PHOTOS: Learning traditional etiquette SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - A group of students from Myungnyun Elementary School in Busan gathered at Dongnae Hyanggyo, a historic Confucian school, to participate in a traditional etiquette class, Tuesday. Dressed in hanbok, they spent the session learning about traditional Korean etiquette. The hyanggyo, which served as local public educational institutions during the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, are often described as the historical equivalent of today's public middle and high schools. 2025-09-09 16:28:49

[[K-Pop]] Soundtrack from K-pop anime remains atop Billboard Hot 100 SEOUL, September 9 (AJP) - One of the main theme songs from Netflix's hit South Korean anime has remained atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart this week. According to Billboard on Monday, "Golden" from the soundtrack of "KPop Demon Hunters" took the No. 1 spot on the chart for the second consecutive week and its fourth week overall, since its release in late June. Alongside "Golden," other songs from the soundtrack such as "How It's Done," "Soda Pop," and "Your Idol" also made the top 10 chart. The American music chart hailed that the 100-minute animation "has also become the first soundtrack to generate four simultaneous Hot 100 top 10s over the chart's 67-year history." The catchy song, by South Korean-American singer-songwriter Ejae along with American singers Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, went viral thanks to the popularity of the anime, which tells the story of fictional K-pop superstars with "secret powers to protect their fans from supernatural threats." With the latest feat, "Golden" surpassed K-pop juggernaut BTS' megahit "Dynamite," which spent three weeks at the top in 2020. It remains to be seen whether the song will break the record set by the septet's another hit song "Butter," which held the top spot for 10 nonconsecutive weeks at the time of its release in 2021. 2025-09-09 15:45:40

Lotte Chemical's struggles mirror South Korea's petrochemical crisis SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - Lotte Chemical, once seen as a pillar of South Korea’s industrial strength, is now grappling with a series of setbacks that mirror the broader malaise in the country’s petrochemical sector. The company’s Malaysian unit, Lotte Chemical Titan, has recorded losses for 10 consecutive quarters, culminating in a roughly 1 trillion won ($721 million) impairment charge late last year. Once a reliable profit engine, the subsidiary has become a financial burden, forcing the parent company to shutter plants in Malaysia and seek a buyer for the struggling business. Lotte Chemical has responded with sweeping asset sales, divesting operations from Pakistan to the United States and Japan. Over the past two years, it has raised about 1.7 trillion won ($1.23 billion) through sales of subsidiaries and stakes in joint ventures, money earmarked for debt repayment and working capital. At home, the company is racing to reposition itself in higher-value materials, including copper foil for electric vehicle batteries, and to push into hydrogen and specialty chemicals. The company is now focusing on portfolio advancement through expansion of hydrogen energy business and next-generation battery materials. At a company leadership meeting in July, Lee Young-jun, who oversees Lotte’s chemical business group, urged executives to return to fundamentals. “Let’s understand our core competencies and actively seek out business opportunities based on them,” he said. The crisis facing Lotte Chemical underscores deeper problems across South Korea’s petrochemical industry. On Aug. 20, the government, together with relevant ministries, announced a sweeping restructuring plan aimed at cutting annual naphtha cracking capacity by as much as 3.7 million tons. Officials acknowledged that global oversupply, driven by massive capacity additions in China and the Middle East, had left Korean producers exposed. The timing has been especially punishing for Lotte. Its ambitious overseas investments, from Titan in Malaysia to its ethylene glycol plant in Louisiana, have struggled in the face of weak demand and depressed margins. Even as it sheds assets, the company is under pressure to accelerate its shift into higher-value sectors before its traditional petrochemical business erodes further. Lotte Energy Materials, the company’s advanced materials arm, is at the center of that pivot. The division has expanded sales of copper foil products for batteries and plans to begin mass production in Malaysia next year. It is also stepping up research into solid electrolytes, lithium iron phosphate cathodes and silicon anodes — technologies seen as critical to the next generation of batteries. Whether that strategy can offset the losses mounting abroad remains uncertain. For now, Lotte Chemical’s turnaround effort has become a test case for an entire industry under strain. 2025-09-09 15:24:00

