Remembrance as obligation: where Koreans, Germans and Israelis find common ground SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - Skeletons dance across the ruins of civilization, fiddling among the wreckage of Western art, science and technology. Human life has vanished into ash and rubble. Only kites drifting overhead retain faint traces of emotion, their faces suspended between innocence and despair. Painted in hiding in Brussels and dated April 18, 1944, Death Triumphant is believed to be the final work of German-Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum. Often described as a modern danse macabre, the painting confronts the collapse of human values at a moment when the artist himself was living under constant threat. “If I perish, do not let my paintings die,” Nussbaum wrote. “Show them to the people.” “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness,” Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel would later say. More than eight decades on, Nussbaum’s works have traveled to an unlikely place to fulfill that charge: a museum dedicated to democracy in downtown Seoul. The exhibition, jointly organized by the Israeli and German embassies, presents his art not merely as historical record but as testimony — an insistence that memory endures beyond annihilation. In Self-Portrait with Jewish Identity Card (1943), Nussbaum depicts himself branded by the Star of David and an identification document imposed by Nazi authorities. While red lettering on the card defines him as Jewish under racial law, his birthplace, Osnabrück, is deliberately blurred, signaling the erasure of home and legal identity. Facing the viewer directly and wearing a bourgeois hat, Nussbaum clings to his identity as an artist even as persecution tightens. That intimate defiance expands in The Damned, completed on Jan. 5, 1944. The painting shows persecuted figures waiting in hiding, their gestures and expressions suspended between fear, resignation and quiet endurance. Nussbaum places himself among them, echoing earlier self-portraits while replacing symbols of autonomy with imagery that suggests the inevitability of death. Speaking at the opening ceremony, German Ambassador Georg Schmidt warned against reducing the Holocaust to abstraction. “The Holocaust is often reduced to numbers that defy comprehension,” Schmidt said. “Six million is a figure that goes beyond human imagination. It is much easier to connect with individuals. That is why we are telling the story of the German-Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum.” Schmidt pointed to Germany’s postwar constitutional commitment — that “human dignity shall be inviolable” — as a direct response to the crimes of the Nazi era, rooted in the recognition that unchecked nationalism and racial fanaticism lead to catastrophe. Israeli Ambassador Raphael Harpaz cautioned against treating the Holocaust as a closed chapter of history. “The Holocaust is not a tragedy of the past. It is painfully relevant today,” Harpaz said, pointing to the persistence of antisemitism and its amplification through social media and digital platforms. “Remembrance is not only a responsibility. It is an obligation.” The ceremony was held at the National Museum of Korean Democracy, formerly the Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office — a site once associated with torture, state violence and political repression during South Korea’s authoritarian period. Lee Jae-oh, chairman of the Korea Democracy Foundation, said the transformation of the site itself mirrors the purpose of remembrance. “This place was once deeply marked by the scars of state violence,” Lee said. “Today, it stands as a space where we record and reflect on that painful history in order to learn the value of human rights and democracy.” Lee stressed that the Holocaust offers a universal warning about the consequences of abandoning human dignity and failing to restrain state power. “When past suffering is ignored or erased, history regresses,” he said. “By examining Felix Nussbaum’s desperate artistic records and bearing witness to the tragedy of Auschwitz, we awaken our society’s awareness of human rights and strive to build a democratic community where discrimination and exclusion have no place.” Asked what message he hopes visitors will take from the exhibition, Harpaz emphasized the danger of silence. “The message is about refusing silence in the face of hatred directed at people for who they are,” he said. “Recent years have shown how easily antisemitism resurfaces when individuals are targeted not for their actions, but for their identity. There must be zero tolerance for such hatred.” Harpaz noted that the exhibition has drawn strong public interest in South Korea. Since 2017, the German and Israeli embassies have jointly marked International Holocaust Memorial Day in Seoul, pairing official ceremonies with exhibitions and educational programs aimed at younger generations. The exhibition, titled Remembering for the Future, runs from Jan. 27 to March 15, 2026. 2026-01-27 18:08:21

