Korea's opposition party agrees to scrap plan for financial investment income tax

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) - South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party (DP) agreed Monday to scrap a plan to introduce a new tax on financial investment income, citing challenges in the country’s stock market. "We have agreed to support the government's push to withdraw the financial investment income tax," DP leader Lee Jae-myung said at the party’s Supreme Council meeting. The new tax was originally scheduled to be implemented next year, imposing

November 4, 2024

SK hynix to produce world's first 16-layer HBM chips early next year

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) — SK hynix announced plans Monday to start production of the world’s first 16-layer high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips early next year. At the SK AI Summit 2024 in Seoul, CEO Kwak Noh-jung said the upcoming 48GB HBM3E chip, currently under development, demonstrates an 18 percent improvement in training performance and a 32 percent increase in inference capabilities over 12-layer versions in simulation studies. The chip uses Advanced MR-MUF (m

November 4, 2024

Hyosung Heavy wins transformer contract from Orsted

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) - South Korean power equipment maker Hyosung Heavy Industries has secured a contract from Danish green energy giant Orsted to supply ultra-high voltage transformers for a British offshore wind project, the company said on Monday. The contract pushes Hyosung Heavy's European orders past 1 trillion won (US$730 million) this year, following earlier deals with Britain's National Grid and power utilities in Scotland and Norway, where the company holds the

November 4, 2024

Volpara Health wins $7.3 million U.S. defense contract for breast cancer screening

SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - Volpara Health, a New Zealand-based subsidiary of Korean medical AI company Lunit, announced Monday it has secured a five-year, $7.3 million contract with the U.S. Defense Health Agency (DHA) to deploy its Patient Hub mammography reporting and tracking system across military health facilities serving 9.6 million beneficiaries. "Working with the Defense Health Agency is a tremendous opportunity to improve healthcare for those who serve our nation,"

November 4, 2024

OPINION: US presidential election is too close to call. Don't blame polls

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) - With just hours remaining until election day in the United States, pundits and the public alike are scouring public opinion polls for early signs of a result. We've had months of campaigning and hundreds of polls. Yet, there are still few conclusive takeaways other than the dissatisfying catchphrase of election analysts the world over this year: "it's too close to call." Polling isn't predictive Both campaigns have at different t

November 4, 2024

Korea to begin East Sea gas drilling next month

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) - The state-run Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) is set to start exploratory drilling in the East Sea gas field next month, sources said Monday. The West Capella drilling ship, owned by Seadrill, is expected to arrive at Busan port around Dec. 10 and proceed to the "Blue Whale" drilling site, about 50 kilometers east of Pohang. The ship can drill to depths of 11,430 meters. U.S. oilfield services giant Schlumberger will analyze rock and gas

November 4, 2024

OPINION: Is Donald Trump preying on his supporters' death fears? What terror management theory offers us

SEOUL, November 4 (AJP) - Death and destruction from climate crises — flooding, fires, hurricanes and heat. Then there's the multimedia firehose of tragic accidents, gruesome images from devastating wars, seemingly random local street violence, warnings of a Third World War and grim distress signals about the dangers of rising authoritarianism on the eve of the United States presidential election and the possible return to power of climate-change skeptic Donald Trump. Comb

November 4, 2024

'APT.' by Rosé and Bruno Mars hits No. 2 on UK chart

SEOUL, November 3 (AJP) - BLACKPINK's Rosé has achieved the highest-charting single by a female K-pop singer on the U.K. Official Singles Chart, with her collaboration with Bruno Mars, "APT.," reaching No. 2 Friday. The song, which debuted at No. 4 on Oct. 25, climbed two spots, trailing only Gigi Perez's "Sailor Song." PSY's 2012 hit "Gangnam Style" remains the only K-pop song to have topped the U.K. chart. "APT.," dropp

November 3, 2024

US strategic bomber joins air drills with S.Korea, Japan in response to N.Korean missile test

SEOUL, November 3 (AJP) — South Korea, the United States, and Japan conducted joint aerial drills on Sunday involving a U.S. B-1B strategic bomber in response to a recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test by North Korea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The supersonic bomber, escorted by fighter jets from the three countries, conducted precision strike exercises in the overlapping air defense identification zones (ADIZ) of South Korea and Japa

November 3, 2024

'Small gestures can make difference': Social entrepreneur helps isolated youth reconnect

SEOUL, November 1 (AJP) - When hundreds of young Korean women were rushed to emergency rooms for suicide attempts in 2020, Lee Eun-ae knew she had to act. The social entrepreneur saw it as a desperate cry for help from a generation losing hope. "Due to COVID-19 social distancing measures, numerous small businesses were forced to close. This particularly affected young women in their 20s who relied on part-time jobs for income, leaving them uncertain about their future," sa

November 1, 2024