Korean institutions primary driver of KOSPI gain and reap big from their long bet SEOUL, November 18 (AJP) - South Korean institutional investors have emerged as the primary force behind the KOSPI’s world-leading rally this year, reaping sizable gains from their long-position strategy fueled largely through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Domestic financial institutions made aggressive bets on Korean equities via ETFs, significantly boosting their bottom line. According to the Korea Exchange, foreigners have been net sellers of 5.86 trillion won (around $4 billion) and retail investors 13.19 trillion won so far this year, taking profits after the record-setting rally. Despite this offloading, the KOSPI has maintained one of the strongest performances among major global indices — rising more than 60 percent — thanks to steady long positioning by local institutions, predominantly financial investment firms. Institutions purchased a net 8.61 trillion won this year, with financial investment accounts alone buying 19.09 trillion won. Financial funds maintained a net-buying stance for most of the year except January. Financial investment accounts refer to brokerage-run proprietary trading divisions that execute arbitrage, hedging, and market-making strategies. Their yearly positions typically net out to near zero, but the surge of ETF inflows has shifted that pattern. When money flows into ETFs, brokers are required to buy the underlying stocks, and these purchases appear in market-making accounts — contributing to consistent net buying by financial investment firms. Analysts note this ETF-driven structure is now offsetting the impact of foreign selling. Even with foreigners unloading around 9 trillion won this month, passive ETF inflows have kept the KOSPI’s upward momentum intact. Passive funds do not shift positions abruptly, reducing the risk of sharp corrections. “The influence of financial investments and ETF flows is becoming more significant than foreign investors in driving the domestic stock market,” said Heo Jae-hwan of Eugene Investment & Securities. “This structure helps limit the downside even if the pace of gains slows.” The long-term bet has been especially lucrative for insurers, who account for a large share of Korea’s typically-long institutional capital. According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, Hanwha Life Insurance posted accumulated net profit of 768.9 billion won as of September, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier. Its investment income more than doubled, jumping from 195.6 billion won to 582.2 billion won. Samsung Life’s net profit rose 3 percent to 2.232 trillion won in the third quarter, despite a 6.7-percent drop in insurance profit, as investment income expanded 9 percent to 1.38 trillion won. Kyobo Life also reported a 1.2-percent rise in net profit to 904.1 billion won, driven by an almost 50-percent surge in investment returns. Shinhan Life logged the strongest growth among insurers, with net profit up 10 percent to 514.5 billion won as investment income more than doubled to 128.6 billion won. 2025-11-18 11:00:58

Chip sales to the U.S. and Nvidia take up 70% and 27% of SK hynix revenue as of Sept SEOUL, November 17 (AJP) -SK hynix sold 45.18 trillion won ($31 billion) worth of memory chips to the United States as of September this year, up 65 percent from the seven-month period of last year and taking up 70 percent of the South Korean chipmaker's revenue as of the third quarter. According to the full third-quarter disclosure, the chipmaker owed 17.35 trillion won in revenue to a single buyer as of September, more than doubling from 6.1 trillion won in the same period a year ago and accounting for about 27 percent of the company's 64.32 trillion won in accumulated sales for 2025. SK hynix has an exclusive contract with Nvidia for high-bandwidth memory (HBM)3E and will be rolling out HBM4 next year. The DRAM maker dominates global sales of HBM that powers AI chips. SK hynix accounted for 39 percent of the global DRAM market and 22 percent of NAND flash memory market as of June. Shares of SK hynix soared 7 percent to 599,500 won as of 2:20 p.m. ahead of Nvidia's earnings release. 2025-11-17 14:29:01

