INTERVIEW: Korean startups race to bring lab-grown meat to market

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - Donning a white lab coat and sterile shoe covers, Dominic Jeong, CEO of South Korean food-tech startup Simple Planet, leads the way through a sleek laboratory buzzing with quiet precision. He opens a chilled cabinet and carefully lifts out petri dishes filled with ivory-white clusters. “These are cultivated animal cells — cow fat and chicken muscle tissue,” Jeong told AJP. “We transform them into protein-rich powders and pastes.&rdqu

June 26, 2025

Small business owners overwhelmed by rising costs and wage pressure

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - South Korea's small business owners are feeling the weight of growing economic pressure, with rising food prices and labor costs making it harder than ever to stay afloat. Many are now calling on the government to freeze or even lower the minimum wage. According to a survey released Thursday by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), 63.4 percent of self-employed respondents said their business conditions have worsened compared to last year. Only 6

June 26, 2025

Railway services connecting Pyongyang and Moscow resume after pandemic halt

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - Railway services linking Pyongyang and Moscow have resumed after being halted for five years amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Russian state media. The Kremlin's state-run news agency TASS reported that a passenger train that departed the North Korean capital last week arrived at Moscow's Yaroslavsky railway station on Wednesday after a journey of about eight days. But the first train that departed from Pyongyang on June 17 had "no pa

June 26, 2025

Starbucks brings back plastic straws in South Korea

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - Starbucks has reintroduced plastic straws to its stores in South Korea for the first time in seven years — though this time, they come with a green upgrade. The coffee chain has begun piloting new straws made from sugarcane-based bioplastics at approximately 200 stores nationwide. Starbucks was among the first major coffee chains in South Korea to eliminate conventional plastic straws in 2018, replacing them with paper versions as part of a sweeping

June 26, 2025

North Korean defectors recount plight at UN human rights event in Seoul

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - North Korean defectors recounted their harrowing journeys of escape and the plights they endured at an event in Seoul this week, informing international experts on human rights violations in the isolated country. Hosted by the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul, the two-day event which kicked off on Thursday was part of the drafting process for a ten-year assessment of the human rights situation in North Korea. The event brought together human rights exp

June 26, 2025

President Lee calls for 'fair growth' and capital market reform in first parliamentary address

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - President Lee Jae-myung called Wednesday on lawmakers to back his push to revive the economy and support struggling households, calling the effort "the most urgent task we must address today." Delivering his first policy speech at the National Assembly since taking office, Lee urged cooperation on a supplementary budget designed to stimulate growth and stabilize livelihoods. "On June 4, right here in the National Assembly, I took the president

June 26, 2025

Korean regulator claims Novo Nordisk cut needle supply to boost obesity drug sales

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - South Korea’s antitrust regulator has issued a formal warning to Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk for cutting off supplies of specialized insulin pen needles used by children with diabetes, in order to prioritize the production of its blockbuster obesity drug, Ozempic, government officials said on Thursday. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) concluded that Novo Nordisk violated competition laws when it unilaterally terminated supply contracts

June 26, 2025

Neople workers launch Korea's first game industry strike

SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - Employees at Neople, a key subsidiary of gaming giant Nexon and the developer of the popular Dungeon & Fighter franchise, have begun a strike, marking the nation’s first labor walkout in the gaming sector. The strike, which began on Wednesday, June 25, involves unionized workers from Neople’s Seoul office, who stopped reporting to work immediately. Employees at the company’s Jeju headquarters are joining on a staggered schedule —

June 26, 2025

China's Tencent expands global reach with gaming, AI, fintech at its core

Editor's Note: This article is the 24th installment in our series on Asia's top 100 companies, exploring the strategies, challenges, and innovations driving the region's most influential corporations. SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - Tencent Holdings is one of China’s most powerful technology companies. It reported revenue of 180.02 billion yuan ($25.1 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, marking a 13 percent increase from a year earlier. The company’s financial

June 26, 2025

Milano Cortina 2026 brings Olympic message to Seoul with focus on sustainability and inclusion

SEOUL, June 25 (AJP) - The Olympic spirit made a stop in Seoul on Wednesday as Italy's organizing team for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games hosted a media day in Gangnam. With just over a year and a half to go, the event offered a preview of what is being billed as the most geographically expansive and environmentally conscious Winter Olympics in history. Covering 22,000 square kilometers across northern Italy, the Games will blend modern urban energy with the beauty of the

June 25, 2025