Naver begins monetizing AI as Kakao prioritizes ecosystem over near-term revenue SEOUL, August 08 (AJP) - South Korea's two largest internet platforms are taking increasingly different approaches to monetizing artificial intelligence, with Naver beginning to generate new advertising revenue from AI-powered search while Kakao focuses on building an AI agent ecosystem before pursuing meaningful revenue growth. Naver said its AI services are already contributing to advertising revenue after integrating sponsored content into AI-powered search features such as August 8, 2026

OpenAI delays Astra rollout as safety review flags potential cyber risks SEOUL, August 08 (AJP) - OpenAI has delayed the development and rollout of its next-generation artificial intelligence model, Astra, after internal safety testing indicated it could pose heightened cybersecurity risks due to its advanced coding capabilities. The company said on Saturday that Astra could qualify for its highest internal risk classification, "Critical," following preliminary safety evaluations that found the model performed significantly better than existi August 8, 2026

How AI sees SK hynix's downfall — and where it goes next SEOUL, August 08 (AJP) - Ask two leading artificial-intelligence chatbots why SK hynix has lost more than half its value from its June peak, and they arrive at a remarkably similar conclusion: the company's business has not collapsed, but the price investors were willing to pay for its extraordinary AI-driven earnings has. AJP separately asked Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT to examine SK hynix's rout in Seoul and New York, including trading flows followin August 8, 2026

Army to replace gun cabinet keys with NFC-based digital locks SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - The South Korean Army plans to replace traditional keys and handwritten logs used to manage gun cabinets with a digital authentication system, as part of efforts to improve security and reduce administrative work. The Army announced the plan Friday during a logistics policy briefing at its Consolidated Logistics Depot in Sejong, led by Maj. Gen. Ha Heon-cheol, chief of logistics. Under current rules, military gun cabinets are secured with two separate loc August 7, 2026

HMM continues talks on long-term bulk shipping contract SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - HMM said Friday it is continuing negotiations over a long-term bulk shipping contract and is currently discussing remaining details with the counterparty. In a regulatory filing responding to recent media reports, the South Korean shipping company said it has been in talks to finalize the contract but that no specific terms have yet been confirmed. HMM said it will make another disclosure once concrete details are finalized or within three months. The nex August 7, 2026

Can robots fill Korea's military ranks? SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - Robots are emerging as a necessity rather than a choice for South Korea, which must defend one of the world's most heavily militarized borders with a rapidly thinning pool of young men. As birthrates collapse and the number of available conscripts shrinks, the question facing militaries such as South Korea's is no longer whether machines will join the ranks, but how much work they can take off human soldiers. For now, that does not mean robotic in August 7, 2026

Kakao settles wage dispute after first strike SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - A wage agreement that took 18 rounds of bargaining and the first strike in the company's history was ratified this week, closing a roughly three-month standoff at Kakao over how the South Korean technology company pays for performance. The deal applies a 6.3 percent increase measured against the funding base for total annual salary, excluding money set aside for stage-up raises tied to moves into higher job grades and roles. Employees also receive a sp August 7, 2026

SK hynix clears nearly $40 bn fab budget despite glut worries SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) -SK hynix is pressing ahead with a 54.3 trillion won ($38 billion) expansion of its memory production empire even as its shares have more than halved from their June highs amid oversupply and peak concerns, committing capital equivalent to about 45 percent of its shareholders' equity to new fabs in Yongin and Cheongju. The world's leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory said Friday that its board approved 35.2 trillion won for construction of its August 7, 2026

Naver bets on AI factory, burns $700 million despite profit dent SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) -Naver is doubling down on an AI factory buildout despite the growing dent on its bottom line, while trying not to leave shareholders to foot the bill, retiring about 1 trillion won ($720 million) worth of treasury shares even as its stock sank 7.5 percent Friday. South Korea's largest internet platform said second-quarter revenue rose 16.2 percent from a year earlier to 3.389 trillion won ($2.45 billion), powered by its core platform business and August 7, 2026

Daewoo E&C moves closer to Mozambique LNG megaproject SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) -Daewoo Engineering & Construction has taken a major step toward securing one of Africa's largest energy projects after receiving a letter of intent to lead engineering, procurement and construction work on the first phase of Mozambique's Rovuma LNG development, reinforcing South Korea's presence in the global race to expand liquefied natural gas capacity. The company said Friday that ExxonMobil Mozambique, the project operator, selected the August 7, 2026