Hanwoo beef gets legislative backing as Korea aims to modernize cattle farming SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - South Korea has enacted a new law aimed at strengthening the nation's hanwoo beef industry. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced Tuesday that the so-called “Hanwoo Act” has been officially promulgated and will go into effect on July 23 next year. The legislation mandates that the government devise rolling five-year development plans for the premium Korean beef industry and provide direct financial support to cattle farmers. The move revives a version of the law that was previously scrapped and reflects growing recognition of hanwoo beef’s central role in the rural economy. “Hanwoo production ranks third in agricultural output after pork and rice,” said Ahn Yong-deok, director general of the ministry’s livestock policy division. “The number of cattle farms is the largest in the livestock sector, making it a key sector for the rural economy. This law will serve as a catalyst to upgrade our support system and strengthen competitiveness while discovering new measures for farm management stability.” The new law requires the agriculture ministry to conduct research to improve breeding techniques and meat quality, while also offering slaughter and shipment incentives to farmers to help stabilize supply and demand. As of last month, South Korea was home to approximately 3.29 million hanwoo cattle. North Gyeongsang Province accounted for the largest share, with more than 716,000 cows, followed by South Jeolla Province with roughly 604,000. In the months ahead, the ministry will work to finalize detailed subordinate regulations before the law’s implementation. Hanwoo beef, known for its marbling and high-quality flavor, commands premium prices domestically. 2025-07-22 16:08:11

Court postpones another of Lee's trials indefinitely, bringing all his cases to halt SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - A district court on Tuesday decided to postpone President Lee Jae-myung's trial over alleged illegal money transfers to North Korea. The Suwon District Court in Gyeonggi Province said it made the decision in consideration of his status as president. "In order to ensure that the defendant (Lee) can fulfill his official duties guaranteed by the Constitution, we decided to postpone the trial to a later date for the sake of continuity in state affairs," the court explained. Lee has been accused of arranging the illegal transfer of US$8 million to North Korea between 2019 and 2020 to facilitate cross-border projects during his time as governor of Gyeonggi Province. Tuesday's decision comes after similar postponements of his four other separate trials, which include accusations of making false statements, soliciting perjury, improperly using a corporate credit card, and helping a private developer reap huge profits from a land development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, in 2015, when he was mayor there, causing massive losses to the city. Now that all five of Lee's pending trials have been suspended indefinitely following his inauguration early last month, controversies remain over the trials of other defendants and alleged accomplices, which are scheduled to proceed. There have also been disputes within legal circles over the scope of prosecution. Although the Constitution grants a sitting president immunity from criminal charges, except for those of insurrection or treason, all the allegations against Lee stem from incidents that occurred before his election on June 4. 2025-07-22 15:57:54

PHOTOS: Webtoon hit 'My Daughter Is a Zombie' comes to screen July 30 SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - A press screening for the film "My Daughter Is a Zombie" was held Monday at Megabox COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, offering a glimpse into the cinematic adaptation of the popular webtoon. The movie, which is scheduled for release on July 30, stars Cho Jung-seok, Lee Jung-eun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Yoon Kyung-ho, and Choi Yu-ri, and is based on a webtoon that has garnered more than 500 million views globally. Set against a backdrop of a sudden, unidentified zombie virus outbreak, the narrative plunges into a world where military forces are mobilized and citizens are driven to mutual surveillance in the intensified effort to detect the infected. At its core, the film explores the desperate lengths of paternal love, following a father, played by Cho Jung-seok, as he secretly trains to protect and conceal his zombie-infected daughter, portrayed by Choi Yu-ri. 2025-07-22 15:00:58

