Retailers battle for supremacy in booming online fresh food market

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - South Korea’s major retailers are intensifying their push into the fresh food market, a fast-growing segment that has emerged as a critical battleground for both e-commerce and traditional chains. Coupang, the country’s dominant online retailer, is leading the charge. The company has ramped up its investment in fresh food logistics, forging direct partnerships with regional producers across South Chungcheong, South Gyeongsang, and North Gyeongsa

April 23, 2025

Prosecutors raid Korea Zinc, brokerages in market manipulation probe

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - Prosecutors raided the headquarters of Korea Zinc and several major brokerage firms on Wednesday as part of a widening investigation into allegations of unfair trading practices tied to a multibillion-dollar rights offering announced last year. Investigators from the Southern Seoul District Prosecutors’ Office carried out search and seizure operations at six corporate offices and five private residences, including those of Korea Zinc executives and bran

April 23, 2025

PHOTOS: Jeju Island's famed native horses

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - More than a hundred Jeju horses, designated national treasures, thundered across the verdant expanse of the Mabangmokji pasture near Mount Halla on April 19 and 20, marking a vibrant festival celebrating the island's equine heritage. The event showcased "ipmok," a time-honored Jeju tradition that ritually ushers livestock into new grazing lands or signals the commencement of spring pasturing. The festival aimed to underscore the profound cultural and hist

April 23, 2025

INTERVIEW: How Korean culture stole Parisian hearts, devoted advocate explains

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - "France today is completely different from what I once knew," said Lee Il-yeol, chief of the Korean Cultural Center in Paris, as he began his interview with AJP early this month. Reflecting on his time in the late 1980s when he first arrived in the city of light as a student, he said, "Back then, only a small circle of scholars of Asian studies or diplomats had some interest in South Korea, so the center often remained deserted, visited only by

April 23, 2025

Tariff tensions between US and China will dent Korea's growth: report

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - South Korea's economy could see its growth rate shaved by as much as half a percentage point this year if trade tensions between the United States and China continue to escalate, according to a report from Citigroup. The analysis underscores the deepening vulnerability of export-driven economies like South Korea's amid intensifying geopolitical frictions between the world’s two largest economies. Even under scenarios in which Seoul manages to

April 23, 2025

US State Department's post for North Korean human rights envoy remains vacant again

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - Washington's special envoy in charge of North Korean human rights issues has once again been left vacant since early this year, it was belatedly revealed on Tuesday. According to the U.S. Department of State, Julie Turner who "worked over the past 20 years to strengthen democratic institutions and promote human rights throughout the East Asia and Pacific Region" now serves as the acting deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Huma

April 23, 2025

With AI in focus, Naver, Kakao brace for earnings

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - South Korea’s leading tech companies, Naver and Kakao, are set to release their first-quarter earnings for 2025 next month, amid intensifying pressure to keep pace in the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. According to a filing with the Financial Supervisory Service on Wednesday, Naver will announce its results on May 9 via a conference call, while Kakao is scheduled to release its earnings a day earlier, on May 8. Analysts anti

April 23, 2025

Festival featuring top New Zealand wines to return next month

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - A festival showcasing premium wines from New Zealand will be held in Seoul and Busan next month. Hosted by the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Korea, also known as the Kiwi Chamber, the annual festival, first held in 2009, will feature around 25 varieties of wine this year including whites and reds from top wineries across the island country. Among others, Sauvignon Blanc is particularly popular among consumers here, thanks to the crisp white wine's

April 23, 2025

Prosecutors take over high-profile stock manipulation case linked to former first lady

SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - South Korea’s financial watchdog said it will refer a high-profile stock manipulation case possibly involving the country’s former first lady, Kim Keon Hee, to prosecutors on Wednesday. The Securities and Futures Commission, which oversees investigations into irregularities in the nation’s financial markets, will vote during its regular meeting on filing criminal complaints against individuals implicated in the manipulation of shares in Samb

April 23, 2025

PPP's presidential candidates whittled down to four

SEOUL, April 22 (AJP) - The ruling People Power Party (PPP)'s presidential candidates were whittled down to a four-way race on Tuesday, ahead of the upcoming presidential election slated for early June. Based on a two-day opinion poll of some 4,000 respondents, consisting of PPP supporters and undecided voters, conducted earlier this week, after last week's series of debates in which the candidates outlined their agendas and visions for the presidency, the PPP narrowed down

April 22, 2025