Journalist

Lee Hugh
  • Koreas fertility rate hits four-year high in 2025
    Korea's fertility rate hits four-year high in 2025 SEOUL, February 25 (AJP) - Still a far cry from the replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1, South Korea’s total fertility rate, which bottomed out in 2023, inched above the long-cited 0.70 level last year, data showed. According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics on Wednesday, the number of births in 2025 reached 254,500, up 16,100 from a year earlier, or 6.8 percent — the largest annual increase since 2007. The total fertility rate — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — rose to 0.80, the highest since 2021, from 0.72 in 2023 and 0.75 in 2024. Marriage registrations increased 1 percent in 2023, 14.8 percent in 2024 and 8.9 percent in 2025. In December alone, marriages rose 13.4 percent year on year to 25,527. “Births in Korea are still overwhelmingly tied to marriage,” said Kang Hyun-young, an official in charge of birthrate policy at the ministry. “In our data, increases in marriages typically precede increases in births by one to two years,” she said. “The rise in marriages since 2023 is now being reflected in birth figures.” While declining to provide a numerical forecast for 2026, Kang said the sustained expansion in marriages was “a statistically meaningful positive signal.” Demographic timing: the early~1990s cohort Women aged 30 to 34 recorded 73.2 births per 1,000 women in 2025, the highest among all age groups. Fertility among women aged 35 to 39 rose 13.0 percent from a year earlier, reaching a record level. “Women born between 1991 and 1995 have entered their early 30s, which is the peak childbearing age group,” Kang said. “That cohort expansion has contributed to the increase in total births.” She added that the population of women in their early 30s has been rising since 2021, exerting upward pressure on aggregate birth totals. Survey data suggest shifting social attitudes may also be playing a role. In 2024, 68.4 percent of respondents said couples should have children after marriage, up from 65.3 percent in 2022. The share saying childbirth without marriage is acceptable rose to 37.2 percent from 34.7 percent. “Multiple factors are interacting,” Kang said. “Policy measures cannot be excluded, but their individual effects cannot be statistically isolated.” She emphasized that the recent rebound reflects “overlapping demographic, social and behavioral dynamics,” rather than any single policy intervention. Later childbirth, continued population decline Despite the improvement, structural challenges remain. The average maternal age rose to 33.8 years, while births to women aged 35 and older accounted for 37.3 percent of total births — the highest share since records began in 1981. Deaths totaled 363,400 in 2025, exceeding births by 108,900. South Korea has recorded negative natural population growth every year since 2020. Regional disparities were also evident. Seoul’s fertility rate stood at 0.63, while South Jeolla Province recorded 1.10. Kang said the trend should be monitored closely on a month-by-month basis. “The increase in marriages over the past three years provides a foundation,” she said. “But whether the trend continues depends on demographic structure and ongoing social changes.” For now, the data point to a tentative stabilization after years of decline — but not yet a reversal of South Korea’s long-term depopulation. 2026-02-25 17:46:21
  • Towers of books: Heaven or hell?
    Towers of books: Heaven or hell? SEOUL, February 25 (AJP) -Inside Starfield Suwon, a soaring cathedral of books rises through four floors, blurring the boundary between retail space and reading room. Opened as the second Starfield Library after the flagship at COEX Mall, the Suwon branch features bookshelves stretching nearly 22 meters high, spanning from the fourth to the seventh floors. From almost any angle, visitors can look up into towering rows of spines — or gaze down into a layered landscape of light, steel, and paper. A Library Without Walls Unlike traditional libraries confined to a single level, Starfield’s design dissolves vertical boundaries. Escalators, open balconies, and glass railings connect each floor visually, allowing the space to be experienced as one continuous volume. Whether standing on the upper decks or passing through lower corridors, visitors remain part of the same architectural conversation — one shaped by height, openness, and quiet spectacle. Reading Meets Retail Each floor integrates cafés and lounge-style seating, encouraging visitors to linger rather than simply pass through. Coffee cups and novels coexist. Shoppers pause mid-errand to read. Students settle into armchairs beneath shelves that seem to vanish into the ceiling. The result is a hybrid space: part library, part living room, part social hub. A Cultural Stage Beyond books, the library hosts regular performances, talks, and lectures, positioning itself as a cultural venue as much as a reading space. Weekly and monthly programs bring authors, musicians, and speakers into the atrium, transforming the quiet tower into a communal forum. To some, the vertical library feels like a modern sanctuary — a rare place where reading is celebrated at monumental scale. To others, its location inside a shopping mall raises questions about whether books have become another aesthetic backdrop for consumption. Yet perhaps its appeal lies precisely in that tension. By embedding literature into everyday commercial life, Starfield Library does not isolate reading from modern routines. Instead, it inserts it — boldly and visibly — into them. In Suwon, books no longer whisper from hidden shelves. They rise, unmistakably, toward the sky. 2026-02-25 17:46:01
  • Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-geun Buys 59,055 Shares, Pledges Not to Sell While in Office
    Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-geun Buys 59,055 Shares, Pledges Not to Sell While in Office Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-geun, who is set to begin a third term on March 3, has bought additional company shares and said he will not sell his stake while serving as CEO. Kakao Pay said in a regulatory filing on the 25th that Shin acquired a total of 59,055 shares. He bought 57,055 shares at 5,000 won per share by exercising stock options and purchased another 2,000 shares on the open market at 67,370 won per share. The total purchase was about 420 million won. The purchases raised Shin’s holdings to 109,055 shares. After taking office in March 2022, Shin declared a commitment to responsible management and bought 50,000 shares in three transactions worth about 3.3 billion won. Kakao Pay said Shin will not sell any of his shares, including his existing holdings and the newly acquired shares, during his tenure as CEO. A Kakao Pay official said Shin’s open-market purchase, in addition to exercising stock options, was meant to signal confidence in the company’s growth to investors, users and employees and to underscore his commitment to responsible management. The official said the company will not be satisfied with posting annual profitability and will continue working to improve business performance and shareholder value.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-25 17:42:24
  • Flowers greet early spring in Suwon
    Flowers greet early spring in Suwon SEOUL, February 25 (AJP) - Suwon City, south of Seoul, is holding a special exhibition themed around geraniums titled "We, Spring Starts Now" at Ilwol Arboretum from Feb. 3 to March 15. The exhibition takes place at the Ilwol Arboretum greenhouse and visitor center. It features geraniums, a representative companion plant that allows visitors to enjoy flowers and leaves year-round. The exhibition greenhouse showcases approximately 300 varieties of geraniums, including rare species such as K-geraniums, Russian geraniums, and European geraniums. Explanations of each variety's characteristics and care methods are provided to help visitors understand. The exhibition also displays award-winning entries from the Geranium Love Contest, allowing visitors to appreciate various geraniums cultivated by citizens. 2026-02-25 17:38:28
  • BTS Comeback D-24: What Is Your Love Song?
    BTS Comeback D-24: What Is Your Love Song? SEOUL, February 25 (AJP) - “What is your love song?” The question flashes on screens from Seoul to New York’s Times Square. It makes you pause. It sends you back — to a first confession, a quiet heartbreak, a family memory, even a hard-earned sense of self. A song can seal emotion inside three minutes and return it intact years later. Few artists understand that power better than BTS. K-pop amplifies emotion through collective empathy. A message delivered on stage rarely ends there; it is reinterpreted, shared and woven into personal stories. In 2018, BTS’s Love Yourself series shifted the genre’s emotional axis. Instead of centering romance, it foregrounded identity. In “Epiphany,” the line — “I’m the one I should love” — reframed love as self-recognition. That message arrived at a time of relentless comparison. On social media, curated success and filtered perfection have become the standard. For many young people, visibility is confused with worth. In that environment, affirmation carries weight. The question is not whether music heals — but how far its influence reaches. Data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service show that depression among Koreans in their 20s rose sharply in recent years, with the total number of patients surpassing 1.1 million in 2024. Anxiety cases followed a similar trajectory. At the same time, research increasingly shows that lyrics shape emotional states. A 2024 study analyzing streaming histories found that listeners at higher risk of depression gravitated toward low-positivity, low-energy themes. If negative messages reinforce mood, the reverse may also hold true. Lee Hae-woo, a psychiatry professor at Kangwon National University, describes media messages as “contagious.” Just as harmful coverage can trigger the “Werther effect,” repeated exposure to resilience-focused narratives can produce the “Papageno effect,” encouraging coping rather than despair. Positive language, she notes, can support cognitive reframing — a core principle of cognitive behavioral therapy. Music is not medicine. But it can be an emotional buffer. A 2025 meta-analysis published in Psychology of Music reviewed 82 studies and found that song lyrics have measurable psychological effects, strongly influencing emotional responses and moderately shaping attitudes and behavior. Lyrics function as cultural narratives; they influence how listeners interpret themselves and the world. Within BTS’s fandom, ARMY, “Love Yourself” evolved from a slogan into lived language. Fans describe turning to the message during periods of low self-esteem, sometimes alongside professional treatment. Such testimonies are not clinical evidence. But they reveal how music can become part of a recovery narrative — not replacing therapy, but reinforcing self-worth. In a culture saturated with “healing” content, self-love can itself become performative. Yet BTS’s framing remains direct and durable. It does not promise transformation. It invites reflection. So what is your love song? It may not be about romance at all. It may be about the moment you chose to see yourself differently. Music cannot cure. But it can create a pause — a space where recognition replaces comparison. And sometimes, that pause is enough to begin. 2026-02-25 17:37:52
  • Up, up, up: KOSPI zooms past 6,000 — and where next?
