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  Celltrion begins primate trials for quad-target obesity drug SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - Celltrion has kicked off primate toxicity trials for its next-generation obesity drug candidate CT-G32, moving the compound into the final stretch of preclinical development ahead of a planned investigational new drug (IND) submission in the first half of 2026. CT-G32 simultaneously targets four biological pathways, including GLP-1, making it what Celltrion describes as a potential first-in-class therapy. The company said the drug is designed to address persist May 29, 2026
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  Korea, US to open talks on nuclear submarine, uranium enrichment rights SEOUL, May 29 (AJP) - South Korea and the U.S. will hold talks in Seoul next week on implementing agreements reached by their leaders, including Seoul’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. The meeting is scheduled to take place in Seoul from June 2 to 3 to discuss follow-up measures in the security field under the Joint Fact Sheet issued last November after the Korea-U.S. summit, according to the ministry. South Korea’s delegat May 29, 2026
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  Chinese Embassy says USFK chief 'crossed the line' with 'dagger' remarks on Korea SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - The Chinese Embassy in Seoul has strongly criticized Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, after he described South Korea as a “dagger” in Asia from China’s strategic perspective. In a written response to reporters Thursday, the embassy said Brunson’s recent remarks portrayed South Korea and USFK as a forward base aimed at China, warning that he had “clearly crossed the line.” Brunson said in a U.S. May 28, 2026
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  Samsung's largest union adopts two-track DS-DX bargaining as membership slides SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ largest labor union is rapidly losing members in the aftermath of a contentious wage agreement that exposed deepening rifts between the company’s semiconductor and device businesses, prompting the union to adopt a separate “two-track” bargaining structure for its divisions. Samsung Group Labor Union’s Samsung Electronics branch, the company’s largest and majority union, said Thursday its membership fell May 28, 2026
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  FuriosaAI taps Broadcom to build third-generation AI inference chip SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - South Korean artificial intelligence chip designer FuriosaAI said it had forged a strategic partnership with U.S. semiconductor giant Broadcom to co-develop a next-generation AI inference platform, deepening a homegrown bid to challenge the dominance of established players in the booming market for AI silicon. According to the neural processing unit maker on Thursday, the two companies will evolve FuriosaAI's proprietary tensor contraction processor archite May 28, 2026
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  AJP Focus: The perils of chip boom SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) -The world is at the threshold of the artificial-intelligence revolution, and at the heart of that revolution sits the semiconductor — with Korea at the heart of the semiconductor. Only a few years ago memory prices had collapsed, inventories had swollen, and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were enduring a brutal downturn alongside the rest of the slowing global economy. Then the AI era rewrote the board almost overnight. The generative-AI surge that fo May 28, 2026
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  Kakao CEO apologizes to staff as union secures strike right after talks collapse SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Kakao CEO Chung Shin-a offered a public apology to employees as the company's union secured the legal right to strike following the collapse of a second mediation session, raising the prospect of the tech giant's first-ever headquarters walkout. Chung issued the apology through an internal notice Thursday, saying she was "sincerely sorry" for failing to quickly dispel growing uncertainty within the company. "Negotiations have dragged o May 28, 2026
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  Defense Minister Ahn to attend Shangri-La Dialogue, meet Japanese counterpart SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back will attend the 23rd Asia Security Summit in Singapore from May 29 to 31 and hold talks with defense ministers from several countries, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday. The Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, is an annual security forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, bringing together defense ministers and senior officials for multilatera May 28, 2026
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  Hyundai Mobis joins Eclipse Foundation's open-source SDV project SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Hyundai Mobis announced it has joined the Eclipse Foundation's Software-Defined Vehicle working group and will contribute to the S-Core project, a global open-source initiative to standardize the software platforms that underpin next-generation connected vehicles. The S-Core project, launched in late 2024 by a consortium of European firms, aims to build a common middleware layer for SDV systems certified to functional safety standard ASIL-B — the firs May 28, 2026
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  Naver pledges 1 trillion won for creators in AI shift SEOUL, May 28 (AJP) - Naver will pour 1 trillion won ($663 million) into its content creator ecosystem over the next five years, the South Korean internet giant pledged, betting that proprietary data and creator partnerships — not raw model performance — will decide the next phase of the artificial intelligence race. The announced was unveiled at a media round table in central Seoul on Thursday led by Kim Kwang-hyun, Naver's chief data and contents officer, in his fi May 28, 2026