South Korea to allow visa-free travel for Chinese visitors starting this month SEOUL, September 07 (AJP) -South Korea announced Sunday that it would temporarily allow visa-free entry for Chinese tour groups of three or more people, in a move aimed at revitalizing its tourism sector. The new policy, which takes effect on Sept. 29, permits these groups to travel across the country for up to 15 days. China has already been allowing visa-free travel for South Korean nationals since November of last year. Under the new policy, which will run until June 30 of next year, groups must be recruited by travel agencies that are either designated by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism or a South Korean diplomatic mission in China. In an effort to prevent illegal stays, the government has also implemented stricter controls. Designated South Korean travel agencies are now required to register their tourists' lists on the Hi Korea website at least 24 hours before their arrival, or 36 hours for those arriving by ship. Individuals identified as high-risk will be denied the visa exemption and must obtain a separate visa to enter the country. The government has also strengthened administrative sanctions for unauthorized departures. If a tourist leaves a group intentionally or with collusion, the travel agency's designation will be immediately revoked. The policy change comes ahead of China's holiday season in October, a period known for a significant increase in international travel. To prepare for the expected surge in visitors, the government has allowed travel agencies to begin registering tourist lists starting on Sept. 22. Officials said they anticipate the temporary visa exemption will boost the tourism industry and local economies while also fostering greater understanding and goodwill between the two countries through increased people-to-people exchanges. The new policy does not affect Jeju Island, which, under its own special act, already permits individual and group tourists to visit for up to 30 days without a visa. 2025-09-07 17:40:27

Immigration crackdown leads Korean firms to cancel business trips to US SEOUL, September 07 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor Company has canceled all scheduled business trips to the United States after hundreds of South Korean workers were arrested in Georgia on charges of illegal stay and employment. Industry sources confirmed Sunday that the automaker had notified employees that all travel to the U.S. was suspended. The decision comes after a raid on a joint battery plant operated by LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group on Sept. 4 led to the detention of 475 people. About 300 of those arrested are believed to be South Korean citizens. Reports indicate that most of the detained Koreans entered the U.S. with either an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) or a B-1 business visa. While both allow for short-term visits, they do not permit employment. Proper work visas for foreign nationals, such as the H-1B or L-1/E-2, can take months or even years to secure. For years, companies have informally relied on ESTA and B-1 visas to send workers on business trips, a practice that is now under scrutiny. The unprecedented immigration raid, which led to the mass detention, appears to have prompted Hyundai's decision to halt travel. Industry observers now expect other South Korean firms with investments in the U.S. to also delay or postpone their business trips. One industry official called the U.S. government's action a "first-of-its-kind crackdown on a long-standing practice." "If travel becomes too difficult, it could make it virtually impossible for Korean companies to execute their business plans in the U.S. as scheduled," the official said on condition of anonymity. 2025-09-07 14:25:49

Samsung plans to embed AI across 90 percent of its business by 2030 SEOUL, September 07 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics plans to integrate artificial intelligence into nearly all of its operations within the next five years, a sweeping transformation that the company says will redefine how it makes and markets everything from smartphones to home appliances. Roh Tae-moon, the acting head of Samsung’s DX Division, which oversees consumer electronics and mobile devices, said at a news conference at the IFA 2025 trade show in Berlin that the company aims to apply AI to 90 percent of its business areas by 2030. “We will turn Samsung Electronics into a company that uses AI better than anyone else — a company that works and grows with AI,” Roh said. “AI will secure our competitiveness and become a new engine of growth.” Roh also teased new hardware, saying that development of a “tri-fold” smartphone — a device that folds three times — was in its final stages and would be released later this year. He added that extended-reality headsets and smart glasses would follow once the technology was mature enough. The push comes as global technology companies race to embed generative AI into products and services, seeking to boost efficiency and win over consumers increasingly drawn to smart features. Roh said Samsung intends to install AI functions on more than 400 million Galaxy devices by the end of this year. He added that AI would be expanded to televisions and household appliances, and that robotics using so-called “physical AI” would be a future growth driver. Samsung is developing its own large language model, known as Gauss, while also working with partners such as Google, whose Gemini AI is already embedded in Galaxy smartphones. “We want to provide the best AI model or platform depending on customer needs,” Roh said, adding that Samsung was also in talks with other partners beyond Google. The company sees Europe as a key proving ground. “European consumers tend to adopt advanced features more quickly than in other regions,” Roh said. “Our goal is to popularize AI technology, starting with premium products but quickly expanding to mass-market devices.” 2025-09-07 10:57:08

