KITA forecasts record exports for South Korea this year SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - South Korea's exports are on track to top $700 billion for the first time in history, with the recovery expected to continue into 2026, according to a report released on Dec. 5 by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). KITA's Institute for International Trade said exports are projected to rise 3.0 percent this year to $704 billion, while imports are expected to slip 0.3 percent to $630 billion. That would leave the country with a trade surplus of $74 billion. Semiconductors and shipbuilding are the main drivers behind the record performance. Chip exports have climbed sharply on growing demand for AI-related components such as high-bandwidth memory, paired with limited global production capacity that has pushed up prices. Shipments of vessels are also set to increase more than 22 percent as high-value LNG carriers ordered in 2022 and 2023 are delivered. Automobile exports, which were hit earlier in the year by increased U.S. tariffs, are expected to grow 1.6 percent as South Korea shifts more shipments to Europe and other non-U.S. markets. KITA said exports to the United States rebounded in November with a 13.7 percent increase, helped by expectations of tariff reductions following recent bilateral negotiations. Steel and petroleum products, however, are expected to remain weak through the end of the year due to higher duties and falling crude prices. For 2026, KITA projects that exports will continue on a positive track, increasing 1.0 percent to $711 billion. Imports are forecast to edge up 0.5 percent to $633 billion, keeping the trade balance in surplus. Information-technology products are expected to lead next year's growth. Semiconductor exports are forecast to rise 5.9 percent as AI-related demand remains strong. SSD exports are expected to increase 10.4 percent on the back of expanding enterprise-level storage needs. Wireless communication devices are projected to grow 5.4 percent as foldable smartphones gain ground and memory-chip prices rise. Display exports are likely to post a small gain as OLED panels continue to expand in IT devices and premium smartphones. Other sectors face a more challenging outlook. Automobile exports may fall 1.0 percent due to base effects and gradual expansion of U.S. local production. Petroleum products are projected to decline 13.3 percent as crude prices settle in the mid-50-dollar range. Petrochemical exports are expected to drop 6.1 percent amid continued global oversupply, while steel exports may fall 2.0 percent under ongoing U.S. tariffs and subdued demand. KITA said next year's import trends will largely reflect weaker energy prices, though higher imports of semiconductor components and manufacturing equipment could offset some of the reduction. 2025-12-05 13:44:25

Naver teams up with Netflix for Culinary Class Wars Season 2 push SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - Naver unveiled a joint marketing campaign with Netflix, leveraging its map and membership services to promote the streaming giant's upcoming cooking competition series Culinary Class Wars Season 2. The South Korean tech firm said on Friday its Naver Map application now features a curated list of restaurants operated by chefs appearing in the Netflix show, which premieres on Dec. 16. A internationally beloved series which pit 80 unknown chefs against celebrity chefs in a culinary competition last season, Culinary Class Wars was the first Korean unscripted series to lead Netflix’s Global Top 10 (Non-English) TV list for three consecutive weeks. About 30 establishments run by contestants including Michelin two-star chef Lee Jun, Son Jong-won and Raymon Kim are accessible through the app's saved list function. The collaboration builds on a year-long partnership between the two companies, Naver saying that the initiative aims to strengthen ties between Netflix's global content and its domestic digital services while offering enhanced user experiences. Starting Dec. 18, the app will expand its offerings to include the complete roster of Season 2 chef restaurants. Naver Map will also exclusively feature hidden gem recommendations from Season 1 fan favorites, including celebrity chefs Choi Hyun-seok, Yeo Kyung-rae and viral sensation Lim Tae-hoon. Naver Plus membership subscribers who select Netflix as their digital content benefit can enter the "NaNet Dining" promotion running from Dec. 9 through Jan. 18. Ten winners will receive dinner invitations prepared personally by chefs featured in the new season. An additional 1,000 participants will be selected through a lottery to receive 5,000 won in Naver Pay points, the company said. 2025-12-05 12:28:55