Trump's tariff threat jolts Seoul politics but leaves markets largely unruffled SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - President Donald Trump’s renewed tariff threat against South Korea rattled the political establishment in Seoul but stopped short of derailing financial markets, underscoring investors’ view that the dispute is more political theater than an imminent economic shock. Washington’s displeasure over what it sees as Seoul’s slow follow-through on investment commitments tied to tariff relief had been telegraphed in advance. According to government sources, the U.S. government sent a letter to Seoul about two weeks ago urging South Korea to fulfill follow-up obligations under the trade-related section of a bilateral “Joint Fact Sheet” agreed last November. The correspondence was reportedly addressed to Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Fair Trade Commission Chair Ju Biung-ghi, and appears to have served as a prelude to Trump’s latest move. In a post Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump accused South Korea’s National Assembly of failing to complete the legal procedures required to implement the trade commitments. He announced that tariffs on Korean automobiles, timber, pharmaceuticals and “all other reciprocal TARIFFS” would be raised from 15 percent to 25 percent, without specifying an effective date. Industry Minister Kim, who was in Ottawa to support a Korean consortium bidding for Canada’s submarine procurement project, cut short his schedule and headed to Washington to engage U.S. officials. U.S. observers noted that Seoul has become the latest target in what they described as a broader Trumpian tariff offensive that has also swept in the European Union and Canada, all accused of foot-dragging on trade or investment pledges. The overnight threat had an immediate wake-up effect on the political front in Seoul. President Lee Jae Myung, presiding over a cabinet meeting, criticized the National Assembly for moving “too slowly” on legislation, without explicitly referencing the special bill related to U.S. investment commitments. Rep. Kim Han-kyu of the ruling Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee, said lawmakers were already advancing the necessary bills and budget measures. “Despite President Trump’s remarks, the National Assembly will proceed calmly according to the planned schedule,” Kim said, adding that tariff-related commitments “are being carried out as agreed.” Financial markets, however, appeared largely unfazed. The benchmark KOSPI rose 2.73 percent to close at a record 5,084.85, while the tech-heavy KOSDAQ gained 1.71 percent to 1,082.59. The Korean won weakened only marginally, with the U.S. dollar rising 0.20 won to 1,448.2 won. “The market rally shows that investors trust the government’s composed response and are not shaken by President Trump’s actions,” the ruling party lawmaker said. Opposition figures were less sanguine. Rep. Choi Eun-seok of the main opposition People Power Party argued that the administration had downplayed the need for parliamentary ratification of the trade deal. “The government’s complacency has given the U.S. an excuse to act unilaterally,” Choi said, calling for a parliamentary hearing with Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yoon-cheol to determine “what went wrong.” The blame game quickly escalated. Democratic Party Rep. Cho In-chul countered that opposition lawmakers themselves had slowed legislative progress. “The agreement clearly states that ratification is not required,” Cho said. “All that’s needed is supporting legislation. The Strategy and Finance Committee is chaired by the opposition, yet they accuse us of inaction.” U.S. scholars were broadly critical of Trump’s tariff posture toward allies. Jeffrey Frankel, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, said Trump was not singling out South Korea. “He is imposing tariffs that are illegal, illogical and harmful on almost all U.S. trading partners,” Frankel said. Matthew Bunn, also of Harvard, said Trump’s actions were difficult to explain. “I have no idea what has caused President Trump to suddenly do this — along with so many other things that undermine the interests of American allies,” Bunn said. Erik A. Gartzke, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, described Trump’s behavior as “bullying.” “Don’t worry — the Republic of Korea is nothing special,” Gartzke said. “People around the world are learning that Trump is a bully. Accommodate him and he will come back for more. Stand up to him and he usually chickens out.” John Dunn, professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, called Trump “a very impatient bully,” arguing that his approach reflects “a minimalist conception of a contract — it binds others but not him unless they have a means to enforce it.” Trump, Dunn added, “rightly supposes that South Korea is more dependent on the U.S. than the U.S. is on South Korea, and therefore cannot enforce the agreement.” “This is a completely general pattern of behavior,” Dunn said. “He has only really backed off in the case of China. The South Korean legislative process, meanwhile, is seldom brisk.” 2026-01-27 17:44:38

