Journalist
Lee Hugh
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Fast-track immigration at Inchon Airport now available for travelers from 18 countries SEOUL, December 1 (AJP) - Eighteen countries are now eligible for automated immigration clearance, up from four, the Ministry of Justice said on Monday. The move aims to shorten waiting times for foreign visitors entering the country. The newly eligible countries include Australia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the U.K., and others. The ministry said, "We selected countries based on reciprocal immigration agreements, the scale of bilateral human exchanges, diplomatic ties, and other criteria." The number of booths for automated immigration clearance at Inchon International Airport will also be increased to improve accessibility for foreign visitors. About 40 percent of foreign arrivals are expected to use automated immigration, with the ministry planning to expand the service to other airports across the country. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-01 17:31:00 -
Asian markets mixed as BOJ rate-hike fears hit Tokyo shares SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - Asian stock markets closed mixed on Monday, with Japanese shares tumbling on renewed speculation that the Bank of Japan may soon raise interest rates. In Seoul, the benchmark KOSPI slipped 0.2 percent to 3,920.37, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ rose 1.1 percent to 922.38. Institutional investors offloaded a net 233 billion won ($158 million) worth of shares, outweighing net purchases of 53 billion won by retail investors and 216 billion won by foreigners. The KOSPI opened 1.1 percent higher at 3,967.92 and climbed to 3,977.31 early in the session, but momentum faded after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled the possibility of a rate increase. The index fluctuated between gains and losses before ending slightly lower. Large-cap chipmakers were mixed. Samsung Electronics edged up 0.3 percent to 100,800 won ($69), and SK hynix gained 1.5 percent to 538,000 won. Battery maker LG Energy Solution advanced 1.2 percent, while Samsung Biologics rose 2.6 percent. Automakers underperformed: Hyundai Motor fell 2.7 percent to 254,500 won, and Kia dropped 1.6 percent to 112,300 won. Shares of e-commerce giant Coupang, hit by the largest-ever consumer data leak, tumbled in New York pre-market trading, falling about 9 percent to $25.60 as of 3:30 a.m. EST. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.9 percent to 49,303.28, pressured by broad declines in major blue chips. Toyota fell 1.6 percent, Sony lost 3.5 percent, SoftBank slipped 1.7 percent, Nintendo dropped 1.6 percent, and Honda slid 2.4 percent. Market expectations for a BOJ policy shift intensified after Ueda said he would “make an appropriate judgment” on a rate hike. The central bank meets on Dec. 18–19. Local media reported that a move from the current 0.5 percent benchmark to 0.75 percent is under consideration. Ueda’s remarks pushed bond yields higher, strengthened the yen and weighed on equity markets. China’s Shanghai Composite Index bucked the regional trend, rising 0.7 percent to 3,914.01. 2025-12-01 17:28:24 -
Korean memory makers set to benefit whoever wins in GPU vs TPU SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - As Google’s tensor processing unit (TPU) rises as a formidable challenge to Nvidia’s near-monopoly in AI computing, the clearest signals of how the rivalry is unfolding may not be found in the chips themselves, but in the earnings and order books of Korea’s two memory giants: Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Samsung is said to have supplied more than 60 percent of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in Google’s TPU designs through Broadcom, Google’s chip-design partner, and is expected to expand its share next year with sixth-generation HBM4. Until the first half of this year, SK hynix had been the primary supplier of HBM3E chips for Google’s Ironwood TPU, but that dynamic may shift in the second half and into next year, analysts say. Each TPU, typically equipped with six to eight HBM stacks, is also believed to come at up to 80 percent lower cost than Nvidia’s H100 GPU — a key reason hyperscalers are accelerating adoption. A structural shift beneath the GPU–TPU rivalry Behind the GPU-versus-TPU debate lies a broader transformation in how artificial intelligence infrastructure is being built. According to Kyung Hee-kwon, a senior researcher at the Korea Industrial Research Institute, the global AI transition is increasingly being shaped not by chipmakers, but by big tech platforms designing computing systems around their own data and workloads. “AI today is being led by platform companies — what many refer to as the Magnificent Seven,” Kyung said. “These firms are focused on agentic AI that enables large-scale automation, rather than fully autonomous human-like intelligence.” For years, Nvidia’s GPUs