Journalist

Lee Hugh
  • Korean authorities up penalties and tax probe to fight online scalpers
    Korean authorities up penalties and tax probe to fight online scalpers SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - Scalping of concert and sports tickets has exploded across Korea—surging 41-fold over the past five years—despite tougher penalties and enforcement, prompting regulators and tax authorities to intensify punitive measures. Ticketbay, the country's largest resale platform, is now capping all resale prices at 1 million won ($681) in an attempt to rein in runaway premiums and speculative behavior. The platform said Monday that listings with "abnormally high prices" had surged, fueling user complaints and public anger. Starting Jan. 1, "any amount exceeding the 1 million won ceiling will be automatically blocked, regardless of seat section or grade," the company said, adding that the new limit was necessary to curb distorted pricing. The rise in scalping has been especially pronounced in professional baseball, which drew a record 12 million spectators this year—its largest audience since the league launched in 1982. A wave of younger and female fans, combined with upgraded stadium experience, has pushed demand to historic highs and emboldened scalpers. Data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shows suspected scalping cases in professional sports jumped from 6,237 in 2020 to 259,334 in 2025, based on figures recorded through August and expected to rise further by year-end. On Ticketbay alone, scalping cases reached 25,188 by August—nearly eight times last year's 3,613. The concert industry has been hit just as hard, driven by the global frenzy for K-pop events. At G-Dragon's two-day solo concert in March at Goyang Stadium in Gyeonggi Province, VIP seats priced at 220,000 won were resold for as much as 6.8 million won. Hoang Phuong Ly, a 32-year-old Vietnamese fan who paid 1 million won to attend, said, "Buying at the original price through official channels isn't impossible, but after trying multiple times and failing, I can understand why some fans feel pushed toward resale tickets." For G-Dragon's upcoming encore concert on Dec. 12–14 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, VIP seats priced at 230,000 won are now listed for up to 9.8 million won on Ticketbay. Despite the scale of the problem, Korea's regulations have stayed lax. Under current law, scalping is punishable only when macro ticketing software—programs that snap up large volumes of tickets faster than ordinary users—is used. Most individual transactions conducted through platforms such as X, community forums, or private marketplaces remain effectively outside regulatory reach. The government has moved to change that. "A proposed amendment to the National Sports Promotion Act includes imposing fines of up to 50 times the profit gained from illegal resale. It could significantly reduce the financial motivation for scalping," said Um Kyong-chon, lawyer at Lawfirm Family. The National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee recently approved the amendment, which would outlaw scalping regardless of macro use, enable the government to confiscate resale profits, and impose fines of up to 50 times the unauthorized amount. At the same time, the National Tax Service has launched its first large-scale tax investigation into high-volume scalpers who profited from reselling tickets to K-pop concerts and sports events late last month. Authorities identified 17 individuals—ranging from schoolteachers and public-sector workers to entrepreneurs—who allegedly distributed more than 20 billion won worth of scalped tickets. Some macro brokers were found driving high-end imported cars while receiving tax benefits, while others sold macro software or direct queue-bypass links for cash without reporting income. 2025-12-03 16:44:22
  • Chief Justice calls for thorough discussion on judicial reform
    Chief Justice calls for thorough discussion on judicial reform SEOUL, December 3 (AJP) - The Supreme Court's Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae emphasized the need for thorough public discussion on ongoing talks for judicial reform, citing the importance of protecting citizens' rights and maintaining social order. Speaking at a luncheon with President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Cho said, "While not everyone may agree with judicial decisions, these verdicts gain legitimacy and trust through the constitutional three-tier court system." This was seen as his cautious stance toward the ruling Democratic Party (DP)’s proposals for judicial reform, including increasing the number of top court justices, as well as establishing a separate bench to review impeached former President Yoon Seok Yeol's cases. Yoon has been on trial for charges of insurrection and abuse of power related to his botched Dec. 3 declaration of martial law last year. Cho's comments on the three-tier system were interpreted as a veiled opposition to the DP's proposals for a retrial system, which many fear could delay cases or be abused to allow those with wealth or power to evade accountability. He expressed hope that the ongoing discussions would serve the public's best interests. Cho also reaffirmed the judiciary's stance that Yoon's declaration of martial law was "unconstitutional" but refrained from commenting further as relevant trials are ongoing. Cho concluded by affirming his belief in the judiciary's independence, stressing that each court would continue to deliberate and deliver rulings independently in accordance with the constitution and the law. