Robot patrols will begin at Changdeok Palace in Seoul SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - South Korea’s Korea Heritage Service will begin a month-long pilot program deploying an autonomous patrol robot at the historic Changdeok Palace in Seoul. The robot, named “Sunrabot,” will begin operations on Feb. 10, conducting nighttime patrols and supporting round-the-clock safety management, the agency said. The name references the sunragun, patrol guards of the Joseon Dynasty who monitored security in and around the royal capital February 10, 2026

Hanwha Aerospace, KAI to jointly develop long-range air-to-air missile SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - South Korean defense firms Hanwha Aerospace and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) said on Monday they will jointly develop a long-range air-to-air missile and cooperate on overseas marketing to expand exports of South Korean aircraft and air-launched weapons systems. Under a memorandum of understanding they signed a day earlier at the World Defense Show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, they will cooperate on integrating air-launched weapons into South Korea&rsq February 10, 2026

Korean firms post strong sales growth in North America despite US tariffs SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - Major South Korean companies recorded double-digit growth in North American sales last year despite higher U.S. tariffs, with technology and power equipment firms leading gains, according to corporate data released on Monday. North American revenue at 67 South Korean companies that separately disclose sales results in the region, along with 194 subsidiaries, reached 343.8 trillion won as of the third quarter of last year, up 14.1 percent from 301.2 t February 10, 2026

LG Display accelerates shift to OLED with sale of LCD business in Nanjing, China SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - LG Display said on Monday it will sell its automotive liquid crystal display (LCD) module business in Nanjing, China, as the company accelerates its transition toward higher-margin organic light-emitting diode (OLED) segment. In a regulatory filing, the company said it signed a contract to sell the business to the Nanjing unit of Toprun Total Solution for 491.5 million yuan ($68 million), with the transaction scheduled to close on July 30. LG Displa February 10, 2026

Hyosung Heavy wins $538 million power equipment deal in US SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - South Korea's Hyosung Heavy Industries said on Monday it had secured its largest order to date in the United States. The company signed a contract worth about 787 billion won ($538 million) with a major U.S. transmission grid operator to supply 765-kilovolt ultra-high-voltage transformers, reactors and related equipment. It described the deal as the largest single U.S. project ever won by a South Korean power-equipment manufacturer. Hyosung Heav February 10, 2026

SK and Nvidia chiefs hold AI talks over chicken and beer in Santa Clara SEOUL, February 10 (AJP) - Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group missing from the famous chicken-beer meeting in Seoul among key Korean tycoons during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit to South Korea last October, had a separate chimaek moment with Huang in Silicon Valley as SK hynix vies with Samsung Electronics for next-generation memory packages to Nvidia's AI accelerators. According to industry officials on Monday, Chey met Huang on Feb. 5 (local time) at a Korean-style frie February 10, 2026

South Korea inks fighter jet maintenance deal with Philippines SEOUL, February 9 (AJP) - South Korea has signed a deal with the Philippines to provide support and maintenance services for fighter jets, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) said on Monday. Under the performance-based logistics (PBL) deal, worth about 101.4 billion Korean won (about US$70 million), which runs through 2028, KAI will provide maintenance and logistics support for its FA-50 fighter jets supplied to the Philippines. The three-year deal comes as an initial one-year pil February 9, 2026

Korea targets $109B Middle East arms market amid aggressive budgeting SEOUL, February 09 (AJP) - With hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into Middle Eastern rearmament, South Korea’s defense industry is moving aggressively to claim its share—using a major arms fair in Riyadh as the gateway to a $109 billion market. The coordinated push is centered on the World Defense Show (WDS), running from Feb. 8 to 12 in the Saudi capital. The event is the region’s largest integrated defense exhibition and a key platform for securing long-te February 9, 2026

Korea joins global AI bet, tripling spending in 2026 SEOUL, February 09 (AJP) - The bill for artificial intelligence is stretching at a staggering pace, and South Korea is joining the race by tripling government spending on AI to 10.1 trillion won ($6.9 billion) this year. Even so, Seoul's commitment is a small splash in a rapidly deepening global pool. Big Tech alone is poised to pour roughly $650 billion into AI-related capital expenditure in 2026. Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft plan between $635 billion and $665 billio February 9, 2026

Samsung Elec gets head start in HBM4 race, SK hynix plays it cool SEOUL, February 09 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has moved a step ahead in the race to commercialize next-generation high-bandwidth memory, shipping early samples of its HBM4 chips and preparing for mass supply, according to industry sources. In the sixth-generation memory standard expected to power future artificial intelligence accelerators from Nvidia and Google, Samsung appears to have gained an early edge over local rival SK hynix, which currently dominates the HBM market. A February 9, 2026