Chey seeks stock-cash mix in $666 million divorce, ex-wife holds out for cash SEOUL, August 16 (AJP) - SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won balked at a court order to hand his former wife 944 billion won ($666.3 million) in cash because the two sides could not agree on how the record divorce settlement should be paid. Chey, 65, proposed settling part of the award with SK shares alongside cash, but Roh Soh-yeong, 65, the director of the Art Center Nabi and daughter of a former South Korean president, insisted on the full amount in cash, the legal sources said Sunday August 16, 2026

Most workers see bias against fixed-term staff, survey finds SEOUL, August 16 (AJP) - About 80 percent of South Korean workers believe discrimination exists between fixed-term and permanent employees, according to a survey released on Sunday, underscoring persistent tensions in the country's labor market as the government weighs loosening rules on non-regular hiring. The civic group Gabjil 119 said 80.4 percent of respondents to a poll conducted between June 1 and 7 said such discrimination was present. The survey, carried out by Globa August 16, 2026

LG Electronics opens second Brazil plant to press Global South push SEOUL, August 16 (AJP) - LG Electronics has begun production at a new home-appliance plant in Brazil, deepening its drive into the Global South as the South Korean group leans on emerging markets to offset softening demand in the developed world. The factory in Parana state started operations on Thursday, the company said Sunday, becoming its second production base in Brazil after the Manaus plant established in the Amazonas state in 1996. The site can turn out about 600,000 refrige August 16, 2026

Gartner sees one in five firms pulling back on AI by 2028 as costs mount SEOUL, August 16 (AJP) - South Korean companies racing to embed artificial intelligence across their operations face a mounting threat that has little to do with the technology itself: the bill. By 2028, about one in five organizations worldwide will scale back or abandon AI in parts of their operations and return to conventional software development, unable to rein in runaway costs, according to research from Gartner. The retreat is expected to concentrate in areas where the ret August 16, 2026

Korean retail investors reload on risk at home, abroad SEOUL, August 15 (AJP) - South Korean retail investors are edging back into risk after July's market washout, with brokerage cash returning above 100 trillion won, margin borrowing rising for a seventh straight session and traders piling back into a triple-leveraged U.S. semiconductor fund. Investor deposits — cash sitting in brokerage accounts and available for securities purchases — rose to 100.07 trillion won ($70.6 billion) on Aug. 13, up 91.9 billion won from August 15, 2026

Samsung, hynix literally 'people's stocks' with entries near 1 in 4 Koreans SEOUL, August 15 (AJP) - Minority-shareholder entries at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix nearly doubled from a year earlier to 11.43 million at the end of June, a tally equivalent to about 22 percent of South Korea's population, underscoring how the first-half chip frenzy dramatically broadened ownership of the country's two memory giants. Minority shareholders held nearly seven out of every 10 shares in both chipmakers — 66.24 percent of Samsung Electronics and 67 August 15, 2026

Sogang University latest to report data breach in Korea SEOUL, August 15 (AJP) -Sogang University has become the latest South Korean institution to report a data breach, adding to a series of cyber incidents that have exposed vulnerabilities across the country's corporate, government and education systems. The private elite university in Seoul said an external attacker gained unauthorized access to its integrated login system on Aug. 11 through a brute-force attack, in which large numbers of password combinations are tried until ac August 15, 2026

Grammys rethink Asian pop award after BTS pullout SEOUL, August 15 (AJP) - The Recording Academy is reconsidering its newly created Asian pop Grammy category after criticism that separating music by geography and language could marginalize Asian artists, a backlash amplified by BTS's decision to sit out next year's awards. But whether any changes will come before the Aug. 21 deadline for online entries to the 2027 Grammys remains uncertain. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. acknowledged Friday that the Best Asian August 15, 2026

August 15, again — at Seodaemun prison SEOUL, Aug. 15 (AJP) — On the afternoon before Liberation Day, visitors made their way through the gates of Seodaemun Prison History Hall in western Seoul. Beyond the red-brick walls, Korean national flags hung in the summer air. People entering through the main gate seemed instinctively to slow their steps. Aug. 15, 1945, was the day Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule. Koreans call it Gwangbokjeol — literally, "the day the light returned." August 15, 2026

Lee proposes talks to end Korean War, build peace regime SEOUL, August 15 (AJP) -South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday proposed talks among the parties to formally end the Korean War and replace the peninsula's decades-old armistice with a peace regime, saying such negotiations could also open a path toward halting North Korea's expanding nuclear capabilities. In his address marking the 81st anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, Lee laid out a three-part doctrine of peaceful coexistence w August 15, 2026