US Homeland Security chief says detained Korean workers will be 'deported' SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia last week will be "deported" — a statement that appears to contradict what South Korean officials say they had already negotiated. Speaking Monday (local time) in London during a meeting of security ministers, Noem said the workers caught in the raid “are going to be deported,” adding that some also face additional charges beyond immigration violations. “We’re following the law,” she said. “A few of those had criminal activity beyond just being here past final removal orders, and they will face the consequences for that.” Deportation typically carries heavy penalties, including bans on re-entering the United States. By contrast, South Korea has been pressing for “voluntary departure,” which would allow workers to leave without creating a formal record that could complicate future visa applications. South Korean officials insist they had reached a broad agreement with U.S. immigration authorities for that outcome. Now, Noem’s comments are raising questions over whether the deal is in jeopardy. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun left for Washington on Monday to coordinate with U.S. officials and ensure the detainees’ safe return. Cho is also expected to push for reforms to visa rules that Korean companies say have hampered their U.S. operations and left them vulnerable to enforcement actions. Roughly 300 of the 475 people arrested in the Sept. 4 raid at the Hyundai Motor–LG Energy Solution battery plant were South Korean nationals, though it’s not clear if Noem’s remarks apply to all of them. Noem defended the raid, saying it was “a great opportunity to make sure that every business knows what the rules of the game are when they come to America,” and insisted it would not deter foreign investment. 2025-09-09 14:53:33

South Koreans detained in US immigration crackdown to be flown home Thursday SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - A charter plane is expected to depart for the United States as early as Wednesday to fly home more than 300 South Koreans who were detained at a battery plant construction site in Georgia, according to officials and industry sources. Korean Air will deploy a B747-8i charter flight from Incheon International Airport to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, with a potential departure time of Wednesday morning, the sources said. The large aircraft, which has a capacity of 368 seats, will be able to accommodate all of the South Koreans who were detained at the joint venture battery factory between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution. The return trip, carrying the released individuals, is expected to leave Atlanta late on Wednesday and arrive at Incheon Airport late Thursday afternoon, Korean time. The released South Koreans will be transported from a detention facility operated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Folkston, Ga., to the Atlanta airport, a four-and-a-half-hour drive. 2025-09-09 14:06:12

North Korea tests new solid-fuel engine for ICBMs SEOUL, September 9 (AJP) - North Korea tested a new high-thrust solid-fuel engine for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), state media reported on Tuesday. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the reclusive country "conducted another ground jet test of a high-thrust solid-fuel engine using composite carbon fiber material," with its leader Kim Jong-un inspecting the test. KCNA said it was the "ninth ground jet test" of its kind and the "last one in the development process," capable of producing a maximum thrust of 1,971 kilonewtons, which is roughly equivalent to lifting 200 tons of weight. Kim praised the test as a "success assuming the most strategic nature in the recent modernization of defense technology," adding that it signals a "significant change in expanding and strengthening the nuclear strategic forces" of North Korea. Tuesday's test came about a week after KCNA hinted at a "new-type solid-fuel engine" intended for its Hwasong series of ICBMs, which it claims could reach the U.S. mainland. Unlike conventional solid-fuel engines, which typically use hardened propellants for rapid launches but are constrained by heavy metal shells that reduce performance, a carbon-fiber composite shell makes the engine lighter, allows it to carry more fuel, and generates greater thrust, making it suitable for long-range ICBMs. According to Shin Seung-ki, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), Pyongyang has already completed the development of ICBMs with sufficient range and now appears to be focusing on increasing thrust to carry more warheads. "North Korea is apparently aiming to mount more warheads on its ICBMs to step up its threat to the U.S.," Shin told Aju Press. He speculated that the engine's 200-ton thrust could allow the missiles to carry five to six warheads, compared with about 10 on U.S. ICBMs. 2025-09-09 11:34:27

