Samsung expands Galaxy XR use to corporate training, moving beyond gaming and entertainment SEOUL, November 12 (AJP) - Samsung is taking its extended reality (XR) headset beyond gaming and entertainment, introducing immersive corporate training programs that blend artificial intelligence with XR through its “Galaxy XR” device. Starting this month, Samsung Human Resources Development Center began using the Galaxy XR for employee education programs, covering meditation, company history, leadership, language, and debate sessions. About 20,000 employees—from new recruits to executives—will undergo training using the headset annually. The Galaxy XR, which Samsung co-developed with Google and Qualcomm and released in October, runs on the Android XR platform. It enables users to interact with 3D environments through voice, gaze, and gestures, allowing them to simulate presentations, hold meetings, or revisit historical milestones such as the founding of Samsung in 1938. Samsung first hinted at broader ambitions for XR at its October launch event, saying the device could go beyond gaming to include sports experiences, industrial simulations, and medical or educational applications. The company also highlighted its potential in B2B services—such as training workers for hazardous sites or conducting medical education in controlled virtual settings—reflecting the group’s long-term strategy to build an ecosystem around spatial computing. Through the AI-powered system, participants can receive real-time, personalized feedback from virtual avatars and repeat exercises in realistic environments without the pressure of live evaluation. The XR-based training is designed to increase engagement and overcome the limitations of conventional classroom learning. Samsung said it will continue working with experts and develop new content optimized for next-generation XR devices. The company aims to integrate feedback from trainees and expand AI-XR education into additional fields in partnership with Samsung Electronics. 2025-11-12 15:47:51

Wedding costs fully disclosed in Korea as marriage aversion among 30s deepens SEOUL, November 12 (AJP) - Bulging wedding costs stand as a growing reason for South Koreans in their late 20s and 30s to put off tying the knot, deepening the country’s demographic woes and prompting antitrust authorities to enforce full disclosure on wedding charges. Starting Wednesday, wedding service providers in South Korea — including studios, dress rental shops and makeup salons — must disclose all pricing terms, including refund policies, before signing any contracts. Responding to mounting complaints about sticker shock in the country’s notoriously expensive and opaque wedding procedures, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced revisions to the Mandatory Disclosure Regulation for Key Advertising and Pricing Information. All wedding-related businesses, from venues and planners to photo studios, must now post prices for base packages, optional add-ons, cancellation penalties and refund terms on their official websites or on the state-run Price Information Portal (price.go.kr). Violations can result in administrative fines of up to 100 million won ($73,000), with a six-month grace period before full enforcement begins. Weddings have increasingly turned into a luxury — and a reason many couples skip the ceremonial procedure or forgo marriage altogether. A 2025 survey by the Korea Population, Health and Welfare Association found that 42 percent of unmarried Koreans have “no plans to marry,” with one in four citing financial burden as the main reason. Including housing, the average cost of marriage now exceeds 360 million won ($266,000), while a single wedding ceremony in Seoul costs about 26.6 million won ($19,600) on average. According to the latest data from the Korea Consumer Agency, the cost of a wedding in the affluent Gangnam district averaged 33.36 million won as of June, compared with the nationwide average of 20.74 million won. The figure covers the wedding hall fee and the bundled package of photography, dress rental and makeup. A separate survey by matchmaking firm Gayeon placed the average cost of the bundled package alone at 4.79 million won. Consumer complaints filed with the Korea Consumer Agency jumped 63 percent between 2021 and 2023. Korea’s long-standing “showcase wedding” culture — where families compete to stage lavish ceremonies and photo shoots — has fanned wedding inflation and forced many to swallow the extra burden to avoid ruining one of the biggest days of their lives. Couples say the new rule could correct the exploitative nature of the market. Kim Ga-hyun (30), who is preparing for marriage, said financial stress often leads to conflict among families and fights between couples. “Wedding costs keep snowballing and cause arguments,” she said. “Knowing prices upfront can be helpful since we at least know what we’re getting into.” Eunhye Lee, director