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Korean skaters prepare for Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics SEOUL, January 09 (AJP) - 2026-01-09 16:14:27
South Korea targets 2% growth, betting on boosted private consumption SEOUL, January 9 (AJP) - South Korea's economy is forecast to grow 2 percent this year, on the back of rising consumer spending and a recovery in construction investment following a prolonged slump, the government projected at a televised meeting of economic officials at the government complex in central Seoul on Friday It also pledged to make this year the starting point for an "economic leap" and to draw up a master plan for spurring growth and narrowing economic gaps. To achieve these goals, the government plans to roll out action plans by the first half of the year, setting growth targets through 2045, the 100th anniversary of the country's liberation from Japanese colonial rule and establishing a long-term vision to address mid- to long-term objectives. The 2-percent target is higher than the roughly 1.8 percent forecasts recently presented by major institutions such as the Korea Development Institute and the Bank of Korea. With external uncertainties and structural constraints weighing on the economy, the government's target appears ambitious. The government said domestic demand will be this year's main growth engine, projecting that private consumption, which grew 1.3 percent last year, will rise 1.7 percent in 2026, supported by improved consumer sentiment, policy measures, favorable employment conditions, and households' stronger purchasing power. Investment in construction is expected to rebound 2.4 percent this year after falling 9.5 percent in 2023. The government said the shift after a prolonged downturn should help boost the economy and domestic demand, though it expressed concern that unsold homes outside the capital and other provincial areas could limit the recovery. Exports are projected to rise 4.2 percent this year, supported by strong semiconductor demand, despite concerns that global trade could slow as the effects of U.S. tariffs intensify. Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-il said, "In recent forecasts, the growth rate of semiconductor sales has risen to 40 to 70 percent," adding that this increase is reflected in this year's outlook. The government forecast the current account surplus will widen to US$135 billion this year from $118 billion last year. It projected inflation will rise 2.1 percent, unchanged from last year, citing factors including lower international oil prices. Facility investment is also expected to rise 2.1 percent, driven by technology sectors including memory chips. With competition intensifying in advanced industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), the government projected a 3.3 percent increase in investment in intellectual property, driven by higher spending on research and development (R&D). But the job market is expected to slow due to structural factors such as a shrinking working-age population and an aging society. The government projected that the number of employed people will increase by 160,000 this year, about 30,000 fewer than last year. To meet its growth target, the government emphasized an expansionary fiscal stance, increasing total spending by 8.1 percent, the highest in four years. It also raised planned investment by public institutions by 4.3 trillion won, bringing the total to 70.5 trillion won. Based on this, the government plans to allocate 633.8 trillion won to support advanced strategic industries and small- and medium-sized businesses. To boost domestic demand, tax incentives for passenger cars will be extended until June, along with a 1 million won subsidy for those purchasing electric vehicles and other eco-friendly cars. More promotional and sales campaigns to support small business owners will also be organized to stimulate consumption. To spur corporate investment, the government will provide 54.4 trillion won in facility investment, while also encouraging foreign-invested companies to shift towards domestic R&D investment. While risks such as foreign exchange volatility, real estate market instability, household debt, and structural challenges remain, the government pledged to manage external risks and enhance the quality and sustainability of growth. "While focusing on economic recovery last year, we achieved visible results including strengthening growth momentum and the KOSPI surpassing 4,000 points," Lee said. "Based on these results, we will make an all-out effort for a major economic leap this year." 2026-01-09 16:14:21
CES 2026 : Boston Dynamics' Atlas wins CNET's top robot honor at CES 2026 SEOUL, January 09 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor Group said Thursday that Atlas, a humanoid robot developed by its robotics company Boston Dynamics, won CNET’s Best Robot award in the Best of CES 2026 honors. Atlas is central to Hyundai Motor Group’s AI robotics strategy unveiled in Las Vegas. The next-generation, electric Atlas development model, shown for the first time at CES 2026, was designed for high efficiency in real manufacturing settings, with autonomous learning and flexibility to handle varied work environments, the group said. CNET cited Atlas’ natural, humanlike walking ability and refined design in naming it Best Robot at CES 2026. The outlet said the robot supports the group’s vision of human-centered AI robotics through next-generation machines built to collaborate with people. “Atlas was easily the best of the many humanoid robots we saw at CES 2026,” CNET said. “The prototype demonstrated on the show floor left a strong impression with its natural gait, and the product version, closer to mass production, has completed preparations to be deployed at Hyundai Motor Group manufacturing plants starting this year.” Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy Atlas first in 2028 at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, or HMGMA, in Savannah, Georgia. It will begin with processes where safety and quality gains have been verified, such as parts sequencing, and then expand use in stages. By 2030, the group plans to broaden Atlas’ role to various parts-assembly processes and more complex work, including repetitive tasks and handling heavy loads, to improve worker safety and accelerate smart-factory innovation. After performance verification, it plans to expand deployment across the group’s global production sites. Developed for industrial use, Atlas is a general-purpose humanoid robot designed to integrate smoothly with existing factory equipment. It can lift up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) and perform delicate tasks, and it is designed to be waterproof and washable for easier maintenance. The robot is built to operate reliably from minus 20 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees Celsius (minus 4 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit). It also includes advanced rotary joints and sensors for autonomous movement and work in complex industrial environments, and it can quickly adapt to new tasks through AI-based learning. With a fully rotating joint structure offering 56 degrees of freedom and a human-size hand equipped with tactile sensors, it can autonomously handle high-difficulty tasks. Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics, said, “Atlas is the best robot we have developed, and this award means the team’s efforts are bearing fruit as we work to bring the world’s top humanoid to market.” * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2026-01-09 15:56:10
Hot Stock: Hanwha Systems almost hits the ceiling on Trump-era military ambitions SEOUL, January 09 (AJP) - Shares of Hanwha Systems surged close to the daily trading ceiling on Friday, fueled by expectations of a sharp increase in U.S. military spending. The stock jumped as much as 24.7 percent to 75,200 won ($51.7) intraday before paring gains to 74,200 won by 2:30 p.m., far outperforming the benchmark KOSPI, which was up less than 0.5 percent. The rally followed remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who vowed to raise the U.S. defense budget by more than 50 percent to $1.5 trillion by 2027, after ordering what he described as a “surgical” military raid in Venezuela and issuing increasingly confrontational remarks toward other regions, including Greenland. Defense stocks had been volatile earlier in the week after Trump criticized U.S. defense contractors for prioritizing dividend payouts and share buybacks. Sentiment, however, rebounded on expectations that a significantly larger defense budget would translate into expanded government contracts. Major U.S. defense firms, including Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, recovered earlier losses following Trump’s budget comments, helping lift defense shares globally. Hanwha Systems, an affiliate of Hanwha Group, specializes in radar, command-and-control systems and electronic warfare solutions. The company has also been expanding into space-related businesses, including satellite communications and other advanced defense technologies. The sharp rise came amid broad gains across South Korean defense stocks, including Hanwha Aerospace, while trading volume in Hanwha Systems spiked markedly, underscoring strong intraday demand. 2026-01-09 15:55:33
After a string of EV contract losses, LG Energy Solution reports Q4 loss SEOUL, January 9 (AJP) - LG Energy Solution, having endured multiple headwinds including a labor raid at its U.S. plant and the cancellation of major battery supply contracts, swung to an operating loss in the fourth quarter, even as full-year profit more than doubled on strong data-center-driven demand for energy storage systems. In preliminary earnings released Friday, the South Korean battery maker reported full-year operating profit of 1.35 trillion won ($1.0 billion) for 2025, more than doubling from 575.4 billion won in 2024. Full-year revenue came to 23.67 trillion won, down 7.6 percent from a year earlier. For the October–December quarter, the company posted an operating loss of 122.0 billion won, compared with a loss of 225.5 billion won a year earlier, while quarterly revenue slipped 4.8 percent year on year to 6.14 trillion won. Excluding tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, the fourth-quarter operating loss widened to 454.8 billion won, translating into a negative margin of 7.4 percent. The figures are preliminary and may change following audits of overseas subsidiaries and affiliates. LG Energy Solution said it will release final results, including net profit and a detailed breakdown by business division, later this month. The poor quarterly results follow a string of setbacks in the company’s electric-vehicle battery business. LG Energy Solution last month terminated a 3.9 trillion won ($2.7 billion) battery supply contract with Freudenberg Battery Power Systems, marking the second major cancellation after it ended a 9.6 trillion won battery supply contract with Ford Motor Co. The two cancellations bring the total value of terminated contracts in December to 13.5 trillion won—equivalent to more than half of the company’s annual revenue of 25.6 trillion won recorded in 2024. The company also suffered a disruption at its battery plant construction site in Georgia in September, when U.S. authorities conducted a large-scale labor raid that led to the arrest of 475 workers and a temporary halt to construction. Shares ended Friday 0.8 percent down at 363,000 won. 2026-01-09 15:54:56