Korean and Japanese businesses to hold forum on bilateral FTA and economic bloc SEOUL, November 11 (AJP) - South Korean and Japanese business leaders, academics and media professionals will gather next week in Seoul to discuss how Asia’s second- and fourth-largest economies can align to build a tech-driven economic bloc and better navigate global uncertainties. The Korea-Japan Business Forum, co-hosted by Aju Media Group (AJP, ABC, Aju Business Daily) and Japan’s NNA, will take place on Nov. 19 at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club. Participants will explore the shifting global order and the challenges posed by a second Donald Trump presidency, as well as opportunities for deeper economic cooperation between the two neighbors. The event comes as Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman and SK Group leader Chey Tae-won prepares to outline a Korea-Japan economic and AI partnership in Tokyo — a vision he has been promoting alongside the idea of a bilateral free trade agreement to create an economic bloc rivaling the U.S., European Union and China. 2025-11-11 14:11:36

K-pop nears "golden moment" by scoring big on Grammy nominations SEOUL, November 08 (AJP) -K-pop is approaching a “golden moment” on the global stage as a wave of Korean female artists secured nominations in top categories for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. “APT.,” BLACKPINK member Rose’s collaboration with Bruno Mars, and “Golden,” an original soundtrack piece from Netflix’s blockbuster anime KPop Demon Hunters, were both shortlisted for major honors including Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The Recording Academy announced the 2026 nominees across 95 categories on Thursday ahead of the Feb. 1 ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Rose earned multiple nods, with “APT.” shortlisted for Song of the Year and Record of the Year — two of the Grammys’ prestigious “Big Six” general field categories — in addition to Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Golden" from "Kpop Demon Hunters" was nominated for the Song of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Remixed Recording. The film was also nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. International girl group Katseye under Hybe, the label behind K-pop superband BTS -- was nominated for the Best New Artist and the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. It marks the first Grammy nominations for K-pop act since BTS received a nomination with "My Universe," a collaboration single with global pop icon Coldplay, in 2023. If any of them take home a Golden Gramophone in February, it would be the first for a Korean artist. Rose's "APT”, a track from her first full-length album, "rosie” dominated major music charts in South Korea and abroad after its release for its addictive hook rhythm and playful twist on Korean’s drinking game. In September, Rose won Song of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards in the United States for "APT." "Golden" is performed by Korean American artists Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami as the singing voices behind fictional girl group Huntr/x. It achieved a milestone for K-pop, topping both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the British Official Singles Chart Top 100. Additionally, 2025 Tony-awarded Korean musical and Broadway hit "Maybe Happy Ending" was nominated for Best Musical Theater Album. Final-round voting to select the winners will run from Dec. 12 through Jan. 5. 2025-11-08 11:40:28

INTERVIEW: Korean biz at home and abroad must unite to leverage and lengthen K-power:OKTA chair SEOUL, November 05 (AJP) -An economic bloc representing 50 million South Koreans and 7.5 million ethnic Koreans overseas — built on a self-sustaining trade and supply-chain network that links the manufacturing base at home with capital and distribution capabilities abroad — is the vision of the World Federation of Overseas Korean Economic and Trade Association (World-OKTA), its chair said. Korean entrepreneurs at home and abroad have risen to global prominence and must now “build a system where exports and imports co-exist,” creating a firmer foundation for the next generation of business leaders to grow under “one Korean identity,” said Park Jongbum. Park, recently re-appointed to lead the organization for a second term — the first back-to-back leadership in its 44-year history — oversees 155 overseas chapters run by more than 7,000 ethnic Korean entrepreneurs across 75 countries. To unite Korea’s domestic and overseas business assets, Park is championing a bill that would grant World-OKTA legal status as Korea’s seventh official business association — a long-pursued agenda he says is crucial to elevating the organization’s role. “It is not easy, as it would mean providing government-level support to businesses based overseas,” he said. “But a unified Korean business network is essential to withstand global headwinds such as supply-chain disruptions.” Park stressed that Korean SMEs continue to face major hurdles in entering foreign markets. “This is a challenging global environment. Koreans at home and abroad must widen cooperation through consistent, physical