AJU PRESS - ASIA NEWS HUB

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Candice Kim, Lim Jaeho candicekim1121@ajupress.com, ajupresswogh@ajupress.com

South Korea's costly nuclear deal with Westinghouse traces back to 50-year dependency SEOUL, August 20 (AJP) - South Korea’s fraught nuclear agreement with Westinghouse Electric of the United States, derided by critics as a “50-year slave contract,” is the culmination of a technological dependency that dates back to the earliest days of the country’s atomic energy program. In the 1970s, South Korea built its nuclear ambitions on American blueprints. The nation’s first reactors were based on designs from Combustion Engineering, a U.S. company that developed the System 80 model. When Westinghouse acquired Combustion Engineering in 2000, the intellectual property rights behind South Korea’s core reactor technology effectively passed into Westinghouse’s hands. At the heart of the current dispute is the APR1400, South Korea’s flagship reactor that it has sought to market abroad as a symbol of its industrial self-reliance. Though Korean engineers spent decades refining the design, the reactor remains rooted in Combustion Engineering’s System 80+, leaving room for Westinghouse to assert intellectual property claims. Those claims came to a head in 2022, after Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, the state-owned operator, secured a $17.1 billion contract to build reactors in the Czech Republic. Westinghouse swiftly filed suit in U.S. courts, arguing that the APR1400 could not be exported without its approval because it was derived from Westinghouse-controlled technology. The legal challenge threatened to derail South Korea’s most important nuclear export deal in years, just as Seoul was trying to reassert itself as a global player in the nuclear market. Facing a March 2025 deadline to finalize the Czech contract, Korean negotiators found themselves under enormous pressure. Industry officials say Westinghouse used that urgency to extract concessions. A settlement was reached in January. Under its reported terms, Korea agreed to pay Westinghouse $650 million per reactor for equipment and services, along with $175 million in licensing fees. Westinghouse also secured restrictions on where South Korea can export its reactors and won the right to review future Korean designs. For South Korea, the deal ensures the Czech project moves forward and preserves its credibility as a nuclear exporter. But it also underscores the limits of the country’s independence in an industry it has long touted as a pillar of national strength. “This is the price of building our industry on borrowed technology,” said one energy policy analyst in Seoul on condition of anonymity. “Even after decades of innovation, the original license still determines what Korea can and cannot do.” The controversy has become a flash point in South Korea, where critics argue that early reliance on foreign technology created structural dependencies that have persisted for nearly half a century. Despite technological prowess and a record of safe operations at home, the country remains tethered to intellectual property rights inherited from contracts signed in a very different era. As Seoul pushes to expand its nuclear exports to new markets, the episode is a reminder that choices made decades ago can cast long shadows — sometimes measured not in years, but in generations. 2025-08-21 13:39:27
[[K-Tech]] From 'Lineage' to AI: How NCSOFT is reinventing itself for new gaming era Editor's Note: This article is the 32nd installment in our series on Asia's top 100 companies, exploring the strategies, challenges, and innovations driving the region's most influential corporations. SEOUL, August 21 (AJP) - In the late 1990s, when South Korea’s internet cafes were still filled with teenagers battling each other in primitive shooting games, a young software engineer, Kim Taek-jin, was quietly building something different. Kim, who had helped develop one of the country’s first word processors for the Korean language, launched a role-playing game called Lineage in 1998. It was South Korea’s first massively multiplayer online role-playing game — a virtual world where tens of thousands of players could gather at once, form alliances, and wage endless battles. The release transformed the country’s fledgling gaming industry and turned NCSOFT, the company Kim founded a year earlier, into a household name. More than a quarter century later, Lineage and its sequels still account for most of the company’s revenue. That dependence has been both a blessing and a burden. NCSOFT remains one of South Korea’s largest game publishers, but as the industry pivots toward mobile titles, console blockbusters and emerging platforms like the metaverse, it faces the challenge of reinventing itself while holding onto its most loyal fans. The company’s latest earnings, released this month, reflect that delicate balance. Revenue in the April-to-June quarter rose to 382.4 billion won, or about $284 million. Operating profit surged 71 percent from a year earlier, to 15.1 billion won. But foreign exchange losses pushed NCSOFT into the red, with a net loss of 36 