Korean Air Expands Defense Portfolio With Small Drones Rising military tensions in the Middle East amid U.S.-Iran friction have underscored drones as a core capability in modern warfare, with countries moving to field more systems that can deliver high operational impact at relatively low cost. Korean Air, South Korea’s largest airline, is adding drones to its portfolio beyond passenger and cargo transport as it pushes deeper into the defense aviation market. As of March 11, industry officials said Korean Air’s aerospace division is seeking to expand the scope of its unmanned aircraft business with U.S. defense firm Anduril. At Drone Show Korea (DSK) 2026 in Busan last month, the company showcased an AI small drone and swarm-flight drones, among other systems. The small unmanned aircraft drew interest from U.S. Forces Korea and officials from Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern countries, according to reports. Korean Air last year began developing small unmanned aircraft for battlefield use with the Agency for Defense Development and is nearing commercialization, the officials said. Small drones have recently reshaped battlefields in the Middle East and Europe, carrying out missions beyond reconnaissance, including precision strikes and disrupting air defenses. Bloomberg and other outlets have reported that Iran’s main loitering munition, the Shahed-136, costs about $20,000 per unit, while air-defense missiles used to shoot them down can cost billions of won. The U.S. Department of Defense has launched a “Drone Dominance Program” to deploy large numbers of high-performance, low-cost drones. It plans to invest about $1.1 billion through next year to field more than 350,000 expendable, low-cost loitering munitions. Korean Air is also widening its position in South Korea’s defense sector, pursuing development of a medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle about the size of a fighter jet and a low-observable unmanned wingman aircraft. The company completed rollout of its first prototype last year. In military aviation, Korean Air has secured major projects. In August, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration selected the company as the preferred bidder for a 961.3 billion won ($?) performance upgrade program for 36 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. In December, it won a 1.8 trillion won electronic warfare aircraft (Block-I) system development project as part of a consortium with LIG Nex1. It also won an airborne early warning and control aircraft project worth 3.9 trillion won. “To strengthen capabilities in the domestic aerospace business and build a foundation for sustainable growth, we are identifying a range of business opportunities based on the technology and experience we have accumulated,” a Korean Air official said.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-11 18:03:42

Miyeon, NOWZ set to perform at fashion-themed festival in Tokyo SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - Miyeon of K-pop girl group i-dle and rookie boy band NOWZ will perform at Japan's "Tokyo Girls Collection," the island country's largest fashion-themed festival, according to their agency Cube Entertainment. Miyeon, along with five-member boy band NOWZ consisting of Hyunbin, Yoon, Yeonwoo, Jinhyuk, and Siyun will appear at the festival, which celebrates its 42nd year, scheduled for Thursday at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo. The festival, often abbreviated as TGC, is a biannual fashion event that has been running since 2005. The event blends runway shows highlighting Japanese street fashion with live performances by popular artists including NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM, FIFTY FIFTY, TWICE, BLACKPINK and Tomorrow X Together. Miyeon, who debuted in 2018 as a member of K-pop girl group i-dle, released her second mini album "MY, Lover" in November 2025 and has built recognition through appearances at global festival stages including Dream Concert Abu Dhabi 2025. The group recently kicked off their fourth world tour starting with concerts in Seoul. Debuted in 2024, NOWZ recently released their Japanese debut EP and have been active in Japan. They are expected to energize the festival with their signature high-energy performance. 2026-03-11 18:00:38

Iran's 'Drones vs Patriots': If U.S. forces shift, who guards South Korea's skies? SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - As U.S. air-defense assets are increasingly drawn into the widening war with Iran, South Korea faces an uncomfortable question: how much of its own air and missile defense can it sustain without American cover. Seoul has quietly acknowledged it cannot prevent U.S. tactical assets from being redeployed if Washington needs them elsewhere. The concern is not abstract. North Korea’s missile and drone tactics bear striking similarities to those now being tested in the Middle East. Iran’s campaign illustrates the emerging battlefield logic. Tehran is firing waves of cheap suicide drones and ballistic missiles that cost tens of thousands of dollars each. The United States and Israel are shooting them down with Patriot and THAAD interceptors costing hundreds of thousands — sometimes millions — per shot. It is a classic “cost-mass” war: low-cost weapons forcing defenders to expend far more expensive interceptors. Every