South Korea's Naver forms strategic partnership with Spotify

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - South Korea's Naver said Tuesday it has entered into a strategic partnership with Spotify to bring the global streaming platform’s vast library of music and podcasts to more users across Naver’s digital ecosystem. The collaboration aims to integrate Spotify’s catalog — which includes more than 100 million songs and 7 million podcasts — into Naver’s suite of services, allowing users to more easily enjoy audio co

November 4, 2025

Asian markets mostly subdued amid mixed economic signs

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - Asian markets were broadly muted on Tuesday as South Korea and Japan paused after nearly a week of uninterrupted gains, while Chinese equities traded flat amid conflicting economic signals. South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 0.7 percent to 4,192.20 in early trading as investors locked in profits following a sharp rally in large-cap semiconductor stocks. Foreign investors sold 701.2 billion won, while domestic institutions offloaded 207.9 billion won. Tec

November 4, 2025

Lee praises APEC achievements, urges swift approval of next year's budget

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) - In an address to the National Assembly on Tuesday, President Lee Jae Myung highlighted his endeavors at last week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the country's southeastern city of Gyeongju, saying he had "put every possible effort into achieving the best results even in the worst-case scenario." During the address, his second of its kind following a similar speech on a supplementary budget in June, Lee outlined his ke

November 4, 2025

South Korea's inflation gains fastest in 15 months, markets price in rate freeze

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - South Korea’s consumer inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in 15 months in October, reinforcing market expectations for another rate freeze this month as authorities attributed much of the pickup to increased spending during the extended Chuseok holiday, government data showed Tuesday. According to the October consumer price index (CPI) released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics, headline inflation rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier, t

November 4, 2025

LG Chem, China's Sinopec to co-develop sodium-ion battery materials

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - South Korea’s LG Chem said Tuesday it has formed a partnership with China’s largest energy and chemical company, Sinopec, to develop key materials for next-generation sodium-ion batteries, a technology seen as a promising alternative to lithium-based systems. The two companies signed an agreement on Oct. 30 to jointly research and produce cathode and anode materials for sodium-ion batteries, known as SIBs. The collaboration aims to strength

November 4, 2025

Former North Korean figurehead dies at 97

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) - North Korea's former perennial nominal head of state, Kim Yong-nam, has died at the age of 97, state media reported on Tuesday. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said leader Kim Jong-un, accompanied by premier Pak Tae-song and other top officials, visited a memorial altar in the small hours and expressed "deep condolences over his death." According to the KCNA, the nonagenarian, who had served under the hereditary dy

November 4, 2025

OPINION: Trump's 'beautiful' tariffs and waning trust in US power

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump calls tariffs the “most beautiful word.” True to that conviction, he has wielded them like a hammer — striking friends and foes alike, unsettling global markets, and testing the limits of American diplomacy. He claims these hard-edged tactics have brought results: smoother negotiations with South Korea and Japan, a temporary truce with China, and what he boasts are eight global conflicts “resolved&rdq

November 4, 2025

South Korea's martial law crisis revisited at IBA by leading constitutional scholar

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - South Korea has successfully defended its democratic institutions in the face of its first declaration of martial law under a democratic government and a surge of disinformation that culminated in a presidential impeachment, a leading Korean constitutional scholar told a global legal audience. Sung Nak-in, former president of Seoul National University and one of Korea’s foremost constitutional experts, detailed the short-lived but deeply damaging

November 4, 2025

South Korea's crypto curbs push investors to foreign exchanges

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - The number of South Korean investors holding large sums in overseas cryptocurrency exchange accounts has more than doubled in a year, reflecting both the global market’s resurgence and growing frustration with South Korea’s restrictive trading environment. According to data from the National Tax Service, 2,320 South Koreans reported offshore crypto accounts exceeding 500 million won (about $360,000) by the end of last year — a two-f

November 4, 2025

Korea's HD Korea Shipbuilding posts milestone Q3 profit on brisk vessel sales

SEOUL, November 03 (AJP) - HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. on Monday reported its best-ever quarterly performance since adopting a holding-company structure, with operating profit more than doubling from a year earlier to surpass 1 trillion won ($733 million) for the first time. Operating profit jumped to 1.05 trillion won in the July–September period on revenue of 7.6 trillion won, up 21 percent on year. Net income surged nearly fourfold to 876.7 billion

November 3, 2025