Journalist
Candice Kim, Lim Jaeho
candicekim1121@ajupress.com, ajupresswogh@ajupress.com
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Sejong University MBA program targets finance professionals with no-code AI curriculum SEOUL, December 16 (AJP) - Sejong University's Graduate School of Business is recruiting students for its AI Finance MBA program starting in spring 2026, offering a curriculum designed for working professionals to analyze financial big data without coding skills. The program uses prompt engineering and no-code data analysis tools to make financial data accessible to non-specialists, according to Lee Soo-joon, a professor leading the AI Finance MBA track at Sejong University's College of Business. "Sejong University's AI Finance MBA is opening a new path for non-majors to handle financial big data without coding, using prompt engineering and no-code data analysis tools," Lee said. "We provide content optimized for the rapidly changing financial market, from financial investment practices to art-tech and fintech, operating a curriculum differentiated from other universities." The institution's business school ranks fifth in South Korea and between 151st and 175th globally in business and economics, according to Times Higher Education's 2025 world university rankings. Sejong received AACSB accreditation in 2007, becoming the fourth university in South Korea to earn the international business school certification. The program requires attendance twice weekly—weekday evenings and full Saturdays—with classes held five minutes' walk from Seoul Children’s Grand Park station on Seoul Metro Line 7. More than 90 percent of students receive scholarships covering 30 to 50 percent of tuition, with special funding available for financial industry workers. Applicants must hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Applications for the third round of spring 2026 admissions open December 22 and close December 29, with results announced January 19, 2026. Further details are available at https://mba.sejong.ac.kr/mba/index.do 2025-12-16 16:27:05 -
Why Korea's MZs are drifting away from iPhone SEOUL, December 16 (AJP) - The conventional wisdom that iPhone users rarely switch ecosystems is beginning to fray in South Korea, where a small but notable share of Millennials and Gen Z (MZ) consumers are migrating to Samsung’s Galaxy lineup, driven less by price than by everyday usability. Net switching among users in their 20s has reached 11.3 percentage points in favor of Galaxy, according to Counterpoint Research, challenging Apple’s long-held grip on young Korean consumers. Analysts say the shift reflects practical considerations—from mobile payments and call recording to foldable form factors—that Apple has been slow to deliver in a market known for tech-savvy users. While iPhones still dominate among Koreans in their 20s, holding a 63 percent share compared with 35 percent for Galaxy, brand loyalty appears to be weakening. Only 52 percent of young iPhone users plan to stick with Apple for their next device, according to a survey of 3,045 respondents conducted by recruitment platform Catch. Another 40 percent said they intend to switch to Galaxy, a shift that could upend the balance if intentions translate into purchases. “I used to think iPhones made people look more artistic and stylish,” said Kim Arin, a Seoul-based professional in her 30s who recently switched to Galaxy. “But at some point, practicality started to matter more.” The transition becomes more pronounced as users enter the workforce. iPhone penetration among those aged 20–24 stood at 74 percent in mid-2023, compared with 55 percent among those aged 25–29, according to Gallup Korea. Galaxy’s share climbed to 44 percent in the older cohort, suggesting that daily usability increasingly outweighs brand identity once professional routines set in. Among iPhone users considering a switch, the most frequently cited reason was the convenience of Samsung Pay and its deep integration with Korea’s domestic payment infrastructure. Other factors included missing features such as call recording, flexible file transfers, and foldable displays, while price ranked lower. Emotional appeal placed near the bottom. “In South Korea, Apple Pay’s real-world acceptance remains limited compared with Samsung Pay,” said Lee Soo-joon, a professor at Sejong University’s College of Business. “Domestic issuer support initially centered on Hyundai Card, and the broader rollout is still incomplete.” The divide extends beyond payments. Lee noted that Samsung offers AI-powered photo editing and other advanced features without requiring paid subscriptions, while Apple continues to gate many functions behind additional fees. “In terms of AI, Apple is clearly behind,” Lee said. “If Apple wants to narrow this gap, strengthening AI capabilities is no longer optional—it’s essential.” Samsung’s foldable lineup is also reshaping competition at the premium end of the market. Industry data show that nearly half of Galaxy users in their 20s now opt for the Z series, led by the Z Flip, indicating that switching is occurring