Asian stocks mostly down early Friday ahead of FOMC week SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - Asian stocks were mostly lower in early Friday trading as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of next week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which is expected to set the tone for U.S. rate policy in 2025. In Seoul, the benchmark KOSPI rose 0.5 percent to 4,047.41, while the KOSDAQ slipped 0.7 percent to 923.70 as of 10:05 a.m. Samsung Electronics gained 1.9 percent to 107,050 won ($72.8), whereas SK hynix fell 0.7 percent to 538,000 won. Large-caps were broadly higher. LG Energy Solution, the market’s third-largest stock, advanced 3.1 percent to 422,500 won, and Hyundai Motor jumped 6.4 percent to 301,750 won. Hyundai Motor surpassed its previous intraday record of 299,000 won set on January 11, 2021, extending a four-day rally after Washington confirmed a retroactive reduction in tariffs on Korean auto imports to 15 percent. Samsung Biologics, the fourth-largest by market value, declined 1.4 percent to 1,656,000 won. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.4 percent to 50,329.03. Among the country’s three largest firms by market capitalization, Toyota Motor declined 2.3 percent to 3,033 yen ($19.6); Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group dropped 0.9 percent to 2,492 yen; and Sony Group slid 2 percent to 4,328 yen. As of 10:40 a.m., 39 of the top 40 large-cap stocks were down, with SoftBank Group the sole gainer, rising 1.7 percent to 18,510 yen. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2 percent to 3,867.04, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.6 percent to 25,787.66. 2025-12-05 11:47:07

Korea's C/V surplus halves, outbound stock invest outsized inbound by a factor of 6 SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - South Korea posted its 30th straight monthly current account surplus in October, but the headline figure shrank to a six-month low as reduced factory activity during the Chuseok holiday dampened trade, according the central bank data, which also showed Korean outbound stock purchases overwhelming foreign inflows by a factor of six to explain the stubbornly weak Korean won against the U.S. dollar. The Bank of Korea said Friday that the country recorded a $6.81 billion current account surplus in October, down sharply from $13.47 billion in September and from $9.4 billion a year earlier. Korea’s September–October trade patterns typically hinge on the timing of the Chuseok holiday, with exports front-loaded ahead of factory shutdowns. Even with the pullback, the cumulative surplus for the first 10 months reached a record $89.58 billion—17 percent higher than a year earlier—putting Seoul on track to hit the $115 billion milestone for 2025. The services account logged a $3.75 billion deficit despite a record influx of inbound tourists. The travel balance swung deeper into the red, widening to $1.36 billion from $910 million in September, as a stronger dollar inflated Koreans’ overseas spending. The goods account recorded a surplus of $7.82 billion, half of September’s $14.24 billion. The Bank of Korea said the drop largely reflected the normalization of consumption tax flows, which had surged ahead of the Chuseok holiday. Customs-cleared exports rose 3.5 percent on year to $59.5 billion. Semiconductor shipments jumped 25.2 percent to $15.86 billion, while vessel exports soared 135.8 percent to $4.62 billion. Petroleum products also posted an 11.7 percent gain to $3.84 billion, despite intensifying low-cost competition from China. The primary income account booked a $2.94 billion surplus, buoyed by Koreans’ growing investment income overseas. Dividend income alone reached $2.29 billion, underscoring heavy equity allocations abroad. In the financial account, net assets increased by $6.81 billion as outbound investment continued to dominate. Direct overseas investment totaled $1.88 billion, far outpacing the $150 million that foreigners invested in Korea. Korean nationals’ overseas equity purchases surged to $18 billion in October—more than double September’s $8.5 billion and six times the $2.93 billion foreign investors deployed into Korean stocks. Reserve assets rose by $6.67 billion, up from $4 billion in September, suggesting stepped-up efforts by authorities to counter won weakness after the currency moved past 1,450 per dollar and continued south in October. As of 9:30 a.m. Friday, the won was trading at 1,474 per dollar. 2025-12-05 11:28:45

South Korea's finance chief rules out using pension fund for FX intervention SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - South Korea’s finance chief pushed back against speculation that the government might lean on the National Pension Service to help stabilize the weakening won, saying market fundamentals — not state intervention — should guide currency movements. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol, speaking in a radio interview Friday, said the government has no intention of directing the NPS, one of the world’s largest institutional investors, to adjust its dollar holdings for exchange-rate purposes. “The pension fund requires dollars for overseas investments and converts them back during payouts,” he said. “We intend to establish a new framework that reflects these structural realities, not one based on government intervention.” Koo said the administration is focused on balancing foreign-exchange supply and demand in the near term but argued that the only durable solution lies in strengthening the competitiveness of Korean companies and the broader economy. “Our goal is to build an economic structure in which foreign exchange flows naturally,” he said. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-05 11:12:40