military now faces the same question — how long it can afford to sustain that exchange. The current phase of the conflict began in late February when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, missile bases and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command centers. Iran responded with large-scale retaliatory barrages — hundreds of ballistic and sea-launched missiles and roughly 2,000 drones targeting U.S. bases, Israel and energy infrastructure across the Gulf. Although the tempo of launches eased in March, the pattern has settled into a grinding contest of attrition. At the center of Iran’s strategy is the Shahed-136 loitering munition, a relatively simple drone costing between $20,000 and $50,000 that can be launched in swarms to overwhelm air defenses. These drones are paired with Fateh and Shahab ballistic missiles and low-flying cruise missiles designed to saturate and probe Western missile shields. Opposing them is a multilayered U.S.-led defense network built around Patriot PAC-3 and THAAD batteries, backed by fighter aircraft and long-range bombers striking launch sites and command nodes. Interception rates in some sectors have exceeded 90 percent — but the exchange is costly. For South Korea, the battlefield dynamics unfolding in the Middle East mirror a scenario military planners have long warned about. North Korea has repeatedly rehearsed what analysts call “compound saturation attacks” — launching ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones simultaneously to overwhelm defenses. Pyongyang has also unveiled short-range missiles believed capable of carrying tactical nuclear warheads. Greater Seoul is already exposed to long-range artillery. In a crisis it could also face salvos of dozens or even hundreds of missiles launched in quick succession. The Iran conflict has begun to reshape the defense calculus on the peninsula. The Washington Post, citing Pentagon officials, recently reported that Washington has begun moving elements of a THAAD battery out of South Korea to reinforce missile defense in the Middle East. The Pentagon is also examining Patriot and THAAD interceptor stocks across the Indo-Pacific as potential reserves for a prolonged campaign against Iran. The U.S. Defense Department has declined to comment on specific redeployments, but officials acknowledge that air-defense assets are being shifted between theaters as Iranian missile and drone attacks intensify. For Seoul, the message is blunt: in a prolonged conflict, American missile defenses will be deployed where they are needed most. South Korea’s answer to that strategic uncertainty is L-SAM, its first domestically developed upper-tier missile interceptor. Hanwha Aerospace declared the program complete last November, marking the first time the top layer of Korea’s missile-defense architecture — the Korea Air and Missile Defense system (KAMD) — has been filled with a fully indigenous weapon. L-SAM interceptors are designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles at altitudes of roughly 50 to 60 kilometers using hit-to-kill technology. Only a handful of countries — including the United States and Israel — have independently developed the full combination of interceptor, long-range radar and battle-management systems required for such missions. “From a technology perspective, South Korea is clearly capable of developing systems like L-SAM,” said Choi Seung-woo, head of the North Korea Nuclear Response Policy Center at the Seoul Security Forum. But missile defense, he noted, must be viewed as a layered architecture rather than a single weapon system. “Air and missile defense runs from high altitude through midcourse to terminal interception,” Choi said. “Simply asking whether L-SAM can replace Patriot is far too narrow.” Building a layered shield Under the current KAMD structure, Patriot PAC-2/3 and the domestically developed Cheongung-II (M-SAM-II) cover interceptions up to roughly 40 kilometers. L-SAM takes over in the 50-to-60 kilometer band. Above that layer — between roughly 40 and 150 kilometers — South Korea still relies heavily on the U.S.-operated THAAD battery deployed on the peninsula. A follow-on system, L-SAM-II, now under development, is intended to extend South Korea’s indigenous intercept capability into that upper tier in the early 2030s. The Iran war, analysts say, underscores why such capabilities matter. “For interception performance, Cheongung-II already reaches the mid-90 percent range,” said Choi Gi-il, a military studies professor at Sangji University. “Together with L-SAM, South Korea has the ability to substitute for U.S. airpower in key areas. I don’t think talk of an air-defense vacuum is justified.” He added that L-SAM should be compared not with Patriot but with higher-tier systems such as THAAD or Israel’s Arrow interceptor. “Viewed that way, South Korea is not in a position where it needs to panic about defending against North Korea.” Still, the longer the Iran war drags on, the more it exposes a structural reality of the U.S. alliance system. American strategic assets — Patriots, THAAD batteries and interceptor stockpiles — are global resources that can be shifted wherever Washington deems the threat most urgent. For Seoul, that makes the drive toward an indigenous missile shield less a matter of prestige than strategic insurance. With L-SAM now operational and follow-on systems under development, South Korea is gradually building the kind of multilayered air-defense architecture that would allow it to hold its own skies — if allied interceptors are needed elsewhere. 2026-03-11 17:58:23

