Tesla Model Y tops Korea's car market — a first for any import SEOUL, June 10 (AJP) - When Elon Musk posted "Korea is Awesome" on X last month, the comment carried more significance than it appeared. It came after Tesla achieved something no foreign automaker had managed before in South Korea. Tesla's Model Y became the country's best-selling passenger vehicle in May, with 8,762 units sold, surpassing the Kia Sorento's 7,836 units and the Hyundai Grandeur's 5,183 units. It marked the first time an imported vehicle June 10, 2026

POSCO Holdings to test direct lithium extraction in US SEOUL, June 10 (AJP) - POSCO Holdings will build and operate a demonstration plant in the United States to extract battery-grade lithium more quickly and efficiently, the South Korean steelmaker said, marking the first such venture abroad by a Korean company. The company announced Wednesday it had agreed with Australian resources developer Anson Resources to construct the direct lithium extraction (DLE) demonstration facility in Green River, Utah, with POSCO overseeing design, const June 10, 2026

Kakao first-ever strike spares users but unnerves investors SEOUL, June 10 (AJP) - The chat platform through which most South Koreans communicate and work, along with its cab-hailing, payment and navigation services, operated normally Wednesday despite a four-hour walkout by about 600 workers, or roughly 15 percent of the workforce, near the headquarters of Kakao. The first strike in the platform operator's 20-year history left flagship services untouched but rattled investors, sending Kakao shares lower and exposing tensions that could June 10, 2026

Seoul picks 15 firms in AI unicorn drive SEOUL, June 10 (AJP) -South Korea has selected 15 promising artificial intelligence and digital firms for a state-backed program aimed at turning them into globally competitive "unicorns," the science ministry said. The Ministry of Science and ICT presented Wednesday certificates to the chosen companies at a ceremony at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, marking the seventh year of its ICT unicorn fostering program. Run with the National IT Industry Promotion Agency and partners June 10, 2026

Hanwha Qcells completes US solar hub, to begin cell production in July SEOUL, June 10 (AJP) - Hanwha Solutions Qcells has completed its solar cell production line at its Cartersville plant in Georgia and will begin mass production in July, the company said Wednesday. With the completion, Hanwha Qcells has finalized the construction of its U.S. “solar hub,” an integrated solar manufacturing base that covers the full value chain from ingots and wafers to cells and modules. The company said its U.S. production capacity now stands at 3.3 gig June 10, 2026

Kakao workers stage first walkout in company history over bonus dispute SEOUL, June 10 (AJP) - Kakao's labor union launched the first partial strike in the company's history, escalating a standoff with management over performance bonuses. The walkout ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with an hour-long midday break on Wednesday, amounting to about four hours of stoppage. Union members marched through the company's Pangyo branch in Seongnam, south of Seoul. Workers at five entities — the main Kakao corporation, Kakao Pay, Kakao Enterprise, D June 10, 2026

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