ROK Navy appoints first woman to command major naval vessel SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - The Republic of Korea Navy has appointed Capt. Bae Sun-young as commanding officer of ROKS Dokdo, making her the first woman to command one of the service’s major vessels. Bae will formally take command of the ship on Wednesday, the Navy said Tuesday. Captains are the highest-ranking commanding officers assigned to Navy ships and lead major vessels such as amphibious assault ships, destroyers and large logistics support ships. No female officer had August 4, 2026

BECUAI hits daily limit on return from capital reduction SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) — Shares of South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) data company BECUAI surged to the daily 30 percent trading limit on Tuesday as trading resumed following a capital reduction, while growing demand for licensed AI training data added to positive sentiment. The stock was trading at 2,990 won ($2.15), up 30 percent from the previous close Tuesday, according to the Korea Exchange. Trading resumed after the company reduced the number of outstanding sha August 4, 2026

Eco-friendly vehicles make up nearly 60% of new car registrations in South Korea SEOUL, August 4 (AJP) - Six in 10 newly registered vehicles in South Korea in the first half of this year were eco-friendly models, amid a decline in registrations of internal combustion engine vehicles, the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA) said on Tuesday. The number of newly registered vehicles during the first six months rose 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 850,636, with eco-friendly vehicles including electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, accounting for August 4, 2026

Government diet report gives South Koreans a C SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) -If South Koreans were graded on their eating habits, they would earn a C, with young adults dragging down the national score as they skipped breakfast and fell short on fruit and whole grains, government data showed Tuesday. South Korean adults scored an average 58.6 out of 100 on the Korean Healthy Eating Index for 2022–2024, little changed from the 58.9 recorded in 2019–2021, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Th August 4, 2026

AI windfall splits One-Samsung as DX workers plan protest rally SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics' record first-half earnings have exposed an unusual corporate paradox: the semiconductor division generated almost all of the company's profits, but in doing so widened an internal pay gap that is now splintering the company's long-held "One Samsung" culture. Samsung's Device Solutions (DS) semiconductor division earned 146.7 trillion won ($106 billion) in operating profit during the first half, dwarfing the 3. August 4, 2026

Korean issues in short-term debt hit record high H1 SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) —South Korean companies increasingly turned to short-term borrowing in the first half as higher funding costs and a sluggish capital market outside the semiconductor sector pushed issuers away from longer-term financing. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Tuesday, companies raised a record 1,272.8 trillion won ($917 billion) through commercial paper (CP) and short-term notes during the January-June period, up 68 percent from a year August 4, 2026

New humanoids break from the two-legged mold SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - A horned, chainsaw-wielding machine that looks less like a factory helper than a creature from Greek myth went viral online this week, the latest sign that the humanoid robot — long imagined as a two-legged mechanical twin of its maker — is quietly shedding the human silhouette that once defined it. The machine, named Threehalves, is being developed by Satyress Robotics, a startup based in Auburn, California. It grafts a humanoid upper body onto August 4, 2026

Samsung's Galaxy Z8 shatters 7-year pre-order record SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - South Koreans are snapping up Samsung Electronics’ latest foldable phones at a blistering pace of 140 units per minute, shattering a seven-year pre-order record and proving that the foldable form factor has officially shed its novelty status to become a mainstream must-have. Over a seven-day pre-order window that wrapped up on Monday, the tech giant racked up a staggering 1.44 million domestic sales for its Galaxy Z8 series, comprising the Z Fold8, Z August 4, 2026

SK hynix and SanDisk unveil HBF Blueprint for AI terabyte era SEOUL, August 04 (AJP) - The artificial intelligence boom has a voracious appetite for memory, and the industry’s leading architects just released a new blueprint to keep it fed. On Tuesday, SK hynix and SanDisk published the first open standard specifications for High Bandwidth Flash (HBF), officially firing the starting gun on a new structural race designed to cure the massive data bottlenecks threatening real-world AI deployment. As the industry transitions from train August 4, 2026

A Twosome Place gains ground as Starbucks struggles with 'Tank Day' controversy SEOUL, August 4 (AJP) - South Korea's oversaturated coffee market is showing signs of a potential seismic shift, as Starbucks, the long-dominant market leader, has taken a hit to sales and reputation following its so-called "Tank Day" controversy, while rivals such as A Twosome Place have gained ground in recent months. A Twosome Place recorded an estimated 117.05 billion won in card payment transactions in July, according to Mobile Index, a data platform opera August 4, 2026