US-Canada tariff war squeezes Korean autos, opens crude door SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean manufacturers accustomed to being caught between Washington and Beijing now find themselves on a new trade battlefront much closer to their factories. Korean companies poured billions of dollars into North America to escape the heavier tariffs and geopolitical risks of President Donald Trump's second term. The escalating U.S.-Canada trade conflict is now threatening the very assumption behind that strategy - that the United States, Canada August 27, 2026

AI windfall buys homes, cars and luxury watches in Korea's chip enclave HWASEONG, August 27 (AJP) - At Lotte Department Store in Dongtan, a saleswoman sizing up a customer offers a pitch that would sound peculiar almost anywhere else. "Your husband makes a lot of money this time. You can afford to treat yourself," she coos. There is no need to specify who the husband works for. Dongtan sits inside South Korea's semiconductor heartland, within commuting distance of Samsung Electronics' chip operations in Hwaseong and Giheung as August 27, 2026

Bond yields shoot up after back-to-back hike SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean government bonds staged a sharp reversal Thursday after the Bank of Korea's second straight rate hike, while the won strengthened only modestly despite closing at an 11-month high. The dollar-won rate fell 3.9 to close daytime trading at 1,380.9, its lowest level since September last year. The rate dropped as low as 1,377.3 shortly after the decision before recovering much of the decline later in the session. The BOK raised its base August 27, 2026

KOSPI closes a tad higher as Nvidia boost fades on BOK rate hike SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean stocks opened higher on Nvidia's earnings beat on Thursday but gave back most of their gains after the Bank of Korea (BOK) raised its key interest rate for a second straight time and signaled further hikes. The main KOSPI closed at 6,912.37, up 104.16 points or 1.53 percent from the previous session, after opening 2.76 percent higher at 6,996.12. The country's two major chipmakers SK hynix and Samsung Electronics kept only part of the August 27, 2026

Court rules foreign children have right to register births in South Korea SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - The Constitutional Court of Korea ruled on Thursday that the lack of legal provisions for foreign nationals born in South Korea to register their births is unconstitutional. The ruling came in a case filed by a Vietnamese man, his spouse and their child, in which the court unanimously found the government's failure to establish a system for registering the births of foreign children born in here unconstitutional. The man entered South Korea in 2008 on August 27, 2026

Google-backed study finds Korean workers use AI more adeptly SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean workers apply artificial intelligence with a sophistication about 1.7 times the global average, a report commissioned by Google Korea found, as employers increasingly treat fluency with the technology as a hiring priority. Google Korea released the findings on Thursday, drawing on a study by global consultancy Public First titled "Growth and Innovation in Korea Driven by AI." The report also concluded that training-driven productivity August 27, 2026

South Korea's homegrown Nuri rocket set for liftoff in early October SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea will launch its homegrown Nuri rocket for the fifth time this fall, the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) said on Thursday. KASA decided to launch the rocket on Oct. 7, at a meeting in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province earlier in the day after reviewing preparations for the space mission. The rocket carrying 15 satellites is scheduled to lift off between 12:23 p.m. and 1:23 p.m., with the exact time to be determined on the day based on we August 27, 2026

South Korea probes failed loitering munition test SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea’s arms procurement agency said Thursday it is investigating why two domestically developed loitering munitions crashed into the sea immediately after being launched from a Navy ship, while stressing that the failed maritime test does not mean the underlying development project has fallen short of its original goals. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the medium-sized loitering munition was developed under an applied August 27, 2026

Top-income Koreans earn more cash, while real wages slide SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea's richest households pocketed much larger income gains in cash terms than those at the bottom in the second quarter, widening the absolute income gap even as workers suffered a third straight month of falling inflation-adjusted wages. Average monthly household income rose 4.5 percent from a year earlier to 5.30 million won in the April-June period, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' quarterly household survey released Th August 27, 2026

Korea expands half-price travel subsidy to 9 more rural areas SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea will expand a half-price travel subsidy program to nine more rural areas this fall after a first-half rollout boosted local spending, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Thursday. The program, aimed at rural areas facing population decline, refunds half of a visitor's travel expenses through mobile local gift certificates, up to 100,000 won ($72) per person and 140,000 won for young travelers. It launched in April across 16 August 27, 2026