exchanges and communication,” he said. That urgency, he added, was reflected in the scale of last month’s expo in Incheon. The 2025 Korea Business Expo Incheon, held Oct. 27–29 in Songdo, brought together more than 1,100 members from 58 countries, 150 buyers from 21 countries, and 434 Korea-based companies. The event generated 3,809 business meetings involving projects valued at $228 million. Park underscored the symbolic significance of Incheon as the gateway of Korean migration. “Korean migration began in Incheon in 1902, when 120 people boarded a ship to Hawaii to work in sugar cane fields. Now, 123 years later, their descendants are returning to Incheon to buy Korean products. This is the second wave of Korean migration,” he said. Of World-OKTA’s roughly 7,000 members, about half are under the age of 39. These young entrepreneurs, Park noted, have built strong networks with youth-led Korean startups and actively share insights, experiences, and pride in Korean identity. Around 100 young business founders were invited to showcase their ideas, innovations, and products during a weeklong startup program held alongside the Songdo expo, giving them first-hand experience pitching to potential buyers and investors. While early-stage funding remains modest — $500,000 for one startup and $150,000 for another — Park believes opportunities will broaden as exchanges deepen and K-power rises globally. “K has become synonymous with a legacy brand,” he said. “We now attach ‘K’ to everything — K-defense, K-shipping, K-steel, K-chip, and of course K-food and K-content. Global familiarity with Korean products and culture has expanded, and it is the role of Korean businesses to keep that glow alive.” 2025-11-05 10:47:01

South Korea's martial law crisis revisited at IBA by leading constitutional scholar SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - South Korea has successfully defended its democratic institutions in the face of its first declaration of martial law under a democratic government and a surge of disinformation that culminated in a presidential impeachment, a leading Korean constitutional scholar told a global legal audience. Sung Nak-in, former president of Seoul National University and one of Korea’s foremost constitutional experts, detailed the short-lived but deeply damaging martial-law crisis before more than 5,000 delegates at the International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference in Toronto, which runs from Sunday to Friday. He spoke at the session titled “Democracy in Crisis: What Is the Role of Access to Justice?” on Monday. South Koreans witnessed the imposition of martial law for the first time in over four decades when then-President Yoon Suk Yeol — a former prosecutor general — made a sudden late-night televised declaration on Dec. 3, 2024. The order was nullified hours later after opposition lawmakers pushed through a legislative veto with the help of civilians who rushed to the National Assembly at midnight to secure entry and enable the vote. Yoon was impeached on Dec. 14 and later arrested and tried on multiple charges. A snap presidential election was held in June, bringing current President Lee Jae Myung to office. Sung, a Paris-educated scholar of constitutional law, described how South Korean society navigated political upheaval, social fragmentation, economic strain, and a proliferation of conspiracy theories and fake news by relying firmly on the rule of law and democratic procedures. The IBA represents more than 80,000 legal professionals from 170 countries. This year’s conference addresses a wide range of global legal challenges including AI and law, business law, climate justice, and the rule of law. 2025-11-04 09:20:28

Korea launches first private Korea-India association for southern pivot traction SEOUL, October 31 (AJP) - Former and incumbent diplomats, along with large and small businesses, joined hands Friday to launch South Korea’s first non-governmental Korea–India friendship association, adding private-sector momentum to Seoul’s expanding southern pivot beyond China and Southeast Asia. “India is now the world’s most populous country with a median age in the 20s among its 1.5 billion people. It is set to overtake China not only in population but also in economic scale as it grows nearly 7 percent annually. Yet we know far too little about the country,” said Shin Bong-kil, president of the Korean Council on Foreign Relations, at the inauguration ceremony. Shin pointed out that while there are hundreds of private associations devoted to Korea–China relations, there has been none for Korea–India relations—until now. The newly launched Korea–India Future Society is an initiative Shin conceived during his tenure as