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  Korean classrooms are thinning fast and remain isolated from AI transition  SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - Fewer than 300,000 children will enter first grade across South Korea when the school year begins in March — the smallest cohort on record. The number is set to fall further as the country's ultra-low birthrate continues to hollow out the school-age population. These eight-year-olds are starting school at a moment when artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping work, production and decision-making across society. Yet serious doubts remain o January 13, 2026
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  Ice fishing at day and light festival at dark at Hwacheon SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) -A small borderland county of some 20,000 residents readies itself each winter for a global influx of visitors, as Hwacheon opens its doors to the world-famous Ice Fishing Festival. The first glow appears on Seondeung Street, the gateway to Hwacheon-gun in Gangwon Province. Lined with some 27,000 handcrafted mountain-trout lanterns and LED lights, the street becomes a river of light at dusk. Each lantern is made of hanji, traditional Korean paper, painte January 13, 2026
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  POSCO raises $700 million in US dollar bond sale SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - POSCO, South Korea’s largest steelmaker, has completed its first U.S. dollar–denominated public bond sale of the year, becoming the first South Korean company to tap the global dollar bond market in 2026. The company said Tuesday that it raised $700 million through a two-part offering comprising $400 million of five-year notes and $300 million of 10-year notes. POSCO initially marketed the bonds at spreads of about 1.15 percentage points ov January 13, 2026
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  North Korea's UN envoy defends Russia's airstrikes on Ukraine as 'self-defense' SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - North Korea on Tuesday defended Russia's recent air strike on Ukraine as a "just exercise of the right to self-defense of a sovereign state," amid its deepening military ties with Moscow. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song attended an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting in New York following Russia's barrage of missile attacks on Ukraine last week. January 13, 2026
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  South Korean, Japanese leaders stress closer cooperation amid turbulent times SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation amid a rapidly shifting international environment as the two met for talks in Japan on Tuesday. During their summit in Nara, Takaichi's hometown and Japan's ancient capital during the early imperial era, the two leaders stressed the strategic importance of bilateral relations and agreed to pursue a forward-looking relationshi January 13, 2026
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  Trump's Taiwan chip 'big deal' reshapes foundry race, puts Korea in strategic bind SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - After extracting concessions from Japan and South Korea, U.S. President Donald Trump is now pressing another semiconductor powerhouse — Taiwan — using trade leverage to pull advanced chip manufacturing onto U.S. soil. Under an emerging deal, Washington plans to cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent from 20 percent in exchange for a major expansion of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s U.S. manufacturing footprint, according January 13, 2026
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  Much robotics hoopla at CES 2026 — too many bodies, too few brains SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - At CES 2026, robots flew men off their feet with perfectly timed jabs, flipped through synchronized somersaults and danced with algorithmic confidence. Behind the curtain, those same robots swung wildly into empty air — punches landing nowhere, movements jittery, as if they'd had one cocktail too many before the bout. A human operator stood nearby, joystick hidden behind his back, fingers doing the real work. Welcome to CES 2026, where ph January 13, 2026
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  South Korea's Wemade brings new Mir game to China with localized features SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - South Korean game developer Wemade has officially launched "Mir M," the latest title based on its long-running Mir franchise, in China. The game is available on Android, Apple’s iOS and PC platforms in China, the company said. Mir M is a modern reinterpretation of the world of “The Legend of Mir 2,” Wemade’s flagship title that gained widespread popularity in China in the early 2000s. The new release carries over January 13, 2026
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  Nearly 40% of South Koreans see public sector as corrupt, survey shows SEOUL, January 13 (AJP) - About four in 10 South Koreans consider most public institutions to be corrupt, a recent survey reveals. The state-run Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission surveyed about 1,400 adults, 700 businesspeople, 630 experts, 400 foreigners and 1,400 civil servants last year and released its results on Tuesday. The two-round, large-scale survey conducted in June and October last year found that roughly 39.1 percent of respondents saw the public sector a January 13, 2026
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  Shared values for peace and prosperity - EU EU Commission President von der Leyen highlighted EU priorities in her State of the Union Address: making Europe strong and secure, boosting our competitive edge, fostering the green and digital transition. As the international scenario becomes ever more erratic, we shall strengthen international partnerships with like-minded democracies, like Korea. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is now into its fourth year. It constitutes a blatant breach of international January 13, 2026