were seen as indispensable for AI computation. But semiconductors, Kyung noted, are tools — not ends in themselves. “If a chip delivers better power efficiency and performance for a specific purpose, there is no inherent reason it must be a GPU,” he said. Google’s TPU, developed over several years and now deployed at scale in its data centers, exemplifies this shift. Unlike Nvidia, Google is not bound by the CUDA software ecosystem and instead operates a vertically integrated stack, allowing TPU accelerators to demonstrate efficiency gains in targeted workloads. Kyung emphasized that TPUs and GPUs serve complementary roles. “This is not about GPUs being replaced altogether. GPUs remain critical for training and general-purpose computing. What we are seeing is the emergence of alternative accelerators — especially where power efficiency and supply constraints matter.” Supply bottlenecks push platforms toward custom silicon With global foundry capacity stretched and delivery lead times extending into years, hyperscalers are increasingly unwilling to wait for GPUs. “AI has become a technology tied to national competitiveness and security,” Kyung said. “If GPU supply cannot meet immediate demand, companies will seek viable alternatives that can be deployed now.” This pressure has accelerated a wave of custom-silicon development far beyond Google, including Amazon’s Trainium, Microsoft’s Maia, and in-house AI accelerators at Tesla and other platforms. Memory remains the constant, regardless of who wins For Korea’s memory makers, the implications are structurally favorable regardless of which accelerator architecture gains ground. “Whether computing shifts from GPUs to custom accelerators, Korea’s role fundamentally remains the same,” Kyung said. “High-bandwidth memory, advanced mobile DRAM and graphics memory are essential across all AI architectures. What changes is the route to market, not the underlying demand.” This explains why Samsung Electronics and SK hynix sit at the center of both GPU- and TPU-driven ecosystems — and why their contrasting exposures offer a clearer lens into the AI race than any single chip announcement. According to Park Yu-ak, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, Samsung’s growing presence in custom accelerators reflects its broader footprint across memory and foundry, while SK hynix continues to anchor the high-end GPU market through its HBM leadership. Analysts say Samsung’s relative composure also reflects expectations of a sharp earnings rebound beyond the current cycle. KB Securities projects Samsung Electronics’ operating profit to reach 64 trillion won in 2026- more than double 2024 levels — driven by tighter memory supply conditions and rising demand for high-bandwidth memory as AI infrastructure expands. 2025-12-01 17:23:15 -
Coupang's meteoric rise meets its most serious stress test yet SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - Coupang’s latest data leak has renewed scrutiny of the South Korean e-commerce giant, underscoring concerns that its operational systems have not kept pace with its rapid expansion. The company said on Monday that 33.7 million user accounts were affected — an extraordinary figure showing the breach could have affected nearly the country's entire population. The disclosure comes as Coupang remains under pressure over workplace safety following a string of deaths among night-shift workers at its logistics facilities. On Nov. 26, a man in his 50s was found dead during an overnight shift at a center in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. Five days earlier, a worker in his 30s suffered cardiac arrest at a facility in Hwaseong and later died in hospital. They were the third and fourth night-shift fatalities at Coupang this year. Since 2020, at least 27 deaths among the company’s warehouse and delivery workers have been reported by South Korean media. Despite the mounting operational controversies, Coupang has grown into one of the most valuable companies in Asia. The company’s market capitalization reached $51.4 billion as of Monday, far outpacing the $35 billion valuation of Hyundai Motor Group. If listed domestically, Coupang would rank as South Korea’s fourth most valuable firm, behind Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and LG Energy Solution. Coupang reported record third-quarter revenue of 13.6 trillion won ($9.2 billion) in 2025, along with operating profit of 238 billion won. Active customers — defined as those making at least one purchase — rose 10 percent from a year earlier to 24.7 million, driven by increased spending in its core Rocket Delivery service. Founded in 2010 by Korean-American entrepreneur Bom Kim, Coupang began as a social commerce startup selling discounted attraction tickets before pivoting to full e-commerce. The launch of Rocket Delivery in 2014 — backed by massive investments in proprietary logistics centers — reshaped Korea’s retail landscape with next-day and overnight fulfillment. The