Seoul sees no rift with Washington over nuclear subs despite U.S. bill SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - South Korea said Tuesday there is no disagreement with the United States over its ambition to build nuclear-powered submarines domestically, despite a move in the U.S. Congress to bar Navy combat vessels from being built at foreign shipyards. The government said Washington understands Seoul's plans and that the two sides remain in "close consultations" following the launch of follow-up talks on security agreements earlier this month. "As June 9, 2026

Kakao to stage first-ever strike as pay dispute deepens SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - The labor union at Kakao, South Korea's dominant messaging and fintech operator, will hold its first walkout in the company's history, marking a turning point in a protracted dispute over performance-based pay. The action is the first since the founding of IweLab, Kakao's predecessor, in 2006, the union said. It comes after a second round of mediation at the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission collapsed in late May, granting the union the June 9, 2026

Germany courts Samsung, SK hynix for Eastern Germany semiconductor hub SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - Germany is actively wooing South Korean semiconductor giants, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, to invest in its eastern region, pitching its robust microelectronics and photonics ecosystem as a key to global supply chain resilience. During an investment briefing hosted at The Plaza Hotel Seoul on Tuesday, Elisabeth Kaiser, Minister of State to the Minister of the Federal Ministry of Finance and Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany, June 9, 2026

Huang finds the whole AI cake in Korea, every layer of it SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - Artificial intelligence is a five-layer cake, Nvidia preaches, and its chairman Jensen Huang appears to have found the full cake in South Korea. In Nvidia's telling, AI is a composite stack: energy at the bottom, then chips, then the infrastructure that houses and serves them, then the models, and finally the applications where economic value is harvested. Every application, Huang argues, draws demand all the way down to the power plant, and supremacy i June 9, 2026

Nvidia's Jensen Huang wraps up visit to Korea with chip deal with Samsung Elec SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang concluded his official four-day visit to South Korea Monday evening, securing a comprehensive, long-term memory and foundry supply roadmap with Samsung Electronics to power the next generation of artificial intelligence hardware. Huang wrapped up his multi-industry tour with a private meeting with Jun Young-hyun, Vice Chairman and Head of Samsung Electronics’ Device Solutions (DS) Division, at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul. The high June 9, 2026

Coupang slapped with 500 million won fine over misleading ads SEOUL, June 9 (AJP) - Coupang was slapped with a fine of 500 million won (US$327,000) for misleading ads about discounts offered to paid membership subscribers for one-time offers, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said on Tuesday. According to the watchdog, it fined the e-commerce platform the highest applicable fine and ordered corrective measures for ads run from August 2020 to May 2022 that promoted its "Wow" member prices as cheaper than regular prices while conc June 9, 2026

Hanwha Qcells to supply tandem solar cells for NASA-funded lunar experiment SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - Hanwha Qcells will supply its next-generation tandem solar cells for a lunar surface solar power demonstration project, the company said Tuesday, as it seeks to test the technology’s potential use in space environments. Hanwha Q CELLS GmbH, the company’s German unit, will provide samples of its perovskite-based tandem cells for the Space Science & Technology Evaluation Facility – First Flight Lunar In-Situ Solar Cell Experiment, or SSTEF- June 9, 2026

AI startup Upstage acquires multi-platform company to diversify business SEOUL, June 9 (AJP) - Artificial intelligence (AI)-related unicorn Upstage has acquired multi-platform company Timely, it said on Tuesday. The acquisition follows Upstage's earlier acquisition of AXZ, the operator of web portal Daum, as the startup seeks to secure generative AI capabilities and expand its reach across industries. Timely is a generative AI-powered solutions company that operates TimelyAI, formerly TimelyGPT, a platform that allows users to build AI agents fo June 9, 2026

Pulmuone breaks ground on Korea's first land-based laver farm SEOUL, June 09 (AJP) - Pulmuone announced it had broken ground on South Korea's first research center for land-based cultivation of laver, or gim, at the Saemangeum national industrial complex, marking a push to commercialize a technology that could free the prized seaweed from the vagaries of the open sea. The center, built under a state project led by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, will serve as a testbed for growing laver on land year-round, the food company said Tuesd June 9, 2026

Nvidia CEO reaffirms close alliance with SK hynix, unveils plans for next-Gen robotics chip SEOUL, June 8 (AJP) - Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, who has been in Seoul since last Friday, began his day on Monday with a visit to SK Group, where he stressed Nvidia's "deepening, near-exclusive" reliance on the group for the era of artificial intelligence (AI). He praised SK hynix, an affiliate of SK Group, as a major player in global AI development and announced plans to use its memory in Nvidia's next-generation robotics processors. "I’d like to June 8, 2026