Five Hanjin airlines adopt Starlink high-speed Wi-Fi across fleets SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - Five airlines under South Korea’s Hanjin Group will adopt SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service to provide high-speed in-flight Wi-Fi, Korean Air said on Friday. The move, which includes Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul, marks the first deployment of Starlink by a South Korean carrier. Starlink operates a network of more than 8,000 low-earth orbit satellites and offers speeds of up to 500 Mbps, allowing passengers to stream video, play online games, shop, send messages and transfer large files with minimal delay. The service will be available across all cabin classes. Testing and certification will begin this year, with commercial service expected to launch as early as the third quarter of 2026. Korean Air and Asiana will first equip their long-haul Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A350-900 aircraft, with full fleet installation targeted by the end of 2027. Jin Air plans to start with its Boeing 737-8, while Air Busan and Air Seoul are finalizing their rollout plans. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-05 10:43:22

Hotel Shilla CEO's son earns near-perfect score on university entrance exam SEOUL, December 5 (AJP) - Hotel Shilla president Lee Boo-jin has garnered fresh attention this week as it was revealed that her son earned a near-perfect score on last month's university entrance exam, creating a buzz among many parents. With this year's exam being one of the toughest as only five students achieved perfect scores, her son reportedly missed just one question. The news spread shortly after former conservative lawmaker Park Sun-young shared it on social media on Thursday. "Lee's son got only one question wrong on the exam. In fact, he never lost first place throughout his school years," Park said, adding that online communities of mothers interested in their children's education have been buzzing as they try to figure out how she raised her son. Praising Lee, Park added, "These days, many affluent parents often rush to send their children to English kindergartens or to international schools abroad. Yet the Samsung heiress chose to keep her son entirely in South Korea for his education. She even plans to have him attend a domestic university." Lee's son is reportedly not considering medical school, unlike many top scorers who typically pursue that path. "It seems that Lee wants her son to avoid all the fuss and pressure that would come with pursuing medicine," Park speculated. "I hope her example helps our troubled education system improve, even just a little." Meanwhile, her dedication to her son's education, much like that of any devoted parent, was revealed earlier last month when it emerged that she lived in Daechi-dong, the capital's upscale district of Gangnam clustered with crammers, throughout her son's middle and high school years to support his studies. She has now returned to Yongsan, the tony neighborhood traditionally known as an enclave for the conglomerate's family members. Lee drew a great deal of publicity in 1999 when she married a "humble" man, but the couple divorced in 2020 after a lengthy legal battle. Lee gained custody of their son, while her ex-husband received a substantial portion of the couple's assets. 2025-12-05 10:29:54

Korea–Syria forum explores post-civil war reconstruction, economic partnership SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - South Korea and Syria held their first joint business forum in Damascus on Dec. 4, marking a rare step toward expanded economic engagement as Syria seeks partners for reconstruction and modernization efforts. The forum, hosted by the foreign ministries of both countries and organized by KOTRA and the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce, took place at the Sheraton Hotel in central Damascus. According to KOTRA, around 100 government officials, business leaders and journalists attended. Syrian Minister of Economy and Industry Mohammad Nidal Alshaar called for deeper strategic cooperation with South Korea in advanced industries, technology transfer, smart infrastructure and education. He said Syria is working toward a more export-oriented and globally integrated economy through stabilization measures and legal reforms. Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdulsalam Haykal lauded South Korea’s economic rise, citing companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom as models. He expressed interest in attracting a Samsung data center to Syria, highlighting the country’s potential as a logistics base with a skilled workforce. Representing Seoul, Jung Kwang-yong, Director-General for the Middle East and Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted opportunities for cooperation in trade, energy and infrastructure. Jeon Gyu-seok, South Korea’s ambassador to Lebanon, said the forum underscores Seoul’s commitment to supporting Syria’s stability, reconstruction and economic recovery. * This article, published by Economic Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-05 10:09:35

