Lee reignites debate on constitutional reform on Constitution Day

SEOUL, July 17 (AJP) - President Lee Jae-myung called for constitutional reform on Thursday, as South Korea marks the 77th anniversary of Constitution Day. In a message posted on Facebook, Lee said, "It is time to revise the Constitution to keep up with the changing times, just as people change their clothes with the seasons," implying the need to amend the Constitution to reform the country's five-year, single-term presidency along with other political reforms. Con

July 17, 2025

Kia to equip upcoming EV5 with CATL batteries

SEOUL, July 17 (AJP) - Kia, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, will use batteries made by China’s CATL in its upcoming EV5 electric compact SUV, expanding Hyundai’s reliance on Chinese battery technology. The EV5, scheduled to launch in September, will be equipped with CATL’s nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery packs, which have a capacity of 81.4 kilowatt-hours, according to Kia officials. NCM batteries, while more costly due to volatile raw material prices

July 17, 2025

Samsung chairman escapes legal peril as Supreme Court upholds acquittal

SEOUL, July 17 (AJP) - South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the acquittal of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on charges stemming from the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates and related accounting practices — concluding a nearly five-year legal battle that once threatened to upend the leadership of the country’s largest conglomerate. The court, presided over by Chief Justice Oh Seok-jun, affirmed lower court rulings that cleare

July 17, 2025

KOGAS anchors Korea's energy strategy in age of AI, uncertainty

Editor's Note: This article is the 27th installment in our series on Asia's top 100 companies, exploring the strategies, challenges, and innovations driving the region's most influential corporations. SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - As artificial intelligence reshapes global energy consumption patterns, the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) is placing a bold wager on liquefied natural gas. The state-run energy company reported this week that the first shipment of LNG from the Ca

July 17, 2025

Viet Nam's top leader To Lam to visit South Korea for summit with President Lee

SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - General Secretary To Lam, the top-ranking official in Viet Nam's Communist Party, is set to visit South Korea in August for a summit with President Lee Jae-myung, diplomatic sources confirmed Wednesday. Lam is expected to arrive on August 10. Both sides are now working to schedule a summit meeting for the following day, August 11. This will be Lam's first visit to South Korea and the first by a Vietnamese general secretary in 11 years, following Nguy

July 16, 2025

Ex-President stalls probe, seeks injunction against detention

SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - Disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol has refused to comply with questioning over his botched martial law debacle late last year. Independent prosecutors on Wednesday once again failed to bring him in for questioning related to his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, following two previous attempts, as Yoon, who has been detained at a remand prison in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province since last week, continues to stall, citing health reasons. Yoon, who claims he

July 16, 2025

[K-Tech] Hanwha brings 3D printing to US shipyard in push for LNG, naval market share

SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - Hanwha is rolling out advanced 3D printing technologies at Philly Shipyard, part of a sweeping plan to transform the historic U.S. shipbuilding site into a hub for high-value commercial and military vessels. Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Systems, which jointly acquired the Philadelphia-based facility in 2023, have begun deploying metal additive manufacturing processes to fabricate complex components directly on-site — a shift that marks a departure from trad

July 16, 2025

South Korea gears up for APEC summit in Gyeongju this fall

SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - South Korea is ramping up its preparations for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, scheduled for October in the southern historical city of Gyeongju. President Lee Jae-myung has sent invitation letters to the leaders of all 20 APEC member countries including Canada, China, Japan, Russia, Viet Nam and the U.S. for the first major multilateral summit since his inauguration early last month, his office said on Wednesday. Shortly after t

July 16, 2025

Honduran diplomat's immunity revoked over alleged sexual harassment in Busan

SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - A Honduran diplomat, who has been booked for allegedly harassing and assaulting another man in South Korea, has been stripped of his diplomatic immunity by his home country. The Honduran Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it revoked his diplomatic protections due to what it cited as "a serious incident," adding that he should face "legal consequences" if any wrongdoing is found. The ministry further stated that the diplomat's pa

July 16, 2025

[K-Tech] LG challenges OpenAI, Alibaba with new hybrid AI model, EXAONE 4.0

SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - LG AI Research on Wednesday unveiled what it calls South Korea’s first hybrid artificial intelligence model, EXAONE 4.0, a system that fuses large language processing with advanced reasoning capabilities. The release marks LG’s fourth major AI launch in as many months, as the company escalates efforts to compete with global players like OpenAI, Anthropic, Alibaba, and Google. EXAONE 4.0 integrates two distinct AI functions — a large lang

July 16, 2025