Hanwha Aerospace signs K9 deal with Spain in Western Europe debut SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Hanwha Aerospace has signed a contract with Spanish defense company Indra Sistemas to export K9 self-propelled howitzers, marking the South Korean defense manufacturer’s first entry into the Western European market. Hanwha Aerospace said in a regulatory filing Monday that it signed an execution contract with Indra for the export of K9 self-propelled howitzers and related systems. The company did not disclose the number of systems, contract value or August 31, 2026

Jeju Air reaches 5 million cumulative passengers on China routes SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Jeju Air has carried more than 5 million passengers on its flights to China, the low-cost carrier said on Monday. According to the carrier, its cumulative number of passengers to destinations in China stood at 5.18 million as of the end of July this year, since it began offering flights to one of the world’s most populous countries in 2012. Of the 15.38 million passengers carried by all South Korean low-cost carriers on China routes from April 2010, August 31, 2026

Bonuses lift discretionary spending up to 4% in Korea's chip hubs SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Discretionary spending on cars, furniture and other high-end goods in South Korea’s semiconductor-heavy communities rose by as much as 4 percent relative to areas with little chip exposure after Samsung Electronics and SK hynix began paying outsized bonuses from the industry boom, a Bank of Korea study showed Monday. The latest edition of BOK Issue Note estimated that bonuses at the two chipmakers generated about 1.1 trillion won ($790 million) in ad August 31, 2026

Samsung, SK hynix tax payments nearly triple on chip boom SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics and SK hynix paid a combined 11.2 trillion won ($8 billion) in corporate taxes in the first half of 2026, nearly triple the amount a year earlier, company filings showed. Samsung paid 3.99 trillion won in corporate taxes during the January-June period, up from 1.12 trillion won a year earlier, according to the company's separate financial statements filed with the Financial Supervisory Service. SK hynix paid 7.22 trillion August 31, 2026

Lawyers top list of jobs most exposed to AI in Korea SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Legal clerks, lawyers and journalists rank among the South Korean occupations most exposed to artificial intelligence as the technology increasingly encroaches on white-collar work built around reading, writing and analyzing information, a government study showed. The finding came in a report by Yoon Jeong-hye, head of the employment trends analysis team at the Korea Employment Information Service, published in the institute's quarterly journal release August 31, 2026

Korea opens Boston sci-tech hub to sell homegrown biotech SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - South Korea launched its first government-backed science and technology hub in Boston, planting a beachhead in the world's largest biotech cluster to carry research from its state-funded institutes into global markets. The National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced Monday that it officially opened the G-KIC-NST center in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Aug. 28 (local time), d August 31, 2026

LG Electronics hunts for U.S. talent for AI push SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - LG Electronics is stepping up its hunt for U.S.-based engineering talent in robotics, AI data-center cooling and mobility as the Korean electronics giant builds up new businesses beyond its traditional home appliance operations. The recruiting push comes just weeks after LG Group laid out an ambitious technology roadmap with Nvidia spanning humanoid robots, AI factories and autonomous driving, giving the company a series of concrete projects that will req August 31, 2026

Bibigo takes Korean seaweed snacks to U.S. sports crowds SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - CJ CheilJedang has pushed its flagship Korean-food brand Bibigo into American stadiums, sampling roasted seaweed to tens of thousands of baseball and soccer fans in a campaign to make "gim" a mainstream Western snack. The food giant said Monday it had wrapped up seaweed-sampling events at the home grounds of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, distributing around 2,000 packs of Bibigo seawe August 31, 2026

Nexon extends MapleStory into Busan theme park SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - MapleStory joins the Lotte World Adventure Busan to deepen the all-time favorite game outreach beyond the screen and into physical spaces in the port city of South Korea that has become one of the fastest-growing attractions for foreign visitors, according to Nexon. The autumn-season event opened Aug. 29, titled "MapleStory in Lotteworld Busan," runs across the entire Busan park through Nov. 22, spanning 86 days. At the heart of the event sits August 31, 2026

T'way Air set to begin new chapter as Trinity Airways next week SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - T'way Air is set to rebrand as Trinity Airways next week, the budget carrier said on Monday. The airline said it has set Sept. 10 as the date for the launch of flights under its new name, with all domestic and international routes featuring new logo. In May, T'way Air received approval from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the name change and has since completed necessary legal procedures, recently unveiling its new banne August 31, 2026