within high-end devices rather than toward budget models. “With foldable and tri-fold designs, Samsung is expanding screen real estate into territory that overlaps with tablets,” Lee said. “Apple’s new models lack that kind of scalability.” Offline retail trends reinforce the shift. An employee at a Casetify store in Seoul said demand for Galaxy foldable cases surged following the launch of the Flip 7 and Fold 7. “When those models came out, cases sold out for a while,” the employee said. “We didn’t see that with earlier versions, but now more customers in their 20s and 30s are clearly moving from iPhones to Galaxy.” Broader usage data underscore the tilt toward utility-driven choices. About 70 percent of Koreans aged 20–29 use Samsung Pay, the highest rate among all age groups, according to Gallup. Bank of Korea data show that more than 80 percent of early-career workers rely primarily on mobile payments, leaving little tolerance for ecosystems that still depend on physical cards. Apple retains a numerical lead among young users, and the shift does not signal an abrupt collapse. But the convergence of net-switching data, purchase intentions and premium-device adoption suggests that loyalty among Korean younger consumers is becoming conditional. Lee framed the trend as part of a broader reassessment of Apple’s post–Steve Jobs trajectory. “In Korea, there’s a growing perception that Apple has become more design-focused than function-driven,” he said. “iPhones still excel at design and security, but in a market where practical infrastructure matters, that’s no longer enough.” For now, the message from young Korean consumers is clear: smartphone choices are increasingly decided by daily usability, not brand mythology—and the balance is shifting. 2025-12-16 16:17:09 -
Korean memory giants ready for 2026 peak as HBM boom spills into commodity DRAM SEOUL, December 15 (AJP) - As Big Tech accelerates the next phase of AI infrastructure — with Google challenging Nvidia through in-house chip design and foundation models like Gemini scaling rapidly — the repercussions are becoming systemic for South Korea’s memory industry. Investment banks now project that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix could together generate close to 200 trillion won in operating profit in 2026, an income pool equivalent to roughly 27 percent of the national budget. The driver is no longer just high-bandwidth memory (HBM), long viewed as the crown jewel of the AI era. What is reshaping earnings expectations is the spillover of the AI boom into mass-market DRAM, as memory makers prioritize scarce capacity for HBM and squeeze supply of so-called commodity products. Domestic and global brokerages have upgraded earnings forecasts for both Samsung and SK hynix on signs of customer stockpiling driven by fears of a prolonged memory shortage. Prices of mainstream DDR products have surged to levels that, on a per-gigabyte basis, now rival — and in some cases approach — those of advanced HBM stacks. KB Securities analyst Kim Dong-won projects Samsung’s operating profit at 97 trillion won in 2026, up 129 percent from this year’s estimate. He expects Samsung’s HBM market share to “roughly double” to around 35 percent, as supply expands beyond Nvidia to a broader pool of hyperscalers and custom ASIC customers. The call fits a broader market narrative: 2026 could mark an earnings apex as the “GPU-only” AI era evolves into a more fragmented ecosystem. Google’s TPUs, Amazon’s Trainium and Microsoft- and Meta-backed ASIC programs are widening HBM demand across customers — boosting both volume and product mix for Korea’s leading memory suppliers. Yet an equally consequential shift is unfolding in pricing dynamics for conventional DRAM. Commodity DRAM closes the gap Industry data show that the price gap between HBM and commodity DRAM — once four to five times — has narrowed sharply. HBM4, the sixth-generation standard expected to enter broader supply in the second half of next year, is priced in the mid-$500 range for a 36GB stack, implying roughly $15 per gigabyte. By contrast, as of Dec. 12, spot prices for PC-grade DDR5 16-gigabit products stood at $26.20, or about $13 per gigabyte. Server-grade DDR5 RDIMM 64GB modules have climbed to around $780, translating to roughly $12 per gigabyte. Commodity DRAM has surged to within striking distance of HBM pricing. The implications for profitability may be even more consequential. HBM requires advanced foundry processes for base dies and highly complex packaging, both of which weigh on margins. UBS has projected that tightening DRAM supply could push DDR gross margins above HBM for the first time in early 2026, marking a rare inversion in the memory hierarchy. This reflects a supply-driven distortion. As memory makers devote limited cleanroom capacity to HBM, shortages in conventional DRAM are emerging — pushing prices higher across PCs, servers and AI-adjacent applications. A researcher at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said the current cycle reflects a structural supply squeeze rather than a temporary demand surge. “HBM demand