KOSPI defies Trumpian tantrums to scale record high SEOUL, January 27 (AJP)-Korean Exchange staff beam before an electronic board at the main bourse in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on Monday, as the benchmark KOSPI flashes past the 5,000 mark on a closing basis for the first time. The index ended the session at a historic 5,084.85, jumping 135.26 points, or 2.73 percent, from the previous trading day, shrugging off renewed tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ also advanced, gaining 18.18 points, or 1.71 percent, to close at 1,082.59. The scene captured a moment of quiet defiance, as markets pressed higher while political noise echoed beyond the trading floor. 2026-01-27 17:42:43

North Korea fires projectiles toward East Sea SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - North Korea fired what is believed to be ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Tuesday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected "unidentified projectiles" launched by North Korea later in the day but did not provide further details. The JCS is currently analyzing them. The North's provocation came about a month after it ushered in the New Year with a missile launch on Jan. 4. as South President Lee Jae Myung was set to leave for Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Tuesday's launch was the fourth such provocation since Lee took office in June last year and the second this year. 2026-01-27 17:06:36

KOSPI, unfazed by Trump's antics, closes above 5,000 points SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - South Korea's benchmark KOSPI closed above 5,000 points on Tuesday, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's sudden threat to raise tariffs again. The index closed at 5,084.85, up 2.73 percent from the previous session, and the junior KOSDAQ also rose 1.71 percent to 1,082.59 after reaching a milestone of 1,000 points the previous day for the first time in about four years. Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 4.87 percent to 159,500 won, while SK hynix surged a whopping 8.70 percent to 800,000 won, further boosted by news that it was chosen as the exclusive supplier of HBM3E high-bandwidth memory for Microsoft's next-generation, artificial intelligence (AI) chip dubbed Maia 200. Other large-cap stocks were mixed, with Samsung Biologics dropping 0.94 percent to 1,790,000 won, Samsung Life Insurance rising 2.69 percent to 187,100 won, and LG Energy Solution falling 1.8 percent to 408,500 won. Shipbuilding-related shares were also mixed, with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries falling 2.81 percent to 588,000 won and Hanwha Ocean up 0.5 percent to 140,500 won. Trump's threat somewhat affected auto-related stocks, as Hyundai Motor closed down 0.81 percent at 488,500 won, which was a slight recovery after falling nearly 5 percent in earlier trading. Kia also dropped 1.1 percent to 153,500 won. Defense and aerospace stocks also traded lower, with Hanwha Aerospace down 2.54 percent at 1,230,000 won. Individuals sold a net 1.02 trillion won ($705 million), while foreigners and institutional investors snapped up a net 850.8 billion won and 232.7 billion won, respectively. The won remained stable against the greenback, trading at 1,444.60 per dollar. Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese shares edged higher after opening lower, with the Nikkei 225 Index up 0.85 percent at 53,333.54. 2026-01-27 16:47:41