Charter flight to bring home Korean workers held in US SEOUL, September 07 (AJP) - The South Korean government said on Sunday that it had successfully negotiated the release of over 300 of its citizens who were detained by American immigration authorities at a construction site in Georgia. The workers were building a joint battery plant for Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution. Lee Hun-sik, the chief of staff to President Lee Jae Myung, announced that “negotiations for the release of the detained workers have been completed,” and he credited the rapid response of government ministries, corporations and economic organizations. Speaking at a high-level meeting in Seoul, Lee noted that while the release had been secured, administrative procedures were still pending. "A charter flight will depart to bring our citizens home as soon as those procedures are completed," he said. He added that the government would "not let down its guard" until the workers had returned safely to South Korea, and that officials would work to review and improve the visa system for South Koreans traveling to the United States for large-scale projects to prevent similar incidents. The detentions occurred after federal immigration authorities carried out what they called the largest enforcement operation in their history at the Bryan County construction site. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations arrested 475 workers during the raid on Sept. 4, citing widespread violations involving unauthorized employment and visa overstays. U.S. authorities said many of those taken into custody had entered the country under the visa waiver program or on short-term visas that do not permit employment. LG Energy Solution confirmed that 47 of its own employees were among those arrested, including 46 South Koreans and one Indonesian. The company said roughly 250 workers from its partner firms were also detained, most of whom were believed to be South Korean. Consular officials from South Korea’s Consulate General in Atlanta began meeting with the detainees on Saturday at an ICE processing center in Folkston, Ga., to check on their health and living conditions. The on-site support team is being led by Cho Ki-joong, consul general at the South Korean Embassy in Washington. LG Energy Solution said it had suspended all business travel to the United States for its employees, except for essential customer meetings, and had instructed staff members currently in the country to either return home or remain at their accommodations. On Friday, President Donald Trump, who has made immigration enforcement a centerpiece of his administration, praised the operation and referred to those detained as “illegal aliens.” ICE later released a video clip of the raid, showing workers being screened, shackled with chains and handcuffs, and loaded onto a transport vehicle. 2025-09-07 10:06:26

LG Electronics targets doubling Europe appliance revenue within five years SEOUL, September 05 (AJP) - LG Electronics outlined plans to double its European home appliance revenue within five years and become the region's leading appliance brand, according to statements made Friday (KST) during a media briefing at IFA 2025 in Berlin. Home and Living Solutions division head Ryu Jae-chul presented the company's European market strategy focusing on B2B, direct-to-consumer sales, and non-hardware services to achieve sustainable growth. The European appliance market represents approximately $113 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.1 percent through 2030, according to market research firm Statista. LG Electronics currently competes with international brands across both premium and volume segments in Europe, while maintaining its number one position in the North American premium appliance market. LG plans to expand its built-in appliance business revenue tenfold by 2030, targeting a top-five position in Europe's estimated $24 billion built-in market. The company will strengthen B2B operations through its "LG Built-in" mass premium brand and expand from Southern European markets to Western and Northern European premium segments. Commercial laundry appliances under the "LG Professional" brand will also launch across Europe. The company aims to triple its online brand shop revenue by 2030 while expanding AI-powered home platform services including the ThinQ ON hub and LG IoT devices across major European markets. LG will introduce region-specific B2B AI home solutions, including building management systems for North American rental developers and residential complex management packages for European and Middle Eastern markets. LG showcased energy-efficient appliances designed specifically for European requirements, including washing machines that use 70 percent less energy than EU A-grade standards and refrigerators consuming 40 percent less energy. European consumer media evaluations ranked LG refrigerators first in 19 categories across eight countries and washing appliances first in eight categories across five countries as of August 2025, according to the company's data. 2025-09-05 17:36:26