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-03 16:42:46
  • Samsung wins national technology award for GDDR7 as AI inference demand grows
    Samsung wins national technology award for GDDR7 as AI inference demand grows SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ latest graphics memory was recognized by South Korea’s government as a key technology underpinning the country’s future AI competitiveness, amid growing industry focus on AI inference rather than model training. At the 2025 Korea Tech Festival, hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy at COEX in Seoul on Wednesday, Samsung received the Korea Technology Awards Presidential Prize for its 12-nanometer, 40 gigabits-per-second, 24-gigabit GDDR7 DRAM, according to Samsung. The award is granted annually to technologies judged to have made outstanding contributions to national industrial competitiveness. The company said the GDDR7 product is designed for graphics processing and AI computation, and has been adopted across use cases including high-end graphics cards, gaming consoles, laptops and data center servers that require thermal stability and reliability. The award comes as the AI industry shifts part of its focus from model training to inference, where cost efficiency and power consumption have become increasingly important. GDDR7 offers advantages over high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in terms of cost, power efficiency and form factor, making it suitable for large-scale inference deployments, Samsung said. Major AI platform companies are expanding adoption of graphics memory for inference workloads. Nvidia has said it plans to equip its Rubin CPX inference-focused GPU with up to 128 gigabytes of GDDR7, a move analysts say could broaden demand for high-speed graphics DRAM. Market research firm TrendForce has forecast that demand for GDDR7 will rise sharply alongside growing GPU shipments for edge AI and generative AI applications, including Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 5090 series. Samsung has been expanding its portfolio of next-generation memory products alongside GDDR7. The company said its sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory product, HBM4, based on 1c DRAM, is undergoing customer evaluation, while development is also under way for compute express link (CXL) memory modules using the CXL 3.1 standard. In addition, Samsung’s advanced research arm has published research on ferroelectric transistor technology for low-power NAND flash in the journal Nature, which the company said could significantly reduce power consumption if commercialized. Samsung also said several of its semiconductor products, including a quantum security chip and next-generation mobile memory, have been selected for innovation awards ahead of the CES 2026 technology show in Las Vegas. The Korea Technology Awards are presented annually by the government to recognize technologies deemed to strengthen the country’s industrial competitiveness, with winners selected from corporate research and development achievements. 2025-12-03 16:36:05
  • Newcomers to Korean stock markets in roller-coaster ride
    Newcomers to Korean stock markets in roller-coaster ride SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - Newcomers to South Korea’s stock market are drawing increased warnings from the Korea Exchange (KRX), as freshly listed companies swing sharply in price and trading volume. Samyang Biopharm, which debuted on Nov. 24, was designated an investment-warning issue on Tuesday after its shares overheated in early trading. Nota, listed on Nov. 3, received the same label from Nov. 11 to 25 as AI-themed retail buying sent the stock surging before a rapid pullback. IT Chem, which listed in August, also saw wide intraday swings and was placed under warning from Sept. 26 to Oct. 20. The Pinkfong Company, best known for its children’s content franchise, was flagged as an investment-caution stock on Nov. 19 after its post-listing jump triggered abnormal-trading indicators. The KRX’s alert system classifies stocks under “caution,” “warning” and “risk” categories depending on price spikes, trading surges or excessive short-term