HYBE shares dip after court orders freeze in chair Bang's stock holdings SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - Shares of South Korea's entertainment giant HYBE slid more than 1 percent early Friday after a Seoul court approved the prosecution request for a freeze on the stock holdings of its founder and largest shareholder Bang Si-hyuk worth 156.8 billion won ($106 million) while the investigation on malpractice related to pre-listing share transactions proceeded. The KOSPI-trading shares are down 1.4 percent at 291,250 won as of 9:40 a.m. in Seoul. Bang owns 13.151,394 shares or 30.5 percent of HYBE. The Seoul Southern District Court approved the pre-indictment asset freeze, according to legal officials briefed on the case. The move prevents Bang from disposing of the frozen HYBE shares while prosecutors determine whether they represent illicit gains. If wrongdoing is confirmed, the government may seize assets equal in value to those profits. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office filed the request following a recommendation from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s financial crimes unit, which has been probing the case for several months. The allegations stretch back to 2019, when HYBE — then still known as Big Hit Entertainment — was preparing for what would become one of Korea’s most closely watched IPOs. Investigators say Bang told existing HYBE investors and private equity partners that he had no plans to pursue a public listing, shaping the terms of share transactions at the time. Authorities now allege that, contrary to those assurances, Bang had already entered into a confidential agreement that would allow him to sell part of his stake once the company went public. When HYBE’s valuation soared after its 2020 IPO, police believe Bang realized approximately 190 billion won in gains tied to that undisclosed arrangement. Prosecutors argue that this alleged concealment may constitute investor fraud, prompting the freeze to prevent any movement of shares that could later be subject to seizure. HYBE, in a statement, downplayed the significance of the ruling. “The asset freeze is a standard procedure and does not imply guilt,” a spokesperson said. “We are cooperating fully with the investigation and await the authorities’ decision.” Bang has not been indicted, and the court’s action does not determine the merits of the case. But the size of the freeze — among the largest imposed in recent entertainment-industry investigations — underscores both Bang’s outsized role in Korea’s cultural economy and the scale of the alleged financial misconduct. The investigation remains ongoing, with prosecutors expected to decide in the coming months whether to formally charge the HYBE chairman. * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-05 09:49:35

South Korea expected to top $700 billion in exports for first time: KITA SEOUL, December 05 (AJP) - South Korea’s exports are on track to surpass $700 billion for the first time this year, with momentum expected to continue into 2026, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said on Friday. KITA forecasts exports will climb 3 percent from last year to $704 billion, while imports are projected to edge down 0.3 percent to $630 billion, producing a $74 billion trade surplus. The report cites strong performances in semiconductors and shipbuilding as the main drivers of the record export tally. Demand for AI-related chips, including high-bandwidth memory, has surged amid tight production capacity, pushing up prices. Ship exports are expected to jump more than 22 percent as deliveries accelerate for high-value vessels such as LNG carriers ordered in 2022 and 2023. Automobile exports have been dented by higher U.S. tariffs, but diversification into other markets — including the European Union — has helped stabilize shipments. Exports to the United States rebounded 13.7 percent in November following expectations of tariff easing in recent U.S.–Korea discussions. By contrast, steel and petroleum product exports continue to lag, weighed down by elevated tariffs and falling oil prices. For 2026, KITA projects exports will rise a further 1 percent to $711 billion, with imports increasing 0.5 percent to $633 billion, maintaining a trade surplus of around $78 billion. Growth is expected to be led by IT products, notably semiconductors and solid-state drives (SSDs). Semiconductor exports are forecast to expand 5.9 percent, supported by AI-driven demand, while SSD shipments could grow 10.4 percent amid rising global storage needs. “AI-related demand will remain a key engine for semiconductor and IT exports next year,” said Jang Sang-sik, head of KITA’s research institute. “But with global trade growth still limited and uncertainties such as the U.S. midterm elections ahead, Korea must diversify export markets to the Middle East and ASEAN and expand exports of K-content and consumer goods.” * This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP. 2025-12-05 09:49:32