Future of gaming in AI era, not new releases, dominates Nexon Developers Conference SEONGNAM, June 16 (AJP) - Thousands of South Korean game developers flocked to Nexon's annual developers conference on Tuesday not to preview upcoming titles, but to confront a far more pressing question: what role humans will play as artificial intelligence increasingly learns to build games itself. At the 19th Nexon Developers Conference (NDC), which opened a three-day run at Nexon's Pangyo campus in Seongnam, discussions centered less on new releases than on how AI is res June 16, 2026

SK AX kicks off 'agentic enterprise' era at Seoul conference SEOUL, June 16 (AJP) - SK AX declared an "agentic enterprise" era in which corporate operations are wholly redesigned around artificial intelligence, as the company sought to position itself at the forefront of South Korea's enterprise AI race. At its "IMAGINE AX 2026" conference, held under the theme "Beyond AI: The Agentic Enterprise", the SK Group IT services arm showcased its in-house transformation experience and gathered executives from manufa June 16, 2026

AI won't change the game dynamics: Nexon's gaming chief SEOUL, June 16 (AJP) - As artificial intelligence makes building games faster and cheaper, the edge will lie in the depth of context that no prompt can generate, the head of Nexon Korea. Kang Dae-hyun, co-chief executive of Nexon Korea, made the remarks Tuesday in the opening keynote of the Nexon Developers Conference (NDC), the country's largest game knowledge-sharing event, which returned to Nexon's Pangyo campus for a three-day run. "Implementation is getting easi June 16, 2026

Labor groups demand 12,000 won for next year's minimum wage SEOUL, June 15 (AJP) - Labor groups on Monday demanded that next year's minimum wage be raised to 12,000 won (about US$8), up 13.3 percent or 1,680 won from this year's 10,320 won per hour. In a joint press conference in Seoul, workers from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) made the demand, arguing that wages have lagged behind inflation over the past three years. They pointed out that the average minimum wa June 15, 2026

Washington extends tech controls from chips to AI models SEOUL, June 15 (AJP) - A U.S. government order forcing Anthropic to block foreign access to its newest AI models is raising fears that Washington is opening a new front in the global technology race, extending export controls beyond semiconductors and into the AI models themselves. Anthropic said late Friday it had suspended access to its newest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after receiving a U.S. government order barring access by foreign nationals on national security grounds. The June 15, 2026

Jeju Air keeps lead among budget carriers SEOUL, June 15 (AJP) - Low-cost carrier Jeju Air carried more than 1 million passengers in May, maintaining its lead among budget carriers in South Korea, according to data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport released on Monday. It carried 1.11 million passengers in May, up 7.6 percent from 1.03 million a year earlier, as demand rose around long weekends in early and late May including Children's Day and Buddha's Birthday, while short-haul intern June 15, 2026

Starbucks Korea staff to undergo history training after 'Tank Day' controversy SEOUL, June 15 (AJP) - All employees of Starbucks Korea including its operator Shinsegae Group as well as other staff at its affiliates will undergo training to raise awareness of history and enhance social responsibility, the retail giant said Monday. The training is scheduled for Wednesday at its facility Shinsegae Namsan in central Seoul, where all Starbucks staff are expected to attend. It will include lectures delivered by Oh Je-yeon, a professor of Korean history at Sungkyu June 15, 2026

Huang's Taiwan and Korea tour highlights supply chain at the heart of AI era SEOUL, June 14 (AJP) -Every great technological pivot has its symbolic journey. Columbus crossing the Atlantic opened the age of exploration. Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour set the course of China's economic reform. Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone launched the smartphone era. Nvidia's chief Jensen Huang's late-May to early-June 2026 sweep through Taiwan and South Korea may well be remembered as a similarly defining moment in the history of the AI industry. Mu June 14, 2026

The four tigers are back, and AI is their new factory SEOUL, June 14 (AJP) -For two decades, Asia's economic hierarchy appeared settled. China was the factory of the world. Silicon Valley owned innovation. Europe consumed. Japan aged. And the original Four Asian Tigers — South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore — were widely regarded as mature economies whose most consequential chapters were behind them. Then came artificial intelligence, and the entire map shifted. The greatest beneficiaries of the AI era a June 14, 2026

OpenAI CEO calls off planned trip to Seoul this weekend SEOUL, June 12 (AJP) - OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman abruptly canceled his scheduled visit to South Korea, according to industry sources on Friday. Altman, who ushered in a revolutionary artificial intelligence (AI)-driven era, was initially scheduled to arrive in Seoul over the weekend for a two-day trip to give a lecture at the country's chip giant Samsung Electronics and other engagements including meetings with major IT companies including Naver and Kakao to discuss AI-related June 12, 2026