concentration. Designations can lead to tighter credit-transaction limits, additional disclosure obligations and temporary restrictions intended to cool speculative trading. The creator of Baby Shark drew early caution status as its trading volume and price surged immediately after listing. Nota’s volatility was fueled by momentum-driven demand from retail investors chasing AI exposure, sending shares on a quick ascent before correcting. Market observers note that newly listed companies tend to have relatively small free floats and attract heavy interest from individual investors—conditions that often produce sharp, sentiment-driven swings. “Since mid-year, the IPO market has been buoyant, and that naturally brings short-term distortions in pricing,” said a securities-industry official. “Investment warnings act as a necessary brake.” Some analysts warn that repeated designations could spill over into broader market sentiment if investors interpret them as signaling stress in specific sectors. “Caution or warning labels usually stem from isolated events,” a Korea Exchange official said. “But when one stock surges excessively, it can amplify volatility across related names.” * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-03 16:34:43
  • Korea sees largest monthly stock outflow as foreign funds pivot to bonds
    Korea sees largest monthly stock outflow as foreign funds pivot to bonds SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - Foreign investors offloaded a net 14.2 trillion won ($9.7 billion) worth of South Korean equities in November, the largest monthly divestment since records began in the 2000s, the International Finance Center (IFC) said in a report on Wednesday. The outflow surpassed the previous highs of 12.9 trillion won logged in March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and 10.1 trillion won in April this year amid U.S. tariff-related tensions. While foreign investors exited equities, they sharply increased their exposure to South Korean bonds. Net inflows reached 17.2 trillion won in November, pushing foreign bond holdings from 312.3 trillion won at the end of October to a record 329.5 trillion won a month later. Shin Sul-wee, senior researcher at the IFC, said the large outward flow from stocks reflected rising turnover amid a 57.3 percent jump in the Korean market’s capitalization this year. “The absolute scale of stock sales in November was significant,” Shin said. “But this appears to be portfolio rebalancing in response to higher stock prices and concerns over a potential AI bubble, rather than a sign of deteriorating fundamentals for Korean equities.” * This article, published by Economic Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-03 16:34:43
  • Olive Young a must-visit stop in Korea owe 25% of sales to foreigners
    Olive Young a must-visit stop in Korea owe 25% of sales to foreigners SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - A quarter of revenue at CJ Olive Young stores across South Korea now comes from foreign customers, whose purchases surpassed the 1 trillion won ($770 million) mark this year in a sharp illustration of K-beauty’s global pull, the beauty franchise said Wednesday. From January through November, spending by foreign nationals at Olive Young’s offline stores nationwide reached the milestone, marking a 26-fold increase from 2022, when Korea’s tourism industry was still emerging from the pandemic. Foreign shoppers accounted for more than 25 percent of offline sales this year, compared with about 2 percent in 2022 and just over 10 percent in 2023, as the retailer’s outlets solidified their status as a “must-visit” stop for visitors seeking Korean beauty trends. Nearly nine out of ten foreign cosmetics purchases in South Korea were made at Olive Young, according to Global Tax Free, which tracks tax-refund transactions. Shoppers from 190 countries used tax-refund services at the retailer, effectively giving it a United Nations-wide footprint and turning its nationwide network into an inbound export platform generating significant foreign-currency inflows. Shopping patterns among overseas visitors are evolving as well. According to Olive Young’s internally published report, foreign customers are buying more items, traveling farther between stores and exploring a wider range of brands. About 40 percent of foreign shoppers visited two or more Olive Young locations during their trips, moving between flagship town stores and neighborhood outlets with differing layouts and product curation. Spending outside the Seoul metropolitan area rose sharply, with purchasing in non-capital regions increasing 86.8-fold from 2022, led by Jeju, Busan and Gangwon. An Olive Young official said the chain’s blend of curated flagship stores and region-specific outlets helped attract foreign shoppers seeking both novelty and breadth. Unlike monobrand boutiques, the multi-brand format allows customers to