Samsung strike risk rises as 60 percent of union members cast ballots SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - The likelihood of a strike at Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chipmaker supplying about a quarter of global DRAM, is rising as more than 60 percent of its unionized workers have cast ballots on collective action over disputes about employee bonuses. A joint strike committee representing three Samsung labor unions said Wednesday that over 60 percent of their roughly 90,000 members had participated in the vote since balloting began Monday. Under South Korean law, a strike requires approval from a majority of total union membership. The largest group, the Samsung Group Unified Union, reportedly surpassed the 50 percent participation threshold on the first day alone. The ballot, which runs through March 18, could pave the way for a joint protest next month and potentially a full-scale strike between May 21 and June 7 if the motion passes. The vote follows a breakdown in wage negotiations after the National Labor Relations Commission suspended mediation between Samsung and its three main unions — the Samsung Electronics Labor Union (SELU), the National Samsung Electronics Union and Samsung Electronics Co. Union. Together they represent more than 90,000 employees, roughly 70 percent of Samsung Electronics’ 129,000 workforce, making the potential walkout one of the most consequential labor actions in the company’s history. At the heart of the dispute is Samsung’s Economic Value Added (EVA) bonus system. Unlike local rival SK hynix, which distributes 10 percent of operating profit as bonuses and recently removed its payout cap, Samsung calculates performance rewards after deducting capital costs and taxes from operating profit. Union members argue the formula makes bonuses opaque and unpredictable. “We initially demanded 20 percent of operating profit, but management offered us a choice between maintaining the current 20 percent EVA or shifting to a 10 percent operating profit model, which actually results in a smaller bonus pool,” a union official told AJP. “What matters is that the bonus system must be transparent and predictable. The company needs to fundamentally reform the standard, starting with abolishing the annual salary cap,” the official added. A prolonged strike could disrupt global IT supply chains because about 70 percent of the unionized workforce consists of engineers in Samsung’s critical Device Solutions (DS) division, which oversees semiconductor manufacturing. The union strongly rejected the common industry assumption that highly automated semiconductor fabs could easily withstand a walkout. “Only the wafer transport system is automated,” the official said. “If equipment fails or a safety interlock is triggered and engineers are not there to fix it, the machines simply stop.” “For example, if 10,000 of the 14,000 workers at the Pyeongtaek campus join the strike, the plant would effectively be paralyzed. A two-week general strike would inevitably lead to production disruptions and declining chip quality.” The unions plan to announce the voting results on March 18, hold a mass rally on April 23 and potentially begin a general strike in May unless management presents a revised proposal. The dispute comes less than a year after Samsung experienced its first-ever strike in July 2024, led by the National Samsung Electronics Union. That walkout ended without major production losses, but the current movement poses a greater threat due to the larger number of engineers involved. Samsung Electronics declined to comment on the potential strike or the unions’ demands. Samsung, which enforced a strict “no-union” policy for decades, has seen organized labor expand rapidly since Chairman Jay Y. Lee publicly apologized in 2020 and pledged to end the practice. The growing mobilization of younger engineers demanding transparent compensation is increasingly challenging Samsung’s traditional corporate culture at a time when the company faces fierce competition from global rivals such as TSMC and SK hynix in the race for AI semiconductor dominance. “Some argue Samsung’s no-union culture helped fuel its past growth, but the company can no longer go against the flow of the times,” said Hwang Yong-sik, a business professor at Sejong University. “At a critical moment when Samsung must compete with global rivals, repeating confrontations over an opaque bonus structure is a severe waste of time and resources.” Hwang said management must address the root cause of distrust. “SK hynix is delivering record results while paying top bonuses without internal conflict. Samsung needs to face reality and find a tailored compromise rather than clinging to outdated methods,” he added. The labor dispute comes at a critical moment as Samsung Electronics races to catch up with SK hynix in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the AI-era chip at the center of multibillion-dollar supply contracts with Nvidia and other big-tech names. 2026-03-11 17:53:34

