Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor set to resume partial strikes this week SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor will resume partial strikes this week after wage negotiations failed to narrow differences last month. The workers, who had just returned from their summer holiday, decided Tuesday to stage additional rounds of partial strikes from Wednesday through early next week, halting production for four hours each on Wednesday and Thursday before extending the stoppage to six hours each on Friday and next Tuesday. If carried out August 11, 2026

Military AI sovereignty emerges as Asia's new defense front SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - The next contest for military power is no longer simply about who has the best weapons or even the most powerful artificial intelligence. It is increasingly about who controls the AI when the shooting starts. The United States has demonstrated the advantage of combining its AI software edge with military might. Japan, China and South Korea are now pursuing different strategies to ensure that critical military capabilities do not become dependent on technolog August 11, 2026

Korea's won, bonds buck global trend after stocks dominate H1 SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - The KOSPI and chip stocks sucked up capital and attention in the first half, but as the second half gets under way, it is the Korean won and bonds that are bucking the global trend and gaining ground. Whether that strength can last is less certain. Their divergence from U.S. markets rests partly on short-covering in bonds and expectations of corporate dollar conversions supporting the won — forces that could prove temporary. The U.S. 10-year Treasur August 11, 2026

Samsung brings cross-device gaming lineup to Gamescom 2026 SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics will showcase a gaming lineup spanning PCs, consoles and mobile devices at Gamescom 2026 in Cologne, Germany, as the South Korean tech giant seeks to connect its hardware portfolio across gaming platforms. The world's largest gaming exhibition will run from Aug. 26 to 30, with about 1,500 software, hardware and game content companies expected to participate. Last year's event drew 360,000 visitors, according to Samsung. Samsu August 11, 2026

Hanwha bids $1.2 billion for Austal USA to boost US shipbuilding SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - Hanwha Group is seeking to acquire the U.S. operations of Australian shipbuilder and defense contractor Austal, stepping up efforts to expand its shipbuilding and defense presence in the United States. Hanwha has proposed acquiring 100 percent of the businesses and operating assets of Austal USA at an enterprise value of between $1.05 billion and $1.2 billion on a cash-free, debt-free basis. The move comes after Hanwha built a 19.9 percent stake in Austal August 11, 2026

MOFA sidesteps US congressional briefing demand SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not say Tuesday whether the government will hold a briefing that Republican members of the United States House Judiciary Committee have demanded by Aug. 20 on how a new law against false and manipulated information online will be enforced. Asked at a regular briefing whether the government was discussing the request internally, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesperson Park Doo-soon said Seoul was fie August 11, 2026

About 12% of wage workers earn below minimum wage SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - About one in eight workers in South Korea earn an hourly wage below the minimum wage, with women and temporary workers more likely to be paid less and struggle to make ends meet. Some 2.77 million workers were paid less than the minimum wage of 10,030 won (about US$6.7) per hour last year, accounting for 12.4 percent of the country's 22.42 million wage workers, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Minimum Wage Commission under the Ministry August 11, 2026

Samsung SDI to buy out GM's Indiana battery plant SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - Samsung SDI announced Tuesday it will buy out General Motors' entire 49.99 percent stake in their U.S. battery joint venture, SynergyCells, giving the South Korean cell maker its first wholly owned battery plant in North America. The two companies also signed a joint development agreement to co-develop next-generation prismatic batteries for electric vehicles, drawing on Samsung SDI's high energy density and fast-charging technologies. The resulti August 11, 2026

Unitree heads to market as China dominates humanoid robotics' first act SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - In humanoid robotics’ first commercial act, there is one dominant player: China, whose manufacturers accounted for more than 97 percent of global shipments in the first half of 2026. South Korea, despite betting heavily on physical AI, remains largely a robotics powerhouse inside its own factory gates. Korea has 1,220 industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers, the highest density in the world, according to the International Federation of Ro August 11, 2026

Crowded leverage turns Kospi boom into bust SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) — South Korea’s spectacular stock bull run has ridden increasingly on borrowed money, with retail leverage growing at nearly twice the U.S. pace, heavily concentrated in a handful of large-cap stocks and turning the rally into an increasingly high-stakes bet. Outstanding margin loans reached 36.7 trillion won ($25.7 billion) at the end of June, 5.5 times the 6.7 trillion won recorded at the end of 2016, according to a report by Lee Hyo-sub, a sen August 11, 2026