billion won. The numbers underline a paradox: NCSOFT remains highly profitable when it leans on Lineage, but its long-term ambitions hinge on proving it can do more. In recent months, Kim has reorganized the company to prepare for that future. He stepped into a co-chief executive role alongside Park Byung-moo, who now manages business operations and acquisitions, freeing Kim to focus on the creative side of game development. NCSOFT has also invested in overseas studios in Sweden and Poland, betting that fresh talent can help diversify its catalog. Seven new titles are planned by 2026, including Aion 2, a sequel to one of its earlier hits, and Cinder City, a massively multiplayer tactical shooter that has already been delayed. Perhaps the company’s boldest move lies in artificial intelligence. NCSOFT has been rolling out Varco Studio, a proprietary generative AI tool that can build avatars, synthesize voices and automatically generate storylines. The company even spun off an AI subsidiary to accelerate development. Executives say the technology could dramatically reduce the time and cost of producing new games. “We’re at an inflection point,” said one Seoul-based industry analyst. “If NCSOFT can translate its AI investments into compelling new titles, it has a chance to break out of the Lineage shadow. If not, it risks being seen as a one-franchise company.” For Kim, the stakes are personal. At 56, he still sees himself less as a corporate chairman than as a developer. Friends and colleagues describe him as a tinkerer who would rather spend time with designers than board members. In that sense, the dual leadership model — with Park handling the business and Kim shaping the creative vision — reflects not just a corporate strategy but Kim’s own identity. The company’s ambitions are not limited to gaming. It operates a professional baseball team, the NC Dinos, and runs philanthropic programs through the NC Cultural Foundation, which supports education and campaigns against gaming addiction. NCSOFT is also experimenting with blockchain-based games and metaverse-style community platforms, signaling its intention to remain at the forefront of digital culture. Still, challenges abound. NCSOFT competes not only with domestic rivals like Nexon and Netmarble but also with global powerhouses like Blizzard and Riot Games, whose titles dominate esports arenas and streaming platforms. For all its technological prowess, NCSOFT has yet to produce a global cultural phenomenon on the scale of League of Legends or World of Warcraft. Yet in the company’s glassy headquarters south of Seoul, there is quiet confidence. After all, Kim has been here before: trying to convince the world that a small Korean developer could build something players would devote their lives to. In 1998, that gamble reshaped online gaming. The question now is whether NCSOFT can do it again — this time, with artificial intelligence and a new generation of players. 2025-08-21 10:26:46
South Korea launches petrochemical restructuring plan amid global glut SEOUL, August 20 (AJP) - South Korea’s finance chief pledged government support for sweeping cuts in the country’s petrochemical industry, Wednesday, as officials seek to shore up competitiveness in a sector battered by global oversupply. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol said that 10 major petrochemical companies have agreed to reduce as much as 3.7 million tons of production capacity by the end of the year. The pledge came after the Lee Jae Myung administration convened its first inter-ministerial meeting on industrial competitiveness, held at the government complex in Seoul. Koo criticized domestic producers for ignoring repeated warnings of oversupply and instead expanding facilities during past boom years without moving quickly enough into higher-value products. “Resolving this crisis requires drastic capacity reduction and fundamental competitiveness enhancement, pursued with a do-or-die determination,” he said. Under the plan, participating firms must submit detailed reorganization strategies by the end of 2025, with a focus on scaling back their naphtha cracking operations, the backbone of petrochemical production. Koo pressed companies and their shareholders to put forward binding restructuring plans grounded in “painful self-rescue efforts,” and urged them to begin implementing changes as early as next month. The government said it would provide regulatory easing, tax incentives and financial assistance to companies that commit to restructuring. But Koo warned that firms attempting to delay or avoid the process would be excluded from support programs and could face punitive measures. He cited the shipbuilding industry’s recovery through painful restructuring as a precedent the petrochemical sector should follow. Officials plan to hold regular reviews of the industry’s progress and promised further intervention if needed, with the aim of what Koo described as a “revival” of South Korea’s petrochemical industry. 2025-08-20 15:08:39