at the Korea Wedding Planners Association, said the policy will bring mixed results for the industry. “From a consulting perspective, price disclosure actually makes it easier for us to explain total package costs to clients,” she said. “But many vendors are hesitant because each service combines both product and quality, so it’s difficult to set a uniform standard.” Still, the move is welcomed by consumers. Seoul resident Kim Kyu-bin (29), who married in 2023, regrets the rule came too late. “The extra bill arrived only after I fell in love with a dress. Knowing the price ahead would help plan the wedding more realistically.” How pricing disclosure will help rationalize costs, contain inflation, or even bolster the country’s record-low marriage rate — 3.8 per 1,000 people — remains to be seen. 2025-11-12 15:41:08

AI detectors questioned for efficacy while Korean universities wrestle with AI use SEOUL, November 11 (AJP) - South Korean universities and companies are increasingly adopting detecting tools to identify AI cheats to prevent foul plays in admissions and evaluations, especially after the large-scale AI-employed test cheating that recently disgraced one of the country’s top elite universities — but many find the services largely lacking. Tools are used randomly and trusted blindly, while most universities have yet to reach any consensus on AI usage for class materials and evaluations. For job seekers, the consequences can be personal and severe. Kim Ye-ji (28), a job applicant in Seoul, said she feared being unfairly screened out after spending nights perfecting her self-introduction essay. “I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be if the AI detector labeled my own writing as machine-written,” she said. “It’s already hard enough to get a few big-company interview chances — losing one that way would feel devastating.” According to a survey by Incruit, 27.5 percent of companies already screen for AI-assisted writing in self-introduction letters, though few verify detection results before disqualifying applicants. Similar tools are now used across college assignments and corporate reports. At the same time, AI-driven cheating is spreading faster than detection technology can keep up. The number of remote and large-scale lectures in major universities has surged since the pandemic, creating blind spots in monitoring. At Yonsei University, the number of large classes with more than 200 students rose from 75 in 2020 to 104 last year, while online courses jumped from 34 in 2023 to 321 this semester, according to public education data. Professors say the rapid rise in online lectures and corporate remote interviews has created an environment ripe for AI misuse — but current detection tools remain inconsistent and poorly integrated into learning systems. “AI detectors can often identify which model — whether GPT, Gemini or Claude — generated the text, since each has distinct patterns,” said Billy Choi, professor at Korea University’s AI Research Institute. “But once a human edits the content, those patterns collapse, and that’s when detection errors occur.” He added that improving such tools is “technically simple but financially demanding,” requiring additional training data and costly fine-tuning by developers. At universities, the debate is shifting from “whether to use AI” to “how to use it meaningfully.” “AI tools are not impossible to ban completely,” said Jin Lee, professor of cultural content studies at Hanyang University. “Instead of policing students for using AI, professors need to rethink how assignments are designed — focusing on how meaning is created through AI use, not just whether it was used.” Lee added that the ethical burden of detecting AI use can no longer fall solely on students. “We can’t 100 percent verify if something was written by AI, and questioning students based on suspicion alone is meaningless,” she said. “The conversation should move toward helping students use AI responsibly while developing their own voices.” Universities such as Yonsei and Korea University have issued internal guidelines urging faculty not to grade students solely based on detector results. Others are exploring hybrid evaluation systems — combining oral defenses, peer review, and in-class writing — to balance technology with fairness. Still, pressure to detect AI-generated content continues to mount as academic-integrity concerns rise worldwide. In the United States and Europe, several institutions have already limited use of detection tools such as ZeroGPT and Turnitin due to accuracy concerns. 2025-11-11 17:35:38