    "Up, up, up": KOSPI zooms past 6,000 — and where next? SEOUL, Feb 25 (AJP) - It took the KOSPI three months to climb from 4,000 to 5,000 — and less than a month to zoom past 6,000. On Wednesday, the index closed at a record 6,083.86, capping one of the fastest rallies in its history. The jump is striking for a market that once waited more than a decade to reach each new four-digit milestone: 1,000 in 1989, 2,000 in 2007 and 3,000 in 2021. The index finally broke above the 4,000 on Oct. 17, and then landed above 5,000 on Jan. 27. The next 1,000-point rise was a breeze. How fast the record will be broken will be a riskier and costlier bet. Behind the rally lies an enormous pool of dry powder. As of Tuesday, investor deposits totaled 107.9 trillion won, the third-highest level on record. Money Market Funds stood at an all-time high of 235 trillion won, signaling strong institutional liquidity. But the higher the stakes, the greater the risk. The KOSPI Volatility Index (VKOSPI) rose to 49.48 on Wednesday, up more than 60 percent from the start of the year. Although below this year’s peak, the increase is unusually sharp — especially compared with the modest rise seen throughout 2025. Short-selling activity is also building. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, outstanding stock lending balances reached about 153 trillion won as of Feb. 24, up nearly 40 trillion won since the start of the year. Such growth is often seen as a precursor to expanded short-selling. Rising lending balances suggest that more investors are positioning for potential declines after the recent surge. Leverage is another source of concern. Outstanding credit loans stood at about 32 trillion won as of Feb. 24. Investors using borrowed funds tend to focus on short-term trading, making markets more vulnerable to sudden sell-offs. If volatility triggers margin calls, forced liquidations could accelerate losses and amplify swings. “Investors’ risk appetite has increased significantly, leading to a surge in credit loan balances,” said Park Seok-hyun, an analyst at Woori Bank. “This could exacerbate market volatility.” Reflecting these risks, several brokerage firms have tightened or suspended stock-backed lending since early February. Valuation is also under scrutiny. The KOSPI’s price-to-book ratio is estimated at around 2 — high by historical standards — while return on equity has only recently reached the 9 to 10 percent range. Critics argue that this gap suggests stretched pricing. “The only other times the PBR approached this level were during the IT bubble and before the global financial crisis,” said Heo Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Securities. The index’s PBR peaked at 1.87 in November 2007, shortly before the subprime mortgage crisis triggered a sharp collapse. Still, Heo downplayed the risk of a crisis-scale downturn. “The domestic market is finally shedding its long-standing undervaluation,” he said. “This is a turning point rather than a bubble.” 2026-02-25 17:34:28
  • Presbyopia Eye Drops Near Korea Launch as Competition Builds
    Presbyopia Eye Drops Near Korea Launch as Competition Builds South Korea is moving closer to introducing prescription eye drops for presbyopia, drawing growing attention as a non-surgical alternative to glasses, contact lenses and procedures. With convenience a key selling point, early competition is expected to sharpen as more products near launch. According to market research firm Expert Market Research’s “South Korea Myopia and Presbyopia Treatment Market Report and Forecast,” the country’s myopia and presbyopia treatment market is projected to grow from $631.63 million in 2025 to $1.24251 billion in 2035. The report cited a younger onset age for presbyopia as expanding the potential patient pool. Presbyopia eye drops work by constricting the pupil to create a “pinhole effect,” improving near vision and depth of focus. In the United States, four products have been approved since AbbVie’s Vuity in 2021: Orasis Pharmaceuticals’ Qlosi, Lenz Therapeutics’ Vizz, and Tenpoint Therapeutics’ Uvage. Of those, the three products other than Vuity are effectively within sight of entering the South Korean market. Vuity benefited from a first-mover advantage in the U.S., but headaches and eye redness, along with a short duration of about three to four hours, have been cited as drawbacks. Uvage, Qlosi and Vizz are not new-mechanism drugs; they recombine or refine existing ingredients, focusing on improving duration and side effects. As a result, analysts say commercialization capabilities, more than differences in efficacy, may determine winners. Kwangdong Pharmaceutical holds exclusive rights in South Korea for Uvage, which received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval this month. The company said it applied for approval with South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in September last year, and expects the domestic review to pick up speed. A Kwangdong Pharmaceutical official said the company is fostering ophthalmology as a next growth engine, citing pediatric myopia drug candidate NVK002, ophthalmic rare-disease treatment Lacson, and retinitis pigmentosa candidate OCU400. The official said it plans to strengthen its position by using a sales network built through its existing eye-care business. Optus Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Samchundang Pharmaceutical, signed an exclusive domestic license and supply agreement with U.S.