Kookmin student wins 2nd at IBM hackathon SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - A student from Kookmin University in Seoul was placed second at the IBM Bob Hackathon on June 11 in a global artificial intelligence competition that drew more than 5,600 participants from around the world and challenged them to build working software in 48 hours, the university announced Monday. Kookmin University (KMU)'s AI Department student Kim Chan-joong competed alone in the hackerthon. The competition, jointly organized by IBM and NativelyAI, the June 29, 2026

Battery frenzy lifts KOSDAQ while chip stocks drag KOSPI down SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - A battery-led frenzy on South Korea's junior KOSDAQ masked a flat, chip-heavy KOSPI on the main bourse on Monday, splitting the country's stock market into two sessions running in opposite directions. The secondary-battery rally drove the KOSDAQ up 8.1 percent to 920.57, while the KOSPI slipped 0.2 percent to 8,394.65 as key chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix fell. Foreign investors turned net buyers on the main board, while institutional a June 29, 2026

Hanwha launches job academy for 476 young job seekers SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - Hanwha Group said Sunday it will launch a hands-on training program for 476 young job seekers in fields including shipbuilding, defense, information technology, artificial intelligence, marketing and construction. The Hanwha Naeil Academy was created as part of the government-led K-New Deal Academy initiative, which is overseen by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resource and the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The Korean word “naeil” can m June 29, 2026

Hyundai Motor to resume wage talks with unionized workers SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - Automaker Hyundai Motor on Monday called on its labor union, which secured the right to strike last week, to resume wage talks. CEO Choi Young-il visited the union office earlier in the day, where he said he wanted to resume talks that had stalled after negotiations with unionized workers broke down on June 12. Choi's visit suggests that the two sides could return to the negotiating table as early as this week, with Choi expected to put forward a prop June 29, 2026

South Korea to create second chip cluster at $520 billion *Updated with additional information SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) -South Korea envisions transforming itself into a "Chip Republic," committing more than 800 trillion won ($520 billion) to build a second semiconductor belt spanning the country's southwestern region in an unprecedented industrial strategy designed to preserve its leadership in AI-era chips. The master plan calls for four new wafer fabrication plants in the southwestern Honam region, an advanced semiconduc June 29, 2026

SMEs shed 98,000 jobs in April amid sluggish production and rising costs SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - Small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) saw their workforce shrink amid sluggish production, as the lingering conflict in the Middle East pushed up energy and raw material costs, the Korea Small Business Institute said on Monday. According to the state-run research institute, the number of employees at SMEs or workplaces with fewer than 300 employees totaled 29.12 million, down 98,000 from a year earlier. In contrast, employment at workplaces with 300 or June 29, 2026

Uzbekistan, Georgia set $1 billion trade target SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid an official visit to Georgia as the two countries pledged to more than triple bilateral trade, from $267.6 million in 2025 to $1 billion. The target is ambitious given where the relationship currently stands. Trade between the two countries tripled between 2017 and 2025, climbing from $89 million, but the flows remain heavily skewed. In 2025, Georgia exported $190.4 million worth of goods to Uzbekistan, mo June 29, 2026

Korean justice minister calls to scrap statute of limitations on state crimes SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - South Korean Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho on Monday called for abolishing the statute of limitations for crimes committed by the state, saying those responsible for torture and other forms of state violence must be held accountable regardless of how much time has passed. In a post on X, Jung referred to the so-called Nakdong River murder case, a wrongful conviction that was overturned in a retrial after two men spent more than two decades in prison for a ki June 29, 2026

KAIST appoints Bae Choong-sik as 18th president SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has appointed Bae Choong-sik, a mechanical engineering professor and specialist in carbon-neutral propulsion technology, as its 18th president, following a vote by the university's board of directors on Monday. The board, chaired by Kim Myung-ja, met at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's (KAIST) Seoul campus in Gangnam District to make the selection. Founded in 1971 as South Kor June 29, 2026

Hyperscalers run the infrastructure the AI world stands on a SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - The history of civilization has always been, in part, a history of whoever controlled the core infrastructure. The 19th century was completed by the railway and the steam engine; the 20th was driven by oil and electricity. If the internet and the smartphone reshaped daily life in the early 21st century, then today — with generative AI in full swing — the world stands once again in the middle of a vast civilizational shift. At its center sits a new June 29, 2026