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  Boy band NEXZ showcase new album in Seoul SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - Boy band NEXZ, made up mostly of Japanese-born members, held an event in Yongsan, Seoul on Monday to promote their new album. According to their management agency JYP Entertainment, "Mmchk," an onomatopoeic word coined to reflect the rhythmic sound of their music, is the septet's second album, following their debut in May 2024 after being formed through a global audition. The album contains three tracks, which are set to be available on major April 27, 2026
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  Kookmin University partners with PriestmanGoode for urban mobility design project SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - The Department of Automotive and Transportation Design at Kookmin University (KMU) is launching a joint industry-academic project with PriestmanGoode (PG), a British design consultancy, to develop mobility solutions for urban environments. The initiative aims to address traffic congestion and urban sprawl in South Korea's capital through design-led research, Kookmin University said Monday. The year-long project focuses on the Seoul 2050 Grand Plan, exam April 27, 2026
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  ASEAN specialist defines Presidnt Lee's South Asian tour as move for strategic survival SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - South Korea has locked in energy and industrial partnerships in India and Viet Nam this month to guard against a global "era of un-order." The agreements signed during the mid-April visits aim to double trade with India to 50 billion dollars and reach 150 billion dollars with Viet Nam by 2030 to counter intensifying supply chain volatility. Cho Won-deuk, director of the Center for ASEAN-Indian Studies at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, told April 27, 2026
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  South Korea's 1.7% growth may mark its ceiling as structural limits bite SEOUL, April 27 (AJP)- South Korea’s 1.7% first-quarter growth didn’t just beat expectations; it likely hit the ceiling. According to OECD estimates, the surprise performance suggests the economy is already running at full capacity, signaling that the nation’s structural growth potential has effectively reached its limit. Gross domestic product rose 1.7 percent in the January–March period from the previous quarter, nearly double the Bank of Korea’ April 27, 2026
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  KOSPI, Nikkei close at all-time highs on chip rally, strong institutional buying SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - South Korea's benchmark KOSPI closed at a fresh record high on Monday, while Japan's Nikkei 225 also finished at an all-time high, as semiconductor-driven gains and strong institutional inflows outweighed concerns over rising oil prices amid the prolonged conflict in the Middle East. The KOSPI rose 2.2 percent to close at 6,615.03 points, after swinging between a low of 6,529.20 and a record intraday high of 6,657.22. Institutions bought 1.10 trillion April 27, 2026
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  Hanwha Ocean posts 71% surge in Q1 operating profit on high-value ships, FX SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, driven by a higher share of high-value vessels and favorable exchange rates. The shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing on Monday that its consolidated operating profit rose 70.6 percent year-on-year to 441.1 billion won ($300 million) in the January–March period. The figure exceeded the market consensus of 375 billion won by 17.6 percent. Revenue cam April 27, 2026
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  Korea moves to lock in tourism windfall as regional travel shifts boost arrivals SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - South Korea is moving to lock in a tourism windfall as shifting regional travel patterns and stronger visitor spending drive a surge in foreign arrivals ahead of a holiday-packed May. The country welcomed a record 4.76 million foreign visitors in the first quarter, up 23 percent from a year earlier, with 2.06 million arriving in March alone, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The March spike was partly driven by the full-member com April 27, 2026
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  Lee reaffirms his rapprochement policy toward North Korea, urging Pyongyang to respond SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung on Monday again reaffirmed his rapprochement toward North Korea for the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula. Lee said South Korea will "steadily push ahead with efforts toward peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula," in a statement read by Hong Ik-pyo, senior presidential secretary for political affairs, at an event marking the eighth anniversary of an agreement signed during a historic meeting between the tw April 27, 2026
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  Samsung, SK hynix morph into AI foundries as Big Tech reshapes chipmaking SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - The traditional line between memory makers and foundries is rapidly blurring as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix pivot toward customized chip production to meet surging artificial intelligence demand. As AI workloads grow more specialized, Big Tech clients are no longer buying standardized memory at scale but demanding tightly integrated, tailor-made solutions such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) co-designed with their own architectures — forcing Korea April 27, 2026
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  Korea-Japan rivalry may spill over to defense after Tokyo's lift of weapons ban  SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - The historic industrial rivalry between South Korea and Japan—once defined by a relentless "car war"—is migrating toward a high-stakes defense-industrial faceoff. As Tokyo pivots away from decades of postwar pacifist constraints to permit the export of lethal platforms, it enters a market where Seoul currently enjoys a global "golden age." While both nations operate as critical linchpins of the U.S. security architecture in April 27, 2026