Hanwha Ocean tops post-merger performance among Korea's major corporate acquisitions SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, has emerged as the top-performing acquisition among major corporate takeovers by South Korea’s 30 largest conglomerates since 2015, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the corporate research firm Leaders Index. The report examined 20 acquisitions valued at over 500 billion won (approximately $365 million), assessing performance across key shareholder metrics including revenue, profitability, equity capital, and market capitalization. The findings indicate that, overall, South Korean conglomerates have generated positive returns through strategic acquisitions in the past decade. Across the 20 companies analyzed, total revenue increased 40.3 percent — from 33.96 trillion won in the two years prior to acquisition to 47.62 trillion won in the two years following. Net income swung from a collective loss of 2.41 trillion won to a profit of 1.45 trillion won, while return on equity (ROE) improved from -11.8 percent to 5.1 percent. Equity capital grew nearly 40 percent to 28.46 trillion won over the same period. Three companies posted gains across all five core indicators: Hanwha Ocean, SK Materials (formerly OCI Materials), and Mirae Asset Securities (formerly Daewoo Securities). Among them, Hanwha Ocean stood out, with revenue jumping 140.2 percent — from 4.49 trillion won to 10.78 trillion won — while its market capitalization surged more than fourfold, from 2.47 trillion won to 11.44 trillion won. SK Group’s 2020 acquisition of Intel’s NAND flash memory unit, now operating as Solidigm, was the largest deal by transaction value at 10.3 trillion won. Samsung Electronics’ 2017 acquisition of U.S.-based Harman ranked second at 9.3 trillion won. Hyundai Motor Group’s 2022 purchase of autonomous driving startup Forty Two Dot delivered the most dramatic revenue growth, with sales increasing more than 1,600 times — from 25 million won to 40.7 billion won — highlighting the potential for exponential expansion in mobility and AI-driven technologies. 2025-07-22 14:51:44

Hyundai's electric vehicle exports plunge 88 percent amid US setbacks SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle exports plunged nearly 90 percent in the first five months of 2025, as softening demand and looming policy shifts in the United States threaten the automaker’s global electrification strategy. Data released Tuesday by the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association showed that Hyundai and its affiliate Kia shipped just 7,156 EVs between January and May, an 88 percent decline from 59,705 units during the same period last year. The slump marks the group’s lowest EV export volume since 2021, when it first rolled out its dedicated electrification push. Hyundai Motor, which includes its upscale Genesis brand, recorded an 87 percent drop in exports, down to 3,906 units. Kia’s EV shipments fell even more steeply, tumbling 89.1 percent to 3,250 vehicles. The downturn comes despite expanded local production in the U.S., where Hyundai began operating its first dedicated EV facility — the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America — in Georgia earlier this year. The plant produced nearly 29,000 Ioniq 5 models and more than 4,000 units of the new Ioniq 9 in the first half. Kia, for its part, assembled over 14,800 EV6 and EV9 vehicles for the American market. Still, the production ramp-up has yet to yield gains in U.S. sales. Combined Hyundai and Kia EV deliveries in the United States declined 28 percent year-over-year to 44,555 units in the first half, according to data from Wards Intelligence, part of the research firm Omdia. Over the same period, the broader U.S. EV market grew 5.2 percent. Analysts warn that the second half of the year may prove even more challenging. Under U.S. President Donald Trump’s recently enacted "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," federal tax credits for EV purchases are set to expire on October 1. The Korea Economic Research Institute projects the change could cost Hyundai up to 45,828 units in lost annual sales in the United States. In response to faltering global demand, Hyundai has begun scaling back domestic production. The company temporarily halted operations at its Ulsan Plant 1 — which manufactures the Ioniq 5 and Kona EV — from July 16 to 21, marking its fifth partial shutdown this year. The U.S. accounted for roughly 36 percent of Hyundai Motor Group’s total EV exports last year, making the American market a cornerstone of its international strategy. The recent slowdown threatens not only the company’s sales targets but also its broader vision of competing globally. 2025-07-22 14:23:22

