South Korea's Lee orders review of ISA, stock-price tax proposals after criticism SEOUL, August 08 (AJP) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered a review of proposed changes to the country's Individual Savings Account (ISA) system and a tax measure aimed at preventing controlling shareholders from suppressing stock prices, following criticism from investors and lawmakers. Lee instructed officials on Friday to reconsider the two proposals included in the government's recently announced tax revision package, according to political sources. T August 8, 2026

Army to replace gun cabinet keys with NFC-based digital locks SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - The South Korean Army plans to replace traditional keys and handwritten logs used to manage gun cabinets with a digital authentication system, as part of efforts to improve security and reduce administrative work. The Army announced the plan Friday during a logistics policy briefing at its Consolidated Logistics Depot in Sejong, led by Maj. Gen. Ha Heon-cheol, chief of logistics. Under current rules, military gun cabinets are secured with two separate loc August 7, 2026

A tale of two Koreas: one learns war, the other stumbles at the border SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - North Korea is gaining first-hand experience in drones, artillery and ballistic missiles on the battlefields of Ukraine while South Korea's front-line forces are confronting failures in something more basic: loaded weapons, reporting and command. The contrast is sharpening as Pyongyang expands military cooperation with Russia and continues developing its nuclear and missile arsenal, while Seoul investigates why some troops guarding the world's most August 7, 2026

HMM continues talks on long-term bulk shipping contract SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - HMM said Friday it is continuing negotiations over a long-term bulk shipping contract and is currently discussing remaining details with the counterparty. In a regulatory filing responding to recent media reports, the South Korean shipping company said it has been in talks to finalize the contract but that no specific terms have yet been confirmed. HMM said it will make another disclosure once concrete details are finalized or within three months. The nex August 7, 2026

Korean ants suffer twice as losses become fake spectacle SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - Forty years of savings. Gone. A leveraged bet on SK hynix. A 78.7 percent loss. Some 2.2 billion won ($1.5 million) wiped out. A brokerage screenshot appeared to prove every painful detail. The post, uploaded to local community platform Danggeun on July 30, claimed an investor had gone bankrupt after pouring four decades of savings into a leveraged exchange-traded fund tied to SK hynix. It was devastating…except that it was also fake. Th August 7, 2026

Can robots fill Korea's military ranks? SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - Robots are emerging as a necessity rather than a choice for South Korea, which must defend one of the world's most heavily militarized borders with a rapidly thinning pool of young men. As birthrates collapse and the number of available conscripts shrinks, the question facing militaries such as South Korea's is no longer whether machines will join the ranks, but how much work they can take off human soldiers. For now, that does not mean robotic in August 7, 2026

KOSPI extends losses as SK hynix tumbles on Nvidia memory concerns SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - South Korean stocks fell for a second straight session Friday, dragged down by SK hynix as renewed Strait of Hormuz concerns and weakness in United States tech shares fueled foreign selling. The benchmark KOSPI closed 0.60 percent lower at 6,258.77, extending Thursday's 4.58 percent drop. The index opened 1.09 percent higher at 6,365.07 and climbed as high as 6,415.60 before reversing course. It briefly fell to 6,158.73 before paring losses toward the August 7, 2026

Kakao settles wage dispute after first strike SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - A wage agreement that took 18 rounds of bargaining and the first strike in the company's history was ratified this week, closing a roughly three-month standoff at Kakao over how the South Korean technology company pays for performance. The deal applies a 6.3 percent increase measured against the funding base for total annual salary, excluding money set aside for stage-up raises tied to moves into higher job grades and roles. Employees also receive a sp August 7, 2026

Won rallies to 10-month high, bonds flat before U.S. jobs SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) - The South Korean won strengthened to its highest level in about 10 months on Friday, buoyed by heavy local dollar supply, while Korean government bond yields barely moved as investors waited for U.S. employment data later in the day. The won closed daytime trading at 1,416.1 per dollar, strengthening 7.7 won from the previous session despite higher oil prices and a firmer dollar overseas. Exporter dollar selling, custody-related flows and expectations o August 7, 2026

SK hynix clears nearly $40 bn fab budget despite glut worries SEOUL, August 07 (AJP) -SK hynix is pressing ahead with a 54.3 trillion won ($38 billion) expansion of its memory production empire even as its shares have more than halved from their June highs amid oversupply and peak concerns, committing capital equivalent to about 45 percent of its shareholders' equity to new fabs in Yongin and Cheongju. The world's leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory said Friday that its board approved 35.2 trillion won for construction of its August 7, 2026