KAIST uses quantum computing to design porous materials like LEGO blocks SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - The Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) has become the first in the world to apply quantum computing to the design of multivariate porous materials (MTVs), opening the door to new catalysts, membranes, and energy storage materials. MTVs are materials made of molecular building blocks that can be combined in different ways, much like LEGO pieces, to create tailor-made structures. They have potential uses in gas capture, selective chemical reactions, and next-generation batteries. The problem is that the number of possible combinations grows so fast that conventional computers cannot handle all the calculations. To solve this, a team led by Kim Ji-han of KAIST's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering used a quantum computer to map out millions of possible structures. By turning the building blocks and connection points into qubits, the basic units of quantum computing, the system could quickly sort through countless possibilities at once. It is like laying out millions of LEGO houses and instantly picking the most stable design. The researchers tested their framework on four known MTV structures and confirmed that the quantum model produced the correct results. They also ran the same calculations on an IBM quantum computer, proving that the method works on real hardware. Going forward, the team plans to combine the method with machine learning to not only design structures but also predict how easy they are to synthesize, how well they absorb gases, and how they perform in energy applications. "This study is the first to use quantum computing to break through the bottleneck in designing complex multicomponent porous materials," said Kim. "The results could lead to custom-designed materials for carbon capture, selective catalysts, and advanced electrolytes, and the method can be expanded to even more complex systems in the future." Doctoral candidates Kang Shin-young and Kim Young-hoon were credited as co-first authors. The findings were published online on Aug. 22 in ACS Central Science, the journal of the American Chemical Society, under the title "Quantum Computing Based Design of Multivariate Porous Materials." The research was supported by South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT through its Mid-Career Researcher Program and Convergence Materials Program. 2025-09-09 10:41:53

Pilot program for hiring foreign domestic helpers suspended amid weak demand SEOUL, September 8 (AJP) - A pilot program allowing families to directly hire foreign domestic helpers has been terminated, according to the Ministry of Justice. The program was launched in March this year with the aim of addressing the country's extremely low birthrates by helping couples juggle childcare and housework, enabling them to work with fewer worries. However, it soon drew criticism, as some households could afford the service while some foreign workers were not enthusiastic, given that private contracts could not guarantee pay in line with the legal minimum wage. Available in Seoul and a few southern provinces, the program, which was open to international students and members of migrant families, saw few sign-ups, with many participants not matched to households, eventually leading to its termination. "We decided to halt the program due to complaints about pay amid low interest," a ministry official said Sunday. "But there is still demand for affordable domestic helpers, so we will gather feedback and come up with alternative measures." Meanwhile, the termination does not affect another similar program run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which allows families to hire Filipino domestic helpers. 2025-09-08 17:52:13

Alliance reaffirmed, substance lacking: Korean-American lawmaker on Lee–Trump summit SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) - Two weeks after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and the United States President Donald Trump held their first summit, U.S. lawmakers are offering mixed assessments, praising its reaffirmation of ties but also pointing to unresolved challenges such as defense costs and trade issues. Rep. Young Kim, a Republican from California and one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, said the summit served as a "necessary reaffirmation" of the U.S.-South Korea alliance but fell short on substance. The public portion of the meeting "felt more like formalities between the two leaders than a substantive discussion on trade, defense cost-sharing, and broader security coordination issues," Kim told Aju Press in a written interview last week. "My key takeaway is that there is too much at stake in the U.S.-ROK proves through his actions – not just rhetoric – that he prioritizes the partnership as the foundation of security and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. Likewise, it is important for our side to treat South Korea as a valued and respected ally." The lead-up to the White House talks was hardly smooth. Hours before the Oval Office meeting on August 25, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, suggesting political unrest in South Korea, which unsettled Lee's delegation. When reporters entered, Trump brought up alleged "church raids," which Lee countered by explaining that an independent prosecutor was investigating former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law debacle from the previous year, a matter unrelated to U.S. facilities. Trump quickly dismissed it as a misunderstanding. Later in the meeting, the tone shifted. Lee praised Trump as a "peace-maker" and cast himself as a "pace-maker" in inter-Korean relations, a remark widely interpreted as a gesture toward Trump's self-styled image as a dealmaker and his well-known interest in a Nobel Peace Prize. Rep. Kim, however, emphasized that the backdrop to any future U.S.-North Korea talks has grown far more dangerous. "We are facing a very different, more dangerous North Korea than the one we dealt with during the first Trump administration," she said, citing its defense treaty with Russia, a more sophisticated nuclear program and a recent statement by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister demanding recognition of the North as a nuclear state while rejecting denuclearization. The geopolitical divide was underscored about a week later in Beijing, when Kim Jong-un stood alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at China's "Victory Day" parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. It was the first such joint appearance in 66 years. With Kim Jong-un attending the parade with other members of "like-minded authoritarian regimes," the American congresswoman said, "it raises serious questions about his willingness to negotiate with the United States.” Even if Trump and North Korean leader were to meet again, Rep. Kim doubted that it would yield meaningful progress without tougher conditions. "To avoid a repeat of what we saw in 2019, the U.S. needs to come to terms with North Korea's nuclear reality and the threat it poses today," she said. She reiterated her opposition to South Korea's Sunshine Policy, a past initiative of engagement and aid toward Pyongyang, and to unilateral efforts to declare an end to the Korean War without "tangible commitments from North Korea to denuclearize, cease all illicit activities to evade sanctions, and improve the dire human rights situation." Although the two leaders exchanged warm words, Lee and Trump avoided some of the most sensitive alliance issues, including defense cost-sharing, U.S. troop levels and trade disputes. Observers say those matters will inevitably resurface. "President Trump has long made clear that he wanted South Korea to pay more for U.S. troops," Kim said, while voicing confidence that the alliance would remain "a beacon of stability in the region." She added that South Korea's "long history of hosting of U.S. forces in Pyeongtaek and its advanced shipbuilding and defense production capabilities" should enable the allies to reach a "mutually beneficial deal," while emphasizing Congress's "oversight role" in ensuring agreements reflect "America's long-term interests and strengthen deterrence." Kim said expanding Japan, South Korea and the U.S. cooperation is vital to countering Chinese aggression and deterring North Korea. “South Korea is not only a close ally but also an economic and technological powerhouse, particularly in shipbuilding, where it has made major new investments" in the U.S., she said. “Simply boosting U.S. production isn’t enough — we need to work hand in hand with trusted allies like South Korea to build resilient supply chains that strengthen both our economies and our security.” The first summit, initially planned for 30 minutes, stretched to more than 140 minutes but produced little in the way of concrete outcomes. With both leaders expected to attend the U.N. General Assembly in New York later this month, whether a second encounter can move beyond symbolism and address unresolved issues such as defense costs, U.S. troop levels and tariffs will be closely watched in both capitals. 2025-09-08 17:49:53