South Korea’s ambassador to India from 2018 to 2021, aiming to close the gap between Korea’s rapidly rising business interest in India and the persistent lack of understanding and bias toward the South Asian nation. "The society has chosen 'future' instead of exchange or friendly to define the forward-looking direction for the body's role," Shin said. The launch drew attendance from Korea’s major conglomerates — Posco, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and LG Chem — as well as SMEs including AutoGen, which operates manufacturing facilities in India. Scholars and cultural figures also joined, among them Abhishek Gupta, the Indian entertainer and businessman widely known in Korea as Lucky from JTBC’s “Abnormal Summit.” “Interest in Korea has risen sharply, and I hope I can contribute in cultural exchange,” Lucky said. India has been making frequent business headlines for Korean companies posting record-setting IPOs — LG Electronics’ $1.3 billion listing earlier this month and Hyundai Motor’s $3.3 billion IPO last year. Yet India’s share in Korea’s overall economic footprint remains small. Korea–India trade averages around $20 billion, far below Korea–Vietnam’s $82 billion and Korea–China’s $273 billion as of 2024. Fewer than 1,000 Korean companies currently operate in India — a figure that should be “at least ten times larger, given India’s size and opportunities,” said Park Euy-don, managing director of Haryana-based Seela Infratech, who has worked in India for over two decades. India’s multi-ethnic society, complex layers of federal and state regulations, and cultural differences continue to pose challenges. These hurdles are a key reason major firms such as Hyundai Motor and LG Electronics chose to list their Indian subsidiaries locally — a move that helps navigate India’s regulatory fragmentation between New Delhi and state governments. Still, “business should follow the market,” said Cho Hong-shin, vice chairman of AutoGen, which operates a plant in Khed City, Pune, producing ultra-high-strength steel components for automotive bodies for clients such as Mahindra & Mahindra. Founded with a modest membership, the Korea–India Future Society aims to expand alongside deepening bilateral ties, with plans to sponsor forums, cultural programs, and academic partnerships to strengthen long-term cooperation between the two countries. 2025-10-31 15:31:16

UPDATE: Samsung Elec Q3 memory OP stronger than expected at $5 bn, upbeat on Q4 (Updated with conference call comments) SEOUL, October 30 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ chip division staged a decisive turnaround in the July–September quarter, with profit from its core memory operation jumping to 7 trillion won ($4.9 billion) — nearly 18 times from the last quarter — on the back of record memory revenue fueled by high-value server demand. Memory sales climbed 26 percent on quarter and 20 percent on year to a fresh quarterly high of 26.7 trillion won. Including non-memory operations, revenue from Device Solution overseeing all chipmaking operation reached 33.1 trillion won, reflecting narrowing losses in logic and foundry segments as contract manufacturing activity picked up. Samsung shares rose 3 percent to 103,100 won in Thursday trading after the better-than-expected memory results. Even with the rebound, Samsung’s memory performance remains laggard behind SK hynix, which delivered 11.4 trillion won in operating profit and a 47 percent margin in the third quarter. The gap reflects hynix’s dominance in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) — the defining component for premium AI servers — where it held 62 percent of the market as of June. Samsung, once unrivaled in DRAM, remains a distant third in HBM, falling short of a breakthrough on HBM4 shipments for the fourth quarter, while SK hynix begins supplying Nvidia. While expecting stronger HBM4 demand and broader AI-driven memory momentum next year, Samsung is still awaiting customer clearance for mass production after delivering HBM4 prototypes, said Kim Jae-jun, memory division vice president, during a conference call. Samsung reportedly cleared Nvidia’s HBM3E tests last month, but its position in the next-generation HBM4 supply chain remains uncertain. To prepare for future demand, the company said it is making aggressive, preemptive investments. R&D spending reached a record 26.9 trillion won as of September. Capital investment totaled 32.3 trillion won, down 6.3 trillion won from a year earlier, with memory-infrastructure spending reduced but high-end chip production investment increased. Capex next year will again center on AI-related memory and return to 2024 levels, Kim added — signaling a deepening shortage in legacy