S. Korea's presidential office orders probe into Czech nuclear deal with Westinghouse SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - South Korea’s presidential office on Tuesday ordered an investigation into media reports that state-run energy companies accepted "unfavorable" terms from Westinghouse Electric, the American nuclear technology firm, during negotiations for a multibillion-dollar power plant project in the Czech Republic. Presidential spokeswoman Kang Yu-jung said Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik directed the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to conduct the inquiry after high-level discussions at a morning meeting. The move, she said, was aimed at addressing public concerns about the negotiation process and the fairness of the contract terms. The order followed local media reports that a “global agreement” signed in January between Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Korea Electric Power Corporation and Westinghouse included sweeping provisions favoring the U.S. firm. Among them were requirements that future Korean-designed nuclear reactors intended for export be verified by Westinghouse, as well as obligations to purchase $650 million worth of equipment and services per reactor and to pay $175 million in technology licensing fees per unit. Kang said the investigation would determine whether the two Korean companies complied with relevant laws and procedures in reaching the agreement and whether they had properly safeguarded national interests in the process. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok told reporters earlier Tuesday that the government had already begun preliminary fact-finding efforts. Critics warn that the terms of the Czech contract could undermine Seoul’s bid to establish itself as an independent nuclear exporter rather than a "junior partner" to U.S. firms. 2025-08-19 17:31:06
Cost overruns push S. Korea's nuclear project in UAE into the red SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - South Korea’s flagship nuclear power venture in the United Arab Emirates has slipped into the red for the first time, underscoring the financial strains of the multibillion-dollar project once heralded as a cornerstone of Seoul’s ambitions to export nuclear technology. According to Korea Electric Power Corporation’s first-half 2025 financial disclosures released Tuesday, the Barakah nuclear plant posted a cumulative loss of 34.9 billion won, or about $25 million, with its rate of return dipping to negative 0.2 percent. Cumulative profit for the project, which had stood at 435 billion won at the end of 2023, fell to 72.2 billion won late last year before tipping into negative territory this summer. Returns slid from 2 percent in 2023 to 0.3 percent in 2024, before turning negative. The four-reactor complex, South Korea’s first nuclear export project and one of its largest overseas construction contracts at roughly 22.6 trillion won ($16.6 billion), was originally slated for completion in 2020. But repeated delays pushed back full commercial operations until 2024, when the fourth and final unit came online. The setbacks drove up costs and eroded profitability. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a KEPCO subsidiary responsible for providing operational support, has sought $1 billion in compensation for cost overruns tied to the delays and extra work orders. In May, the company filed an arbitration case with the London Court of International Arbitration to recover part of those expenses. KEPCO, for its part, has stressed that the Barakah project should not be judged solely on immediate financial results. Executives argue that the venture has bolstered South Korea’s reputation as a nuclear exporter and reinforced its domestic nuclear industry, while promising decades of future revenue through dividends from electricity sales over the plant’s 60-year lifespan. Still, the dispute between KEPCO and Korea Hydro highlights unresolved tensions over who will absorb the additional construction costs, estimated at 1.4 trillion won. KEPCO has set aside about 170 billion won in provisions — roughly 10 percent of the disputed sum — as negotiations with Emirati authorities continue. 2025-08-19 14:03:21
Taiwan likely to top South Korea, Japan in per capita GDP SEOUL, August 18 (AJP) - Taiwan's government raised its 2025 economic growth forecast on Monday, projecting the island will become the first of the original "Four Asian Tigers" to reach a per capita gross domestic product of $40,000. Officials now expect the economy to expand by 4.45 percent next year, a significant jump from the previous estimate of 3.1 percent. The Four Asian Tigers — a term for the high-growth economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong — achieved rapid industrialization from the 1960s through the 1990s. Now, Taiwan is poised to surpass regional economic powerhouses like South Korea and Japan in per capita GDP. Taiwan's government reported that the island's GDP surged by 8.01 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago. That growth rate far outpaced its regional peers: South Korea saw an increase of just 0.5 percent, Singapore's GDP grew by 4.4 percent, and Hong Kong's by 3.1 percent. Officials credited the strong performance to record-breaking exports, which are projected to reach $589.2 billion this year, up 