will continue, but it does not replace DRAM,” the researcher said. “While DRAM demand remains solid, production lines are increasingly being shifted toward HBM, tightening supply.” The dynamic, the researcher added, creates a favorable pricing environment in which both HBM and conventional DRAM benefit simultaneously — reinforcing expectations that memory earnings could reach a historical peak. Strategy shifts at Samsung and SK hynix The pricing shift is already reshaping production strategies. Samsung Electronics, while maintaining HBM3E supply for Nvidia’s Blackwell accelerators and Google’s seventh-generation TPUs, is simultaneously expanding investment in HBM4, GDDR7 and low-power DRAM (LPDDR5). The aim is to maximize exposure to what analysts increasingly describe as a memory super-cycle, spanning both premium and mainstream products. SK hynix, long seen as all-in on Nvidia-bound HBM, is also recalibrating. While it continues to focus on HBM3E and prepares HBM4 shipments for next year, the company is sharply expanding production of next-generation commodity DRAM (1c DRAM) at its Icheon campus. Monthly capacity is set to rise to 140,000 wafers, an eightfold increase from current levels. For investors, this matters because the memory cycle is once again being treated as a macro-level earnings engine, not a narrow semiconductor niche. Analysts increasingly assess Samsung’s recovery not as a simple “DRAM price beta,” but as a test of whether its HBM ramp-up, customer diversification and packaging roadmap can deliver a steeper profit curve — driven less by smartphones and PCs than by data-center capital spending and custom silicon programs. The bullish forecasts remain execution-dependent. HBM remains not just capacity-constrained but qualification-constrained, with share gains hinging on yield stability, packaging throughput and reliability at scale. Missteps in any of these areas could quickly reshape market shares. If the cycle unfolds as brokers expect, 2026 would mark a rare two-engine peak for Korea’s chip sector: SK hynix monetizing its HBM lead, and Samsung converting its catch-up phase into market share and margin expansion — with both trajectories increasingly tied to the pace of global AI infrastructure buildouts rather than the traditional consumer-electronics memory cycle. In the AI era, even “commodity” DRAM is no longer behaving like a commodity. 2025-12-15 17:29:58 -
CJ Olive Young tops Korea's most-wanted employers list, survey shows SEOUL, December 15 (AJP) - CJ Olive Young has emerged as South Korea’s most sought-after employer in 2025, overtaking technology heavyweights SK hynix and Naver, according to a survey released by local recruitment platform Catch on Saturday. The survey, which polled 3,079 job seekers and employees nationwide, found that 20 percent of respondents selected CJ Olive Young as the company they most want to join. The beauty retailer climbed two spots from last year’s third place, buoyed by the global rise of K-beauty and its growing brand influence. SK hynix, which ranked first last year, slipped to second place with 15 percent support, while Naver placed third with 8 percent. Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics tied for fourth place at 7 percent each, followed by CJ CheilJedang in sixth place with 5 percent. Several companies newly entered the top 10 this year, including Kakao Pay and Amorepacific, which tied for seventh place with 2 percent each. Samsung Biologics ranked ninth, while Hanwha Aerospace placed tenth, also with 2 percent. When asked what matters most in choosing an employer, respondents cited salary and compensation as the top factor at 48 percent, followed by brand recognition at 21 percent. Other considerations included alignment with one’s major or interests (11 percent), work-life balance (10 percent), and organizational culture (5 percent). The survey was conducted among 40 companies with the highest levels of user engagement on Catch’s platform, with rankings determined through direct voting by job seekers and employees. 2025-12-15 15:41:58 -
Ballet en Grand Jeté in Korea, blending graceful workout and fashion SEOUL, December 12 (AJP) - Once confined to the cultural elite, ballet in South Korea is stepping firmly into the mainstream — embraced as both a graceful workout and a fashion-forward lifestyle, propelled by star dancers, celebrities and social media. The shift is visible on major stages and smartphone screens alike. Leading male principals such as Kim Ki-min of the Mariinsky Ballet and Jeon Min-chul have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram, recasting ballet as aspirational rather than exclusive. Celebrities including Bae Suzy, Girls’ Generation’s Seohyun, Apink’s Son Na-eun and actress Park Ji-hyun have further fueled the trend by openly sharing their ballet training routines and studio looks, normalizing ballet as a hobby rather than a professional pursuit. That cultural momentum is translating directly into consumer demand. According to data released this week by Kakao Style’s fashion platform ZigZag, searches for “ballet” surged more than threefold