Foreign shoppers make cash registers ring at department stores amid weak won SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - Amid concerns over soaring consumer prices due to the weaking won against the greenback, South Korea has become a destination for luxury goods among many overseas shoppers. Foreign tourists have been lining up outside department stores in central Seoul even before they open for days' business. According to industry data released on Friday, foreign sales at Shinsegae's main branch in downtown Seoul jumped 82 percent last year, while its Gangnam branch saw a 52 percent increase. Sales at Lotte and Hyundai department stores also showed a similar trend, as purchases of luxury goods by foreign shoppers are rising fastest. In particular, foreign sales at Hyundai accounted for about 20 percent of its total sales. The main draw is price. With the weakening won, luxury goods in South Korea are nearly 10 percent cheaper for foreigners, and tax refunds for tourists can reduce prices even further. To capitalize on the trend, department stores are stepping up efforts to attract more overseas shoppers. Hyundai is preparing a tailored shopping program for foreign travelers, picking them up at Incheon International Airport upon arrival, while Shinsegae plans to expand promotions targeting short-term visitors and cruise passengers in the southern port city of Busan. Lotte introduced a foreigner-only membership credit card in December, offering a 5-percent discount and other benefits. Around 13,000 people have already signed up in just a month. Department stores anticipate strong sales as foreign arrivals are on the rise. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, some 17.42 million foreign tourists visited South Korea during the first 11 months of last year, up 15.4 percent from 15.10 million a year earlier. With December's figure included, the total is expected to surpass the previous record of 17.50 million set in 2019. "Foreign spending has become a key factor in ringing department store registers," an industry insider said. 2026-01-23 17:32:28

In BTS' spring comeback season, even birthdays become world tours SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - The return of BTS as a full seven-member group this spring is dominating headlines, charts and countdown clocks. But for fans, the calendar holds more than just album drops and stage schedules. In the BTS universe, every detail matters — including birthdays. SUGA turns 33 on March 9, and long before the candles are lit, the celebration has already spilled into cafes, timelines and city streets. For fans, this is not a side event. It is the event. To become a fan in Korea is not simply to admire from a distance. It is to enter a parallel world — one built on devotion, design, logistics and an almost ceremonial sense of care. Fandom here demands labor and money, yes, but also creativity, community and a distinctly Korean flair for making affection visible. That spirit is on full display this month through the now-familiar ritual of the “birthday cafe.” A birthday that doesn’t stay in one city Fan-organized birthday cafes honoring SUGA will run from March 6 to March 9 at L’ombre 378, according to organizers. The event announcement ricocheted across social media, inviting fans to document their visits using hashtags such as #탕이아빠생축, #HBD_to_our_black_kitty, and #Happy_black_kitty_day — affectionate nicknames that need no translation within the fandom. Inside, visitors will receive a carefully curated set of fan-made gifts: photo cards, postcards, stickers and a key ring. Those who complete a full set can expect additional items, including a shopping bag and pin badge. Organizers have teased further perks — from first-come giveaways to lucky draws — to be announced closer to the date. The planning, notably, is not confined to Seoul. BTS birthdays rarely are. What looks like a cafe event is, in practice, a coordinated global gesture — replicated, localized and shared across borders in real time. From letters to LED lights — and then to tables you can sit at Birthday cafes did not appear overnight. They are the latest chapter in the long evolution of Korean fandom culture. In the early generations, celebration was largely indirect. Fans mailed handwritten letters and postcards to broadcast stations or entertainment agencies. Support arrived in bulk rice wreaths, snack deliveries to music show waiting rooms, or congratulatory ads placed in newspapers and magazines. As online platforms expanded in the 2000s, fan cafes and message boards became the main stage. Digital banners, collective letters and charity donations made in an artist’s name flourished. The affection was visible — but mostly on screens. Then came the era of scale. LED billboards in subway stations, bus stop ads and even city buses wrapped in idols’ faces turned birthdays into urban landmarks. They were impressive, but untouchable. You could see them — not enter them. Birthday cafes changed that. Emerging in the early 2010s, often near entertainment company offices, they began as modest gatherings. A few printed photos taped to walls, handwritten notes, fans lingering over drinks. The shift was subtle but profound: celebration moved from being displayed to being shared. How a fan ritual became a format Over time, birthday cafes became standardized. Dates, locations and themes now circulate primarily on X (formerly Twitter), where fans exchange maps, schedules and visual guides with near-professional precision. What began as informal meetups evolved into a recognizable format — complete with themed interiors, curated visuals and coordinated merchandise. A fan of rookie group ZEROBASEONE (ZB1), Kim So-jun, remembers when proximity mattered most. “They were often held near the company building,” Kim said. “Sometimes there were rumors that idols stopped by. I never saw it myself, but I heard that an idol I liked had visited a birthday cafe once.” As the scale grew, some cafes began incorporating small exhibitions or concepts tied to albums and performances. Still, fans are careful not to treat birthday cafes as a hierarchy. “I think a birthday cafe is just one of many ways to celebrate an artist,” Kim said. “There are also LED billboards, bus ads and other methods. This is simply one option.” Offline affection in a hyper-online world Promotion happens online, but the ritual is completed offline. Fans gather to meet others who share the same affection, trading conversations, stories — and fan-made goods. Foreign fans are increasingly visible. “It’s both,” said Lee Jun-su, a fan of fromis_9, when asked whether people come for interaction or the cafe experience itself. “Some come to connect with other fans, and some come because birthday cafes feel uniquely Korean. But everyone comes with the same intention — for the artist.” Official merchandise is not sold, but fan-made items circulate freely. “There’s a lot of fun in seeing each item,” Lee said. “You can tell they were made with care.” Artists themselves rarely appear at these events, though rumors occasionally swirl. Yet the absence hardly diminishes the meaning. “Wanting to celebrate the artist’s birthday is the biggest reason,” Lee said. “Even if the artist doesn’t come, that doesn’t change.” From idols to icons What began with global superstars like BTS has now expanded far beyond K-pop. Birthday cafes are now organized for rookie idols, television producers — and even historical figures. Fans have commemorated scientists such as Isaac Newton and figures like King Sejong, the creator of the Korean alphabet, using the same format. The cafe has become less about celebrity and more about remembrance — a way to mark significance through space, repetition and presence. Asked to define birthday cafes in one sentence, one fan offered a modest reply. “They’re just one of many ways to celebrate an artist.” Yet taken together — from handwritten letters to billboards, from bus ads to cafes — birthday cafes reveal something larger. In Korean fandom, celebration has evolved from being seen, to being shared, and finally, to being lived. And in the world of BTS, even a birthday is never just a date on the calendar. 2026-01-23 17:16:16