compare and explore a broad range of Korean beauty products in a single location, the official told AJP, adding that the most visited store among foreigners is the Myeongdong Town branch. The official said frequent monthly promotions tailored to seasonal changes have also kept foreign tourists highly engaged, reinforcing Olive Young’s reputation as fast-moving and trend-driven. Accessibility has emerged as another competitive advantage as Korea’s tourist footprint widens. Tourists increasingly travel beyond Seoul, the official noted, and while duty-free shops are concentrated in limited districts, Olive Young branches are ubiquitous nationwide, from Jeju to Busan, making them an easy and familiar stop for overseas visitors. As foreign demand broadens, customers are also purchasing a wider array of brands and product categories. More than half of foreign shoppers bought items from six or more brands, while one-third purchased products from ten or more. Interest is expanding beyond beauty into wellness as sales of health and lifestyle products grow alongside skincare and makeup, reflecting the global uptake of Korean self-care routines. Olive Young said it plans to continue expanding its “global tourist commercial district” strategy, enhancing in-store services and linking offline experiences with its cross-border e-commerce platform to sustain demand after tourists return home. “Reaching 1 trillion won in foreign customer purchases is meaningful because it was achieved together with small and indie brands that met global consumers through Olive Young,” the official said. “We will continue working to ensure K-beauty becomes not only a trend, but a reason for people to revisit Korea.” 2025-12-03 16:20:30
  • HBM4 becomes the new battleground in Nvidia–Google chip war
    HBM4 becomes the new battleground in Nvidia–Google chip war SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - The real battle between Nvidia’s GPU-led ecosystem and Google’s rapidly expanding tensor processing unit (TPU) platform and the outcome hinges on how quickly and at what scale the world's top memory makers based in South Korea can keep up in the rollout of next-gen high-bandwidth memory dubbed HBM4. Samsung Electronics that had been laggard in the early-stage HBM race is positioned for an unexpected leap as it accelerates the conversions to feed the surging demand for memory tied to next-generation AI accelerators. The rollout schedules for Nvidia’s Rubin GPU and Google’s Ironwood TPU signal a broader shift inside the AI hardware stack: memory—rather than compute silicon—is increasingly determining speed, scale and deployment timelines across the sector. Nvidia’s Rubin platform, slated for mass production in 2026, is built around HBM4 and aims for up to 288 gigabytes of memory per superchip, allowing larger models and faster training cycles. Google’s Ironwood TPU, still paired with HBM3E, is widely expected to migrate to HBM4 as inference workloads balloon and energy efficiency become a bigger priority. Other hyperscalers are moving the same direction. Amazon’s Trainium2 and Microsoft’s Maia accelerators are already standardized on HBM-based designs, reinforcing the industry consensus that memory bandwidth—not transistor counts or core architectures—is now the binding constraint. Most new accelerators integrate six to 12 HBM stacks each, meaning chip rollout is only as fast as memory suppliers can expand output. That has put Samsung and SK hynix in the middle of the AI arms race. Samsung recently completed internal production readiness approval for HBM4, signaling it has cleared key development milestones and is prepared to shift quickly into mass production once customer specifications lock in. SK hynix, the current leader in the HBM segment, finished its HBM4 development earlier this year and has already begun sample shipments to large hyperscaler customers, cementing its early advantage. But supply, not just technology, may determine the next phase of competition. By late 2025, Samsung’s monthly HBM wafer capacity is projected at roughly 170,000 wafers, slightly above SK hynix’s estimated 160,000 wafers, while Micron trails at less than one-third of Samsung’s expected level. Samsung is pushing that advantage by converting portions of its P3 and P4 facilities in Pyeongtaek into 1c-class DRAM lines geared for HBM production, while racing ahead with structural construction of the P5 plant. The strategy leans on Samsung’s vast legacy DRAM footprint, which it can retool faster than it can build new fabs. SK hynix is taking the opposite approach: speeding the ramp-up of new facilities, including boosting utilization at the M16 fab in Icheon and accelerating integration of the Cheongju-based M15X fab. Once M15X is fully operational, SK hynix is expected to narrow Samsung’s capacity edge. For hyperscalers, these diverging capacity paths are prompting a diversification of processor