S.Korean savers shift from insurance to ETFs as stock rally lures bank money SEOUL, June 21 (AJP) - A pronounced "money move" is unfolding inside South Korea's banks as savers abandon insurance products in favor of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), drawn by a buoyant stock market that has reshaped where households park their cash. ETF sales at the country's five major commercial banks - KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH Nonghyup - reached 56.73 trillion won ($37.12 billion) in the first months of this year, about 10.8 times the 5.21 trill June 21, 2026

South Korea steps in as Trump pulls back from arming allies SEOUL, June 21 (AJP) - South Korea is fast emerging as a major weapons supplier to the world, seizing an opening created as U.S. President Donald Trump retreats from Washington's traditional security guarantees and presses allies to defend themselves, Politico reported. The paper said that the shift echoes the 1969 Nixon Doctrine, when then-President Richard Nixon told Asian allies to take charge of their own defense and pulled about 20,000 American troops from the peninsula. June 21, 2026

S.Korea's hypermarkets shed market share as e-commerce, discounters bite SEOUL, June 21 (AJP) - South Korea's hypermarket chains have absorbed the heaviest blow among offline retailers from the rise of e-commerce, with their share of total retail sales sliding to a record low as shoppers migrate online and to deep-discount stores. The country's three big-box operators — E-mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus — accounted for 7.9 percent of total retail revenue as of April this year, the lowest share on record, according to data from the Minis June 21, 2026

Canada's submarine choice extends beyond hardware to workers and allies SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - Canada's plan to acquire up to 12 new submarines is entering a decisive phase, but mounting concerns over labor shortages, industrial capacity and military interoperability suggest choosing a winning bidder may be the easiest part of the program. South Korea's Hanwha Ocean and Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, or TKMS, are the two finalists for the multibillion-dollar contract, with Ottawa expected to make a decision within weeks. But as th June 19, 2026

SK hynix showcases advanced AI memory portfolio at HPE Discover 2026 SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - South Korean chipmaker SK hynix showcased its extensive lineup of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure memory products, including High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and server DRAM, at the HPE Discover 2026 IT exhibition in the United States according to the company on Friday. Hosted annually by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a U.S. firm specializing in hybrid cloud and data center servers, the global technology conference ran for four days from June 15 t June 19, 2026

Korea moves to break down data barriers for self-driving AI SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - South Korea's science ministry has stepped in to ease a chronic data bottleneck holding back the development of self-driving artificial intelligence, issuing the country's first common standards for building and sharing autonomous-driving training data. The Ministry of Science and ICT said on Friday it had published a guideline and specification document allowing industry, academia and research institutes to jointly build and share training data for en June 19, 2026

Seoul to release 21 million imported eggs as bird flu squeezes supply SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - South Korea will channel about 21.12 million imported fresh eggs from the United States and Thailand into the market through next month, the agriculture ministry said, moving to ease a price surge that has strained household budgets. Starting Friday, 1.12 million U.S. eggs will reach shelves at major retailers including E-Mart and Lotte Mart. E-Mart will stock them at all outlets except those on Jeju Island, while Lotte Mart will sell them at 40 stores nationw June 19, 2026

LG CNS, Doosan forge sweeping AI and robotics alliance SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) - LG CNS announced it has agreed to a broad business partnership with Doosan spanning artificial intelligence, robotics, data centers and cloud computing, as South Korea's industrial giants race to commercialize so-called physical AI. The two firms signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday at LG Science Park in Seoul's Magok district, with LG CNS CEO Hyun Shin-kyun and Doosan President Yoo Seung-woo among the executives present. Under the deal, June 19, 2026

Europe and Korea seek scale-up partnership at NextRise 2026 SEOUL, June 18 (AJP) - South Korean and European startups explored ways to scale up together as both sides seek complementary roles in a rapidly changing technology landscape at the opening of NextRise 2026 in Seoul. The two-day event at COEX, co-hosted by the Korea International Trade Association, Korea Development Bank, Korea Venture Business Association and Korea Venture Capital Association, is one of Asia's largest startup fairs. This year's program spans artificial i June 18, 2026

Packaging bottleneck to decide winner in Korea's HBM4E race SEOUL, June 18 (AJP) - SK hynix and Samsung Electronics are locking horns to seize an early lead in next-generation AI memory by shipping samples of their 12-layer HBM4E chips to major customers such as Nvidia for future data-center GPUs including Rubin Ultra. But as the race moves beyond raw memory performance, industry watchers say the real bottleneck may lie elsewhere: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s advanced packaging capacity. SK hynix said Wednesday it had sh June 18, 2026