BTS Comeback D-10 South Korea flags 1,800 resale listings for BTS concerts SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - Korea’s culture ministry said Wednesday it had referred four suspected ticket-scalping cases involving 105 BTS concert tickets to police after identifying more than 1,800 resale listings online. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it found 1,868 online posts offering BTS concert tickets for resale, including duplicate listings, while monitoring major Korean secondhand trading platforms such as Joonggonara, Ticketbay, Karrot Market and Bunjang. Authorities said the suspected scalping cases involved sellers who allegedly secured multiple tickets for the same show and attempted to resell them at steep premiums. The listings were linked to BTS’s comeback performance scheduled for March 21 at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul and BTS' world tour set to take place in Goyang from April 9 to 12. Officials said resold tickets are unlikely to grant entry because strict identity verification procedures will be enforced at the events. According to organizers, the Gwanghwamun concert will use a mobile QR code system that blocks screenshots and prevents codes from being reused once scanned. Attendees will also undergo identity verification with designated identification and receive non-transferable wristbands upon entry. Random identity checks will continue inside the venue, and anyone found using a transferred ticket will be removed immediately, authorities said. The ministry warned that ticket resale posts and related scams could surge around 8 p.m (1100 GMT). Thursday when an additional round of ticket sales for the Gwanghwamun concert is scheduled to open. Korea has recently tightened regulations to combat ticket scalping. Amendments for the Performance Act and the National Sports Promotion Act, promulgated on Feb. 27 and set to take effect Aug. 28, will prohibit illegal ticket resale regardless of whether automated purchasing programs, or macros, were used. The revised laws will also allow authorities to impose surcharges of up to 50 times the resale amount and introduce reporting reward systems for illegal ticket sales. The ministry launched a public-private task force on March 5 to strengthen cooperation with ticket vendors and online trading platforms in tackling ticket scalping. Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said scalping disrupts the fair distribution of tickets and exploits fans’ enthusiasm for popular culture. “Starting with this investigation request, we will continue firm and consistent measures until ticket scalping is eradicated and a fair ticketing culture is established,” Choi said. He also warned fans against purchasing resale tickets, noting that strict identity checks make ticket transfers virtually impossible and could expose buyers to fraud if sellers disappear after the transaction. 2026-03-11 17:48:36

Korean stocks rise on chip gains as Taiwan leads Asian rally SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday, with Taiwan leading regional gains as semiconductor shares rallied across the region, while Korean equities advanced on institutional buying and corporate shareholder-return announcements. Taiwan’s benchmark TAIEX surged 4.1 percent to 34,114.2, marking the strongest performance among major Asian markets. The rally was driven by chipmaker TSMC, which climbed 4.86 percent to 1,940 TWD ($ 61.1) in active trading as global semiconductor stocks extended gains following a technology-led rebound on Wall Street. In Seoul, the benchmark KOSPI rose 1.4 percent to 5,609.95, after briefly climbing to an intraday high of 5,746.36 before paring gains late in the session. Institutional investors bought 781.4 billion won ($532 million) worth of shares, while individual investors sold 508.1 billion won and foreign investors offloaded 255.6 billion won. Technology shares supported the market, with Samsung Electronics rising 1.12 percent to 190,000 won and SK hynix gaining 1.81 percent to 955,000 won. Among other heavyweight stocks, Samsung Biologics jumped 4.1 percent to 1,657,000 won, while Hyundai Motor advanced 1 percent to 530,000 won. Battery maker LG Energy Solution added 0.7 percent to 369,500 won, and internet platform giant Naver rose 0.7 percent to 222,000 won. Investor sentiment toward Korean equities was also buoyed by shareholder-return announcements after Samsung Electronics and SK Group unveiled large-scale treasury share cancellations. However, gains faded toward the close as investors grew cautious ahead of the quarterly derivatives expiration known as “quadruple witching day” and the release of the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) later in the day. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ slipped 0.1 percent to close at 1,136.83. Individual investors purchased 254.3 billion won, while foreign investors around 81.2 billion won and institutions offloaded 126.7 billion won. Meanwhile, several telecom equipment makers surged on the secondary board, defying the broader decline in the KOSDAQ market. Shares of Daehan Optical Communication jumped 29.95 percent, while HFR, Solid, Inno Instrument and KMW all hit the daily upper limit. The rally came amid expectations of stronger global investment in telecommunications infrastructure, as demand for high-speed networks grows alongside the expansion of AI and robotics technologies. Moreover, U.S. pressuring to curb the use of Chinese telecom equipment could benefit Korean suppliers with strong export exposure. In other parts of Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4 percent to 55,025.37, while the broader TOPIX gained 0.9 percent to 3,698.9, supported by technology and auto shares. Automaker Toyota climbed 1.1 percent, while electronics giant Sony added 1.3 percent. Mainland Chinese markets posted modest gains. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3 percent to 4,133.71, while the CSI 300 rose 0.6 percent to 4,704.5, as investors remained cautious amid persistent geopolitical uncertainty. Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.6 percent to 8,743.5, while India’s Nifty 50 slipped 1.1 percent in afternoon trading. Global risk sentiment remained fragile despite the regional rebound. Brent crude climbed to $89.56 a barrel, while WTI crude rose to $85.4, reflecting continued concerns over potential supply disruptions tied to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. In currency markets, the Korean won traded at around 1,469.4 per dollar, slightly firmer on the day. The Japanese yen hovered near 158.1 per dollar, while the Chinese yuan stood at about 6.87 per dollar. Meanwhile, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.143 percent, while the dollar index slipped slightly to 98.8. Wall Street futures pointed modestly higher during Asian trading, with S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent and Nasdaq futures gaining 0.1 percent. In Seoul, shipbuilding stocks rallied on expectations that longer energy transport routes could boost demand for LNG carriers and oil tankers amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. Hanwha Ocean surged 7.4 percent, while Samsung Heavy Industries gained about 3 percent and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries also moved higher. 2026-03-11 17:47:34

AI reshapes entry-level jobs as Korea nears '20,000 Ph.D. era' SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - As artificial intelligence reshapes white-collar work, more South Koreans are staying in school longer — and earning Ph.D.s in record numbers. Universities awarded 19,831 doctoral degrees in 2025, according to data released Tuesday by the Korean Educational Development Institute, the highest since records began in 1999 and a 51.6 percent increase over the past decade. The milestone places the country on the brink of what policymakers call the “20,000 Ph.D. era.” The surge reflects a rapidly changing labor market in which AI is increasingly automating entry-level analytical and research tasks — from finance and legal work to data analysis — pushing many young professionals to pursue deeper specialization to remain competitive. Yet the rise also highlights a growing paradox: while more South Koreans are earning the highest academic credential available, many struggle to find jobs that match their qualifications. Among 7,005 doctoral graduates employed last year, 10.4 percent reported earning less than 20 million won annually, roughly $15,000 — up from 6.3 percent in 2011. When the national statistics series began in 1999, only 5,586 people earned doctoral degrees nationwide, and a Ph.D. was widely seen as a rare credential reserved mainly for future academics. The numbers climbed steadily as universities expanded graduate programs and competition in the labor market intensified. By 2010 the annual number of Ph.D. graduates surpassed 10,000, marking the rapid expansion of doctoral education. With nearly 20,000 new doctorates last year, the figure has almost quadrupled over a quarter century. The latest data also highlight a major shift in gender balance. In 2025, 8,629 women received doctoral degrees, the first time the number of female Ph.D. graduates exceeded 8,000 in a single year. Women accounted for 43.5 percent of all doctoral recipients, the highest proportion since records began. The change is striking compared with the late 1990s. In 1999, only 1,144 women earned Ph.D.s, representing 20.5 percent of the total. The motivations behind doctoral study have also evolved. In a survey of 10,498 recent doctoral graduates conducted by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, the most common reason for pursuing a Ph.D. was to improve professional expertise, cited by 37.5 percent of respondents. The share slightly exceeded the 35.5 percent who said they aimed to become professors or researchers. That represents a shift from earlier years. When the survey began in 2011, 43.2 percent cited academic careers as their primary goal. Analysts say the shift reflects growing uncertainty about academic career paths as well as broader changes in the labor market. Even as doctoral graduates increase, evidence suggests the labor market has struggled to absorb them. A report by the vocational education institute found that 31 percent of South Korean workers are overeducated for their jobs, significantly higher than the 23 percent average among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. At the same time, 49 percent of college graduates work in jobs unrelated to their majors, compared with the OECD average of 38 percent. “The high level of overeducation indicates a strong inflow of highly educated workers into relatively simple positions,” the report said. Researcher Lee Soo-hyun, who led the