SK hynix maintains DRAM market lead over Samsung in second quarter SEOUL, September 05 (AJP) - SK hynix retained its position as the world's largest DRAM manufacturer in the second quarter of 2025, widening its lead over Samsung Electronics as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) demand continued to drive growth, according to data released Friday by market research firm Omdia. Global DRAM industry revenue increased 17.3 percent quarter-over-quarter to $30.92 billion, driven by rising contract prices and increased HBM shipments. SK hynix expanded its DRAM market share to 39.5 percent in the second quarter from 36.9 percent in the first quarter, maintaining the top position it first claimed in early 2025. Samsung Electronics' market share declined to 33.3 percent from 34.4 percent during the same period, keeping the company in second place for the second consecutive quarter. The gap between the two South Korean memory manufacturers widened significantly, with SK hynix's lead expanding from 2.5 percentage points in the first quarter to 6.2 percentage points in the second quarter. In absolute terms, SK hynix generated $12.23 billion in second-quarter DRAM revenue compared to Samsung's $10.3 billion, a difference of more than $1.9 billion. SK hynix's dominance stems largely from its leadership in the high-bandwidth memory market, where it holds over 50 percent market share and serves as the primary supplier to major technology companies including NVIDIA. The company has reportedly sold out its entire 2025 HBM production capacity and is currently negotiating contracts for 2026 deliveries. Market research firm TrendForce corroborated the findings, reporting SK hynix's DRAM market share increased from 36 percent to 38.7 percent between the first and second quarters. SK hynix's second-quarter performance marks the first time since 1992 that Samsung has lost its global DRAM market leadership position, ending a 33-year streak at the top of the memory industry. 2025-09-05 13:31:52

US patent firm alleges LCD patent infringement by LG Electronics SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - A U.S. intellectual property management company has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, accusing LG Electronics and several other television manufacturers of infringing patents covering liquid crystal display (LCD) technology. BH Innovations LLC named South Korea’s LG, China’s Hisense and TCL, and U.S.-based Vizio as respondents in the case, according to data released Thursday by the patent information platform RPX. The company alleges the manufacturers violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act by importing products that use LCD panels covered by its patents. The firm is seeking an import ban on televisions and other products that incorporate the disputed technology. In a notice published in the Federal Register, the commission invited public comments on how a potential ban might affect U.S. health, welfare, competitive conditions and consumer access to similar goods. The ITC also asked whether BH Innovations or third-party suppliers would have the capacity to meet demand should imports from the named companies be blocked. BH Innovations is described by analysts as a patent assertion entity — sometimes called a “patent troll” — that acquires or licenses intellectual property and pursues litigation against large manufacturers, typically aiming to secure licensing fees or trade restrictions. Such disputes are common in the consumer electronics industry, where control of component patents can shape supply chains and market access. The ITC has not yet ruled on whether it will initiate a formal investigation. 2025-09-04 11:09:23

From Beijing startup to global powerhouse: China's ByteDance rewrites rules of social media Editor's Note: This article is the 34th installment in our series on Asia's top 100 companies, exploring the strategies, challenges, and innovations driving the region's most influential corporations. SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - When Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance in a modest Beijing apartment in 2012, his goal was deceptively simple: build software that could serve people the information they didn’t know they wanted. A decade later, his company has become the world’s most powerful social media empire, eclipsing even Silicon Valley’s titans. In the second quarter of 2025, ByteDance’s revenue surged to $48 billion, outpacing Meta’s $42.3 billion. TikTok, its short-video app born out of the $800 million acquisition of Musical.ly, now commands more than 1.6 billion monthly users and has redefined how people, especially young ones, spend their time online. The company’s valuation, bolstered by employee share buybacks, has swelled to more than $330 billion. ByteDance’s rise has been fueled by an uncanny ability to predict — and shape — what people want to watch. Its AI-powered recommendation engine, endlessly feeding users with tailored clips, has been hailed as one of the most sophisticated algorithms in tech. For many, TikTok is not just another app but a cultural engine: a place where pop songs take off, comedians launch careers, and political debates are reframed in seconds-long bursts. Yet the company’s ascent has also thrust it into the center of geopolitical fault lines. In Washington, where lawmakers worry that TikTok could be used as a tool of influence by Beijing, Congress passed legislation ordering ByteDance to sell its U.S. operations. U.S. President Donald Trump extended the deadline for a sale to Sept. 17, with investment firms including Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic and KKR circling as potential buyers. The standoff has cast doubt over TikTok’s future in its most lucrative foreign market. For now, the company is thriving. Its revenues flow from advertising, live commerce, and creator partnerships, with TikTok Shop alone recording $33.4 billion in merchandise sales last year. Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew, who oversees global operations, presides over a sprawling but flat organization that prizes experimentation and data-driven decisions. ByteDance is also looking beyond social media. The company has made forays into education technology, enterprise software, and e-commerce, while pledging to reach carbon neutrality by 2030. It has rolled out youth protection measures and content moderation systems, even as critics say they do little to blunt the addictive pull of its apps. The story of ByteDance is, in many ways, the story of a new era of the internet — one where Chinese companies are no longer content to imitate Silicon Valley but are setting the pace of global innovation. From Zhang’s original news aggregation app Toutiao to TikTok’s global dominance, ByteDance has shown that a Chinese startup can capture the world’s attention, and hold it. As the Sept. 17 divestment deadline looms, the company’s future in the United States hangs in the balance. Whether it emerges as a fractured giant or a stronger, more globalized enterprise will help define not only ByteDance’s trajectory, but also the future of social media itself. 2025-09-04 10:50:01