model initially generated widening losses but delivered exponential growth, helping the company build an 80-percent nationwide coverage footprint and a logistics network spanning 55 million square feet. Rocket Delivery and its offshoots — Dawn Delivery and Rocket Fresh, launched in 2018 — have driven sharp increases in customer loyalty and order volume. Coupang posted its first annual profit in 2023 after 13 consecutive years of losses. Revenue reached an all-time high of 41.3 trillion won ($28.1 billion) in 2024 — more than 86 times its 2013 disclosure of 477.8 billion won. Active customers grew from 14.85 million in 2020 to 22.8 million in 2024. Coupang entered the Fortune 200 in 2023 and 2024 and advanced into the Fortune 150 in 2025 — cementing its status among the world’s largest companies even as it confronts intensifying scrutiny over data security and labor practices. 2025-12-01 17:23:00 -
NewJeans drop social media moniker ahead of comeback after legal dispute SEOUL, December 1 (AJP) - K-pop girl group NewJeans has deleted their short-lived social media account used during their dispute with management agency ADOR, sparking anticipation for their impending comeback. The account under the name of "NJZ," which served as the quintet's main channel to communicate with fans, is no longer accessible as of Monday. The girls created the account earlier this year under their own new name to rebrand themselves amid escalating tensions with ADOR, following their decision to terminate their contract with the agency over alleged breaches of obligation and negligence. But after a court in October upheld ADOR's exclusive contract with the girls as valid, they expressed their intention to return to the agency, effectively ending the legal battle. Meanwhile, Min Hee-jin, the former ADOR CEO who mentored NewJeans, recently launched a new agency, signaling her move toward an independent path. 2025-12-01 16:57:51 -
Hyundai Motor's global sales fall 2.4 percent in November SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor said on Monday it sold 349,507 vehicles worldwide in November, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, as both domestic and overseas sales declined. Domestic sales fell 3.4 percent to 61,008 units. Sedan sales totaled 18,099 units, including 6,499 Grandeurs, 5,897 Sonatas, and 5,459 Avantes. Sales of recreational vehicles reached 22,643 units, led by the Palisade with 5,124 units, followed by the Santa Fe (3,947), Tucson (5,384), Kona (2,743) and Casper (2,292). Its luxury brand Genesis posted sales of 11,465 units, including 3,721 G80s, 3,203 GV80s, and 3,770 GV70s. Overseas sales slipped 2.2 percent to 288,499 units. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-01 16:29:23 -
Coupang may face fines of up to $1 bn if negligence is tied to data theft SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform Coupang faces a wave of criminal and civil lawsuits, alongside potential fines that could exceed $1 billion, if authorities confirm corporate negligence in the massive data theft allegedly carried out by a former employee of Chinese nationality. Under the Personal Information Protection Act, strengthened in 2023, regulators may impose penalties of up to 3 percent of annual revenue for data-protection violations. Coupang reported $9.27 billion in revenue in the quarter ended September, bringing its trailing 12-month revenue to $33.66 billion — meaning fines could surpass $1 billion. The figure could rise further if authorities opt to combine the revenues of Coupang Play and Coupang Eats. Coupang said customer names, email addresses, mobile numbers, shipping addresses and some order histories were stolen. Payment details, credit-card numbers and login credentials were not compromised, it added. “We sincerely apologize once again for causing inconvenience to our customers,” said Coupang CEO Park Dae-jun, in a statement on the company’s website. While Coupang did not identify a suspect in its police filing, internal probes point to a former Chinese national employee who had already left the company — and the country — according to people familiar with the matter. The individual reportedly departed Coupang in October and has since left South Korea, complicating investigative efforts. The suspect allegedly emailed customers photos of their order histories and phone numbers with the message “I know your personal information”, triggering complaints that set off Coupang’s internal review. Long-neglected authentication keys at the center of the breach Investigators found that the breach may have been enabled by outdated authentication keys that should have been deleted or renewed when the employee exited the company. The suspect may have exploited access token signature keys, bypassing normal login procedures to reach customer data. Security analysts say the compromised tokens were likely administrative tokens with extended validity, not ordinary user tokens that typically expire within 30 