24.04 percent from 2024. This growth is being driven primarily by surging global demand for artificial intelligence-related technology. Taiwan's dominance in the global semiconductor supply chain, led by the TSMC, has made it a key beneficiary of this AI boom. Tsai Yu-tai, the head of the country's statistics directorate, said that despite uncertainties from U.S. tariff policies, the momentum in the AI sector remains strong, prompting companies to continue increasing capital expenditures. By contrast, South Korea, which reached a per capita GDP of $30,000 in 2014, has struggled to move past that benchmark. The country has faced weakened domestic consumption following a martial law crisis last year and export challenges from U.S. tariff pressures. The Korea Development Institute, a state-run think tank, maintained its 2025 growth forecast at a modest 0.8 percent in May, a downgrade from its 1.6 percent projection in February. While the Four Asian Tigers once averaged annual economic growth of more than 7 percent, their paths have diverged in recent decades. Although all four economies had a per capita GDP exceeding $30,000 by 2021, according to the International Monetary Fund's estimates, growth has slowed significantly since the 2000s due to factors like aging populations and shifting global supply chains. 2025-08-18 15:53:49
Samsung's China semiconductor sales decline while US revenue grows SEOUL, August 18 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics posted diverging fortunes in China and the United States in the first half of 2025, as U.S. sanctions weighed on Chinese demand and American technology companies fueled a surge in semiconductor purchases. Samsung's exports to China fell 11 percent year-on-year to 28.79 trillion won (about $20.7 billion), down from 32.35 trillion won a year earlier. Sales to the United States, by contrast, climbed to 33.48 trillion won, overtaking China for the first time since late 2024, when Beijing’s trade-in subsidies briefly lifted demand. Most of Samsung’s China-bound shipments were semiconductors, including LPDDR memory, NAND flash, image sensors and display driver chips, as well as some high-bandwidth memory products. Its on-the-ground operations in China also flagged. Samsung China Semiconductor, which produces NAND flash in Xi’an, reported revenue of 4.41 trillion won and operating profit of 533.6 billion won — both down from the previous year. Shanghai Samsung Semiconductor, its local sales arm, saw revenue fall to 12.35 trillion won from 15.88 trillion won, with operating profit sliding to 193.8 billion won from 232.2 billion won. Analysts attributed the slump to waning trade-in incentives, sluggish consumer recovery and rising competition from Chinese rivals such as ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT. By contrast, U.S. operations delivered robust growth. Samsung Austin Semiconductor, its Texas foundry, reported revenue of 2.3 trillion won, up 5.6 percent, while operating profit soared 65 percent to 423.8 billion won. Samsung Semiconductor Inc., its U.S. sales subsidiary, recorded a 28 percent revenue jump to 22.72 trillion won. The surge was driven by heavy investment from American technology giants in artificial intelligence servers and data centers, as well as rising demand for Samsung’s foundry services. 2025-08-18 11:16:18
Upbit operator fined $165 million for tax evasion SEOUL, August 17 (AJP) - South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange operator, Dunamu, has paid more than 22 billion won, or about $165 million, in back taxes after authorities accused the company of tax evasion — adding to the regulatory pressures already weighing on the firm. Dunamu, which runs the Upbit trading platform, disclosed that the Seoul Regional Tax Office levied 22.6 billion won in corporate and related taxes following an audit. The investigation, led by the office’s International Transaction Bureau, began in February, and the penalty notice was issued on June 30. The company has since paid the full amount. The sum represents about 23 percent of Dunamu’s second-quarter net profit of 97.6 billion won. The tax penalty comes as Dunamu is also fighting sanctions from financial regulators. In February, the Financial Intelligence Unit ordered the company to suspend part of its operations for three months, issued a reprimand to its chief executive, Lee Seok-woo, and sanctioned nine employees. The FIU accused Dunamu of facilitating nearly 45,000 crypto transactions with 19 unregistered overseas virtual asset operators that had failed to comply with mandatory reporting requirements under South Korea’s anti–money laundering law. Regulators also said the company had violated obligations related to customer verification and transaction restrictions. Dunamu has challenged the measures in court, which has temporarily suspended enforcement of the sanctions while the case proceeds. 2025-08-17 15:38:45