South Korea is aging fast, but policy is falling behind SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - South Korea has officially entered the ranks of super-aged societies, but its policies remain anchored in a younger past. The result is a deepening crisis marked by the OECD’s highest old-age poverty rate and one of the world’s most alarming suicide rates among seniors—outcomes that experts say reflect years of delayed and fragmented responses to demographic change. According to the OECD’s Pensions at a Glance 2023, four out of ten Koreans aged 65 and older live below the poverty line, defined as having an income at or below half of the national median disposable household income. The figure is nearly three times the OECD average of 14.2 percent. While the comparison is imperfect—Korea’s measure is income-based and excludes assets such as real estate—other global indicators consistently point to the same conclusion: old age in Korea is unusually harsh. Nowhere is that clearer than in suicide statistics. South Korea’s suicide rate among older adults stood at 42.2 per 100,000 as of 2020, roughly 2.5 times the OECD average of 16.6, according to a 2024 report. Domestic figures tell a similar story. Data from Statistics Korea show that in 2025, the income poverty rate for those aged 66 and older reached 39.7 percent, nearly triple the OECD average of 14.8 percent. The burden grows heavier with age. Among people aged 75 and above, public transfers such as basic pensions do far less to reduce poverty than they do for younger seniors, suggesting widening disparities within the elderly population itself. Structural features of Korea’s labor market compound the problem. Many older Koreans continue to work not by choice but by necessity, often in low-paid and unstable jobs. This year, the number of workers clocking fewer than 15 hours a week surpassed one million, with nearly 70 percent of them aged 60 or older. These “ultra-short-hour” jobs—typically in cleaning, waste collection or other manual tasks—offer little security and meager pay, trapping seniors in precarious livelihoods. Health costs further magnify financial stress. Nearly half of Koreans aged 75 and above suffer from three or more chronic illnesses, and about 15.7 percent live with dementia—more than three times the rate among younger seniors. Medical and long-term care expenses hit the poorest hardest, often pushing them deeper into poverty late in life. Gender disparities deepen the gap Lifetime inequality in Korea’s labor market carries directly into old age, leaving elderly women especially vulnerable. In 2023, male workers earned an average of 26,042 won per hour, while women earned just 18,502 won—about 71 percent of men’s wages—according to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. Nearly half of female workers were non-regular employees, compared with less than a third of men, and women were more than twice as likely to be classified as low-wage earners. The retirement gap is stark. Men aged 60 to 64 receive an average national pension of about 980,000 won a month, while women receive just 460,000 won—less than half. OECD data show that 45.3 percent of elderly Korean women live in poverty, far above the OECD average of 10.2 percent. “I come here every day for free meals” The statistics take on human form at soup kitchens across Seoul. On a cold winter morning near Tapgol Park, dozens of elderly men and women gathered quietly before lunchtime, hands tucked into thin coats. For many, these soup kitchens are not only their main source of food, but also their only place of social contact. An 88-year-old man originally from Hwanghae Province said he travels nearly an hour by subway each day to eat. “I come here for free meals every day,” he said. “Breakfast, lunch and dinner—I get them all from soup kitchens. There are others near Cheongnyangni and Seoul Station too.” Nearby, an 82-year-old woman from Jeongneung described scraping by on her basic pension and income from public work programs. Her monthly income, she said, is just under one million won. “About ten days a month, I pick up cigarette butts on the street,” she said. With a husband suffering from dementia, she is the family’s sole earner. “Dentures are covered by insurance, but crowns are not. One tooth costs 500,000 to 600,000 won. I just can’t afford it.” Another woman, 86, said she has no bathroom in her home. “I walk about five minutes to a public restroom,” she said. “It’s manageable most days, but in winter the roads freeze and I fall.” With no other work available, she collects cardboard, earning about 6,000 won a day if she is lucky. “I start at six in the morning and go until it’s dark.” Volunteer Yoo Yoo-jae, 68, said around 300 elderly people visit the soup kitchen each day. “Some even come from Cheonan because subway rides are free,” he said. “Most are in their 70s or older. We have five people over 90 who come regularly, and about ten who use wheelchairs.” A structural challenge, not a temporary one “Suicide among older adults in South Korea has long been a chronic social problem,” said Kim Jae-woo, a sociology professor at Jeonbuk National University. As of 2023, the suicide rate for those aged 65 and above reached 40.6 per 100,000—about 1.5 times higher than the overall rate across all age groups. “Economic hardship, physical illness, depression and social isolation all interact,” Kim said. “But poverty remains one of the most decisive factors.” While expanding mental health services is important, Kim stressed that the solution must be broader. Korea, he said, needs stronger community-based care systems for frailty and chronic illness, more robust social networks, and—most critically—direct financial support for economically vulnerable seniors. As policymakers debate reforms, the elderly lining up at Seoul’s free meal centers are already living with the consequences. Their hunger, illness and isolation are not abstract risks on a demographic chart, but daily realities unfolding quietly at the margins of one of the world’s richest economies. 2026-01-23 17:15:37

