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  South Korea eyes record $900 billion in exports, aims for top-five trade power SEOUL, May 31 (AJP) - South Korea is on course to ship about $900 billion in goods this year, a surge that would vault Asia's fourth-largest economy into the world's top five trading nations, the trade ministry said. According to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on Sunday, exports reached $709.3 billion last year, the sixth country ever to clear the $700 billion mark and a milestone hit just seven years after crossing $600 billion in 2018. Through Apri May 31, 2026
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  South Korea's reckoning with the AI century There is a phrase South Koreans invoke with quiet pride: bbaly bbaly — "quickly, quickly." It describes a national temperament forged in crisis, the same urgency that rebuilt a war-ravaged nation into an industrial titan within a single generation. But urgency alone, as Kwon Seok-jun, a semiconductor scholar at Sungkyunkwan University, recently warned, will not be enough for what comes next. The artificial intelligence age demands not just speed, but vision. S May 30, 2026
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  Hyundai Motor's HTWO Guangzhou named hydrogen industry leader in China SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor Group's HTWO Guangzhou has been named a hydrogen industry leader by the southern Chinese city, becoming the only foreign-invested company among 96 firms selected under the city's strategic industry cluster program. According to the automaker, its first overseas production base for hydrogen fuel cell systems in China was selected by the Guangzhou municipal government as a leading enterprise in the hydrogen energy sector. The city has s May 29, 2026
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  HD Hyundai Heavy Industries begins Sweden icebreaker project SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has begun work on an icebreaker project it won from Sweden, marking the first overseas icebreaker contract secured by a South Korean shipyard. The company said Thursday that eight officials from Sweden, including Erik Eklund, director general of the Swedish Maritime Administration, and Johannes Andreasson, deputy head of mission at the Swedish Embassy in Seoul, visited its shipyard in Ulsan on Wednesday for a kickoff meeting on the p May 29, 2026
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  Korea's memory giants hit new ceiling ahead of visit by their biggest client SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - South Korea's memory-chip giants climbed to fresh records Friday as investors turned euphoric ahead of next week's visit by their biggest customer, Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, fueling hopes of deeper AI partnerships and new orders for next-generation memory chips. The world's most valuable company's CEO Jensen Huang is set to visit South Korea next week, a trip expected to transform his high-profile camaraderie with the countr May 29, 2026
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  The world is getting thinner on a needle, and Korea wants in SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - South Korean companies have a knack for catching up — and then overtaking. Their latest target is a class of drugs first designed to manage blood sugar that has since become the most coveted weight-loss tool on the planet, reshaping pharmacy shelves, celebrity bodies, and the business model of personal trainers everywhere. The drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, mimic a gut hormone that curbs appetite and slows digestion. Marketed by Denmark' May 29, 2026
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  US House bill broadens guardrails against USFK troop cuts amid China rivalry SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - A new U.S. House defense bill seeks to strengthen congressional guardrails against any reduction of American troops in South Korea, at a time when the role of U.S. Forces Korea is increasingly being discussed in the broader context of Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy and rivalry with China. The chairman’s mark of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, would amend a provision in the fiscal 2026 defense law that restricts the u May 29, 2026
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  Hyundai robot Atlas masters rabona kick SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor Group has unveiled a marketing campaign showcasing the football skills of Atlas, the humanoid robot developed by its U.S. robotics unit Boston Dynamics, in a fresh demonstration of the company's push into physical artificial intelligence. As a partner of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, the automaker released a five-part "School of Football" series on its official YouTube channel, the May 29, 2026
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  HD Hyundai Heavy strengthens Davie ties in push for Canada submarine deal SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is stepping up its campaign to win Canada’s submarine procurement project by strengthening ties with Davie Shipbuilding, Canada’s largest shipyard. The company said Thursday that its executives met with senior officials from Davie Shipbuilding at the Canadian shipbuilder’s Ottawa office on May 26 to discuss ways to strengthen strategic cooperation across shipbuilding and naval vessel projects. The meeting was att May 29, 2026
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  Samsung Electronics ships industry's first 12-layer HBM4E memory samples SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has begun shipping samples of its 12-layer HBM4E memory chips to global customers. According to the company on Friday, this is the semiconductor industry's first 12-layer HBM4E sample to be shipped. The new memory component delivers a stable pin speed of 14 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) and is capable of scaling up to 16 Gbps. This marks a performance increase of more than 20 percent compared to Samsung's previous generation of HBM4 c May 29, 2026