-based Orasis Pharmaceuticals in September 2024 for Qlosi and is preparing to launch Qlosi 0.4% within this year. With single-use eye-drop manufacturing infrastructure and expertise in ophthalmic drugs, the company is seen as well positioned to expand early prescriptions after entering the market. Taiwan’s Lotus Pharmaceutical signed an exclusive license with Lenz Therapeutics for commercialization rights to Vizz in South Korea and parts of Southeast Asia, and applied in December last year for new-drug approval from South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. In South Korea, the pace of market entry is expected to depend on the sales infrastructure of Lotus subsidiary Alvogen Korea, and how quickly it can expand a sales network focused on obesity and women’s health into ophthalmology. In the United States, presbyopia eye drops sell for about 100,000 won for a month’s supply, or 25 doses. In South Korea, the products are likely to launch outside insurance coverage, raising the possibility of price competition, but safety is also expected to be central to early market leadership. Jeong Yoon-taek, head of the Korea Pharmaceutical Industry Strategy Research Institute, said price resistance is likely, but an image of “low side effects” could become important. He added that companies may also need strategies that emphasize the products’ lifestyle-drug nature for temporary needs depending on time, place and situation.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-02-25 17:27:00
  • Chinas Seedance unleashes dispute on how far AI can go in fiction
    China's Seedance unleashes dispute on how far AI can go in fiction SEOUL, February 25 (AJP) - The release of Seedance 2.0, an AI-powered video generator developed by ByteDance, has triggered a fresh wave of copyright disputes between technology firms and the global entertainment industry amid blurry border in the fictional realm. After users began circulating AI-generated clips featuring characters resembling Spider-Man and Deadpool, major studios including Disney and Paramount Pictures issued cease-and-desist letters, accusing the platform of enabling large-scale copyright infringement. To assess the legal and regulatory implications, AJP spoke with leading legal scholars in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States. Their views suggest that the controversy sits at the intersection of unsettled law, rapid technological change, and growing pressure for industry self-regulation. Training Data vs. Copyrighted Expression Park Kyung Sin, a professor of law at Korea University, draws a crucial distinction between learning from copyrighted material and reproducing it. “Whether AI can claim authorship is a separate question from whether it should be allowed to train on copyrighted works,” Park said. “Copyright protects expressions, not ideas.” In his view, most AI training resembles human learning. “AI does not retain books, films, or images as such. It retains statistical relationships between tokens. Just as a human can read a book and absorb its ideas without infringing copyright, a machine should be able to do the same.” However, Park cautions that the technical process itself may pose legal problems. “The tokenization process involves copying copyrighted works. Technically, that can constitute infringement. Courts are now debating whether this copying qualifies as fair use.” U.S. courts have reached mixed conclusions, while some European rulings have taken a more restrictive stance. More troubling, Park argues, is Seedance’s apparent ability to reproduce recognizable characters. “If Seedance retains and reproduces complete images of Spider-Man on demand, that is clearly infringement,” he said. “ByteDance can and should install filters to block outputs that replicate training material.” He added that while parody and satire can sometimes justify reuse, mass automated reproduction does not. Who Owns AI-Created Works? Ilanah Fhima, professor of intellectual property law at University College London, points to deep international uncertainty over authorship. “There is no global consensus on whether copyright should exist in AI-generated works,” she said. “Most copyright laws were written before this technology existed.” Copyright traditionally rests on human originality. That assumption is now under strain. “The U.S. has