in November, while transactions for “leotards” jumped 32-fold from a year earlier. Sales of ballet shorts rose 13-fold, leg warmers more than sixfold and ballet bags nearly tenfold. Roughly 80 percent of customers searching for ballet-related items were women in their 20s and 30s, highlighting the trend’s strong resonance with MZ consumers. The boom reflects a broader shift in how young Koreans think about health, aesthetics and movement. “Interest in health and body shape has grown significantly, and many people now see ballet as a way to correct posture and improve physique,” said Kim Mi-sook, a professor of dance at Sungshin Women’s University. “Media stories about body transformation through ballet, along with celebrities taking it up as a hobby, have lowered psychological barriers. Ballet used to seem like something only majors did, but that perception is changing quickly.” Kim added that ballet’s appeal goes beyond refinement or beauty standards. “Unlike gym workouts or Pilates, ballet stimulates directionality, musicality and spatial awareness,” she said. “Repetitive exercises can become boring, but ballet offers continuous challenge — that’s what keeps people engaged.” Studios are feeling the impact firsthand. “In the past few months, the number of students attending my ballet classes has more than doubled,” said So Hyun-ah, director of a ballet academy in Seoul. “Other studio owners around me say the same. We can clearly feel that ballet is trending.” Retail data supports that observation. Layered items worn over leotards — wrap skirts, cropped cardigans and warm-up pieces — have become bestseller categories, while niche balletwear brands report rapid growth. ZigZag said stores such as Freya saw November transaction volumes rise more than 450 percent, with lifestyle-activewear labels like Formative and Debby Wear also posting strong gains. With winter driving demand for indoor fitness and balletwear increasingly crossing over into everyday fashion, retailers expect the trend to remain strong into early 2026 — suggesting that ballet, once a niche art form, may be leaping into its role as Korea’s next major lifestyle category. 2025-12-12 16:58:04 -
Korea hopes to let fabless catch up to fab power through $520 billion mega spending SEOUL, December 11 (AJP) - That South Korea is a semiconductor powerhouse is established fact: it is home to the world’s largest memory-chip production base. But in the fabless sector — the chip-design layer that defines system-semiconductor competitiveness — the country remains a laggard. That gap is driving an urgent and ambitious push to cultivate proprietary chip architecture capabilities. The government-led vision calls for more than 700 trillion won (about $518 billion) in public–private investment through 2047 to expand manufacturing capacity, elevate system-chip design capabilities, and build a national talent pipeline. Government documents show that by 2031, 1.26 trillion won will go toward AI-specialized chips, 2.6 trillion won into compound semiconductors, and 3.6 trillion won into advanced packaging, along with a 300-billion-won graduate-level semiconductor university intended to produce 300 MS/PhD engineers each year. Korea’s semiconductor strength remains overwhelmingly concentrated in memory, leaving the industry exposed to boom-and-bust cycles and dependent on design decisions made by U.S. chip architects, most notably Nvidia. While Samsung Electronics and SK hynix dominate memory globally, Korea’s fabless firms hold barely 1 percent of the global market—far behind the United States’ 72 percent and Taiwan’s 8 percent. Only one domestic firm, LX Semicon, is ranked among the world’s top 50 fabless companies. The combined revenue of Korea’s top ten fabless firms amounts to just 1.17 percent of global fabless sales. Chronic engineering shortages and limited access to affordable prototype production have long constrained growth. Industry experts say the government’s strategy reflects a structural truth: a world-class foundry cannot thrive without a strong base of domestic design customers. “Korea has extremely strong memory makers, but a healthy foundry business requires a wide range of fabless customers constantly bringing new designs and challenges,” said Gong Byung-don, a professor at POSTECH. “That was the foundation of Taiwan’s ecosystem. For 15 to 20 years, dozens of mid-sized design houses grew around TSMC, and that accumulated demand is what made the foundry giant possible.” To close Korea’s structural gap, the government will establish a 4.5-trillion-won “shared foundry”—a 12-inch, 40-nanometer fab that sets aside dedicated production capacity for domestic chip designers. Officials say the facility will ease prototyping bottlenecks, cut early-stage costs, and mirror Taiwan’s MPW and shuttle-run system that enabled rapid iteration among its small and mid-sized chip-design houses. The broader industrial blueprint links the fabless hub in Pangyo, the Yongin mega-fab cluster, and advanced packaging bases in Gwangju and Busan into an integrated value chain supporting design, production, testing, and