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LG Energy Solution to resume US trips one month after detention of S. Korean workers SEOUL, October 03 (AJP) - LG Energy Solution is sending staff back to the United States, ending a one-month freeze on business travel triggered by the mass detention of South Korean workers at its joint battery plant in Georgia. The move signals a step toward normalizing operations for South Korea’s battery industry, which had been rattled by the unprecedented crackdown. The company announced on October 2 that it would restart trips gradually after the Chuseok holiday, South Korea's autumn thanksgiving holiday season, beginning with essential personnel. Travel had been suspended since September 4, when U.S. immigration authorities detained 47 LG Energy Solution employees and more than 250 partner company staff at the HL-GA plant it is building with Hyundai Motor in Bryan County, Georgia. The detentions caused immediate delays at the site and heightened concerns among South Korean firms about legal exposure for workers on short-term assignments. LG Energy Solution said the decision followed discussions in a bilateral working group, where it confirmed that workers with B-1 short-term business visas and ESTA travel authorizations can legally carry out equipment installation, inspection, and maintenance work in U.S. factories. "It was also taken into account that we had been using legitimate visas consistent with the purpose and duration of the trips," the company said. The firm has introduced safeguards aimed at preventing further incidents. Business travel will be organized mainly around B-1 visas, while ESTA authorizations will only be used for meetings or event attendance. The company also outlined plans to strengthen on-site legal services, require staff to carry documentation proving the legitimacy of their work, and assign responsibility for compliance to managers at each subsidiary with additional support from outside counsel. "We will ensure safe business travel environments to maintain trust with customers and do our utmost to normalize the construction and operation of our U.S. plants," LG Energy Solution said in a statement. The restart is expected to accelerate projects that had been slowed by the disruption. LG Energy Solution operates or is building seven factories in the United States, part of an aggressive push to meet surging demand for electric vehicle batteries. At the HL-GA site in Georgia, installation and preparation work that was halted after the detentions is set to resume. Other South Korean battery makers are also moving back to normal schedules. SK On recently reinstated its B-1 visa holders and lifted travel suspensions, while Samsung SDI said its U.S. operations were not affected by the incident. The detentions underscored a growing tension point in South Korea-U.S. business ties. For South Korean companies, short-term travel by engineers and technicians is central to building new U.S. plants. The arrests raised alarm in Seoul and prompted direct government engagement with Washington to clarify what work foreign nationals can legally perform under different visa categories. Industry officials say the swift resumption of travel is essential to keep multibillion-dollar projects on track. LG Energy Solution’s U.S. investments, along with those of SK On and Samsung SDI, form a critical part of both South Korea’s global battery expansion and U.S. efforts to localize electric vehicle supply chains. 2025-10-03 14:25:19 -
Survey shows 80% of South Koreans reject U.S. upfront demand in tariff talks SEOUL, October 03 (AJP) - A strong majority of South Koreans believe Washington's demand for a $350 billion upfront investment in the ongoing tariff negotiations is unfair, according to a survey of 1,008 people aged 18 and older, conducted by pollster Realmeter. The poll found that 80.1 percent of respondents said the demand was unreasonable. Within that group, 61.4 percent called it "very unreasonable" and 18.7 percent said it was "somewhat unreasonable." Only 12.4 percent said it was acceptable, with 5.1 percent describing it as "very acceptable" and 7.3 percent "somewhat acceptable." Realmeter said the sharp disapproval reflected public sentiment that the U.S. demand amounted to a "threatening request," especially after recent tensions involving a South Korean national detained in the United States. The agency said the results showed a strong awareness among the public of the need to protect national interests. The survey showed little regional divide. More than 70 percent in all parts of the country said the U.S. stance was unreasonable, including 84.0 percent in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province and 84.8 percent in Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces. By age group, disapproval