refused to recognize AI as an author,” Fhima noted. “The UK, however, has long recognized ‘computer-generated works,’ although this has not yet been tested in modern AI cases.” China has issued rulings suggesting limited protection for AI-generated content, while other jurisdictions remain undecided. Another unresolved question concerns users. “There is an ongoing debate about whether the person who designs the prompt should receive copyright, based on their creative input,” Fhima said. These differences mean that cases against platforms like ByteDance could set precedents far beyond any single country. Fair Use and Platform Responsibility David Super, a professor at Georgetown University, sees multiple legal vulnerabilities in AI video tools. “First, training often involves physical copying,” he said. “That likely counts as copying under copyright law.” Whether such copying qualifies as fair use remains unclear. “Fair use usually requires that the copying not undermine the market for the original work,” Super explained. “If AI-generated videos substitute for movies or licensed clips, that argument weakens.” Beyond training data, Super highlighted the issue of secondary liability. “Selling technology that enables illegal copying can itself create liability,” he said, citing landmark U.S. cases involving video recorders and file-sharing software. While earlier rulings protected technologies with legitimate uses, later decisions imposed liability when companies encouraged infringement. “Many AI tools advertise themselves as ‘uncensored,’” Super said. “Courts may see that as encouraging copyright violations.” If so, manufacturers could be held responsible for how users deploy their products. Cultural Change and Platform Regulation Akshaya Kamalnath, professor at the Australian National University College of Law, argues that the debate extends beyond courtroom doctrine. “This is also a cultural shift,” she said. “AI clips often function more like memes than traditional films.” That distinction, she suggests, may push regulators toward platform-based solutions rather than relying solely on copyright lawsuits. Actors and performers, meanwhile, face separate risks. “Individuals can object to the unauthorized use of their likeness,” Kamalnath noted. “This overlaps with deepfake regulation.” In India, platforms must remove deepfakes within hours of receiving notices. Similar rules are emerging elsewhere. She also points to competitive pressures. “Companies are racing to release products first and fix problems later. This reflects competition not only between firms, but between countries.” The Rise of Industry Guardrails James Grimmelmann, professor of digital and information law at Cornell University, observes that many AI firms are now moving toward self-regulation. “There are still no definitive court rulings,” he said. “But most companies are building copyright guardrails into their systems.” These systems aim to block outputs involving identifiable characters, celebrities, or copyrighted scenes. “Seedance launched without strong safeguards,” Grimmelmann said. “ByteDance quickly realized that was risky and began adding them.” He believes such measures are now becoming standard. “Companies understand that without guardrails, they face serious legal exposure.” A Test Case for AI and Entertainment Taken together, experts agree that the most immediate legal danger for platforms like Seedance lies not in training data, but in output. Reproducing recognizable characters, enabling large-scale imitation, and marketing tools in ways that encourage infringement all carry significant risk. ByteDance has promised new safeguards, but has not paused the rollout of Seedance 2.0. At the same time, lawsuits against other AI firms signal that the conflict is far from isolated. The coming years are likely to determine whether courts accept the idea that AI “learns like humans,” or conclude that mass automated generation fundamentally alters creative markets. For now, the Seedance controversy stands as an early test of how law, culture, and technology will negotiate the boundaries of creativity in the age of machines. 2026-02-25 17:25:35
  • Asian stocks rally ahead of Nvidia earnings; Nikkei hits Record, KOSPI breaks 6,000
