• 
  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
• 
  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
• 
  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
• 
  Samsung union flags 18% output hit, raises stakes with 18-day strike threat SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - Unionized workers at Samsung Electronics said last week’s rally cut memory output by nearly 20 percent, signaling the scale of disruption a looming 18-day strike could unleash on global chip supply. In a statement Monday, Choi Seung-ho, head of the company’s Enterprise Union branch, said a hours-long rally on April 23 led to a 58 percent drop in foundry production and an 18 percent decline in memory chip output, based on overnight wafer transfer April 27, 2026
• 
  South Korea, Australia to hold foreign ministers' meeting in Seoul this week SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is scheduled to meet his Australian counterpart in Seoul later this week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. Cho is expected to discuss cooperation in various areas including the defense and energy sectors, during his meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Thursday. According to the ministry, the two sides will reaffirm their commitment to working together on shared challenges including the ongoing c April 27, 2026
• 
  Admiral Yi still towers over Seoul - in stone and in spirit SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) -The bronze figure of Yi Sun-sin stands immovable over Gwanghwamun, but his presence is anything but static. Centuries after his death, the admiral remains one of South Korea’s most revered figures — often mentioned alongside Sejong the Great — his legacy woven into daily life, civic pride and national memory. That legacy came alive over the weekend as Seoul citizens turned out in force for the 2026 Yi Sun-sin Festival. Seoul& April 27, 2026
• 
  Fierce showdown looms in Busan as former IT expert likely to join race for local elections SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - Ha Jung-woo, the presidential adviser for artificial intelligence and future strategies, is highly likely to declare his bid for the upcoming local elections as early as this week. The Busan native, who has been repeatedly courted by the ruling Democratic Party (DP), is expected to run in the southern port city's northwestern district of Buk-gu against Han Dong-hoon, the former leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), in what is likely to b April 27, 2026
• 
  Korea Zinc's Tennessee smelter gains a rare fast-track federal greenlight SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - Korea Zinc's $7.4 billion Tennessee smelter - largely funded by Washington - has been fast-tracked to expedite the first zinc refinery project in the United States since the 1970s. The company said Project Crucible, its planned non-ferrous metals complex in Clarksville, has been designated a covered project under FAST-41, a Washington program run by the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) that consolidates federal permitt April 27, 2026
• 
  S. Korea pursues Australian energy lifeline as Middle East conflict chokes supply lanes SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - In a bid to exit the current energy bottleneck caused by the war in the Middle East and diversify the country's energy sources, South Korea's foreign minister Cho Hyun will host his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, in Seoul this Thursday. The April 30 summit comes as Seoul grapples with the fallout of the war in Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a blockade that has effectively stranded the fossil fuels required to power the wo April 27, 2026
• 
  Seoul and Tokyo benchmarks touch new highs as tech rally overrides Gulf jitters SEOUL, April 27 (AJP) - Seoul's main KOSPI touched a new ceiling at 6,600 on institutional buying early Monday, brushing aside weekend incidents — the stalemated U.S.-Iran peace talks and a shooting incident during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attended by U.S. President Donald Trump. Both the KOSPI and junior KOSDAQ gained nearly 2 percent, pushing their combined market capitalization above 6,000 trillion won, up nearly 40 percent from the beginning of th April 27, 2026