chip supply. Samsung Electronics allotted around 57 trillion won for expansion in 2024. Outside its chip division, Samsung’s MX and networks business — home to its smartphone operations — reported 3.6 trillion won in operating profit, steady from 3.1 trillion won in the second quarter and 2.8 trillion won a year earlier on strong demand for new foldables. Mobile revenue rose 18 percent on quarter and 12 percent on year to 33.5 trillion won. On a consolidated basis, Samsung confirmed third-quarter operating profit at 12.2 trillion won, more than double the previous quarter and up 32.5 percent on year, the strongest performance since the second quarter of 2022. Sales rose 15.4 percent on quarter and 9 percent on year to 86.1 trillion won. Net profit came in at 1.22 trillion won, sharply higher than 51 billion won last quarter and 21 percent above a year earlier. Looking ahead, Samsung echoed SK hynix’s upbeat chip outlook, pledging to accelerate sales of high-performance AI and data-center products and push HBM4 mass production. While it reiterated the industry view that supply will remain tight amid surging, broad-based demand for generative AI, Samsung said it will focus on ramping output from its 2-nanometer fabrication line and readying its next-generation Taylor, Texas fab for start-up next year. 2025-10-30 10:27:18

UPDATE: SK hynix reaps record $8 billion Q3 OP, gears up for aggressive capex (Updated with comments from conference call) SEOUL, October 29 (AJP) - SK hynix plans to “significantly” ramp up facility investment next year after reporting a milestone operating profit of $8 billion in the third quarter, reinforcing its ambition to stay at the forefront of the global AI transition and ride what it calls an “unprecedented super cycle.” The Korean memory giant on Wednesday reported an operating profit of 11.38 trillion won ($7.9 billion) for the July–September period, up 62 percent from a year earlier and 24 percent from the previous quarter. Revenue rose 39 percent on year and 10 percent on quarter to 24.45 trillion won, underscoring its strengthened dominance in high-performance memory for AI servers and data centers. Operating margin as the result was as high as 47 percent, increased from 41 percent in the previous quarter to suggest widened lead over Samsung Electronics, whose decades-long No. 1 status in memory has been overtaken this year. Shares of SK hynix rose 5 percent and touched a record 547,000 won in Wednesday’s session as investors cheered the company’s robust outlook for the current chip boom. Chief executive Kim Woo-hyun drew a clear distinction between today’s market and the previous 2017–18 upcycle. “The biggest difference is the scope of demand,” he said during a conference call. “AI is creating entirely new application sources—from servers to self-driving vehicles—resulting in structurally constrained supply under explosive demand.” He dismissed speculation that the upcycle may fizzle out in its second year as typically done in the past rounds. The profit windfall boosted cash on hand to 27.9 trillion won as of end-September, with cash-equivalent assets up 10.9 trillion won from June. Net cash reached 3.8 trillion won while total debt stayed steady at 24.1 trillion won. The balance sheet resilience gives SK hynix "sufficient" room to push forward capacity expansion, Kim said, adding that next year's capex will rise “considerably” from this year— without specifying figures. SK hynix had earlier guided 29 trillion won in 2025 capex, 62 percent higher than 2024. SK hynix’s leap to the top of the global memory market stems from its early and aggressive bet on HBM, a high-bandwidth memory used in premium servers and AI systems. It accounted for 62 percent of global HBM bit shipments in the second quarter, ahead of Micron’s 21 percent and Samsung’s 17 percent, according to Counterpoint Research. The company’s rising profit share suggests its HBM lead has only deepened, given that HBM sells at several times the price of conventional DRAM and roughly five times that of DDR5. “Demand for memory across the board surged on AI infrastructure spending,” the company said in a statement, citing stronger prices for DRAM and NAND flash and sharp shipment increases of high-performance chips. Shipments of 128-GB-and-up DDR5 more than doubled from the second quarter, while enterprise SSDs for AI servers now account for a larger portion of NAND sales. The company will begin shipping HBM4 in the fourth quarter—destined for Nvidia’s next-generation processors—and has already secured full-year supply contracts for HBM, DRAM, and NAND for 2026. Its HBM breakout is rooted in its multi-story stacking technology, which has advanced from 3D to 4D through triple-level cell (TLC) architecture, enabling higher density and power efficiency suitable for Nvidia’s stringent specifications. SK hynix this week also began the world’s first commercialization of 321-layer NAND flash, aimed at rising AI mobile workloads. To meet undying global demand, the company will expedite cleanroom openings, expand output via the M15X fab, and accelerate the migration to sixth-generation 10-nanometer production across DRAM lines. It expects DRAM demand to grow more than 20 percent next year, following this year's estimated gain in high-10-percent range. 2025-10-29 08:56:44