Korea's National Dance Company "Double Bill" blends the worlds of discipline and freedom SEOUL, November 10 (AJP) - What looks like total chaos — fourteen dancers leaping, crawling, and tossing one another in midair amid tightly arranged metal tables — is, in fact, a work of meticulous control. A single misstep could mean a ruined sequence or even a serious injury. Discipline is the axis of American choreographer William Forsythe’s “One Flat Thing, Reproduced.” The tables impose strict rules: confined space, exact timing, predetermined pathways. The dancers must sense one another with the precision of orchestra players, never missing a cue. “Choreography,” Forsythe once said, “is not the same as dance. It is the architecture of the desire to dance.” That philosophy surfaced in every moment — a balance of control and risk, rule and release. Within its rigidity, the work radiated beauty, revealing how the body seeks freedom even inside the tightest constraints. It showed how far movement can reach within limits, how precision and trust can generate their own kind of emotion. When the lights rose again, the stage transformed for Kim Sungyong’s “Crawl,” a work built around the opposite idea: freedom. Open space replaced the rows of tables. Rolling and flexing bodies moved with a breath-like rhythm, expanding and contracting as if discovering the stage anew. Created through Kim’s collaborative method, Process Init, the piece emerged not from instruction but from improvisation. “Sometimes the process felt like walking backward,” Kim said. “But through those pauses and restarts, the work found its own direction.” He fed the dancers simple cues — “heat,” “patience,” “silence” — allowing movement to grow from sensation rather than steps. The result felt spontaneous yet interconnected, a choreography that wrote itself in real time. Audience member Lee Hae-rin, 27, captured the contrast. “Forsythe’s piece felt like every second mattered — like watching precision under pressure. But Crawl was completely different. It felt fluid.” Together, the two works delivered a message that dance does not need to be explained through theory. It can simply display what the body can do — how rules strengthen it, how freedom exposes emotion — leaving room for each viewer’s own interpretation. According to the National Dance Company, about 1,600 people attended the two-day run, a strong turnout for the National Theater. “The contrast between the two pieces was what audiences talked about most,” an official said. “Forsythe is a name you usually see in history books, and this was the first time ‘One Flat Thing, Reproduced’ was performed by Korean dancers — that alone made it special.” For the National Dance Company of Korea, the program was more than a pairing of two works. It demonstrated how discipline and freedom — seemingly opposite forces — can meet onstage and speak the same language. 2025-11-10 19:17:00

Behind the buzz over K-Pop Demon Hunters, K-contents score meagerly this year SEOUL, November 07 (AJP) - Korean contents have enjoyed spectacular global exposure this year through major streaming platforms, but without the halo of K-Pop Demon Hunters — the rare breakout that dominated global charts — the industry can hardly claim meaningful wins amid a dearth of blockbuster titles, mounting production costs, and waning originality. The third-quarter results of CJ ENM, Korea’s largest entertainment and media group, offer a glimpse into this year’s K-drama performance. On Thursday, the company reported consolidated revenue of 1.12 trillion won ($830 million) and a modest operating profit of 17.6 billion won for the July–September period. Its media platform unit logged an operating loss of 3.3 billion won. The film and drama division returned to the black with a profit of 6.8 billion won, helped largely by additional distribution in Latin America and the Middle East. Industry data show that while Korean IP remakes overseas continue to grow — from 22 in 2020 to nearly 40 this year — profitability has narrowed as production budgets balloon and domestic platforms rely more heavily on global OTT partnerships. According to the Bank of Korea, the nation’s royalties balance swung to a deficit of $8.5 billion in September from $0.6 billion in August, reflecting rising payments for foreign IP. On the small screen, the pipeline has been thin and underwhelming. Average TV ratings for Studio Dragon — the flagship behind Queen of Tears and Castaway Diva — fell to 7.5 percent from 9.3 percent in 2023. The number of new titles achieving double-digit viewership dropped from six to three. The studio produced 19 new dramas this year, down from 31 last year and 28 in 2023. “On the surface, K-content still looks strong, but from an industrial standpoint the creative pipeline has weakened,” said Jin Lee, professor of cultural content studies at Hanyang University. “Korean studios are shifting toward co-productions with global OTTs, which help overseas expansion but reduce creative control and profit margins.” TVING, CJ ENM’s streaming arm, saw monthly active users rise 8.6 percent year on year, but its domestic market share remains below 10 percent — far behind Netflix’s 45 percent. “Consumers now watch what they want and leave,” Lee added. “For Korean platforms, sustaining loyalty