seems to have prioritized a quick, headline-grabbing exit from the Middle East over a lasting, structural victory. While politicians in Washington and Tehran debate the details, the real-world impact of this agreement will actually be felt most powerfully here in Asia. Asia is the manufacturing base of the world, and to keep the factories running, it needs to buy a lot of foreign oil. Under heavy U.S. sanctions, Iran's massive oil reserves were largely locked away. Now, with those restrictions vanishing, experts predict Iran could quickly pump over a million barrels of oil a day into the global market. Because Iran's cost to pull oil out of the ground is incredibly low, this will likely cause global energy prices to drop. For production-heavy Asian economies that rely on importing energy, this is a massive breath of fresh air. Cheaper oil means factories spend less on power, shipping companies spend less on fuel, and everyday citizens feel less pressure from inflation. However, this sudden economic relief comes with a dangerous catch hidden in the fine print. The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway right next to Iran, and it acts as the main artery for the world's oil supply. More than half of the oil that flows through this strait is destined directly for Asian markets. Under the new agreement, Iran only promises to allow civilian ships to pass through this waterway toll-free for exactly 60 days. Once that short grace period ends, the agreement leaves the door wide open for Iran to start charging maritime management fees to any ship passing through. If Tehran decides to use this loophole to slap heavy tolls on Asian shipping companies, the benefits of cheap crude oil will be wiped out entirely. Asian economies could find their vital supply chains held hostage by a ticking clock. Beyond the economics of oil, this ceasefire will permanently change the military map of Asia. According to the agreement, the U.S. military has agreed to withdraw its troops and naval ships from the area around Iran within thirty days of a final peace deal. By finally unhooking itself from decades of messy conflicts in the Middle East, the American military frees up a massive amount of ships, troops, and resources. Those forces are not just going home; they are destined to be relocated to the Indo-Pacific. For Asian nations, a quiet Middle East means that the U.S. can finally focus its full power and attention on our region. This shift will drastically change the balance of power in Asia, bringing American military might right to our doorstep and ensuring that the geopolitical spotlight remains locked on our side of the world for years to come. 2026-06-18 14:28:52 -
Seoul names new nuclear reactor sites amid AI demand SEOUL, June 18 (AJP) - South Korea has designated two coastal counties to host its first new nuclear reactors in 15 years, a decisive step to secure the massive power supplies required for the country's expanding artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors. The selection clears a major bottleneck for the country's long-term energy strategy. It formally revives projects scrapped by the previous administration's nuclear phase-out policy, addressing government warnings that peak domestic power demand will reach 138.2 gigawatts by 2040. A government evaluation committee announced Wednesday that Yeongdeok County in North Gyeongsang Province will host two large-scale reactors. Meanwhile, Gijang County in Busan will house the nation's first commercial small modular reactor. Both locations scored highest in evaluations that weighed resident public opinion, environmental feasibility and site conditions. Yeongdeok scored 91.01 points to beat Ulju County for the large reactors, while Gijang edged out Gyeongju with 87.11 points for the smaller facility. The two large reactors will generate a combined 2.8 gigawatts and are targeted to come online in 2037 and 2038. The 0.7-gigawatt small modular reactor is scheduled for completion between 2035 and 2036. The selected sites were previously earmarked for development before the former government halted them. Yeongdeok's proposed site was originally meant for the Cheonji 1 and 2 reactors and covers an area more than three times the required minimum size. Gijang already houses the Kori nuclear power plant and offers ready-to-use transmission networks. Adding the new facilities will increase South Korea's current nuclear capacity of 26.05 gigawatts by about 13.4 percent. The government confirmed in January it would push ahead with the expansion after public polling showed more than 60 percent support for using a mix of nuclear and renewable energy. If the lifespan of currently operating reactors is extended as planned, the country could run up to 32 large reactors by 2038. Even with the new reactors, long-term energy constraints remain a challenge. The country's combined nuclear capacity is expected to reach 29.55 gigawatts, which will cover just 21.4 percent of the projected maximum demand in 2040. Officials acknowledge that stabilizing the power supply will require extensive expansions of the power grid, demand management and renewable energy networks. There is also growing concern over the regional burden of concentrating power generation in the southeastern part of the country to supply the capital area. The timeline presents another hurdle. Large reactors require about 14 years for site selection, licensing and construction, meaning they offer limited help for short-term power shortages. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power will now begin strategic environmental impact assessments to secure construction permits in the early 2030s. "Stable power supply is an essential task for securing national competitiveness and for future generations," the evaluation committee said in a statement. "We sought to find the optimal locations with regional coexistence considered as the top priority." 2026-06-18 10:25:46 -
KAIST develops memory-efficient image processing technique for AI SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - Researchers in South Korea have developed a technique with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Microsoft that allows artificial intelligence to process high-resolution visual details while using up to 16 times less computer memory, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Wednesday. The method, called Upsample Anything, restores fine visual details from compressed, low-resolution data without requiring additional machine learning training. By analyzing the boundaries and colors of a single input image, the system calculates the best way to reconstruct lost details. For a standard 224 by 224 pixel image, the process takes about 0.4 seconds to restore the visual information. Currently, artificial intelligence models used in self-driving cars, smartphones, and humanoid robots compress images to save memory and process information quickly. However, this compression often causes the models to lose track of tiny objects, fine edges, and minor defects. Conversely, processing every image in high resolution from the beginning requires too much computing power and graphics processing unit memory for mobile devices to handle in real time. The new technique solves this by finding a middle ground, storing only the compressed core data while using the