Korea's Q3 GDP adds stronger than expected 1.2% on quarter, sentiment weakens ] Seoul, October 28 (AJP) -South Korea’s economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter, expanding 1.2 percent on quarter on the back of a rebound in capital investment and a modest recovery in consumer spending, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea on Tuesday. The stronger-than-expected growth — up from 0.7 percent in the second quarter and following a 0.2 percent contraction in the first — was largely driven by renewed capital spending in semiconductors and shipbuilding, alongside higher household consumption supported by two rounds of government stimulus vouchers. On year-on-year basis, GDP grew 1.7 percent, compared with 0.6 percent in the second quarter and zero growth in the first, keeping the country on track to meet the central bank's 0.9 percent annual growth target for 2025. Consumer spending rose 1.3 percent, accelerating from a 0.5 percent gain in the previous quarter, while capital investment jumped 2.4 percent, reversing from contractions of 2.1 percent and 0.4 percent in the second and first quarters, respectively. Exports increased 1.5 percent, slowing from a 4.5 percent gain in the second quarter, reflecting how record outbound shipments were concentrated in chips while other items faced headwinds from renewed U.S. tariff measures. The better-than-expected GDP headline number was broadly ignored by the financial markets as they looked forward. The KOSPI retreated 1 percent in early Tuesday session as institutions took profit after a near 10-percent surge from an almost uninterrupted two-week rally. The Korean won slipped 1.4 versus the U.S. dollar to 1,434.9. The fourth-quarter outlook remains jittery as concerns over housing market and trade uncertainties weighed over consumer and business confidence. The Composite Consumer Sentiment Index for October edged down 0.3 points to 109.8, signaling softer optimism as worries mount over high home prices and fragile trade conditions, according to BOK's separate release on Tuesday. While most sub-indices stayed stable — current living conditions at 96, living-conditions outlook at 100, household income outlook at 102, and spending outlook at 110 — the future economic outlook fell three points to 94. “The prolonged South Korea–U.S. trade negotiations and renewed U.S.–China tensions have dampened overall sentiment,” said Lee Hye-young, head of the Bank’s economic sentiment survey team. The housing price outlook index was up 10 points to 122, the highest since October 2021, amid steep apartment gains in the Seoul metropolitan area. The interest-rate outlook rose two points to 95, reflecting concerns about exchange-rate volatility and real-estate inflation. Expected inflation for the next year ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 2.6 percent, while perceived inflation over the past year remained unchanged at 3.0 percent. Corporate sentiment also remained downbeat. The Business Sentiment Index for November, released by the Federation of Korean Industries, came in at 94.8, marking the 44th consecutive month below the neutral 100 threshold since April 2022. Manufacturing sentiment at 96.8 stayed flat, while non-manufacturing at 92.8 fell three points, pulling down the overall index. Within manufacturing, general machinery and equipment at 120.0 and textiles and apparel at 107.1 showed upbeat expectations, while food and beverages and automobiles were neutral at 100. Sectors such as pharmaceuticals projected further declines. Among service sectors, information and communications at 112.5, professional services at 106.7, and utilities at 105.3 maintained positive outlooks, but transportation and warehousing at 80.8 dragged overall sentiment lower. “Increased foreign exchange volatility and global supply chain instability are aggravating business difficulties,” said Lee Sang-ho, head of the FKI’s economic and industrial division. Regardless of the relief in the third quarter, Korea is expected to end the year at its weakest growth since the pandemic outbreak year and perform worst among key Asian players. 2025-10-28 08:40:33