U.S.-first defense strategy pushes Korea toward higher spending and deeper capacity SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - The main takeaway for South Korea in the U.S. 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) is blunt: North Korea is increasingly Seoul’s primary responsibility, and that maturity comes with higher defense spending and deeper manufacturing capacity. While the strategy describes North Korea’s expanding nuclear forces as a “clear and present danger” to the U.S. homeland and its regional allies, it also makes explicit that responsibility for conventional deterrence on the Korean Peninsula should increasingly rest with South Korea. Seoul is portrayed as a country with high defense spending, a robust defense industrial base and a mandatory conscription system — in short, fully capable of defending itself against North Korea, with U.S. forces providing “critical but more limited” support. This approach reflects the broader U.S.-first logic underpinning the NDS. Washington signals that it will prioritize resources for homeland defense and deterrence of China in the Indo-Pacific, while other security challenges are to be managed under a framework in which allies and partners assume “primary responsibility.” According to Jung Kyeong-woon, a research fellow at the Korea Association of Military Studies, the document draws a clear line between U.S. and South Korean roles. “The U.S. direction is to maintain nuclear deterrence, while placing primary responsibility for conventional deterrence on South Korea,” Jung said. “For decades, the South Korean military has relied heavily on U.S. forces. As a result, imbalances in certain capability areas have accumulated and are now quite serious.” He pointed in particular to high-cost, technologically demanding domains. “ISR, C4I systems, missile defense, cyber and electronic warfare all require enormous resources and advanced technology,” Jung said. “If South Korea is expected to shoulder most of the conventional deterrence burden, structural reinforcement in these areas will be unavoidable.” A higher and more durable defense spending floor The strategic shift is reinforced by a new burden-sharing benchmark embedded in the NDS. The document incorporates the concept agreed at the 2025 NATO Hague Summit — defense and security spending equivalent to 5 percent of GDP, including at least 3.5 percent for core defense outlays — as a guideline for U.S. allies and partners. This direction is already reflected in South Korea’s fiscal plans. Seoul has set its 2026 defense budget at around 66 trillion won ($45.6 billion), an increase of roughly 7.5 to 8.2 percent from the previous year, marking the fastest growth rate in nearly seven years. New resources are being concentrated on strengthening the three-axis deterrence framework — Kill Chain, Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD), and Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) — while expanding precision-guided munitions stockpiles and accelerating investment in manned-unmanned teaming, artificial intelligence-enabled systems, drones, and space and cyber capabilities. With Washington pressing allies toward a 3.5-percent-of-GDP benchmark for direct defense spending, Seoul faces mounting pressure over the medium to long term to further raise the defense share of its national budget. The government has already announced a long-term objective of lifting defense spending to around 3.5 percent of GDP by 2035, suggesting close alignment with the NDS’s burden-sharing framework. These pressures are expected to reshape not only South Korea’s military posture, but also the structure of its defense industry. Implications for Korea’s defense industry The NDS reframes deterrence as a system of “allied and partner production,” placing renewed emphasis on industrial capacity. Within this framework, South Korea is positioned as both a model ally and the primary security provider on the Peninsula — expected to strengthen its own forces while supplying equipment and capabilities to regional partners. South Korea’s defense industry has already entered a phase of structural expansion. Between 2020 and 2024, the country rose to become the world’s tenth-largest arms exporter, driven by large-scale package deals for K2 main battle tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers. By the end of 2024, the combined order backlog of major Korean defense firms was approaching 100 trillion won, with overseas contracts accounting for a growing share. However, experts caution that growing demand does not automatically translate into durable, long-term gains. “With the increase in global conflicts, the Trump administration’s assertive use of military power and the shifting of responsibilities to allies, demand for weapons systems will certainly grow,” Jung said. “Korean platforms such as the K2, K9, Chunmoo and Cheongung-II have demonstrated strong performance, cost competitiveness and delivery speed, making further exports likely.” At the same time, competition is intensifying. “The United States and Europe are fully aware of these shifts and will not simply surrender the benefits,” Jung said. “It remains unclear whether Korea’s defense exports will become fully institutionalized and structurally sustainable. In many cases, cooperation and competition will coexist.” Washington is already moving aggressively to rebuild its own industrial base. Between 2024 and 2026, the U.S. Army is investing several billion dollars to expand ammunition plants, aiming to raise 155mm artillery shell production to around 100,000 rounds per month — or more than 1 million rounds annually — by 2026. Speaking at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) annual meeting on Oct. 13 last year, Maj. Gen. John Reim, the Army’s Joint Program Executive Officer for Armaments and Ammunition, described the effort as historic. “We haven’t seen this level of investment — about $5.5 billion since 2022 — since World War II,” he said. Europe is following a similar trajectory. The European Union’s Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) and related initiatives are channeling hundreds of millions of euros into new artillery and missile production lines, as NATO members race to rebuild domestic capacity rather than rely on foreign suppliers. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, EU countries produced an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 artillery shells annually. ASAP funding is designed to lift output to around 2 million rounds a year — a six- to eightfold increase over prewar levels. Washington’s recent decision to back Seoul’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines — marking the first serious move to extend such cooperation beyond the AUKUS partnership — further underscores South Korea’s elevation as a frontline maritime and industrial partner, even though the 2026 NDS stops short of detailing the SSN program. 2026-01-27 16:22:50