assembly. Policymakers argue that AI accelerators, automotive semiconductors, and power devices will increasingly shape global chip demand—and that Korea must compete in these segments to reduce overreliance on memory cycles. Analysts say the initiative also responds to an AI-driven shift in global semiconductor power, with fabless firms such as Nvidia, AMD, and U.S. startups dictating the roadmap for next-generation chips. With hyperscalers pouring unprecedented capital expenditure into AI accelerators, governments see strategic value in securing both design and manufacturing capabilities to safeguard supply chains. Korean fabless firms have long argued that the lack of a dependable domestic manufacturing partner forced them abroad, weakening collaboration between designers and manufacturers and slowing commercialization. Gong said improved access to early-stage production could meaningfully change the landscape. “Test runs, MPWs and prototype fabrication matter enormously for small fabless firms,” he said. “But Korea still faces a market-access challenge. Domestic demand alone is not enough, and Korean startups must be able to reach U.S. and global customers to scale.” He added that while Korea has narrowed the technical gap, constraints remain. “In AI-specific chips, Korea has reached perhaps 80 to 90 percent of global competitiveness. But talent flows mainly into major corporations, and small fabless firms still struggle to secure diverse customers in a highly concentrated domestic market.” If the plan succeeds, officials believe Korea could raise its fabless market share to 10 percent by 2030 and build a semiconductor industry driven by both system-chip innovation and manufacturing scale. But they acknowledge the challenges: intensifying global competition for design talent, the entrenched dominance of U.S. and Taiwanese ecosystems, and the need for domestic firms to break quickly into AI and next-generation system-chip markets. Still, the government argues that combining mega-cluster development, expanded AI-chip R&D, and a dedicated fabless production line marks Korea’s most ambitious semiconductor realignment in decades — an attempt to build an industry powered not only by memory but by a full spectrum of system semiconductors. 2025-12-11 17:48:50 -
3M turns to robotics to meet strict Korean standards for automated tapes HWASUNG, December 09 (AJP) - A multi-axis industrial robot sweeps deliberately across a component panel, its joints pivoting with an almost animal-like fluidity. From a needle-fine nozzle, it extrudes a glossy black ribbon of liquid-form tape that catches the overhead lights before settling into a perfect line. As the machine arcs over curved ridges and dips into semi-circular edges — surfaces that typically force human technicians to slow their breathing and reset their hands — bundles of cables trail from its arm like tendrils. Each pass lands with identical precision, as though the robot were tracing an invisible blueprint only it can see. Inside a restricted-access lab at 3M Korea’s research center in Hwaseong, the demonstration feels part workshop, part choreography. A 3M engineer stands at a console, tuning parameters and occasionally nudging the robot’s movement. “With flexible automation, the robot is now dispensing tape more precisely than a human can,” he said, watching the tape settle into flawless contours. The system — branded internally as RoboTape™ System— is built for unbroken consistency and speed, traits Korean manufacturers increasingly regard not as advantages but as survival requirements. U.S.-based materials giant 3M is now leaning on Korea’s demanding industrial environment to pressure-test and refine its next-generation automation technologies before deploying them globally. At a technology briefing Monday, company executives underscored how Korean manufacturers — known for unforgiving specifications, rapid development cycles and millimeter-level quality thresholds — are directly influencing the evolution of automated bonding, sealing and dispensing systems across appliances, displays and electric vehicles. “Korean customers require extremely detailed performance data before finalizing their product designs,” said Choi Bokyung, a senior application engineer at 3M Korea. “To complete their modeling, they need reliable simulation data for each material going into a component. We share that data actively so customers can raise the overall completeness of their designs.” That data-heavy collaboration has intensified as manufacturers race to automate tasks once handled manually, driven by rising labor costs, worker shortages and increasingly complex internal product architectures. According to 3M, robotic tape and adhesive systems not only reduce reliance on manual work but deliver uniformity that human operators cannot consistently match. Choi said labor costs — in a country known for powerful unions and high wages — are one of the strongest incentives behind automation. “When production depends heavily on manual work, quality can vary dramatically between operators,” she said. “Automation makes sure end users receive