architectures and memory sourcing. Nvidia remains the largest consumer of HBM as GPUs dominate AI training workloads, but Google’s growing TPU deployments create a parallel demand stream that strengthens memory makers’ leverage without undermining Nvidia’s consumption. The result is a split but mutually reinforcing ecosystem: SK hynix remains deeply tied to Nvidia’s GPU roadmap, while Samsung is broadening across both GPU and TPU platforms, supplying memory for Nvidia, Google and Broadcom-linked TPU designs. Despite the differing strategies behind GPUs, TPUs and custom AI chips, all major platforms converge on the same bottleneck: memory bandwidth and availability. The industry’s push toward HBM4 underscores how high-performance memory has quietly become the defining resource of AI infrastructure. For all the attention paid to chip architectures, the Nvidia–Google rivalry may ultimately be determined by which ecosystem secures stable, scalable access to next-generation HBM—and which memory supplier can expand capacity fast enough to keep the AI boom fed. 2025-12-03 16:08:27
  • Former PPP leader apologizes for martial law debacle, calls for unity to move forward
    Former PPP leader apologizes for martial law debacle, calls for unity to move forward SEOUL, December 3 (AJP) - Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), apologized for failing to prevent martial law a year ago, urging South Korea to focus on the future. Speaking at a press conference in Yeouido, Seoul, Han said, "We cannot abandon hope for the future because of past mistakes." Recalling how he rushed to the National Assembly to lift martial law shortly after disgraced former President Yoon Seok Yeol declared it, "A year ago, South Korea faced martial law but overcame it within hours," he said, crediting it to the country's democratic citizens. Han emphasized that he opposed martial law, which was also the party's decisive action demonstrating its commitment to stand with the people. He then criticized the ruling Democratic Party (DP), saying it paralyzed the government through a series of attempts to impeach key officials, along with unilateral decisions using its parliamentary majority, which eventually led Yoon to resort to an "absurd" gambit. "A year later, democracy has not been fully restored," Han lamented, criticizing the current administration under President Lee Jae Myung for making things worse. "If Yoon ruined the country with martial law, Lee is doing so with everything except martial law." Han called for breaking the chains of past mistakes to move forward, urging unity among those with differing views to protect the country's remarkable achievements from decades of democratic struggles and economic development. When asked about criticism over the PPP's lack of apology, he said, "Apologies should continue until the public deems them sufficient." Meanwhile, about 25 PPP lawmakers including four-term lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo also issued a public apology, vowing to sever their ties with Yoon. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-03 16:00:44
  • Korea must devise fundamental youth joblessness approach as AI worsens job market
    Korea must devise fundamental youth joblessness approach as AI worsens job market SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - South Korea must map out a comprehensive youth career program and introduce structural flexibility in working conditions to address the deepening mismatch in its labor market, with AI poised to further worsen job prospects for highly educated young adults – nearly half of whom already unemployed, scholars at home and abroad warn. The share of university graduates among the unemployed reached 49.6 percent in September, up from 47.8 percent in 2024 and 37.7 percent in 2010, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The jobless rate among college or higher-degree holders has continued to climb despite a shrinking youth population and stable headline employment. Last month, there were only 0.42 job openings per job seeker—the lowest October figure since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Registrations on the government’s Work24 platform fell 6.6 percent from a year earlier, while new job postings declined 19.2 percent. Total employment in October increased slightly to 29 million, but the number of employed 15- to 29-year-olds plunged by 163,000, marking the 36th consecutive monthly fall. It now takes an average of 11.5 months for a young Korean to secure a first job—the longest delay on record. AJP spoke with labor and welfare scholars in Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom to examine the causes behind the trend. Structural Mismatch in Economic Stagnation Professor Lee Byoung-hoon of Chung-Ang University points to a structural imbalance between educational attainment and labor demand, a pattern increasingly seen across advanced