was above 60 percent across the board and reached its highest level among those in their 50s, at 88.5 percent. On how the government is handling the negotiations so far—rejecting the U.S. demand while continuing talks—61.9 percent said the approach was appropriate, while 30.5 percent disagreed. Asked about the best negotiating strategy, 33.7 percent chose "conditional negotiations" that would stick to principles while allowing limited concessions to strengthen leverage. A tougher line, rejecting the demand outright, was backed by 24.6 percent, while 19.7 percent said South Korea should pursue broader international cooperation alongside bilateral talks. Only 16.2 percent said the government should make concessions for the sake of the alliance. The survey was conducted Oct. 1–2 through automated mobile phone calls. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 4.1 percent. Full details are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website. 2025-10-03 13:42:57 -
KAIST builds 'physics-smart' AI to discover new materials faster SEOUL, October 03 (AJP) - The Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) says it has developed an artificial intelligence that understands the laws of physics, making it possible to discover new materials quickly even with only small amounts of data. The advance could speed up work in energy, aerospace, electronics, and other areas where designing and testing materials normally takes years of costly experiments. Traditionally, figuring out a material's properties requires vast amounts of experimental data and expensive equipment. KAIST's team, led by Yoo Seung-hwa of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, worked with Im Jae-hyuk of Kyung Hee University and Ryu Byung-ki of the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI). Together they used a technique called Physics-Informed Machine Learning (PIML), which teaches AI to follow the same physical rules that govern the real world. In one study, the researchers worked on hyperelastic materials such as rubber. Using just one experiment, their AI could figure out both how the material stretches and its underlying properties. Normally this would require complex datasets, but their physics-informed neural network (PINN) was able to succeed even when data was limited or noisy. In another project, the team applied the method to thermoelectric materials, which can turn heat into electricity. With only a few measurements, the AI could estimate key properties like how well the material conducts heat and how efficiently it generates electricity. They also introduced a physics-informed neural operator (PINO), a more advanced model that can make accurate predictions for new materials without retraining. After being trained on 20 materials, the AI correctly predicted the properties of 60 new ones. "These results show the first real example of AI that understands physical laws being applied to materials research," said Yoo. "It means that even when data is limited, we can still identify material properties in a trustworthy way, and this approach can spread into many areas of engineering." The first study, co-authored by KAIST doctoral students Moon Hyun-bin and Park Dong-geun, was published on Aug. 13 in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. The second, co-authored by Moon, Lee Song-ho, and researcher Wabi Demeke, was published on Aug. 22 in npj Computational Materials. Both projects were supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Ministry of Science and ICT. The first study also received support from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. 2025-10-03 13:27:30 -
Concerns rise over safety of 'mega batteries' after fire at government data center SEOUL, October 03 (AJP) - A fire at the National Information Resources Service in the central city of Daejeon on September 26 brought down South Korea's main government data network, halting 647 public services and internal systems and leaving the government's cloud system unusable. The blaze started in a server room lined with lithium-ion batteries and was only declared fully extinguished 22 hours later. The impact was severe. Ninety-six systems in the fifth-floor data hall were destroyed, including key platforms such as the National Veterans Affairs system, the Government Legislation Information Center, and the national complaint portal. The G-Drive, where civil servants stored work files, was also wiped out. Officials admitted the system had no backup, making recovery impossible. The government has deployed more than 500 staff and contractors to restore services, but progress has been slow. After the first week, just over 100 systems had come back online, mainly those located in unaffected lower floors. Recovery of the 96 destroyed systems is expected to take at least a month, with relocation