[[K-Tech]] Samsung emerges as alternative to TSMC with landmark Tesla, Apple deals SEOUL, August 17 (AJP) - Just six months ago, Samsung Electronics’ foundry unit was mired in uncertainty. Hemorrhaging nearly 2 trillion won, or about $1.5 billion, in annual losses and struggling to attract clients, the division’s very survival was in doubt. Now, a pair of blockbuster deals with Tesla and Apple has jolted the business into a new trajectory. Samsung announced last month that it had secured a $16.5 billion contract with Tesla to produce advanced artificial intelligence chips — its largest single foundry order since the unit was established in 2017. Apple has also tapped Samsung to manufacture image sensors for iPhones, in a contract widely believed to be worth billions. The agreements underscore not only Samsung’s technical capabilities but also the shifting dynamics of global trade. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the real value of his company’s agreement was “several times” the disclosed figure, while Apple’s Tim Cook hailed a partnership that he said would pioneer “innovative chip manufacturing technology” for the first time worldwide. Analysts say success in delivering on these orders could reposition Samsung Foundry as a growth driver for the company, overtaking its dominant memory business, which has faltered in the high-bandwidth memory market. Geopolitics played a decisive role. Beginning this month, the Trump administration is imposing sweeping tariffs: 15 percent on Korean imports and a 100 percent levy on semiconductors. Yet the measures exempt companies with U.S.-based production. Samsung, which already operates a plant in Austin, Texas, and is building another in Taylor, is uniquely positioned to sidestep the tariffs by manufacturing chips domestically — an advantage that likely appealed to Tesla and Apple. The moves also reflect a broader push to challenge the dominance of Taiwan's TSMC, which controls two-thirds of the global foundry market. By comparison, Samsung holds just 8 percent. Industry analysts say diversifying suppliers allows firms like Tesla and Apple to secure capacity, hedge geopolitical risks and exert pressure on prices. Tesla, in particular, faces urgency. It is racing to produce its next-generation “AI6” chip for autonomous vehicles but has been unable to secure timely supply from TSMC, whose production lines are booked solid. Apple, meanwhile, is shifting part of its iPhone image sensor business from Sony, which commands more than half the market, to Samsung, the second-largest player with 15 percent. Both partnerships appear likely to extend beyond chip supply. Musk called Samsung’s Taylor plant “strategically vital” to Tesla’s future, while Cook highlighted plans to introduce new manufacturing technologies with Samsung. Some analysts see the collaboration evolving into deeper technological exchange. “This could move beyond contract manufacturing into a model of true cooperation,” said Im Hyung-kyu, a former Samsung executive. “Tesla could bring AI expertise into Samsung’s foundries, while Samsung’s process technology could accelerate Tesla’s expansion. Together, they may create a new model for U.S.–Korea semiconductor collaboration.” The deals could also cascade through Samsung’s sprawling empire. Affiliates such as Samsung Display and Samsung SDI are well placed to benefit from closer ties with Tesla, raising the prospect of a broader realignment in the tech supply chain. 2025-08-17 11:12:48
S. Korea, India to seek ways to deepen economic partnership SEOUL, August 17 (AJP) - South Korea’s Foreign Minister, Cho Hyun, and his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, held talks in New Delhi, Saturday (local time) as the two countries marked the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership and pledged to expand cooperation in security, technology and defense. Cho's visit come amid a flurry of high-level exchanges between the two governments, including a summit meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Group of 7 gathering earlier this year and a visit by a South Korean presidential envoy. Jaishankar welcomed Cho’s return to India, noting that he had once served as South Korea’s ambassador to the country, and underscored New Delhi’s commitment to deepening ties with Seoul. He also delivered an invitation for President Lee to visit India at a “mutually convenient time,” according to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Both ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation not only through more frequent high-level visits but also in global diplomacy and security affairs. Cho said South Korea was pursuing a more diversified foreign policy, guided by its ambition to act as a “responsible global power” in a shifting international order. That effort, he added, includes building stronger relationships with regional powers such as India, alongside the United States, China, Japan and Russia. The two sides highlighted plans to update their Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, aiming to expand collaboration in supply chains, critical technologies and defense industries. Cho also asked New Delhi to give “special consideration” to South Korean companies operating in India, calling for greater cultural and people-to-people exchanges. They also discussed regional and global security issues, including tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the foreign ministry said. 2025-08-17 09:48:55