Dog days of summer end, so does Korea's dog meat tradition SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - There are "dog days of summer" for English-speaking societies. Korea likewise has its own pun from ancient calendar for the season’s punishing heat — and this Friday, its final dog day will carry an unusually literal sense of ending. Aug. 14 is Malbok, the last of the three traditional hottest days collectively known as Sambok, or Boknal. It will also be South Korea’s last Malbok before breeding, slaughtering and selling dogs fo August 11, 2026

Kookmin shrinks self-driving AI to run inside cars SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - A self-driving car has to work out where every other vehicle, pedestrian and obstacle around it sits in three-dimensional space, and it has to do so many times a second on a computer bolted inside the car rather than in a data center. A South Korean university team says it has found a way to shrink the software that does the recognizing without losing accuracy. Kookmin University said Tuesday that two master's students in its artificial intelligence an August 11, 2026

Zelenskyy repeatedly warns of expanded N. Korean role in Russia's war SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - North Korea's expanding role in Russia's war against Ukraine should raise security concerns in South Korea as Pyongyang gains battlefield experience and improves its weapons through cooperation with Moscow, Ukraine's top military commander has repeatedly warned. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russia was preparing to station additional North Korean troops on its territory and had received more ballistic missiles from Pyon August 11, 2026

Military to relocate Gwangju Air Base operations by 2028 for semiconductor cluster SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it will push to temporarily relocate military operations from Gwangju Air Base to other bases by mid-2028, clearing the way for the site to be developed as part of a major semiconductor cluster. “Consultations have continued throughout the process at various levels, including involving the defense minister, vice minister and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” the Defense Ministry spokesperson s August 11, 2026

KOSPI reverses early losses as KOSDAQ extends recent rally SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korean stocks reversed early losses Tuesday morning, with the benchmark KOSPI edging higher and the junior KOSDAQ gaining more than 1 percent as buying in construction and semiconductor equipment shares offset pressure from higher oil prices and renewed tensions between the U.S. and Iran. The main index traded 0.3 percent higher at 6,321 as of around 10:30 a.m., after falling more than 1 percent earlier in the session. It moved between a low of 6,213.7 August 11, 2026

CJ CheilJedang's Q2 operating profit slides on costs, weak home market SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - CJ CheilJedang, South Korea's largest food and bioscience group, announced that its second-quarter operating profit fell sharply as sluggish domestic demand and oil-driven increases in packaging and raw material costs squeezed margins. According to regulatory filings released Tuesday, consolidated revenue edged up 1.7 percent from a year earlier to 7.36 trillion won (about $5.19 billion) in the April-June quarter, while operating profit dropped 27.1 perc August 11, 2026

South Korean thriller inspired by former first lady invited to Toronto film fest SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - Director Hur Jin-ho's latest film "Assassin(s)" has been invited to this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which opens next month. The 131-minute thriller will be screened along with some 22 other films in the Gala Presentations of the annual festival, which runs from Sept. 10 to 20. Hur, alongside cast members Lee Min-ho, Park Hae-il and Yoo Hae-jin, will take part in various events including a red-carpet event to mee August 11, 2026

KAIST lines up gas atoms to pull gas mixtures apart SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - A South Korean research team has shown that gas atoms trapped inside a porous solid can be made to line up in a regular pattern, the way atoms line up in a crystal, instead of scattering wherever they land. The finding, so far demonstrated only in computer simulations, points to a different way of designing the materials that separate one gas from another. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Tuesday that a team led by Kim Ji-han in its August 11, 2026

NHN Q2 operating profit surges 164% on payment, tech growth SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korean internet firm NHN announced that its second-quarter operating profit jumped 164 percent from a year earlier, powered by robust demand across its payment, cloud and gaming businesses. According to regulatory filings released Tuesday, operating profit reached 57.9 billion won ($40.9 million) on a consolidated basis, while revenue climbed 25.3 percent to 757.9 billion won. Net profit rose 159 percent to 29.1 billion won. Payments, NHN's l August 11, 2026

Police raid state authorities in Jeju Air crash probe SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korean police investigating the 2024 Jeju Air disaster raided the transport ministry and other aviation authorities Tuesday as part of a widening probe into possible negligence linked to the crash that killed 179 people. A special investigation team began executing search warrants at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Airports Corp. and the Busan Regional Office of Aviation at around 9 a.m., according to police. Investigator August 11, 2026