minutes to an hour. This would have allowed prolonged, unauthorized access. Rep. Choi Min-hee, chair of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, said Coupang failed to renew key signature files after the employee’s departure, leaving them valid for five to ten years. “Signature key renewal is the most basic internal security procedure, yet Coupang failed to follow it,” Choi said. “This is not simply an employee’s misconduct but the result of deep organizational failings.” In the breach, access tokens functioned like entry passes, while signature keys served as the stamps that validate them. Prolonged neglect of the stamps allowed someone to continue entering undetected — “like repeatedly using stamped entry passes without authorization,” one analyst said. Government: Attacker exploited authentication weaknesses Science and ICT Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said at an emergency meeting on Nov. 30 that attackers exploited authentication flaws to access customer data without standard login processes. “The attacker took advantage of weaknesses in Coupang’s server authentication to access over 30 million customer accounts,” Bae said. The Ministry of Science and ICT has formed a joint public-private investigation team, while the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said it would impose strong sanctions if violations of safety-management obligations are confirmed. Coupang initially reported just 4,500 affected customers when it notified the Korea Internet and Security Agency on Nov. 20. The figure surged to 33.7 million as investigators uncovered far broader exposure stretching from June to November. Coupang, which reported 24.7 million active commercial users in the third quarter, said the breach likely affected data from former and dormant accounts as well. The company employs about 10,000 office staff, with personal-information access restricted to a small number of IT employees with elevated permissions. Experts say the breach highlights critical vulnerabilities in Coupang's internal security management. "Zero-trust principles are essential for data security these days. Even insiders should be monitored carefully," said Kim Ki-hyung, a cybersecurity professor at Ajou University. "Access to highly sensitive data should not be concentrated among a select few senior managers. Each individual managers should only be able to view minimal portions of the data they need." 2025-12-01 16:26:35 -
Working-level officials set to hammer out implementation measures for bilateral agreements in Washington SEOUL, December 1 (AJP) - Officials from South Korea and the U.S. are set to meet for further working-level discussions in Washington this week after the two countries released a comprehensive joint fact sheet last month detailing agreements on bilateral trade and security. According to the Foreign Ministry, Deputy Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo is set to meet with U.S. counterpart Christopher Landau on Monday in the first high-level talks since the release of the joint fact sheet on Nov. 14. Park is expected to urge the U.S. to expedite the implementation of the agreements, which include a U.S. commitment to support the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, uranium enrichment, and the construction of nuclear submarines using U.S.-supplied fuel. Upon arriving at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., Park told reporters, "We will discuss various issues and how to make progress in implementing the agreements outlined in the fact sheet." When asked about establishing a bilateral consultative body on the matter, he said, "We will talk about that and other related issues." * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-01 16:18:52 -
Kia's November sales drop 0.8 percent year-on-year to 262,065 units SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - Kia said on Monday it sold 262,065 vehicles worldwide in November, down 0.8 percent from a year earlier, as both domestic and overseas sales edged lower. The Sportage remained the company’s best-selling model with 49,351 units, followed by the Sorento at 25,282 and the Seltos at 22,293. In South Korea, sales declined 1.6 percent to 47,256 units. The Sorento led the domestic market with 10,047 units. Overseas sales also dipped 0.8 percent to 213,889 units. The Sportage topped the list with 42,483 units, followed by the Sonet at 19,320 and the Seltos at 17,653. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-01 16:15:17 -