Korea tops Japan in exports, but growth engine overly reliant on chips SEOUL, Jan 23 (AJP) - East Asia emerged as the standout winner in global trade last year, with the region’s major exporters all setting new records as demand surged for artificial intelligence–related hardware. South Korea posted a record $709.5 billion in exports in 2025, up 3.8 percent from the previous year and overtaking Japan’s $696 billion in data released Thursday by Japan’s Ministry of Finance. It marked the first time South Korea surpassed Japan in total export volume. Taiwan followed closely with $640.7 billion. China earlier reported a record $3.77 trillion in exports. Beneath the headline figures, however, South Korea’s performance warrants a more sober assessment. In Korea’s case, semiconductors accounted for roughly one-quarter of total exports, or $173.4 billion, underscoring the economy’s growing dependence on a single sector. That dominance becomes even more pronounced when viewed through the lens of economic growth. According to the Bank of Korea’s 2025 GDP data released Thursday, the semiconductor sector contributed 0.6 percentage points to last year’s annualized growth rate of 1 percent—more than half of the total expansion. Excluding chips, the economy would have grown by just 0.4 percent. This concentration highlights what economists increasingly describe as South Korea’s “K-shaped” growth structure, particularly when contrasted with China and Japan, both of which retain broader industrial and domestic demand bases. China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported Monday that its 2025 manufacturing GDP was widely diversified, with machinery and equipment accounting for 16 percent, steel 13 percent, and semiconductors a comparatively modest 8 percent. Japan, while not a direct competitor in memory chips, also maintains a broad industrial mix. Automobiles—the largest segment of Japan’s secondary industry—account for 17 percent of output, far below Korea’s concentration, where 25 percent of exports are tied to a single category. Domestic demand further exposes the gap. South Korea’s retail sales growth has remained below 1 percent, while Japan’s is projected to reach around 2 percent, and China’s approximately 4 percent. Korea and Taiwan: twin chip engines, shared vulnerabilities South Korea’s closest economic parallel is Taiwan, which has built a similarly semiconductor-centric growth model. Despite differences in scale, the two economies share striking structural weaknesses. Taiwan recorded 5.3 percent export growth last year, but that expansion was driven overwhelmingly by advanced chipmaking. According to research from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), TSMC alone accounts for about 8 percent of Taiwan’s GDP. This mirrors South Korea’s dependence on corporate heavyweights, where Samsung Electronics contributes roughly 5 percent of GDP, and the broader Samsung Group nearly 13 percent. In both economies, high-end semiconductor manufacturing has generated limited spillover effects into consumption and services. The imbalance is reflected in persistently weak domestic demand. Taiwan’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported private consumption growth of around 1 percent as of August 2025. South Korea’s retail sales growth is estimated at a similar level for the year. 2026-01-23 17:12:16

