Won rides U.S.-Japan intervention as Seoul stays muted, Beijing cries foul SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - South Korea has kept a studied silence over the first openly acknowledged U.S.-Japan currency intervention in decades, even as the won emerged as one of its biggest beneficiaries, while China condemned the operation as a self-serving bargain that is unlikely to alter the yen's long-term decline. The contrasting reactions underscore how Washington and Tokyo's joint defense of the yen has rippled differently across Asia. Seoul has avoided publicly comm August 6, 2026

Gwangju airport move to Muan may come sooner under chip cluster plan SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - The planned relocation of domestic flights from Gwangju Airport to Muan International Airport could take place earlier than expected as the government moves to secure the Gwangju military air base site for a semiconductor cluster. The civilian airport had originally been scheduled to move upon completion of the second phase of the Honam high-speed railway, now slated for 2031, as the new rail link was expected to improve access to Muan Airport for passengers August 6, 2026

Hyundai's latest Avante sets first-day record with over 10,000 pre-orders SEOUL, August 6 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor received more than 10,000 pre-orders for its latest Avante sedan on the first day it became available, the automaker said Thursday. A total of 11,094 pre-orders were placed the previous day, setting a new first-day record for the model and surpassing the previous record of 10,058 pre-orders set by the previous version launched in April 2020. Hyundai attributed the record pre-orders to the eighth-generation model's enhanced competitivenes August 6, 2026

Kakao picks Coupang Eats as first AI agent partner SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Kakao announced it has chosen Coupang Eats as the inaugural partner for its artificial-intelligence agent, allowing users to receive food recommendations and complete orders and payments without leaving a KakaoTalk chat window. The tie-up announced Thursday marks the first concrete step in the South Korean internet giant's push to turn its dominant messaging app, used by about 50 million people, into what it calls an "acting AI platform" that l August 6, 2026

KOSPI heads back south on overnight Wall Street tech retreat SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) — The roller-coaster ride in Seoul headed back south Thursday, as South Korean stocks tracked an overnight pullback in U.S. tech shares that spread across the region's semiconductor sector. The KOSPI fell 4.13 percent to 6,325.82 as of 10:08 a.m. local time, with losses deepening as the session wore on. Foreign investors were the biggest sellers, offloading a net 1.14 trillion won ($798 million) in shares. Retail investors bought a net 995.6 billion August 6, 2026

Korean military eyes leniency to fight gambling addiction in conscripts SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) -South Korea's Defense Ministry is considering offering reduced penalties to service members who voluntarily report illegal online gambling, marking a shift toward treating gambling addiction as a military readiness and welfare issue rather than solely a criminal offense. In a written reply to Rep. Cheon Ha-ram, a member of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, the ministry said it is reviewing a self-reporting program under which troops who come August 6, 2026

Heat-related illness cases surpass 500 in Gyeonggi Province SEOUL, August 6 (AJP) - With a heatwave advisory in place across Gyeonggi Province for about two weeks, more than 60 people have been treated for heat-related illnesses per day, bringing the cumulative total above 500. The provincial government said on Wednesday that figures compiled from some 93 medical institutions and emergency rooms in the province showed that 537 people suffered from heat-related illnesses including two deaths between May 15 and last Tuesday. The sharp incre August 6, 2026

KAIST develops technique to recognize objects hidden behind fog SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - A KAIST research team has developed an imaging method that finds a transparent object buried inside fog and works out its shape, thickness and position from a single camera exposure, the university said Thursday. Glass, clear plastic film and living cells are almost invisible to an ordinary camera because they barely change the brightness of the light passing through them. They do change something else. Light slows very slightly as it crosses them, and tha August 6, 2026

Trump's tariff on polysilicon cloud outlook for Korean firms SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could unveil a set of measures curbing imports of foreign polysilicon, a step that stands to reverberate through South Korea's solar and semiconductor makers, multiple sources reported. Reuters, citing sources, said the administration plans to release the findings of its Section 232 investigation into polysilicon as soon as Thursday (local time), with a 15 percent tariff slated for imported polysilicon de August 6, 2026

Kookmin students win prize for vehicle solar standard SEOUL, August 06 (AJP) - Five undergraduates from Kookmin University's School of Materials Science and Engineering won the grand prize at a national standardization competition on July 24, taking the award given in the name of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources for a proposed durability test covering solar panels built into vehicle bodies. No existing test protocol subjects such panels to light, heat and vibration at the same time, the combination a panel mounted August 6, 2026