[[K-Tech]] LG unveils advanced EXAONE AI ecosystem SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - LG AI Research unveiled its next-generation artificial intelligence platform, the EXAONE ecosystem, on Tuesday at its annual AI Talk Concert, signaling an aggressive push into multimodal AI, enterprise solutions, and scientific research. Held at the Magok LG Science Park in Seoul, the event highlighted the firm's ambition to position itself at the forefront of AI innovation across industries ranging from finance to biotechnology. “In 2025, we are entering an era where we think, work and live together with AI,” said Lim Woo-hyung, co-director of LG AI Research. “Artificial intelligence is becoming a core technology that changes our lives and industries.” The centerpiece of the event was EXAONE 4.0 VL, a multimodal vision-language model capable of analyzing complex documents, visual data, and molecular structures. According to LG, the model outperformed Meta’s LLaMA 4 Scout in benchmark evaluations, underscoring the company’s focus on highly specialized AI applications. In the field of healthcare, LG introduced EXAONE Path 2.0, a precision medicine AI that can diagnose certain diseases in under a minute — down from the typical two-week timeframe — marking a potentially significant leap in clinical decision-making. LG also debuted three enterprise-targeted tools built on the EXAONE foundation. The event also highlighted LG’s expanding global collaborations. Professor Baek Min-kyung of Seoul National University’s Department of Biological Sciences presented joint research aimed at advancing beyond Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold. The project focuses on predicting multiple dynamic protein states — rather than static structures — which could lead to more effective drug discovery and therapeutic interventions. Meanwhile, Arman Sahovic of the London Stock Exchange Group demonstrated a business intelligence platform powered by LG’s AI that can analyze financial markets and generate investment insights for global investors. Since launching its first model in December 2021, the EXAONE family has surpassed 5 million downloads, the most of any domestic AI developer, according to LG. LG AI Research said it is transitioning from generative AI to “agentic AI” systems capable of planning and executing tasks autonomously. The company ultimately aims to develop physical AI applications that can interact with the real world. 2025-07-22 14:15:43

KDB fast-tracks $73 billion tech fund to bolster strategic industries SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - Korea Development Bank plans to launch a sweeping 100 trillion won (approximately $73 billion) investment fund aimed at strengthening South Korea’s capabilities in critical high-tech sectors, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, and robotics. According to financial industry sources, the state-run lender has formed a task force to lay the administrative groundwork for the fund and is actively exploring organizational restructuring. One proposal under review calls for the creation of a dedicated, senior-level department to oversee the fund's operations. The initiative, part of a broader government strategy to future-proof Korea’s economy, envisions a public-private partnership anchored by state capital and expanded through investments from pension funds, private financial institutions, and individual investors. The plan begins with 50 trillion won in seed funding over five years, led by KDB and other government-affiliated entities, with the goal of ultimately surpassing 100 trillion won through expanded participation. The fund will be managed separately within KDB’s accounting system and will have a 20-year time horizon. Financing mechanisms include government-guaranteed fund bonds, borrowings from the Bank of Korea, and direct capital injections from public and private sector partners. Fund bonds will be issued in phases under annual ceilings set by the National Assembly, with projected annual issuance ranging from 9 trillion to 10.25 trillion won, depending on market conditions and funding needs. Officials expect these instruments to play a central role in mobilizing the full capital target in collaboration with commercial banks. The fund’s investment mandate will focus on projects and infrastructure tied to strategic technologies, including semiconductors, secondary batteries, displays, biotechnology, defense systems, robotics, vaccines, hydrogen energy, next-generation mobility platforms, and AI. Support will be extended across the industrial spectrum — from large conglomerates to small and mid-sized enterprises — provided they align with the fund’s technological focus areas. Financial assistance will take a range of forms, including low-interest loans, equity stakes in joint ventures or special-purpose vehicles, subordinated loans for long-term infrastructure development, and structured financing packages for technology buyers. 2025-07-22 14:06:50