Senior US defense official to visit Seoul next week SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - A high-ranking U.S. defense official is expected to visit Seoul next week. Elbridge Colby, the under Secretary of defense for policy, is scheduled to meet with South Korean foreign and defense officials here from Jan. 25 to 27 as part of his Asia trip, which will also include a stop in Japan. The close aide to U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to outline the White House's new security strategy, announced early last month, which urges allies to increase defense spending with a focus on ensuring "America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history." Key issues on the agenda are expected to include a hike in defense spending, the transfer of wartime operational control, and the development of nuclear-powered submarines. Colby is also expected to emphasize the importance of trilateral military cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan. 2026-01-23 16:36:30

Italy makes final preparations for Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - With about two weeks remaining until the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, South Korea’s national team has pledged a strong showing at the Games. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee held a send-off ceremony for the national delegation on Wednesday at Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The Games will feature around 5,000 athletes from more than 90 national Olympic committees (NOCs), competing across eight sports and 16 disciplines. South Korea will send a delegation of about 70 athletes and officials in six sports, aiming to win at least three gold medals. The Winter Olympics will be held from Feb. 6 to 22 (local time) in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The main South Korean delegation is scheduled to depart for Italy on Jan. 30. 2026-01-23 16:12:13

BLACKPINK's Jennie opens first solo photo exhibition SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - BLACKPINK member Jennie is holding her first solo photo exhibition to commemorate her birthday. The exhibition "JENNIE PHOTO EXHIBITION J2NNI5" is running from the 16th to the 29th at YOUTHQUAKE in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The exhibition is particularly significant as Jennie directly participated in the project, capturing her own perspective and sensibility. Rather than showcasing her glamorous on-stage image, the exhibition highlights candid moments of Jennie in unguarded instances. Numerous unreleased photos taken by Korea's top photographers are being revealed, allowing fans to encounter the natural everyday life of 25-year-old Jennie. A photo book released alongside the exhibition comprises 692 pages featuring over 50 different concepts. It includes works not displayed in the exhibition, boasting high collectible value. Fifteen varieties of merchandise have also been prepared to provide fans with a special experience along with the photo book. 2026-01-23 16:07:11

Samsung heir to participate in multinational exercise in Thailand SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - Lee Ji-ho, the son of Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong, will participate in his first overseas combined exercise next month since being commissioned as an ensign in November last year. According to military sources on Friday, Lee junior is expected to be dispatched to Cobra Gold, the largest multinational combined exercise held annually in Thailand since 1982, hosted by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. This year's exercise, slated to be held from Feb. 24 to March 6, is expected to be one of the biggest including various drills such as amphibious landings and other operations, with more than 8,000 personnel from 30 countries including about 300 South Korean Navy personnel and marines. Ji-ho, who serves as an interpreter officer, is expected to help facilitate communication among the multinational forces during the exercise. He gave up his U.S. citizenship to fulfill his military duty in South Korea by enlisting as a naval officer candidate in September. After completing 10 weeks of combat training, he was commissioned as an ensign in November, with the entire Samsung family including his grandmother Hong Ra-hee gathering to congratulate him. His rare move drew attention in South Korea, where most scions of conglomerate or chaebol families are mysteriously exempt from mandatory military service. 2026-01-23 16:06:03

ROK army special forces conduct winter survival training SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - The ROK Army Special Warfare Command announced on Jan. 22 that it has been conducting winter survival training at training grounds in the Hwangbyeongsan area of Daegwallyeong, Gangwon Province, from January through February. The training runs for 11 nights and 12 days for each unit. 2026-01-23 16:06:02

Samsung Electro-Mechanics posts record revenue on AI, auto electronics demand SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - South Korea's Samsung Electro-Mechanics said Friday growth in artificial intelligence and automotive electronics helped it post the highest annual revenue in its history last year. In a regulatory filing, the company reported consolidated revenue of 11.3 trillion won ($7.7 billion) and operating profit of 913.3 billion won. Revenue rose 10 percent from a year earlier to a record high, while operating profit climbed 24 percent. Fourth-quarter revenue increased 16 percent from a year earlier to 2.9 trillion won, while operating profit more than doubled, rising 108 percent to 239.5 billion won, the company said. Samsung Electro-Mechanics expects continued expansion in AI infrastructure investment and the autonomous driving market this year. A company official said the firm plans to strengthen competitiveness in high-value products, including AI and automotive electronics, while building a mid- to long-term growth base through new businesses such as glass substrates and components for humanoid robots. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2026-01-23 15:48:59