to a government–private cloud center in the southern city of Daegu. Even some restored services have suffered further outages, showing the fragility of the system. The Daejeon fire has fueled new scrutiny of energy storage systems (ESS), often described as "mega batteries." These installations store electricity and feed it back into the grid when needed, making them essential for renewable energy projects that rely on variable sources such as solar and wind. On October 3, 2025, Democratic Party lawmaker Wi Seong-gon disclosed National Fire Agency data showing that 54 ESS-related fires occurred between January 2020 and June 2025. The breakdown of causes points to systemic risks. Twenty-one cases were recorded as "unknown cause," 17 were linked to electrical issues like overload or short circuits, 10 were traced to mechanical problems such as overheating, and four were tied to chemical reactions including explosions. Out of the 54 fires, 43 involved South Korean-made batteries, with 17 connected to Samsung SDI, eight to LG Energy Solution, and one to SK Innovation via SK On. Eleven incidents involved foreign-made units. Wi said the government cannot afford to treat safety as an afterthought. "ESS is essential for expanding renewable energy, but we need a regulatory framework to ensure they operate safely," he said. He urged improvements in oversight at every stage, from design and installation to operation and inspection. 2025-10-03 10:31:43 -
Chuseok Now and Then: Pleasure Weighs Over Tradition in Korea SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - Highways once jammed with cars crawling toward ancestral hometowns, kitchens filled with the labor of preparing feast tables, and families dressed in hanbok to perform rites of thanksgiving for the harvest—these were the defining images of Chuseok in South Korea. Today, in a depopulating society, the holiday looks very different. Many households skip or shorten the traditional observances, instead choosing leisure and travel. Incheon International Airport expects 2.45 million passengers during this year’s seven-day Chuseok holiday, averaging 223,000 travelers a day. That figure not only surpasses pandemic lows but also exceeds pre-2020 levels, when daily traffic averaged around 180,000 to 200,000 passengers. A survey by Lotte Members’ Lime service found that 47 percent of respondents plan to travel during Chuseok, with 30.5 percent choosing domestic trips and 16.9 percent going abroad. Hotels.com data shows most will travel with family or groups (60 percent), while 35 percent travel as couples and 5 percent solo. Among overseas travelers, Japan remains the top destination at 43.1 percent, followed by Vietnam (13.2 percent) and China (9.6 percent). “Traditional Chuseok and today’s Chuseok are completely different,” said Kim Eun-sook, 55, a Seoul housewife. “In the past, I visited my husband’s family and worked my bones to prepare songpyeon and jeon. These days, we plan a trip a year in advance.” The shift reflects broader changes in household burdens and gender roles. Preparing food for charye—ancestral memorial rites—has historically fallen on women. Families also traveled for seongmyo, visiting ancestral graves. “It’s more comfortable now, with less burden. People may age, families may change, but fewer than 10 percent still perform charye,” Kim noted. Scholars point to westernization and shifting values. “Past traditions have weakened and disappeared, while the meaning of holiday as leisure has become more prominent,” said Lee Byung-hoon, professor emeritus of sociology at Chung-Ang University. For younger generations, Chuseok is more about rest than ritual. “Everyone around me travels during Chuseok. It’s the longest holiday of the year, so people want to rest,” said Kim Jung-yeon, 31, from Gyeonggi Province. Tourism data reflects the cultural pivot. During the 2024 Chuseok holiday, domestic visitors to Jeju Island totaled 235,089, down from 247,519 the year before, while international arrivals climbed sharply to 31,258 from 20,891. Professor Lee predicts the trend will deepen. “Unless families reunite as nuclear or extended families like in the past, traditional holidays will likely evolve into more individualistic or free holidays. In five to ten years, this shift will intensify depending on how family relationships change.” The numbers stand in sharp contrast to the pandemic years. In 2020, Incheon Airport handled just 964 international flights during Chuseok, and 995 in 2021. By 2023, flights had rebounded to 3,699, surpassing 2018’s 3,273. This year’s surge signals that travel demand has fully recovered—and that cultural practices around the centuries-old harvest festival are moving steadily toward leisure and away from obligation. 2025-10-03 09:11:35 -