Coupang theft set to become Korea's worst data crisis raises sober reckoning on cybersecurity SEOUL, December 01 (AJP) - Korea — a society whose everyday routines run almost entirely online — is grappling with its biggest data crisis to date after e-commerce giant Coupang confirmed that information linked to nearly all of its customers — 33.7 million people, or three out of four Korean adults — had been stolen. More worrisome is that while previous high-profile breaches this year involved external hacking attacks on wireless carriers and credit-card issuers, the Coupang case points to potential criminal liability if an internal leak by a former employee is confirmed. The incident is expected to hasten sweeping reforms that force digital platforms to prioritize data security over commercial expansion. Coupang said Sunday that the breach was carried out by a former employee of Chinese nationality who allegedly accessed the company’s systems through overseas servers, noting that "unauthorized access appears to have begun in mid-June." The stolen information includes names, email addresses, mobile numbers, and home addresses. It marks the biggest data breach in Korea in more than a decade, since the 2011 Cyworld–Nate incident that affected about 35 million users. With Coupang's monthly active users (MAU) estimated at 34 million and the domestic e-commerce population at roughly 39 million, experts warn the breach may affect "virtually everyone." The company initially reported only 4,500 compromised accounts on Nov. 18, but revised the number upward 7,500-fold within nine days — prompting warnings that further undisclosed cases may still emerge. The breach also contrasts sharply with recent attacks on telecom operators such as SK Telecom and KT, which involved sophisticated external intrusion rather than insiders. SK Telecom suffered a large-scale breach involving USIM authentication data in April, affecting more than 23 million subscribers. The company rejected a state proposal to compensate victims 300,000 won ($204) each and has already spent more than 1 trillion won addressing the fallout. At KT, hackers installed illegal femtocell devices — small radio units that act as fake cell towers — to intercept verification text messages and trigger unauthorized micro-payments. Hundreds of victims have filed criminal complaints. Police and the Korea Communications Commission are investigating. Game developer Netmarble also confirmed last month that the personal information of about 6.11 million users was compromised in a cyberattack targeting its PC-based game portal. Leaked information included names, birth dates, and encrypted passwords. Taking together Coupang's 33.7 million victims, SK Telecom's 23.24 million, and Netmarble's 6.11 million, analysts estimate that more than 80 million data records have already leaked in 2025 alone across platforms, telecoms, gaming services and card-payment networks — underscoring pervasive vulnerabilities across nearly all digital industries. Experts point to chronic underinvestment in cybersecurity as the root cause of repeated failures. According to data from the Korea Internet and Security Agency, based on disclosures by 773 listed companies with annual revenue above 300 billion won, the average share of IT budgets devoted to security was only 6.29 percent last year, remaining below six percent for four straight years. U.S. companies, however, allocate 13.2 percent on average — more than twice the Korean level. Among major domestic players, SK Telecom invested 4.6 percent of its IT budget into security, lower than KT (6.3 percent) and LG Uplus (7.4 percent). Samsung Electronics spent the most in absolute terms at 356.2 billion won, but security accounted for only 0.12 percent of revenue. LG Electronics was at 0.03 percent, while major banks KB Kookmin and Shinhan were at 0.08 percent. Platform operators also posted low ratios: Coupang (4.6 percent), Naver (4.5 percent), Kakao (4.3 percent), and Woowa Brothers (4.1 percent). "The current level of security spending — around six percent — is clearly insufficient; experts recommend closer to nine percent," said Kwon Hun-yeong, professor at Korea University's School of Cybersecurity. "These incidents reveal systemic vulnerabilities across multiple layers of national digital infrastructure. Authorities fail to fully trace origins." Kwon added that Korea needs a national manual to identify and prioritize the systems most critical to safeguarding against attacks. According to the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC), 451 breaches between 2021 and July 2025 exposed 88.543 million personal records, with average penalties of 700 million won, and administrative fines of just 6.17 million won per incident, a level critics say is too low to deter negligence. The commission plans to require businesses to allocate at least 10 percent of their total IT budgets to data protection by 2027, and 15 percent by 2030. "We are considering incentives for companies that meet the minimum cybersecurity investment threshold," a PIPC official said. In the U.S., governments support cybersecurity spending with tax deductions of up to 15.8 percent for technologies such as AI-based threat detection and encryption, and provide payroll-tax relief of up to $500,000 for small businesses. Coupang shares fell as much as 7.5 percent in after-hours trading, sliding from $28.16 to about $26.06 following the disclosure. 2025-12-01 16:04:13