and cumulative growth has become extremely difficult.” CJ ENM’s film business showed a similar pattern. Among roughly 24 theatrical releases between 2023 and 2024, only eight broke even. Mid-budget films such as Exhuma and The Escape significantly outperformed expectations. Film revenue rose 12 percent on year to 372.8 billion won, but operating margins narrowed to 1.8 percent from 3.2 percent a year earlier. Across the broader market, Korean films attracted 71 million theatergoers in 2024 — up 18 percent on year but still 46 percent below pre-COVID levels. Average terrestrial drama ratings fell to 6.7 percent this year from 8.2 percent in 2023, while cable shows excluding Queen of Tears averaged 4.9 percent, the lowest since 2020. Industry watchers cite complacency and idea fatigue for the slowdown. “Historical or fantasy series are considered safe because they ‘look Korean,’ but over-repetition risks a creativity deficit,” Lee said. CJ ENM said it will continue to deepen partnerships with global media groups while improving returns on content investment. A company official said it aims to “expand global influence through strategic collaboration” and enhance profitability across its content and platform businesses. 2025-11-07 14:31:06

Viral K-beauty powered by rich foundation palette for every skin tone SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - “You guys have no idea how happy I am right now — it’s literally perfect. I can finally use their cushion foundation,” said @MissDarcei, a beauty influencer with more than 800,000 YouTube followers. Her excitement reflects a growing wave of international consumers who say Korean cushion foundations now work just as well on darker skin tones as they do on lighter ones. The secret behind the viral rise of K-beauty lies in its fast-expanding shade ranges, with some brands now offering up to 40 different tones designed to match a global, multiracial consumer base. TIRTIR and Clio may not be the best-known legacy beauty houses in Korea, but they have emerged as major forces on social media by redefining what a Korean base shade can be. TIRTIR became the first Korean brand to surpass 30 shades in a single line when it released 40 foundation tones in August 2024. The move targeted deeper and darker skin tones across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Since launch, global cumulative sales have topped 13 million units, and more than 70 percent of the company’s total revenue now comes from foundation. Its Mask Fit Cushion has repeatedly dominated Sephora U.S. and Amazon’s base-makeup rankings, achieving a surge of more than 55,000 percent in overseas sales within months. A company comment will be added. Clio followed in January 2024 by expanding its Kill Cover foundation range to 20 shades, introducing newly developed darker tones to appeal to a broader spectrum of global consumers. The company strengthened its presence on TikTok and Amazon while accelerating entry into U.S. and U.K. retail channels. Clio recorded 430.5 billion won in revenue in 2024, up 25.7 percent from the previous year. Overseas sales rose 22 percent in the first half to 84 billion won, while domestic revenue increased 17 percent to 101.5 billion won. The momentum from these shade expansions has also reshaped Korea’s manufacturing base. Major OEM and ODM producers including Cosmax and Kolmar Korea have intensified pigment-development research to meet demand for darker shades and customized tones, reflecting global trends in multi-ethnic cosmetic science. “Korean cushion foundations are known for their outstanding quality. When I visited Korea in 2019, I planned on buying one but was disappointed because the shades were far too pale for my skin,” said Jenny Kim, a 30-year-old from Utah. “Now that the brands have expanded their shade range, I can finally use them.” Influencers such as Miss Darcei and Suellen Gomes, prominent among Black and Latinx audiences, have praised Korean brands for finally offering tones that match their skin. Hashtags including #TIRTIR and #Kbeautydiversity have gone viral across TikTok and YouTube as deeper-shade users share surprised reactions and before-and-after videos. The rise of inclusive Korean foundations did not happen overnight. K-beauty’s double-digit market share in the United States and Europe reflects years of experimentation, reformulation, and persistence by Korean brands determined to meet the expectations of global consumers. “The widening shade spectrum of Korean beauty brands appears to be having a significant impact on exports,” said an official at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. While Western giants such as Fenty Beauty and MAC still lead with 50 to 60 shades respectively, Korean brands are narrowing the gap with surprising speed. TIRTIR now offers 40 shades globally, followed by Clio’s 20, while brands such as Hera and Laka provide fewer than ten. The shift marks a major philosophical transition in K-beauty: a move away from exporting a single, bright-skin ideal toward embracing a more universal, consumer-driven approach that recognizes skin tone diversity as a core part of global beauty culture. 2025-11-04 18:02:44