the same level of quality every time.” But the business case hinges on scale. Chung Sehoon, bonding project specialist leader at 3M Korea, noted that automation only becomes cost-effective when it replaces larger teams. “In our experience, automation doesn’t always make sense when a line has just two or three workers,” he said. “In those cases, costs may even rise. But when you’re running lines that need 10 or 20 workers, the labor savings far outweigh the automation investment.” As product designs grow more intricate, automated tape systems are entering areas once off-limits to manual work: curved appliance housings, the maze-like wiring harnesses inside refrigerators, large-format displays, and irregular surfaces beneath what appear to be flat exteriors. “Even products that look perfectly flat often contain extremely complex internal structures,” Choi said. “Automation allows tape to be applied precisely along wiring, curved edges and other irregular surfaces without relying on manual dispensing.” At the heart of 3M’s strategy is the goal of turning automated tape and adhesive solutions into a core platform technology. The company showcased two approaches: extrusion-based systems that dispense tape directly from specialized cartridges, and robotic tape systems co-developed with Canadian equipment maker Innovative Automation. “Not every tape can be automated,” Choi noted. “The material and equipment must be designed together — which is why we partner with high-quality equipment firms to ensure stable performance.” One of the clearest testing grounds is the automotive sector, where electrification has rewritten bonding requirements. Battery packs must be tightly sealed against water and contaminants yet be removable for repairs — a dual demand traditional adhesives struggle to meet. “That’s why we developed elastic sealants that preserve airtight performance while remaining removable when necessary,” said Joo Hyung Suk, director overseeing 3M’s automotive business. He said 3M’s elastic battery sealant is already used by major Korean automakers and overseas manufacturers. The material stays elastic for years, preventing moisture intrusion while allowing service teams to reopen the pack without damage. Automation is what makes these solutions viable at scale, Joo emphasized. “Automation is no longer optional. Without automated processes, achieving both price competitiveness and consistent quality is impossible.” 3M also highlighted high-strength structural adhesives — capable of bonding chassis and body components with strength approaching welding — but without the heat-induced distortion of traditional welding processes. Because the adhesives cure at room temperature, they lower energy consumption and are more compatible with lightweight materials such as aluminum and carbon-fiber composites. These decisions — from heat tolerance to load-bearing needs — are set through intensive collaboration with automakers, Joo said. Across the briefing, executives repeatedly pointed to Korea’s role as a fast-moving, high-specification market that has become a global testbed for 3M. Feedback from Korean customers is relayed to global R&D teams almost instantly, accelerating development cycles well beyond what is possible elsewhere. With automation demand rising across sectors, 3M expects its automated tape and adhesive systems not only to support Korea’s industrial competitiveness but also to anchor its next phase of global expansion. 2025-12-09 16:22:26 -
K-leggings stretch across Asia as XEXYMIX, Andar accelerate regional expansion SEOUL, December 09 (AJP) - South Korean athleisure brands known for form-fitting designs tailored to Asian body types are gaining strong traction across Southeast Asia, riding the broader “K-everything” wave sweeping the region. XEXYMIX, led by Chief Executive Lee Soo-yeon, said Tuesday it recently wrapped up a three-day pop-up in Jakarta — a key step in deepening its presence in Indonesia, one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing fitness and wellness markets. The “XEXYMIX in the City” event, held Dec. 5–7 at About Us Brasserie, blended retail with experiential marketing, offering pilates sessions, wellness programs and collaborations with local studios including Gaon Pilates Studio. Indonesian influencers such as Namira Adzani and Jessy Kusno helped amplify the brand’s visibility, drawing both fitness enthusiasts and new customers. Industry analysts say Korean athleisure’s regional appeal stems from its meticulous, fit-driven approach — a contrast with many Western labels whose sizing and proportions often miss the mark for Asian consumers. “U.S. brands often struggle with sizing for Asian women,” said Ellen Suh, a Seoul-based consumer in her 40s. “XEXYMIX fits me the best. With a smaller lower body, I can barely find the right size in U.S. brands. Korean leggings are designed for Asian physiques, offer more size options, and pay close attention to areas like the waistline, belly pooch and lower body parts, making them more comfortable and less revealing.” XEXYMIX has been widening its Asian footprint through fitness-led