[[K-Tech]] Korean tech firms race to build homegrown AI foundation model SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - South Korea’s top technology firms, artificial intelligence startups, and academic institutions are vying to lead a high-profile government initiative aimed at developing a sovereign AI foundation model — part of the country’s broader push to establish itself as a global AI powerhouse. The Ministry of Science and ICT said Tuesday it had received proposals from 15 consortia — described by officials as “elite teams” — for its Korean AI Foundation Model program, which offers government backing in computing infrastructure and AI talent development. Each consortium is anchored by a lead company or research institution and includes industry or academic partners. Major contenders include SK Telecom, Naver, LG AI Research, KT, Kakao, and NCSoft’s AI unit, along with startups such as Lunit, Upstage, and Konan Technology. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), one of the country’s top research universities, is also in the running through affiliated teams and faculty-founded startups. The competition is quickly emerging as a three-way race among Upstage, LG AI Research, and Naver Cloud, each of which is leading a consortium. Upstage has drawn international attention following the release of its next-generation large language model “Solar Pro 2,” which scored 58 on an intelligence benchmark published by analytics firm Artificial Analysis — ranking 12th globally. The result was amplified after Elon Musk, founder of xAI, shared the news on social media, boosting the company’s profile. Both LG AI Research and Naver Cloud bring institutional heft to the race, with deep ties to the current administration. Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon formerly led LG AI Research, while Ha Jung-woo, the senior presidential secretary for AI Future Planning, previously headed Naver Cloud’s AI Innovation Center. Telecom firms are also positioning themselves aggressively. SK Telecom has partnered with game developer Krafton, AI education firm Riiid, and chipmaker Rebellion to form its consortium, following the release of its own AI model, A.Dot X 3.1. KT is leading an independent bid leveraging its in-house AI capabilities, while LG Uplus is reportedly considering participation if LG AI Research is selected as a lead consortium. KAIST, long seen as a critical player in South Korea’s AI research ecosystem, has assembled a team comprising internal researchers and faculty-affiliated startups, including former employees of major U.S. tech firms like NVIDIA and Google. The ministry plans to evaluate the proposals in multiple stages: first screening for eligibility, then narrowing the field from 15 to 10 based on written proposals, and down to five after live presentations. A final round of budget negotiations and adjustments will follow. The government expects to finalize contracts and announce the winners by early August. 2025-07-22 14:02:28

South Korean retail investors dump gold as stocks rally SEOUL, July 22 (AJP) - South Korean retail investors have turned net sellers of gold for the first time in over a year, pivoting toward equities as the country’s main stock index soared to its highest level in nearly four years. Between July 1 and July 21, individual investors unloaded a net 15.9 billion won, or approximately $11.4 million, worth of gold on the Korea Exchange, with a sharp 11.1 billion won sold in a single day on July 21, according to exchange data. Proprietary trading firms also joined the sell-off, shedding nearly 11.4 billion won worth of gold over the same period. The shift ends a 15-month streak of net gold purchases that began in March 2023 and saw retail investors accumulate nearly 1.5 trillion won in the precious metal through June. Analysts say the reversal reflects growing confidence in the domestic equity market, where the benchmark KOSPI index crossed the 3,200 mark in mid-July — a level last seen in late 2021. The rally, driven in large part by surging semiconductor stocks and optimism surrounding the new government’s economic agenda, has lured capital away from traditional safe-haven assets. International gold prices, meanwhile, have remained rangebound around $3,370 per troy ounce after peaking at $3,487.94 in April. The recent plateau follows a months-long rally fueled by investor anxiety over U.S. trade policy and global economic uncertainty, as well as a weakening dollar that had amplified demand for gold earlier in the year. While South Korean investors pulled back, their Chinese counterparts were heavy buyers of gold in the first half of 2025, purchasing about 63 tons through exchange-traded funds. However, that demand has since cooled after Beijing launched a crackdown on speculative trading in May. 2025-07-22 11:20:33

TWICE's world tour kicks off with immersive panoramic stage performances SEOUL, July 21 (AJP) - K-pop girl group TWICE will fly to Osaka, Japan this weekend for concerts as part of the first leg of their world tour, their agency JYP Entertainment said on Monday. Kicking off the tour with concerts in Incheon, Gyeonggi Province over the weekend, the nine members are set to perform in Osaka on Saturday and Sunday, before heading to other Japanese cities such as Fukuoka and Tokyo in September. They will also travel to Macau, the Philippines, and Singapore in October, followed by Sydney and Melbourne in November, and then Bangkok, Hong Kong and Taiwan in December, with more stops to be added later. Notably, they will perform on a 360-degree stage throughout the tour, which would allow fans to have more immersive and interactive experiences, just like at the concerts held here last week, where the girls showcased their latest song, "This Is For," for the first time just a day after its release. Meanwhile, they also teased their concert film celebrating the 10th anniversary of their debut, scheduled for release in late October. 2025-07-21 17:46:01