Seoul aims to make public education free from age 3 to university SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) -South Korea will extend free preschool to all three-year-olds from next year and may introduce full scholarships for students at regional national universities, widening state-funded education from early childhood to higher education. The measures form part of the Education Ministry's policy roadmap for the second half of 2026, reported to President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday, as the government seeks to build what it calls a "basic education societ August 5, 2026

Exclusive: Why a midsized Busan shipper is taking on Korea's first Arctic voyage SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - A midsized carrier from Busan is venturing through Russian Arctic waters in what would be South Korea's maiden container voyage along the Northern Sea Route after bigger shipping lines bowed out over sanctions risks and resistance from environmentally conscious global cargo owners. PanStar Group is keeping to its target of departing Busan for Rotterdam around Aug. 22, a source at the shipping and logistics group told AJP. "There has been no chang August 5, 2026

More South Koreans in their 50s to 70s want to remain in workforce SEOUL, August 5 (AJP) - The number of South Koreans in their mid-50s to late 70s surpassed 17 million as of May, with nearly seven in 10 saying they want to continue working, according to a report released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on Wednesday. The report found that the number of people aged 55-79 reached 17.02 million in May, up 570,000 from a year earlier, making up 37 percent of the population aged 15 and older, which totaled 45.98 million. About 60.9 percent o August 5, 2026

AI Summit Seoul & Expo 2026 returns this month SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - South Korea's largest AI-focused exhibition and conference will return to Seoul later this month with a larger show floor and a sharper focus on how companies are putting artificial intelligence to work across industries, COEX said Wednesday. AI Summit Seoul & Expo 2026, or AISE 2026, will run from Aug. 19 to 21 at COEX in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, jointly organized by COEX, DMK Global and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). T August 5, 2026

Korean scam ring shifts to Central Asia on SE Asia crackdown SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) -South Korean fraud rings are spreading from Southeast Asia into Central Asia to stay ahead of law enforcement, with authorities dismantling their first known Korean-run scam operation in Kazakhstan and bringing home 14 suspects. The arrests underscore what South Korean police called a "secondary balloon effect," in which criminal organizations relocate to increasingly distant countries as crackdowns close traditional operating bases across Southeast August 5, 2026

New association formed to tackle challenges amid growing AI use in filmmaking SEOUL, August 5 (AJP) - A new association has been launched to help establish standards for the growing use of generative artificial Intelligence (AI) in filmmaking including scriptwriting, image creation, video production, voice generation and post-production. At its inaugural meeting in Seoul last month, the non-profit Korea Association of AI Film Directors (KAIFD) said it was established to support directors and video creators using AI, as concerns over copyright, consent, credit August 5, 2026

Korea's battery makers find ESS gold rush at home SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) - In a high-profile display, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, flanked by chip titans Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics and Chey Tae-won of SK Group, unveiled a nearly $1 trillion vision to transform the country from the world's high-tech factory into an AI factory. That ambition extends far beyond semiconductors. Every AI factory — from chip fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities to hyperscale data centers and AI inference cluste August 5, 2026

Boy band NEXZ's new album teased ahead of release later this month SEOUL, August 5 (AJP) - K-pop boy group NEXZ will release their fourth mini album later this month, returning four months after their single released last spring, their agency JYP Entertainment said on Wednesday. "SAUCIN'," set for release on Aug. 24, combines "sauce" with the suffix "-ing," reflecting the group's idea of bringing their own flavor and style wherever they go. The members then move through the arcade with their own s August 5, 2026

Bad loans at Korea's top banks hit 7-year high SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) -South Korea's five largest banks saw bad loans climb to a seven-year high in the second quarter, driven overwhelmingly by deteriorating corporate credit quality as stress spread across lenders' balance sheets. Loans classified as "estimated loss" — the weakest asset-quality grade and the portion banks consider effectively unrecoverable after accounting for collateral and expected recoveries — totaled 1.21 trillion won ($849 milli August 5, 2026

FSC pushes back on Bloomberg's 'uninvestable' claim SEOUL, August 05 (AJP) — South Korea's financial regulator has rejected a Bloomberg column that described the country as becoming "uninvestable," saying the assessment relied on inaccurate data and overlooked the country's economic fundamentals. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) in a statement released late Tuesday said there was no basis for concerns that South Korea could be regarded as an uninvestable market, saying the country has emerged as an ir August 5, 2026