    Asian stocks rally ahead of Nvidia earnings; Nikkei hits Record, KOSPI breaks 6,000 SEOUL, February 25 (AJP) - Asian equities advanced broadly on Tuesday ahead of Nvidia’s earnings report due at February 26 at 6 a.m. (Korea time), with Japan and South Korea both closing at record levels as technology shares led gains. Nikkei Closes Above 58,000 for First Time Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 2.20 percent, or 1,262.03 points, to close at 58,583.12, decisively surpassing its previous high of 57,650, recorded on Feb. 10 following the lower house election. It marked the first close above the 58,000 level. The broader TOPIX index rose 0.71 percent to 3,843.16. Semiconductor-related shares led gains ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly results. Tokyo Electron rose 4.2 percent to 46,230 yen ($296.73), while Advantest also advanced. Cable manufacturer Fujikura jumped 6.5 percent to 26,825 yen ($172.18) after announcing a stock split, extending recent momentum. The rally gathered further strength around midday after reports that two dovish candidates were nominated to the Bank of Japan’s policy board. Both are viewed as supportive of accommodative monetary policy, dampening expectations for an early rate hike. The Nikkei briefly gained more than 1,500 points throughout the day, approaching the 59,000 level before profit-taking trimmed gains. KOSPI Breaks 6,000 for First Time In Seoul, the benchmark KOSPI rose 1.9 percent, or 114.22 points, to finish at 6,083.86, marking its first-ever close above the 6,000 threshold. The index touched high of 6,144.7 and a low of 5,984.3. The milestone comes less than a month after the KOSPI stood at 5,084.85 on Jan. 27, underscoring the strength of the recent rally. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ edged up 0.02 percent to 1,165.3. Institutions Offset Foreign Selling Institutional investors were big buyers with 880.3 billion won ($616 million), on the KOSPI, as well as individuals adding 232.2 billion won. Foreign investors sold 1.29 trillion won. On the KOSDAQ, individuals purchased 392.8 billion won, while foreigners and institutions sold 236.2 billion won and 130 billion won, respectively. The divergence indicates that the rally is being sustained primarily by domestic liquidity rather than foreign inflows. Chips and Autos Lead Korean Gains Heavyweight chipmakers extended gains ahead of Nvidia’s earnings, widely viewed as a bellwether for global AI demand and semiconductor supply chains. Samsung Electronics rose 1.8 percent to close at 203,500 won, while SK hynix gained 1.3 percent to 1,018,000 won. Automakers also surged. Hyundai Motor jumped 9.2 percent to 572,000 won after announcing plans to invest 10 trillion won over the next five years in the Saemangeum region, focusing on data centers and robotics production facilities. The investment signals a strategic expansion into AI-linked industrial infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, reinforcing optimism in export-oriented sectors. LG Energy Solution climbed 3.3 percent, and Samsung Biologics added 0.3 percent. Trade Uncertainty Remains in Focus Market participants also weighed remarks from U.S. President Donald Trump. His state address offered limited immediate signals for Asian markets but underscored lingering uncertainty surrounding trade policy. Separately, Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy set a 2026 export target of $740 billion at its first public-private export strategy meeting of the year. Exports totaled $709.7 billion last year, placing the country among the six economies globally to surpass the $700 billion mark. The government aims to enter the top five global exporters by diversifying products and markets beyond semiconductors and heavy reliance on the United States and China. Eight strategic sectors were designated, including semiconductors, defense, nuclear power, autos, shipbuilding, steel, power equipment and consumer goods. Expanded trade financing measures were also unveiled. While the initiatives are intended to strengthen medium-term competitiveness, their immediate impact on equities appeared limited. Regional Gains Follow Wall Street Advance Elsewhere in Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.7 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.5 percent. The regional rally followed overnight gains on Wall Street, where the Dow rose 0.8 percent, the Nasdaq climbed 1.1 percent and the S&P 500 advanced 0.8 percent. The Korean won strengthened to 1,430.0 per dollar, gaining 12.5 won, or 0.9 percent, from the previous session. 2026-02-25 17:23:25
  • Drone exhibiition DSK 2026 kicks off in Busan
    Drone exhibiition "DSK 2026" kicks off in Busan Busan, February 25 (AJP) - Asia’s leading drone exhibition and conference, DSK 2026 (Drone Show Korea), kicked off Wednesday at BEXCO in Busan, running through Feb. 27. Co-hosted by Busan Metropolitan City, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of National Defense and the Korea AeroSpace Administration, the event marks its largest edition to date. This year’s exhibition features 318 companies from 23 countries across 1,200 booths, covering 26,508 square meters. An international conference will bring together 48 speakers from 13 countries to discuss emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, defense, future mobility and the New Space industry. Organizers said the event aims to serve as a global platform for industry networking and business opportunities, alongside interactive programs for visitors. 2026-02-25 17:18:31