study, warned that such mismatches could have long-term economic costs. “A double mismatch — being both overeducated and working outside one’s field — can prevent individuals from fully utilizing their capabilities,” she said. Economists say the surge in doctoral degrees ultimately reflects structural pressures in South Korea’s labor market. “The high level of overeducation in Korea is largely due to insufficient demand for high-quality jobs,” said Kwon Sang-uk, a professor at Kyungpook National University. “When there are far more job seekers than desirable positions, workers naturally try to differentiate themselves by accumulating more qualifications.” He contrasted the situation with the United States, where academic credentials more closely align with labor market segmentation. “In Korea, a university diploma no longer guarantees employment,” Kwon said. “That pushes people to build increasingly stronger credentials.” External factors may also be contributing to the rise in domestic Ph.D. programs. A weaker Korean won has made studying abroad more expensive, while stricter immigration policies in the United States have discouraged some Korean students from pursuing doctoral programs overseas. Those shifts may be pushing more students to remain in Korea for graduate education or for some to stay competitive against AI competition. “The Ph.D. represents deep expertise in a specific field,” Kwon said. “While artificial intelligence makes general knowledge widely accessible, understanding complex systems and applying advanced research methods still requires intensive training.” Demand for such expertise is likely to grow in sectors such as robotics, advanced manufacturing and cutting-edge technologies, he added — even as competition intensifies in traditional academic careers. 2026-03-11 17:46:19

Activists rally in Seoul to mark 15th anniversary of Fukushima disaster SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - Activists held a rally in central Seoul on Wednesday to mark the 15th anniversary of Japan's Fukushima disaster in 2011. The protesters, wearing boards shaped like nuclear reactors, were members of an anti-nuclear civic group. They gathered in front of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun, reading a declaration to urge remembrance of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, oppose the construction of additional nuclear power plants, and advocate for nuclear phase-out policies. 2026-03-11 17:45:38

South Korea moves to build its own AI backbone SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - South Korea is moving to build its own AI backbone — an "AI Highway" of massive data centers, specialized semiconductors and autonomous software — as it seeks to avoid falling behind the United States and China in the global artificial intelligence race. Government officials and industry executives outlined the strategy at a briefing at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club on Wednesday, describing an effort to link large-scale computing infrastructure with next-generation chip development and industrial AI systems. The initiative, led by the administration of President Lee Jae Myung, combines state investment in computing capacity with private-sector advances in semiconductor design and AI applications. The government has allocated 10.1 trillion won ($6.8 billion) in the 2026 budget to strengthen the country's AI infrastructure. A core goal is securing 50,000 high-performance computing units — specialized processors needed to run advanced AI models. Ha Jung-woo, presidential secretary for AI and future strategy, framed the push as a matter of national survival. "Advanced technology like AI is both economic power and the force that determines national security," Ha said. While the United States and China dominate global AI infrastructure, Seoul is attempting to build what officials describe as a "Silicon Shield" — a network of large domestic data centers powered by carbon-free energy. One flagship hub is planned in Haenam, a coastal county selected for its potential to host large-scale solar and nuclear power facilities needed to run energy-intensive AI computing. The government is also moving to integrate AI more rapidly into military operations. Ha said the defense system — traditionally structured and procedural — is being redesigned for faster adoption of AI technologies. A new deputy minister-level position has been created within the Ministry of National Defense to oversee AI strategy, while the Defense Acquisition Program Administration is preparing to incorporate AI tools into procurement and operational planning. "South Korea aims to become one of the world's top four defense powers, and AI will be at the center of that," Ha said. Shift toward specialized silicon At the hardware level, the AI boom is pushing the industry toward specialized chips designed specifically for AI workloads. Graphics processing units, or GPUs, remain the dominant technology for training large AI models, but their heavy electricity demand has become a growing constraint for data centers. South Korean startup FuriosaAI is targeting this bottleneck with its second-generation neural processing unit, RNGD — pronounced "Renegade" — which has recently entered mass production. Unlike GPUs, NPUs are designed specifically for AI inference, the stage where trained models