Kazakhstan goes all-in on AI in bid to emerge as regional leader ASTANA, November 03 (AJP) - Soviet-era government buildings in Kazakhstan’s capital now hum with modern servers and fiber-optic cables as the Central Asian nation pushes to reposition itself as the region’s leading digital economy. The country of 20 million has already emerged as a GovTech leader, ranking 24th globally in the UN’s e-Government Development Index and 10th in online services. It is now doubling down with an expansive AI strategy built on supercomputing infrastructure, hyperscale datacenters and an unusual pitch to global investors: partnership without geopolitical complications. “We’re not just building infrastructure. We’re building a national AI platform that gives every government agency access to the same tools, from large language models to 120 government databases,” Dmitriy Mun, Vice Minister of AI and Digital Development, told AJP in an exclusive interview. Kazakhstan’s digital overhaul has been decades in the making. Mun noted that the country has more than 25 years of experience in GovTech, beginning with physical service centers, then digitization, then mobile platforms. By the time COVID hit, the foundation was in place for a major shift toward digital public services. A key breakthrough came with the Smart Bridge platform, a marketplace for government APIs that allows private banks and companies to tap directly into state databases. Its people can access government services through private banking apps, with cashless payments accounting for 85 percent of transactions. The eGov mobile app has 11 million users — 96 percent of the adult population — accessing more than 1,000 services without visiting an office. Kazakhstan launched its National AI Platform in December 2024. The platform has signed 43 use cases across government, with 10 already implemented and a roadmap for 50 AI agents. An AI assistant called eGov AI has handled more than 800,000 user requests in four months. Another agent, e-Otinish AI, processes 160,000 of the country’s 4 million annual citizen appeals across 15 agencies. Qazaq Law answers legal questions with 86 percent accuracy, and a reengineering assistant helps civil servants identify regulatory changes needed to streamline procedures. The Smart Data Ukimet platform aggregates data from over 120 state databases, powering the Digital Family Card, which tracks 6 million families and delivers 4 million proactive public services automatically. Kazakhstan’s AI ambitions depend heavily on access to compute. The country operates a supercomputer built on 63 NVIDIA H200 GPUs under the ALEM.AI initiative. Securing the hardware required extended conversations with the United States beginning in 2023, Mun said, given Kazakhstan’s proximity to China and Russia. The country initially considered working with Groq but pivoted when the startup moved to an API-only model. A second NVIDIA-based system with 62 GPUs now serves Samruk-Kazyna, the state holding company, and a third supercomputer is planned for universities. Kazakhstan treats high-grade compute as a strategic asset, offering tax exemptions and preferential customs treatment. Mun said the resource-rich country's biggest constraint is not capital but talent. “We really need new talents who understand both AI and the processes in their field. I need experts in AI in oil, AI in logistics. I need to mix knowledge with AI.” Kazakhstan plans to train one million people in AI over the next three to four years. Nineteen universities are establishing AI faculties that combine technology with sector-specific majors, with students paired with industry partners. Primary schools are also introducing AI curricula. Datacenter capacity is expanding rapidly. Kazakhstan plans to build 200 megawatts of capacity with $1.5 billion in investment between 2025 and 2030, with more than four projects already underway. Special Economic Zones offer zero VAT, corporate tax exemptions and customs-duty waivers to attract hyperscale operators. The cloud services market has grown to $110 million as of late 2024. South Korea has emerged as a key partner in Kazakhstan’s digital push. Officials say the two countries already have five years of experience in data management cooperation, with ongoing projects ranging from speech detection tools to the Maui City smart-city initiative. Mun said he hopes to strengthen partnerships in datacenter construction, smart-city pilots in Astana and Almaty, and joint education programs. “What I would like to learn more about is smart cities in Korea — flying taxis, air taxis,” he said. Asked which sectors stand to gain the fastest from AI adoption, Mun cited agriculture, oil, mining and logistics. Samruk-Kazyna