Industry

  • KB Financial pivots to artificial intelligence to lead Asian banking
    KB Financial pivots to artificial intelligence to lead Asian banking Editor's Note: This article is the 36th installment in our series on Asia's top 100 companies, exploring the strategies, challenges, and innovations driving the region's most influential corporations. SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - South Korea’s largest financial group is making a high-stakes wager on artificial intelligence, betting that the technology will reshape the future of banking in Asia and cement its dominance in the region’s fast-changing financial September 18, 2025
  • Koreas drug crisis spikes, treatment gap widens
    Korea's drug crisis spikes, treatment gap widens SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - South Korea, once hailed as drug-free, is confronting a fast-rising drug crisis with young adults most affected and treatment systems lagging to raise long-term public health concerns. From January through August, authorities confiscated 2,810 kilograms of illegal drugs — 3.5 times the 787 kilograms seized in all of 2024, Democratic Party lawmaker Chung Il-young said Thursday, citing data from the Korea Customs Service. The haul, equivalent to a September 18, 2025
  • Samsung Electronics will receive $250 million grant from Texas
    Samsung Electronics will receive $250 million grant from Texas SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics will receive a $250 million grant from the state of Texas to support its semiconductor expansion, Governor Greg Abbott announced Wednesday (local time). The funds, allocated from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, are separate from the $4.7 billion in federal aid Samsung secured last year under the CHIPS Act. The new grant was announced after Abbott met with Kyung Kye-hyun, Samsung’s vice chairman, in Austin on Sept. September 18, 2025
  • Lotte Card data breach exposes information of nearly 3 million customers
    Lotte Card data breach exposes information of nearly 3 million customers SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - South Korea’s Lotte Card said Thursday that nearly one-third of its customers were affected by a major data breach stemming from a hacking attack in August. At a press conference in Seoul, CEO Cho Jwa-jin confirmed that the personal information of 2.97 million members was compromised in the Aug. 14 incident. “We sincerely apologize to our customers and relevant authorities for causing great concern,” Cho said. The leaked data was ti September 18, 2025
  • Senior Ukrainian officials visit HD Hyundai for post-war reconstruction talks
    Senior Ukrainian officials visit HD Hyundai for post-war reconstruction talks SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - A delegation of top Ukrainian government officials visited HD Hyundai's facilities this week to advance collaboration on post-war reconstruction, the company said Thursday. The visit was part of a larger construction machinery training program for Ukrainian officials organized by the Korea Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association and the Korea Construction Equipment Technology Institute. The delegation included key figures like Deputy M September 18, 2025
  • Gmarket-Aliexpress merger gets conditional approval from anti-trust regulator
    Gmarket-Aliexpress merger gets conditional approval from anti-trust regulator SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has conditionally approved the high-profile merger between an affiliate of Shinsegae Group and Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group's Korean unit. On Thursday, the commission announced its decision to greenlight the merger of Shinsegae affiliate Gmarket and Alibaba's AliExpress Korea, but only under strict conditions designed to prevent the two companies from sharing consumer data and to e September 18, 2025
  • South Korea pushes for easing US rules on shipbuilding cooperation
    South Korea pushes for easing US rules on shipbuilding cooperation SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - South Korea's defense procurement chief said in Washington, Wednesday (local time), that talks are advancing with the United States on shipbuilding and defense industry cooperation, including the long-delayed Reciprocal Defense Procurement Agreement, which would allow Korean companies greater access to U.S. contracts. Seok Jong-geon, head of South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), said he is focusing on addressing September 18, 2025
  • Naver CEO joins UN Global Compact board
    Naver CEO joins UN Global Compact board SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - Naver Chief Executive Choi Soo-yeon has been appointed to the board of the United Nations Global Compact, becoming the first Korean to join the sustainability initiative's governing body in 17 years, the Korean internet giant said Thursday. The appointment recognizes Choi's pioneering role in shaping international discourse on artificial intelligence governance and establishing ethical frameworks for AI development across the technology sector, it September 18, 2025
  • Fed rate cut opens door for Bank of Korea to loosen policy
    Fed rate cut opens door for Bank of Korea to loosen policy SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - The Bank of Korea is widely expected to cut its benchmark interest rate as early as next month, after the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered borrowing costs for the first time in nine months, easing pressure on Korea’s currency and capital markets. The Fed’s decision on Wednesday (local time) to trim its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to a range of 4 to 4.25 percent narrowed the gap with South Korea’s rate from a record 2 percentage p September 18, 2025
  • S.Korean firms hold off action after ICE detentions
    S.Korean firms hold off action after ICE detentions SEOUL, September 17 (AJP) - South Korean major companies with multibillion-dollar ventures in the United States are biding their time or adopting stopgap measures as they assess the fallout from the immigration raid at a Korean battery plant in Georgia. LG Energy Solution has suspended the final-stage construction of a $6 billion joint-venture battery plant with Hyundai Motor following the surprise raid by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and arrest of 475 workers. The b September 17, 2025