process new data and generate responses. Kang Jee-hoon, chief research officer at FuriosaAI, said the industry is entering what he described as a "power crisis," where computing capacity is increasingly limited by electricity availability. "The challenge for the industry is to enable more work to be processed with the same power consumption," Kang said. The RNGD chip uses a proprietary Tensor Contraction Processor architecture that manages on-chip memory more efficiently than conventional chip layouts. According to the company, its PCIe server card operates at around 180 watts while delivering roughly 2.8 times higher throughput than comparable hardware within a standard 15-kilowatt server rack. "Our goal is to generate more tokens with the same power," Kang said. "Just as computing once shifted from CPUs to GPUs, we want developers to easily adopt our Renegade and next-generation products." At the software level, the next frontier is "agentic AI" — systems that can independently plan and execute tasks rather than simply respond to user prompts. LG AI Research is advancing this trend through its EXAONE model. Stanly Jung-kyu Choi, vice president and head of the institute's agentic AI research group, described the system as an "expert AI" designed for specialized industrial applications. In manufacturing, the system is already being used to optimize naphtha scheduling — the complex logistical planning required for petrochemical feedstocks. In life sciences, the EXAONE Discovery platform has reduced the time required to identify new material compounds from about 22 months to a single day by autonomously analyzing research papers and molecular structures. Because of the high autonomy involved, LG has established a dedicated AI ethics unit to monitor potential risks associated with the technology. "We are moving beyond general-purpose models to expert systems that maximize productivity in specialized industries," Choi said. The institute is also developing K-EXAONE, a national flagship model tailored to the Korean language and local context, which is expected to be deployed across public services by late 2026. As artificial intelligence evolves into a system of specialized hardware and increasingly autonomous software, South Korea is attempting to build a fully integrated ecosystem. Officials say the success of that strategy will depend on coordination between government policy, semiconductor innovation and advanced research — an effort aimed at securing the country's place in the rapidly shifting global AI supply chain. 2026-03-11 17:37:02

South Korea, Ghana agree to cooperate on climate change, maritime security SEOUL, March 11 (AJP) - South Korea and Ghana have agreed to strengthen cooperation on climate change, maritime security and digital development, Cheong Wa Dae said on Wednesday. President Lee Jae Myung met with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama in Seoul, and the two leaders signed a series of agreements including three memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on climate cooperation, maritime safety and security, and collaboration in technology, digital development, and innovation, following their summit. Among the key agreements, the two countries pledged to work together on climate change initiatives and related technology development, and plan to set up a joint committee to coordinate their efforts. This includes the use of Article 6 of the Paris climate accord, which allows countries to trade internationally recognized carbon reduction credits through voluntary cooperation. South Korean officials said the mechanism could help both countries meet their nationally determined contributions for greenhouse gas reductions. South Korea's Coast Guard and Ghana's Navy also agreed to cooperate on maritime safety and security through expanded personnel exchanges including educational training programs and seminars, as well as information sharing on maritime crimes such as piracy, arms trafficking, and drug smuggling. The two sides also agreed to collaborate on search and rescue operations for ships, aircraft, and people in distress at sea. Officials said the cooperation could help improve safety in the Gulf of Guinea region while strengthening protection for South Korean citizens and vessels operating in the area. The two leaders also agreed to deepen collaboration in technology, digital development and innovation with plans to support vocational training for young people, expand education in artificial intelligence (AI) and STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and improve digital accessibility. Mahama's visit marks the first visit by an African head of state since Lee took office in June last year. It is also the first visit by a Ghanaian president to South Korea in about two years, following the Korea-Africa Summit in 2024. Ahead of the visit, Cheong Wa Dae said it had placed specially produced "Ghana chocolate" as a gesture of warm welcome. The chocolate was made using cocoa beans sourced primarily from Ghana. Presidential spokesperson Kang Yoo-jung said the packaging featured both countries' national flags and Mahama's name. Kang recalled that Lee once drew encouragement from a bar of the same chocolate brand given to him by a child during a hunger strike in September 2023, when he was serving as leader of the opposition party. 2026-03-11 17:28:25