UAE wins multiple awards at Philakorea 2025 in Seoul SEOUL, October 2 (AJP) - The United Arab Emirates embassy in Seoul said Friday that the UAE-based stamp collectors’ group won multiple awards at Philakorea 2025, an international stamp exhibition held in Seoul last month. The event, co-hosted by Korea Post and the Philatelic Federation of Korea, drew more than 2,000 exhibits from over 65 countries. Khalid Ali Al-Amirah received a gold medal for his display on "Dubai Mail 1909–1948," while five other members of the Emirates Philatelic Association also took home medals. During the exhibition, the UAE Embassy in Seoul hosted a "Dubai Night" event. UAE Ambassador to Seoul Abdullah Saif Al-Nuaimi congratulated the winners and said he looked forward to welcoming philatelists from around the world to Dubai. "The Dubai International Stamp Exhibition 2026 will be a global platform to celebrate our shared heritage and strengthen international ties," he said. Meanwhile, the International Federation of Philately (FIP) flag was handed over to the UAE at the exhibition, confirming the Gulf state as the next host. 2025-10-02 17:50:10 -
KOSPI soars past 3,500 milestone for first time on semiconductor rally SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - The main South Korean stock index, the KOSPI, surged to a historic close on Thursday, breaching the 3,500 level for the first time on record. Driven by a frenzied rally in technology and semiconductor shares, the benchmark index climbed 93.38 points, or 2.7 percent, to settle at 3,549.21, capping a day that saw the index peak at an intraday high of 3,565.96. The powerful upward trajectory was anchored by the nation's two memory chip giants. Samsung Electronics rose 3.49 percent, closing at 89,000 won and briefly touching 90,300 won, a high not seen since January 2021. More dramatically, SK hynix rocketed 9.72 percent to close at 395,000 won, achieving an intraday high of 404,500 won — its first time ever crossing the 400,000 won threshold. The sector’s strength was fueled by growing optimism surrounding potential alliances in artificial intelligence. This sentiment was galvanized by a high-profile meeting between President Lee Jae Myung and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to discuss broad cooperation in semiconductors and AI, including reports that Samsung and SK hynix were exploring a “Stargate” memory chip partnership with OpenAI. The enthusiasm spilled over from Wall Street, where a surge in semiconductor stocks, including a 7 percent rise in Intel, had already set a positive tone for global tech markets. Trading was dominated by foreign capital, which provided the bulk of the buying power necessary to lift the index to its record height. Overseas investors registered net purchases totaling 3.13 trillion won. In contrast, domestic retail investors offloaded 3.07 trillion won of shares, while institutional investors sold a net 668 billion won. 2025-10-02 16:42:16 -
PHOTOS: Kindergarteners show off skills at jump rope competition SUWON, October 02 (AJP) - Over 1,500 young students from private kindergartens across Suwon participated in a jump rope competition, Thursday. The event, hosted by the Suwon Kindergarten Association, took place at the Suwon Sports Complex Gymnasium. The competition served as a platform for the children to showcase the jump rope skills they had been practicing. Enthusiastic parents and family members filled the stands, providing loud cheers for the young athletes. Jump rope is widely recognized for its health benefits for children. It is known to significantly aid in physical development and height growth during a child’s formative years. "Our friends, who at first found it difficult to jump rope even just once or twice, practiced hard and were able to have this competition," said Park Jeong-soon, president of the Suwon Kindergarten Association. "We are grateful to the adults who came and cheered them on." 2025-10-02 16:25:23 -
INTERVIEW: Young N. Korean defectors seek to break stigma inside and outside SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - Portraying North Korean life in a truer light—rather than through stigmatized or patronizing lenses—and linking the reclusive state with the outside world through flash drives is the core mission of young defectors, according to a human rights activist. "While media coverage has shifted from rumor-driven reports to more fact-based accounts, portrayals still tend to be oversimplified," said Seongmin Lee, who heads the Korea desk and programs at the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, in an interview with AJP. "The country is often shown as a place where everyone moves in lockstep under central orders, ignoring regional and class differences. Human rights stories are usually reduced to 'government as perpetrator, citizens as victims.'" Lee argues that defectors, who combine