has already developed an AI agent roadmap across these areas. “We are in the top ten in the OECD online services index. We have the most powerful supercomputer in Central Asia. We have strong AI talent — Higgsfield AI, a Kazakh startup, recently became a unicorn. We have special economic zones with tax benefits,” he said. “Kazakhstan offers opportunity and stability. We are strategically located between Europe, China and South Asia. Major hyperscale projects are underway.” The scale of activity reflects that ambition: hyperscale datacenters under construction, AI agents processing millions of citizen queries, universities rolling out AI programs and the government treating compute capacity as a national strategic priority. Whether Kazakhstan successfully establishes itself as Central Asia’s digital hub remains uncertain, but with $1.5 billion committed to datacenter infrastructure and NVIDIA-powered supercomputers already in operation, the country is placing a determined bet on AI-driven transformation. 2025-11-03 17:24:42

Kazakhstan eyes Korean investment for AI-driven smart city, industrial growth ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 01 (AJP) - Kazakhstan is courting South Korean investment for its next phase of industrial and digital transformation, including an AI-centered smart city project and new transport initiatives, Deputy Foreign Minister Alibek Kuantyrov said Thursday. Speaking at a briefing held at The Hilton Hotel ahead of the Kazakhstan Global Investment Round (KGIR) in Astana, Kuantyrov said the two countries share common goals in digitalization and artificial intelligence, and that a new project — the city of Alatau — will anchor future cooperation. “One of the largest projects specifically targeting South Korea is the new city of Alatau — it’s more than just a city, it’s a special economic zone,” Kuantyrov said. “It will be an artificial-intelligence-centered city, fully digitalized, and we expect significant Korean investment to flow there,” he added. The Alatau project near Almaty is envisioned as a “smart zone” built from the ground up, following a Seoul business forum led by Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister earlier this year. Kuantyrov also highlighted Kia Corporation’s plant in Kostanay, which produces about 90,000 vehicles annually, calling it one of South Korea’s most significant overseas investments. He noted that South Korea ranks among Kazakhstan’s top five investors, alongside the Netherlands and the United States, and mentioned the country’s ethnic Korean community, which migrated to Central Asia in the 1930s and now serves as a “natural bridge” between the two economies. Madiyar Sultanbek, deputy chairman of Kazakh Invest, said cooperation with Korean companies is expanding into advanced mobility and infrastructure, including urban air mobility and magnetic-levitation railway projects connecting Almaty and Konaev. “We have a long history with Korean investors — from Lotte’s Rakhat chocolate factory to LG, Hyundai, and Samsung — and we’re now entering a new phase in areas like maglev and smart mobility,” he said. He added that Kazakhstan maintains several official investment partnerships in South Korea, with a dedicated representative based in Seoul. The government aims to attract technology-driven investment while doubling exports and raising the share of processed goods to 70 percent of total exports. Officials at the briefing also pointed to Kazakhstan’s growing interest in AI applications across industry and governance, noting examples such as AI-assisted locomotives that improve energy efficiency and digital tools used in government decision-making. “AI will reshape how we manage both the public and private sectors,” Kuantyrov said. “It’s not about replacing people but improving efficiency and creating new industries.” As Kazakhstan positions itself as Central Asia’s financial and logistics hub — accounting for nearly half of all foreign investment in the region — officials said the next wave of cooperation with South Korea would focus on green mobility, smart infrastructure, and AI innovation. 2025-11-01 10:27:36

K-fashion joins APEC sponsorship as young labels expand global reach SEOUL, October 27 (AJP) - Breaking into the global mainstream has long been a challenge for Korean fashion labels. Yet the rise of social media—coupled with the global influence of K-pop stars and K-dramas—has propelled a new wave of brands such as Matin Kim and platforms like Musinsa to the forefront of the international fashion scene, celebrated for their blend of style, affordability, and authenticity. Matin Kim, which this month made its debut on Amazon following successful offline launches in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, has been invited as an official merchandise partner for this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju. It marks the first time a fashion label has joined