economies. “Most of today’s youth joblessness involves highly educated graduates,” he said. “Their numbers have surged, but labor market demand has not. Economic growth has become employment-poor; capital now flows into technology and automation rather than labor.” Lee recommends that Korea benchmark the European Union’s “Youth Guarantee,” which treats unemployment not as a simple shortage of vacancies but as a breakdown in the school-to-work transition—a passage now prolonged and painful for many young adults. “Policies that focus only on creating jobs, like temporary internships or short-term schemes, have limited impact,” he said. “The Youth Guarantee approach recognizes that this is a structural transition issue. Governments must support young people’s entire journey—housing, debt relief, mental health, and career counselling—so they can cross the bridge from education to work.” Labor Market Rigidity and Risk Aversion Kim Jin-young, economics professor at Korea University, blames Korea’s rigid, union-leaning labor laws for discouraging companies from hiring inexperienced workers. “Because dismissing staff is difficult, firms become extremely cautious when recruiting,” he said. “They prefer experienced employees because it’s hard to gauge the ability of newcomers,” making market entry especially harsh for young job seekers. Kim argues that greater flexibility—allowing easier movement for both employers and workers—would shorten the long and often hesitant job-matching process. “Workers should be able to move between roles until they find the right fit,” he said. “Right now, both sides feel locked in, leading to long, cautious job searches.” International Pressures and AI Disruption Nobel laureate David Card of UC Berkeley cited four global forces undermining Korea’s youth employment: “1) disruption caused by US tariffs and trade policy. 2) AI. AI is heavily disrupting some sectors that use a lot of entry level software development engineers. 3) Competition from China. 4) Supply imbalances… supply outpaced the growth in demand for these workers.” A recent Bank of Korea report found that nearly all 211,000 youth job losses over the past three years occurred in industries most exposed to AI. Graduates with bachelor’s and master’s degrees face the highest automation risk, while doctorate holders and vocational-track workers have been less affected. Beyond Welfare: Building “Good Jobs” For Yoon Hong-sik, professor of social welfare at Inha University, the crisis reveals a deeper flaw in Korea’s welfare and industrial model. “We once believed AI would only replace low- or mid-skill work, but it’s now hollowing out high-skilled roles too,” he said. “University education must shift from functional training to cultivating creativity and critical thinking—skills machines cannot replicate.” Yoon argues that welfare states should not only compensate the jobless but actively foster quality employment. “In Nordic countries, 25–30 percent of all workers are employed in the public sector, providing universal social services. Korea’s share is barely 8 percent,” he said. “We need two pillars: robust public-sector jobs that deliver care, housing, and education, and a vibrant private sector that builds on this human capital to create advanced service industries.” Rethinking What Education Means Marcus Alexander, professor at London Business School, says the takeaway for students is increasingly clear. “Learning ‘facts’ is irrelevant; learning how to think effectively is more important than ever,” he said. “The critical issue is not about getting a degree but about what graduates actually learn from very different courses and institutions.” 2025-12-03 15:49:35
  • Tesla tops BMW as No. 1 imported car brand in South Korea
    Tesla tops BMW as No. 1 imported car brand in South Korea SEOUL, December 03 (AJP) - Tesla has overtaken BMW to become the best-selling imported car brand in South Korea, industry data showed on Wednesday. The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said new registrations of imported passenger vehicles rose 23.4 percent in November from a year earlier to 29,357 units. Cumulative registrations from January to November climbed 16.3 percent to 278,769 units. Tesla led the monthly tally with 7,632 units, outpacing BMW with 6,526 units and Mercedes-Benz with 6,139. Volvo followed with 1,459 units, China’s BYD with 1,164, and Lexus with 1,039. European marques continued to dominate the market with 17,996 units, equivalent to 61.3 percent, while American brands accounted for 8,139 units (27.7 percent). Hybrid models remained the most popular fuel type with 15,064 units, or 51.3 percent, followed by electric vehicles. Tesla’s Model Y was the top-selling imported vehicle in November with 4,604 units, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz E 200 and the Tesla Model Y Long Range. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-03 15:06:17