South Korea to hold separate memorial service for forced labor victims in Japan

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - South Korea will hold a memorial service for victims of forced labor during World War II in Japan next week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. The service is set to be held on Nov. 21 on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, a site of Imperial Japan's mobilization of South Koreans for forced labor, with about a dozen bereaved family members and government officials, including South Korea's ambassador to Tokyo Lee Hyuk. It will be

November 13, 2025

HYBE flies on rosy outlook with NewJeans and BTS pipeline, but NewJeans remain question

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - Korea's entertainment giant HYBE gained a boost — 6 percent on Thursday on high expectations for a full-member comeback of their budding and steady stars NewJeans and BTS, after the breakaway girl group hinted they would return home following an epic split last year. The rise was more muted than the near-9 percent after-hours jump late Wednesday as the market grew cautious about whether reconciliation is real, given the deep distrust NewJeans m

November 13, 2025

Two dead, 19 injured after pickup truck crashes into market in Bucheon

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - A pickup truck crashed into an open-air market in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday, leaving two dead and 19 injured, police said. According to police, the truck plowed through the market at around 11 a.m., and the driver was arrested at the scene. The man in his 60s was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Police believe he mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, causing the truck to suddenly speed into stalls and shoppers

November 13, 2025

Reality check for Korean divorces amid billionaire cases and romanticized shows

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - Divorce is no longer a social taboo in traditionally conservative South Korea, with a steady stream of reality shows and court dramas themed around marital breakups — and real-life billion-dollar splits among chaebol families such as SK Group and Smilegate drawing intense public attention. But little about divorce is romantic for ordinary couples. Korea’s divorce rate stands at 2.1 per 1,000 people — roughly half the global average of f

November 13, 2025

Sanguine KOSPI signals bumper IPO year in 2026

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - Rejuvenated stock markets, abundant liquidity from monetary easing, and renewed corporate confidence fueled by strong exports are setting the stage for a bumper year for South Korean initial public offerings in 2026. Among the most closely watched are K Bank — which has already filed its preliminary prospectus and is awaiting approval — as well as beauty-and-fashion leaders CJ Olive Young, Musinsa, and Gudai Global, the rising Korean retail brands with e

November 13, 2025

NCSoft unveils Horizon Steel Frontiers game based on Sony IP

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - NCSoft unveiled a new multiplayer game based on Sony Interactive Entertainment's popular Horizon franchise at the G-Star 2025 gaming convention on Thursday, marking its first major collaboration on the globally acclaimed intellectual property. The South Korean game developer revealed "Horizon Steel Frontiers," a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that adapts the Horizon universe to mobile devices, at the BEXCO convention center in

November 13, 2025

How Trump's tariff ruling could affect South Korea's trade deal with US

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff policy faces headwinds as the Supreme Court is set to rule on the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The IEEPA is a 1970s-era U.S. law that grants the president broad authority to freeze assets or impose economic sanctions in response to emergencies that threaten national security or foreign policy. Trump invoked the law to impose tariffs on nearly a

November 13, 2025

LG, Mercedes-Benz explore deeper 'One LG' partnership for next-gen car parts

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - South Korea's electronics giant LG Group said Thursday that it discussed expanding its “One LG” partnership with Mercedes-Benz, aligning its affiliates’ combined auto-parts capabilities for next-generation electric and software-defined vehicles. The meeting at LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul, coincided with the visit of Ola Källenius, chairman and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group. Executives from LG Electronics, LG Display, LG Energ

November 13, 2025

Korea's Hyundai Motor Group relies on hybrid relief until EV appetite returns

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) - South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group has largely weathered headwinds from a sluggish electric-vehicle market and unfavorable U.S. tariff conditions by leaning aggressively into hybrid offerings. The group's two marques – Hyundai and Kia – sold 831,933 hybrid vehicles globally in the first nine months of 2025, up 27.2 percent from 654,067 units a year earlier, according to available data. At this pace, annual hybrid sales are projected to s

November 13, 2025

USD-KRW eases after testing above 1,1470 after verbal intervention

SEOUL, November 13 (AJP) -The U.S. dollar softened after briefly topping 1,470 won during Thursday’s session in Seoul, as investment jitters eased following President Donald Trump’s signing of a bill to end the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown. The Korean won, already down 2 percent this month, initially faced renewed downward pressure as foreign investors took profits after their record stock buying, while the greenback strengthened on Washington’s r

November 13, 2025