heavyweight corporate names such as Samsung Electronics as an APEC sponsor—symbolizing K-fashion’s elevation from niche trend to cultural emblem. “Matin Kim’s inclusion as an APEC corporate partner proves that K-fashion is no longer just a trend—it’s a new cultural code,” said brand operator HAGO HAUS in a statement. Founded in 2015 by then 23-year-old blogger-turned-designer Kim Dain, Matin Kim began as a blog shop reselling clothes from Seoul’s Dongdaemun market with less than 30,000 won in capital. By harnessing real-time online feedback, the brand pivoted to original design production in 2016 and incorporated as a company in 2018. It quickly went viral among Gen Z consumers for its minimalist, wearable designs. A 2021 investment from fashion venture firm HAGO LNF allowed Matin Kim to systemize production and distribution, expanding into premium retail spaces such as The Hyundai and online through Musinsa, while also collaborating with Levi’s and Asics. Annual revenue surged from 5 billion won in 2019 to over 100 billion won by 2024. Musinsa, the e-commerce platform that discovered and incubated emerging Korean labels including Matin Kim, has itself evolved into a global gateway for K-fashion. Cross-border transactions in Japan jumped more than 120 percent this year, with growing demand also from the United States and Southeast Asia. The platform now hosts more than 400 domestic designer brands and ships to over 200 countries. Still, whether K-fashion can match the resilience of established designer houses or withstand the volatility of fast-fashion consumers remains uncertain. Most Korean brands operate on limited production cycles and rely heavily on domestic logistics, making it difficult to compete with European luxury groups on scale or pricing. Ultimately, Matin Kim’s APEC debut and Musinsa’s overseas momentum will test whether K-fashion can translate cultural buzz into sustained economic influence and build long-term global retail and production networks. 2025-10-27 17:22:03

SK hynix, Samsung cash in on supercycle with stocks in record-setting rally SEOUL, October 24 (AJP) - Korea’s memory titans Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are reaping record windfalls from a red-hot chip market driven by the transition to higher-performance memory that underpins the digital and automation era — yet both remain cautious about expanding production for fear of another abrupt downturn. Investors show little concern for now, pushing both stocks to fresh highs. The combined market capitalization of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix topped 1,000 trillion won ($700 billion) for the first time on Friday. Samsung’s market value reached 584.2 trillion won (plus 64 trillion won in preferred shares), while SK hynix climbed to 370.9 trillion won in morning trading. The demand surge is straining supplies not only of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) — essential for AI servers, data centers, and GPUs — but also of mass-market DRAM used in PCs, laptops, and smartphones, as chipmakers redirect wafer capacity toward HBM and other high-margin products. Spot prices for mainstream DDR4 8Gb DRAM jumped to $7.30 this week, up 265 percent from April and the highest since October 2018, according to DRAMeXchange. UBS expects contract prices to rise 10–17 percent in the fourth quarter, while TrendForce projects an 8–13 percent gain in standard DRAM, widening to 13–18 percent when HBM products are included. Unlike past inventory-driven booms, ongoing supply crunch is structural. SK hynix has devoted most of its advanced process capacity to HBM production for Nvidia and other AI chipmakers, while Samsung continues to ramp up 2-nanometer HBM output to improve yields. Because HBM stacks multiple chips vertically, wafer throughput is less than half that of traditional DRAM, tightening legacy supply. While many investors see the sustained HBM shortage as fueling the next memory supercycle, some analysts warn the picture is more nuanced. “HBM supply has actually caught up with demand, and prices are softening,” said Song Myoung-seob, analyst at iM Securities. “What’s tight is conventional DRAM — production has been shifted to HBM, and server makers are rushing to stock up inventory ahead of possible tariff changes.” Song estimates global memory demand will expand 19.5 percent this year, outpacing an estimated 18.2 percent increase in supply. He added that Micron faces setbacks in server-grade DDR5, further constraining availability. Analysts say the DRAM-HBM cycle could extend into the first half of 2026 if AI server build-outs and enterprise upgrades persist. But others caution that rapid fab expansions in Korea, the United States, and Taiwan could spark a correction if demand falters. Either way, Samsung and SK hynix face the delicate task of balancing short-term windfalls with longer-term capacity discipline in a market moving faster than ever. 2025-10-24 15:47:52