Korean retail investors ramp up US stock buying despite local rally SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - South Korea’s stock market has rallied sharply this year, but retail investors are continuing to pour money into U.S. equities, a trend cited by policymakers as a key factor behind recent volatility in the won. Average daily settlement amounts for U.S. stocks by South Korean retail investors reached $261 million over 15 trading sessions from Jan. 2 to Jan. 23, according to data released on Tuesday by the Korea Securities Depository. That figure more than tripled from a daily average of $85 million in December and was roughly double the $185 million average recorded in January last year. Overseas equity investment, which briefly cooled late last year, appears to be accelerating again. Retail investors were net sellers of U.S. stocks on only two of the 15 trading days this month, compared with nine days of net selling out of 22 sessions in December, the data showed. Analysts said confidence in U.S. markets has remained resilient despite the domestic rally, while recent stabilization in the foreign-exchange market has supported investor sentiment. Some analysts said further buying of U.S. stocks could lie ahead, pointing to elevated foreign-currency deposits as evidence that investors have already secured dollar funds. According to the Bank of Korea, resident foreign-currency deposits at domestic foreign-exchange banks reached a record $119.43 billion at the end of last year. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2026-01-27 16:04:28

South Korean athletes in final tune-up for next month's Winter Olympics in Italy SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - With this year's Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and Milan just weeks away, South Korean athletes are gearing up for the quadrennial sporting event on ice and snow with final preparations. South Korea will field 71 athletes in snowboarding, bobsleigh, speed skating, short-track skating, and figure skating. The upcoming Olympics will kick off on Feb. 6 and run until Feb. 22, bringing together around 3,500 athletes from over 90 countries to compete for 116 medals across 16 disciplines. 2026-01-27 16:00:17

SK hynix is sole HBM supplier for Microsoft's Maia AI chip SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - SK hynix is reportedly the sole supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for Microsoft’s in-house artificial intelligence accelerator, the Maia 200. Industry sources said on Tuesday the South Korean chipmaker will exclusively supply its fifth-generation HBM, known as HBM3E, for the Maia 200 chip that Microsoft unveiled in the U.S. on Jan. 26 local time. The move adds Microsoft to SK hynix’s roster of key customers alongside Nvidia, reinforcing its lead in AI memory used for advanced computing. Maia 200 is an application-specific integrated circuit manufactured on TSMC’s 3-nanometer process. The chip integrates six 12-layer stacks of HBM3E, providing a total of 216 gigabytes of memory. Microsoft plans to deploy the chips in data centers in Iowa and Arizona as it seeks to reduce reliance on Nvidia’s graphics processing units. Major technology companies are accelerating efforts to design their own AI chips to lower costs and optimize performance, challenging Nvidia’s dominance. Google has introduced its seventh-generation tensor processing unit, Ironwood, while Amazon Web Services has rolled out its third-generation Trainium chip, broadening the AI accelerator market. That shift is creating new opportunities for HBM suppliers, as demand spreads from Nvidia’s GPUs to custom chips developed by large cloud providers, according to industry sources. High-performance HBM is essential for such chips, which are typically designed to be more power-efficient than general-purpose GPUs. "SK hynix’s exclusive supply agreement with Microsoft, following its strong foothold in Nvidia’s supply chain, reflects advantages in advanced memory manufacturing processes and yield management," a source said. Samsung Electronics is seeking to narrow the gap by strengthening cooperation with other big technology companies, particularly Google. Industry sources said Samsung supplies a significant portion of the HBM used in Google’s tensor processing units and Broadcom-designed chips, positioning itself within the Google-Broadcom ecosystem. The next competitive battleground is HBM4, the sixth generation of high-bandwidth memory, which is expected to add computing functions to memory chips and significantly raise technical complexity. Samsung has recently passed HBM4 qualification tests by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices and is expected to begin official deliveries as early as next month. SK hynix is also preparing for the transition, having begun building a mass-production system for HBM4 in September and working with Nvidia on performance optimization. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2026-01-27 15:55:09

Lee to visit memorial altar to pay respects to late PM SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung plans to pay his condolences to the late former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, Cheong Wa Dae said on Tuesday. According to senior presidential aide Cho Jung-sik, Lee is scheduled to visit a memorial altar at Seoul National University Hospital in central Seoul later in the day, after wrapping up his official duties for the day. The seven-term lawmaker collapsed during his business trip to Viet Nam last Saturday and died of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City the following day. Mourning his death, the president earlier said, "South Korea has lost a great teacher in the history of democracy." 2026-01-27 15:44:48