OPINION: Time to open the next chapter for BTS and Bang Si-hyuk BTS is a global phenomenon. Yet its stature cannot be measured by sales figures, chart rankings, or stadium records alone. The group’s true significance lies in its origin story: seven unknown young men, without elite credentials, inherited privilege, or a glamorous starting line, rising to the top through discipline, creative labor, and mutual trust. That narrative itself became culture. For young people around the world, BTS offered a quiet but powerful lesson: it is not where you come from, but the direction you choose, that shapes the future. For parents, the group represented rare popular content that felt ethically and educationally trustworthy. Above all, BTS’s lyrics consistently pointed beyond present wounds toward dignity, resilience, and hope. This is why BTS became more than a music group. It became the face of K-Culture. Its fandom, ARMY, evolved not as a consumer bloc but as a global civic community bound by shared values. At this point, transformation is no longer optional. Without a credible next chapter, BTS cannot fully persuade its global audience. And without that trust, neither the moral credibility of K-Culture nor the deeper promise of K-Spirituality can be completed. Culture that loses ethical trust loses direction before it loses speed. The recent controversy surrounding Bang Si-hyuk is, first and foremost, a matter for legal judgment. This column does not presume guilt, nor does it attempt to substitute for judicial process. Its purpose is more limited—and more fundamental: to clarify the standards society must demand where cultural power and capital intersect. The supposed dilemma—hesitating to enforce the law for the sake of K-Pop, or hesitating to protect culture for the sake of the law—is a false one. K-Pop does not need to cry, and the law must not either. The law must apply equally to all, and culture cannot be an exception. At the same time, the presumption of innocence must be fully respected. The only way to honor both principles is timely, voluntary, and transparent action. Global cultural industries offer a clear lesson. After internal misconduct scandals and governance failures, Disney restored trust through independent investigations and public structural reforms. Britain’s BBC likewise pursued accountability and institutional change alongside legal proceedings. As cultural influence becomes a global asset, the standards of law and ethics do not soften; they become stricter. What is required of Bang Si-hyuk now is not a lawyer’s defensive strategy, but a cultural leader’s self-reckoning. First, independent of any investigation, there must be an immediate and public commitment to governance reform and strengthened internal controls—not vague declarations, but a concrete roadmap with timelines, benchmarks, and external oversight. Second, there must be a long-term decision to return a portion of accumulated success to the world’s most vulnerable children—those deprived of education and healing by war, poverty, and disaster. This should take the form not of symbolic donations, but of a professionally governed foundation with an independent board and transparent audits, supporting education, recovery, and access to culture. Such actions would not serve as absolution. They would represent an expansion of responsibility—a moment when a cultural ecosystem proves that the values it celebrates in art can be embodied in leadership. BTS has long sung about hope, dignity, and solidarity. The leader who built that ecosystem is now called to demonstrate those values through action. As the management thinker Peter Drucker once observed, leadership is defined by the courage not to evade responsibility. This is precisely what global ARMY is asking for: let the courts decide the legal questions, but show moral direction without delay. More importantly, this moment marks a crossroads for both K-Culture and K-Spirituality. If K-Culture is Korea’s global language of emotion and competitiveness, K-Spirituality is its ethical depth. Rooted in the ideal of Hongik Ingan—to benefit humanity and harmonize the world—this tradition is not confined to any single faith. When combined with Christian love, Buddhist compassion, Confucian benevolence, and Taoist respect for nature, K-Culture can grow beyond entertainment into a universal human culture. That ethical depth is what gives cultural influence durability. Time is limited. The world moves quickly, and trust responds to speed. Hesitation is read as silence, and silence erases meaning. If decisive action is taken now, it will not be remembered as crisis management. It will be remembered as the moment the next chapter of BTS was opened—and as a signal that K-Culture has matured into a civilization-level culture grounded in ethics as well as artistry. A renewed BTS can persuade ARMY. ARMY can persuade the world. And at that horizon, K-Culture and K-Spirituality can finally stand complete—together. Now is the time for that decision. *The author is the President of Global Economic and Financial Research Institute (GEFRI) 2026-01-09 14:55:08
North Korean leader vows 'unconditional support' in letter to Putin SEOUL, January 9 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged "unconditional support" in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, state media reported on Friday. According to the state-run and the Russian Federation, the strategic interests of the two countries," he also wrote, suggesting further strengthening of military ties between the two countries. Since KCNA described it as a reply, Putin appears to have sent a letter congratulating Kim, whose birthday was believed to be the previous day, though North Korean media disclosed no details. In October last year, Kim also sent Putin a congratulatory message for his birthday. The secretive country has never officially disclosed Kim's birth date, but it is widely thought to be Jan. 8, 1984. 2026-01-09 14:50:11
