Prolonged US-Iran war may boost Korean missile defense exports: report SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - A prolonged war between the United States and Iran could create fresh export opportunities for South Korea’s missile defense systems, as Gulf countries face shrinking interceptor stockpiles and sustained Iranian missile attacks, a South Korean brokerage said Monday. DS Investment & Securities said in a report that a ceasefire memorandum between Washington and Tehran had effectively collapsed after just three weeks, with both sides returning to high-i July 20, 2026

Motorists in their 50s and older own half of all registered vehicles SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - Half of all registered vehicles in South Korea, excluding those owned by corporations and other entities, are now held by people aged 50 and older, according to data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Monday. The number of motorists in their 50s and older stood at 13.40 million, accounting for 50.2 percent of the 26.68 million privately registered vehicles as of the end of June. More specifically, those in their 50s owned th July 20, 2026

Four in 10 Korean listed firms face weaker Q2 SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) —Nearly four out of 10 South Korean listed companies are expected to post weaker second-quarter earnings than previously anticipated as the economic fallout from the prolonged Middle East conflict spread across much of corporate Korea, with the windfall from the semiconductor and stock market rally largely confined to a handful of industries. According to financial data provider FnGuide, operating profit forecasts for the April-June quarter were revised l July 20, 2026

Nvidia unveils Jetson Thor modules to broaden robotics, edge AI reach SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - Nvidia has unveiled two new modules, the T3000 and T2000, built on its Jetson Thor architecture, in a bid to accelerate the large-scale deployment of robotics and edge artificial intelligence applications aimed at the mass market. The launch responds to rising demand for compact, power-efficient AI supercomputers capable of running foundation models directly at the edge, as general-purpose robots and autonomous machines move out of research labs and into comme July 20, 2026

Na Hong-jin's sci-fi thriller attracts over 2 million moviegoers in less than a week SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - Director Na Hong-jin's latest film "Hope" has attracted over 2 million moviegoers less than a week after its release. According to ticket sales data released by the Korean Film Council on Monday, the sci-fi film drew 1.50 million moviegoers over the weekend to top the domestic box office chart, bringing its cumulative attendance to 2.13 million. The impressive start came after the film drew about 330,000 moviegoers last Wednesday, markin July 20, 2026

Istanbul purrs with beloved cats SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - They sleep on the warm hoods of parked taxis and in the display windows of carpet shops. They wait outside fish restaurants with the patience of regulars. They stroll into mosques, curl up on prayer rugs, and no one moves them. In Istanbul, a city of some 16 million people, the cats behave less like strays and more like citizens who happen to have four legs, and the city, for the most part, treats them accordingly. Nobody knows exactly how many there are. Es July 20, 2026

KOSPI avoids Asian rout on foreign buying SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) -South Korea's main stock market, home to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, received a marginal hit Monday as it returned from a holiday, after a broad AI-led selloff Friday across global markets after Chinese startup Moonshot AI unveiled its open-source Kimi K3 model, a release many investors likened to a new "DeepSeek moment." Returning from a one-day holiday on Friday for Constitution Day, Seoul's market opened less panicky than regional July 20, 2026

Residents near Coupang warehouse ordered to evacuate as blaze continues SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - Authorities ordered residents living near e-commerce giant Coupang's logistics center in Incheon there to evacuate late Sunday amid concerns that the fire-damaged building could partially collapse, as firefighters continue to battle a massive blaze that has raged for more than two days. The fire, which broke out at around 6:50 a.m. last Saturday on the sixth floor of the eight-story logistics center in Seoknam-dong, Incheon, spread to the seventh floor and July 20, 2026

Samsung Biologics to buy PolyPeptide in record $2 billion deal SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - Samsung Biologics announced it has agreed to acquire Switzerland's PolyPeptide Group, a specialist maker of peptide drugs, for about 2.7 trillion won ($1.81 billion), the biggest merger-and-acquisition deal in South Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industry. The agreement, disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday, marks the Korean contract manufacturer's formal entry into peptides, the chemical backbone of the fast-growing class of obesity and July 20, 2026

Putin greets N. Korean foreign minister amid Kim's return visit rumor SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) -Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea’s leadership and people for helping Moscow in its war against Ukraine and declared that the battlefield exploits of North Korean soldiers would “always be remembered in Russia” during a Kremlin meeting with Pyongyang’s top diplomat. Putin met visiting North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui on Sunday, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov at July 20, 2026