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  PHOTOS: Christmas scenes across Seoul SEOUL, November 21 (AJP) - With Christmas now only a month away, early holiday scenes are appearing throughout central Seoul. Large trees have been set up in major plazas and along busy streets, and rows of ginkgo and pine are wrapped in bright seasonal lights. Visitors pause to take photos against the glowing decorations, enjoying the quiet excitement that settles over the city at the end of the year. November 24, 2025
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  PHOTOS: Gangwon's ski season officially opens SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - With the early cold settling in this year, two major resorts in Gangwon Province — Yongpyong Ski Resort and Phoenix Park in Pyeongchang — opened their slopes on November 21 to mark the start of the 2025–2026 winter season. During the first weekend after opening, November 22–23, the two resorts drew an estimated 5,500 visitors at Yongpyong and about 4,100 at Phoenix Park. Skiers and snowboarders who had been waiting for winter cr November 24, 2025
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  Lee's approval rating edges up to 55.9% SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has inched up to 55.9 percent, up 1.4 percentage points from the previous week, pollster Realmeter said on Monday. According to the nationwide poll of over 2,500 people aged 18 and older conducted from Nov. 17 to 21, some 40.5 percent of respondents disapproved of Lee's performance, down 0.7 percentage points. The uptick in approval was attributed to his recent diplomatic achievements including a US$15 November 24, 2025
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  South Korea's HD Hyundai secures biggest container ship deal since 2007 SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - HD Hyundai has secured its biggest container ship order since the 2007 shipbuilding boom, landing a deal worth 2.13 trillion won ($1.44 billion) to build eight ultra-large container vessels for South Korean carrier HMM. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the group’s shipbuilding arm, said Monday it signed a contract to construct eight 13,400 TEU container ships equipped with LNG dual-fuel engines. The ships — each 337 mete November 24, 2025
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  South Korea's SK Earthon acquires 34% stake in Indonesian offshore block SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - SK Earthon, a subsidiary of SK Innovation, has acquired a 34 percent stake in Indonesia’s North Ketapang offshore block as part of a broader push to expand its resource development portfolio in Southeast Asia. The company said Monday it purchased the stake from Petronas North Ketapang Ltd., without revealing the price. Under the new partnership structure, Petronas North Ketapang retains a 51 percent stake, while PT Pertamina Hulu Energi North November 24, 2025
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  KAIST study finds red OLED light can reduce Alzheimer's protein and improve memory SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said on November 24 that its researchers have confirmed that a specific color of OLED light can reduce a key Alzheimer’s disease protein and improve memory in animal models, suggesting a possible new direction for non-drug treatment. The work was carried out with the Korea Brain Research Institute. The team tested three OLED colors, blue, green, and red, using a platform that keeps brig November 24, 2025
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  Asian shares make mild rebound early Mon after last week's AI tantrums SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - Asian markets showed a mild recovery from last week's AI bubble tantrums with key indices pointing to north in early Monday session. South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI was trading 1 percent higher at 3,890 as of 10:30 a.m., recovering part of Friday's near 4-percent dive. Further rises were constrained by expectations of the Bank of Korea signaling extended pause in easing at its final Monetary Policy Board meeting of the year amid jump in the d November 24, 2025
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  Lee heads to Turkey for final leg of overseas trip SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday headed to Turkey, the final stop of his 10-day overseas trip after wrapping up his attendance at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in South Africa. While attending a series of sessions at the G20 in Johannesburg over the weekend after visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt earlier in the week, Lee proposed easing debt burdens for developing countries and normalizing multilateral trade systems. He also emphasized inte November 24, 2025
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  Victims of Belgian real estate fund mis-selling at brokerages will get compensation SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - Korea Investment & Securities will compensate investors in more than 450 cases linked to the mis-selling of a Belgian real estate fund, industry sources said Monday. The brokerage concluded that 458 of 883 complaints constituted mis-selling, equivalent to 24.1 percent of the 1,897 total fund sales. The fund, launched in June 2019, was designed to invest in office leases for Belgian government agencies and generate profits after a five-year holdi November 24, 2025
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  Record number of 30-somethings in Seoul unable to afford their own homes SEOUL, November 24 (AJP) - A triple whammy of soaring home prices, an increase in single-person households, and tighter loan regulations has pushed the number of households in their 30s without their own homes in Seoul to a record high. According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, the figure rose by 17,215 from the previous year to 527,729, the highest since relevant statistics began in 2015. After a slight dip from 475,606 in 2015 to 456,461 in 2018, the number of househo November 24, 2025