Italian PM first foreign leader to visit Seoul after relocation of Cheong Wa Dae SEOUL, January 9 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung has invited Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to visit Seoul, Cheong Wa Dae said on Friday. She is expected to stay in Seoul for three days starting Jan. 17 for talks with Lee. Her trip will be the first visit by a European leader since Lee took office last year and the first foreign guest since the presidential office returned to Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul. The two leaders are expected to exchange views on various issues to strengthen bilateral cooperation and discuss international affairs. Italy is South Korea's fourth-largest trading partner in the European Union and a popular tourist destination, visited by about 1 million South Koreans each year. Separately, Lee will seek support and attention for the safety of South Korean athletes who will compete at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and Milan, scheduled to kick off early next month. 2026-01-09 14:16:19
South Korea's overseas construction orders hit highest level in 11 years SEOUL, January 9 (AJP) - South Korea's overseas construction orders hit an 11-year high by shifting away from heavy reliance on the Middle East and diversifying into markets such as Europe, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on Friday. The ministry said overseas orders totaled $47.27 billion, the highest since 2014 and the first time combined annual orders have exceeded $40 billion since 2015. In the industry's 60-year history, annual orders have exceeded $40 billion only nine times including last year. After declining in 2021, overseas orders have risen for four consecutive years, totaling $30.98 billion in 2022, $33.31 billion in 2023 and $37.11 billion in 2024. Europe drove the increase, with orders in the region reaching $20.16 billion or 42.6 percent of the total. The major deal was a nuclear power project in the Czech Republic, where Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power won a $18.7 billion order to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors in Dukovany. Orders from the Middle East fell from a year earlier but remained above $10 billion for the fourth consecutive year, accounting for 25.1 percent, followed by North America and the Pacific region at $6.8 billion or 14.3 percent. By country, the Czech Republic led with $18.7 billion in orders, followed by the United States ($5.8 billion) and Iraq ($3.5 billion). By type of work, industrial facilities accounted for $35.3 billion or 74.6 percent of the total, but the ministry said high value-added projects related to energy infrastructure such as nuclear, solar and combined-cycle power generation helped support overall growth. 2026-01-09 13:43:39
[[CES 2026]] Tactile technology seeks to preserve Japan's endangered craft skills LAS VEGAS, January 08 (AJP)-The art of craftsmanship in Japan has long rested on an exceptional sensitivity to detail — from silverware and precision metalwork to wagashi sweets — refined through the human hand. As Japan’s master artisans age and fewer successors emerge, that legacy is increasingly at risk. A sensor-to-tactile feedback technology called Tacthancer offers a novel response. The technology was demonstrated Thursday (local time) at the booth of DIC Corporation in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES, presenting a materials-based solution to a challenge long faced by craft and manufacturing industries. The demonstration was led by Ichikawa Atsushi, 38, from Chiba Prefecture. he first asked to slide AJP reporter's index finger across a metal plate with bare skin. The surface felt nearly smooth, with dents and burrs barely perceptible. When the same motion was repeated while wearing a finger cot fitted with Tacthancer, the minute irregularities became immediately pronounced. The device resembles the finger cots commonly used by watchmakers. Beneath its soft outer layer lies a flat internal structure that is more rigid than it appears. Rather than relying on electronics, sensors, or software, the design mechanically amplifies subtle surface variations, translating them into tactile feedback that the fingertip can clearly detect. “Veteran masters in these industries can feel the tiniest scratch marks — invisible to the eye — with their fingertips,” Ichikawa said. “But the community of master craftsmen is aging, and it is extremely difficult for younger workers to acquire this level of sensitivity.” Tacthancer operates without power, requiring no batteries or wiring. According to explanations at the booth, the technology depends entirely on material structure to enhance tactile sensitivity, enabling ultra-fine texture detection through purely passive means. Its simplicity allows it to be worn directly on the finger or integrated into gloves used in industrial environments. Ichikawa said the technology is intended for fields where surface quality has traditionally been judged by human sensation rather than instruments. These include precision metalworking, painting and coating processes, and traditional crafts such as urushi lacquerware, where artisans rely on tactile judgment refined over decades. “This technology can help younger workers carry on a master’s work without requiring many years of training,” he said. At a trade show dominated by automation, robotics, and data-driven inspection systems, the Tacthancer demonstration took a markedly different approach. Rather than replacing skilled judgment or converting touch into digital signals, the device enhances how physical information is conveyed to the human hand — keeping evaluation grounded in sensation. In doing so, it suggests that preserving craftsmanship may not require abandoning tradition for machines, but rethinking how human ability itself can be quietly extended. 2026-01-09 13:08:47