lived experience with active networks inside the country, can provide nuance missing from mainstream narratives. "There are about 34,000 defectors in South Korea, but their voices are rarely heard in the international arena, especially in English," said Lee, who fled the North in 2009, later studied political science at Columbia University, and went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration. Now a U.S. citizen, he divides his time between New York and Seoul. One of the projects Lee oversees is "Flash Drives for Freedom," launched in 2016. The program smuggles donated USB sticks into North Korea, packed with films, TV dramas, e-books, and other content to give ordinary citizens a glimpse of the outside world. "North Koreans cannot use the internet, make international calls, or travel abroad, so USBs remain a vital tool. We have sent about 140,000 so far," Lee said. The drives were once carried by balloons along with leaflets, but since Seoul banned the practice to ease ties with Pyongyang, activists now move them through China or third countries. Lee emphasized that the project operates independently of South Korea’s shifting political stance. Lee also leads NK Insider, an English-language online magazine launched in January 2024 that focuses on analysis and opinion. More than half of its roughly 300 published articles are written by defectors themselves, drawing around 20,000 subscribers in 97 countries. Daily traffic runs in the hundreds to thousands, and the site has endured frequent hacking attempts. "That shows we are being effective," Lee said. Much of NK Insider’s reporting relies on information from North Korea’s border provinces—North Pyongan, Ryanggang, and North Hamgyong—or from North Korean workers in Chinese cities. While pandemic-era border closures restricted access, Lee says conditions have since eased. The ultimate goal, he stressed, is to ensure that defectors’ voices are not sidelined: "We will continue to provide diverse and in-depth content centered on the experiences of people who actually lived in North Korea." 2025-10-02 15:38:03 -
TRAVEL: Walking through the independence history of Malaysia, diverse ethnicities working as one KUALA LUMPUR, October 02 (AJP) - On Aug. 31, 1957, Malaysia peacefully liberated itself from British colonization. Its first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, raised his fists and declared the full independence of the nation. Today, the once British site for colonial officers stands as Independence Square, also known as Merdeka Square. While not particularly large, the square has the highest flagpole in all of Malaysia, with the country's flag standing upright surrounded by its 14 state flags. In the distance, one can easily spot Merdeka 118, the second tallest building and structure in the world. Its distinctive spire resembles Tunku Abdul Rahman's outstretched hand celebrating independence. Standing inside the square is the Royal Selangor Club, once a luxurious parlor for British officers to enjoy their afternoons. Now, club membership is awarded to only a handful of prestigious Malaysian giants and tycoons, while the exterior of the building still retains its red and white appearance. Next to the clubhouse stands St. Mary's Cathedral, one of the few centers for Anglican believers in a nation dominated by Muslims. Around the corner stands the Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad Building, once a symbol of British colonial administration. The building is now undergoing renovation to preserve its history—a painful yet significant part of Malaysia's past. From an aerial view, the building is shaped like the letter 'F,' standing for 'Federal.' Walking downtown, one can spot the Central Market Kuala Lumpur, once a so-called 'wet market' selling fish and vegetables in 1888, refurbished in the 1980s as a local shopping center for tourists and Malaysians alike. Gift shops selling souvenirs occupy the first floor, while the second floor has various traditional Batik clothing stores and food stalls. On the second floor is a small history museum portraying the nation's history. During British colonial rule, the Malaysian population consisted mainly of three ethnic groups: the Malays for general farming, Chinese for tin mining, and Indians for rubber harvesting. The Chinese and Indians all preserve their heritage throughout parts of the city. The Chinese have their Sin Sze Si Ya Temple to honor their former 'Kapitan China,' including Yap Ah Loy, the last yet most prominent figure of Chinese leadership in colonial Malaysia. As for the Indians, just a few blocks away stands the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur. The outer pillars and decorations all depict different gods of the Hindu religion, serving as a local haven for Indians to find comfort. 2025-10-02 15:30:52