partnerships and sporting events, including Indonesia’s Sundays Fest yoga event, the XEXY Braid Tennis Tournament and sponsorship of Garmin Run Indonesia. The brand already operates in Japan, Taiwan and China, and plans to enter additional Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand and the Philippines. Rival athleisure brand Andar is pursuing a similar strategy. After establishing footholds in Japan and the United States, Andar has been expanding across Asia, betting on rising demand for premium leggings that combine compression, stretch and everyday wearability. XEXYMIX said the Jakarta pop-up not only heightened brand awareness but also provided valuable insight into local preferences. “This project allowed us to engage directly with both current and potential customers,” a company spokesperson said. “We will continue to strengthen our presence by working closely with local partners and expanding our omnichannel strategy.” 2025-12-09 10:19:53 -
Coupang issues follow-up notice on data breach, warns against secondary damage SEOUL, December 07 (AJP) - Coupang said on Sunday that there have been no additional personal data breaches linked to the earlier incident, while urging customers to remain cautious to prevent potential secondary damage such as phishing or impersonation scams. In a follow-up notice sent to users, the e-commerce platform said the update was intended to reinforce precautionary guidance related to a data breach first announced on Nov. 29, stressing that the message does not indicate a new security incident. According to Coupang, the data exposed in the breach included customers’ names, email addresses, shipping address books — which may contain names, phone numbers, addresses and shared building entry codes — as well as limited order information. However, the company said it has repeatedly confirmed that no payment-related information such as credit card or bank account numbers, login credentials, passwords or personal customs clearance codes were compromised. Coupang added that the National Police Agency has found no cases so far of secondary damage resulting from misuse of the leaked information following a full-scale investigation. The company said it immediately blocked abnormal access routes upon identifying the breach and has strengthened internal monitoring systems. It also noted that it promptly reported the incident to relevant authorities and is cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation. Coupang advised customers to avoid clicking on links from unknown sources, verify messages claiming to be from its official customer service channels, and remain cautious of phone calls or messages impersonating delivery workers, sellers or part-time job recruiters. For users who have stored shared apartment entry codes in their address books, the company recommended changing those access codes as a preventive measure. The notice was issued at the request of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Personal Information Protection Commission and the National Police Agency, according to Coupang. 2025-12-07 15:50:48 -
Traditional Korean liquor sales surge at convenience stores as young consumers embrace local brands SEOUL, December 07 (AJP) - Traditional Korean liquor from small regional breweries is gaining popularity at convenience stores, with sales jumping more than five-fold as trendy products attract younger consumers beyond the traditional middle-aged demographic. GS25, a major convenience store chain, said sales of traditional liquor from small breweries through its Wine25Plus online platform surged 5.4 times in the first 11 months of this year compared to the same period last year. Overall traditional liquor sales on the platform increased 2.4 times. The growth comes as breweries introduce low-alcohol products and leverage popular entertainment content for branding. National Tax Service data shows traditional liquor shipments more than doubled to 163 billion won in 2022 from 63 billion won in 2020. GS25 partnered with Daedong Yeojudo, a traditional liquor curation and distribution platform, to help small breweries expand beyond regional markets. The collaboration brought 19 small breweries onto Wine25Plus this year, with over 90 percent based in regional provinces including Gyeongsang and Jeolla. Hoegok Brewery in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, saw sales double after joining Wine25Plus, with the platform now accounting for about 30 percent of total revenue. The brewery produces trendy products using popular TV drama intellectual property. Another brewer, Han Young-seok's Fermentation Lab in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, reported a 26 percent sales increase. Hoegok Brewery's customer base among consumers in their 20s and 30s grew 65 percent this year, GS25 said, adding that restaurants and pubs have begun requesting product listings. "Wine25Plus is helping regional breweries grow from local brands to nationwide brands through our national distribution network and curation system," said Jeon Jun-young, an official at GS25's Wine25Plus. 2025-12-07 11:16:13