Reliance on short-term visas exposes weak link in Korean projects in US SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) - Korean companies building some of the largest industrial facilities in the United States are bracing for construction delays that could stretch up to two years, after stepped-up immigration enforcement exposed widespread reliance on short-term business visas for technical staff. Industry data compiled in the aftermath of last week’s raid on a Hyundai–LG Energy Solution battery plant in Georgia show that 22 projects worth about 145 trillion won, or more than $100 billion, are potentially at risk. At least six plants scheduled to begin operations this year now face staffing shortages severe enough to force comprehensive revisions to their timelines. The Georgia battery plant is the most immediate casualty. LG Energy Solution recently postponed the facility’s startup from the second half of 2025 to at least early 2026, after construction ground to a halt. The $4.4 billion venture, intended to supply 30 gigawatt hours of battery cells annually, is critical to Hyundai and Kia’s electric vehicle production schedules. Surveys conducted by industry groups revealed that about 90 percent of Korean engineers and technicians dispatched to U.S. sites had been working under visa waiver programs or short-term B-1 business visas — categories never intended for long-term technical operations. In response, Samsung Electronics has ordered employees to limit visa waiver trips to two weeks or secure expatriate visas for longer stays, while Hyundai canceled all planned U.S. business travel. The disruption has triggered an urgent government response in Seoul. Park Jong-won, deputy assistant minister for trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said after a hastily convened meeting with major investors that the government would coordinate closely with the Foreign Ministry to craft a solution. “This cannot be a one-time meeting,” Park said. “We will continue communicating with companies operating locally to find solutions.” The visa bottleneck extends well beyond Georgia. Projects at risk include Samsung’s $17 billion semiconductor fabrication plant in Texas, LG Chem’s cathode materials facility in Tennessee, Samsung SDI’s joint battery plant with Stellantis in Indiana, SK On’s battery complexes with Ford, and Hanwha Q Cells’ solar hub. Together, they represent critical elements of Washington’s supply chain strategy under the Inflation Reduction Act. But securing proper work authorization is no quick fix. L-1 intracompany transfer visas or E-2 investor visas often take one to two years to process, and the oversubscribed H-1B program — capped at 85,000 annually — would require congressional intervention to expand. Seoul has been lobbying for a Korea-specific visa category similar to programs available to Australia and Singapore, though legislative timelines remain uncertain. In the meantime, companies face hard choices: overhaul staffing to rely more heavily on local hires, accelerate automation to reduce technical labor needs, or absorb costly delays. The stakes are especially high for the semiconductor and battery sectors, linchpins of U.S. industrial policy and vulnerable points in global supply chains if new facilities fail to come online as planned. 2025-09-08 17:47:51