image's own structure to fill in the missing high-resolution gaps on demand. Because it operates without needing to be retrained on new datasets, the tool can be immediately applied to unseen environments and different artificial intelligence applications. Led by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) doctoral student Seo Min-seok, the research was presented at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) conference on June 7. The project received the conference's Compute Gold Star for its efficient use of computing resources and was named a Transparency Champion for sharing its code and ensuring the experiments could be reproduced by others. "This technology is an algorithm that can significantly increase the visual precision of artificial intelligence with minimal resources, and we expect it to accelerate the practical application of humanoid robots and on-device AI," Professor Kim Chang-ick said. "It is even more meaningful that it was recognized at CVPR not only for its performance but also for its computational efficiency and research transparency." (Reference Information) Journal/Source: CVPR 2026 Title: Upsample Anything: A Simple and Hard to Beat Baseline for Feature Upsampling Link/DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2511.16301 2026-06-17 17:17:35 -
Foreign tourist spending in S. Korea hits record $1.3bln on local lifestyle boom SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - Credit card spending by foreign tourists in South Korea reached an all-time monthly high in May, fueled by a surge in visitors adopting everyday local lifestyle trends, the Korea Tourism Organization said Wednesday. Over the last few years, global interest in South Korean culture has shifted from entertainment like music and television to everyday fashion, beauty, and wellness. This growing fascination has changed how tourists shop, drawing them away from traditional souvenirs and into local neighborhoods to experience how residents live. Total foreign credit card spending reached 2.1 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in May. This represents a 67.1 percent jump from the same month last year, marking the highest growth rate since 2023. The KTO reported that spending has split into two main tracks: younger global tourists driving lifestyle purchases and Chinese visitors dominating high-end luxury sales. In Seoul districts like Seongsu and Myeongdong, tourists are buying limited-edition custom clothing and outdoor streetwear, a popular local style known as gorpcore. A similar trend is visible in the beauty sector, where visitors are combining cosmetic treatments with purchases of pharmaceutical-grade recovery creams. This routine has led to a massive spike in premium pharmacy sales in both Seoul's hipster district, Seongsu, and Haeundae, the beachside tourist district in the southern port city of Busan. Spending on toys and amusement machines also surged by 191.4 percent, largely due to pop-up stores selling limited-edition character merchandise. Meanwhile, credit card transactions by Chinese tourists more than tripled compared to last year, fueling a boom in the luxury market. Watch and jewelry sales in Seoul's affluent Cheongdam-dong neighborhood jumped 135 percent, with the average transaction hitting 12.15 million won. This appetite for high-end goods also spread to Jeju Island, driving up spending on private villas, upscale resorts, and luxury accessories. "This analysis shows that foreign tourist consumption is moving beyond a simple recovery phase and is becoming segmented by commercial district, industry, and nationality," said Lee Mi-sook, head of the KTO tourism data hub team. "We will continue to provide data-driven insights so that local governments and the industry can capture these changes early and respond preemptively." 2026-06-17 15:42:28 -
Sookmyung researchers develop AI framework capable of automatically fixing robot code SEOUL, June 17 (AJP) - Enabling robots to adapt to new tasks without relying on heavy human programming is a critical hurdle in advancing industrial automation. To address this, researchers have developed a framework where large language models can directly generate and debug low-level robot control commands, Sookmyung Women's University said Wednesday. The research team, led by Professor Sim Joo-yong from Sookmyung Women's University's Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, presented the system at the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) held in Vienna in early June. The framework, named ModuLoop, allows artificial intelligence to automatically synthesize the exact codes needed to operate robotic arms. Previous applications of large language models in robotics were mostly limited to high-level planning that still relied heavily on pre-defined application programming interfaces. Currently, deploying robots in factories or workplaces requires human engineers to manually write complex, low-level code for every specific movement and task. This traditional programming method is time-consuming and makes it difficult to quickly adapt robots to new production lines or unexpected changes. The ModuLoop framework introduces a different approach by allowing AI to translate natural language instructions directly into executable control codes. By automating the programming process, this system could enable manufacturing facilities to rapidly reassign robots to new tasks without the need for expert programmers, lowering the barrier to flexible workplace automation. ModuLoop operates through two primary components: a modular code synthesizer and a closed-loop debugger. The synthesizer creates the initial control code, and the debugger continuously improves the system by analyzing execution errors and automatically modifying the code. The researchers tested the system on practical tasks, including hand-eye calibration to precisely align a robot arm with a camera, and pick-and-place operations to move objects to desired locations. During testing, the framework demonstrated higher task accuracy and code generation success rates compared to existing methods, achieving rapid stability through its automated feedback loop. Because the system does not require task-specific prior training, it offers a technical foundation that can adapt to various environments and be broadly applied to intelligent manufacturing systems. The findings were published in the international journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, with master's students Yoon Ji-na and Lee Su-min serving as joint first authors and Sim as the corresponding author. "We confirmed that a structure where the system automatically generates and modifies code based on natural language enables more flexible and scalable robot control," Yoon Gina, a student at the university's Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, said, adding: "Moving forward, we plan to expand the research so it can be applied to more complex manipulation tasks and actual industrial environments." (Reference Information) Journal/Source: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (IF 5.3, JCR top 25 percent) Title: ModuLoop: Low-Level Code Generation Using Modular Synthesizer and Closed-Loop Debugger for Robotic Control Link/DOI: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11207505/ 2026-06-17 14:03:18