Marriages with foreigners rise in South Korea, even as overall unions decline SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - South Korea is seeing a growing share of marriages involving foreign nationals, even as overall marriage rates have nearly halved over the past three decades, according to new government data released Wednesday. Statistics Korea said that marriages with foreign spouses rose 54 percent from 13,500 in 1995 to 20,800 in 2024. Such unions accounted for 9.3 percent of all marriages last year, up from 3.4 percent three decades earlier. Both Korean men marrying foreign women and Korean women marrying foreign men saw significant increases, rising 50.7 percent and 64.2 percent, respectively. The trend contrasts sharply with broader declines in marriage. Total unions peaked at 434,900 in 1996 before falling to 191,700 in 2022, the lowest in 30 years. The number has since inched up to 222,400 in 2024 but remains far below historic levels. South Korea’s demographic transformation extends beyond marriage. The number of newborns plunged from 715,000 in 1995 to 238,000 in 2024, with the total fertility rate dropping from 1.63 children per woman to just 0.75, among the lowest in the world. Average ages at first marriage climbed to 33.9 years for men and 31.6 years for women. Family patterns are shifting as well. First-born children now make up more than 60 percent of births, reflecting the rise of single-child households. Births outside of marriage, while still limited, grew nearly fivefold over the same period, reaching 5.8 percent. Parents are older on average, with mothers giving birth at 33.7 years and fathers at 36.1 years in 2024. Multiple births, including twins, also became more common, rising to 5.7 percent of all deliveries. 2025-09-03 17:10:26

Samsung's processor shows big leap, closing in on Qualcomm SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ next-generation Exynos processor has posted benchmark scores close to those of Qualcomm’s top chip, raising expectations that the company’s in-house silicon could return to its flagship smartphones next year. According to results released Wednesday by Geekbench and industry reports, the Exynos 2600 recorded a single-core score of 3,309 and a multi-core score of 11,256. Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite second-generation chip posted slightly higher results of 3,393 and 11,515, respectively. The results mark a sharp improvement from earlier Exynos 2600 tests, which had averaged 2,575 for single-core and 8,761 for multi-core performance. Industry analysts said the gains could clear the way for Samsung to reintroduce its own chips in the Galaxy S26, after leaving them out of the Galaxy S25 because of production issues. Samsung has been gradually expanding Exynos use across its product line. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is powered by the Exynos 2500, while the upcoming Galaxy S25 FE is expected to run on the Exynos 2400. Earlier this year, the company also shipped the Galaxy S24 with a mix of Snapdragon and Exynos processors, reviving its proprietary chip line after a two-year hiatus. Beyond smartphones, Samsung has secured design wins that could bolster its semiconductor business. Recent contracts include supplying Tesla with its next-generation AI6 chip and producing image sensors for Apple. The Exynos line is developed by Samsung’s System LSI division and manufactured by its foundry unit, both part of the Device Solutions arm, creating opportunities for synergy within the company’s chip operations. Strong chip sales are expected to lift earnings. Analysts forecast Samsung’s third-quarter operating profit at about 9 trillion won, with Kiwoom Securities projecting the Device Solutions division to post 4.2 trillion won — a more than seven-fold increase from the prior quarter, aided by Exynos 2500 shipments and growing demand for image sensors. 2025-09-03 16:13:54