KOSPI slips below 7,000 again as Morgan Stanley sparks chip sell-off SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - South Korean stocks swung sharply lower shortly after the market opened on Thursday, giving up much of the previous session's explosive gains as investors cashed in on the rally following another overnight sell-off in U.S. semiconductor shares. Fresh concerns over artificial intelligence (AI)-related infrastructure spending, sparked by a cautious report from U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley, added to the pressure on technology stocks. Investor sentiment July 16, 2026

BOK delivers its first hike since January 2023 SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - As widely expected, the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday bumped up its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent for the first time in three and a half years to contain imported price pressure and feverish leveraged investment. A combination of factors shifted the central bank toward a tightening bias after it had kept the policy rate unchanged since cutting it to 2.50 percent in May last year. Consumer prices rose 3.2 percent from a year ea July 16, 2026

Na Hong-jin's sci-fi thriller off to good box-office start SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - Director Na Hong-jin's return to the big screen got off to a strong start, as his sci-fi thriller "Hope" topped the South Korean box office, attracting more than 330,000 moviegoers on its opening day. According to ticket sales data released by the Korean Film Council on Thursday, "Hope" drew about 333,000 moviegoers the previous day, marking the strongest opening of any Korean film released this year. The impressive start surpassed d July 16, 2026

MBK, Meritz to inject 200 bln won lifeline into Homeplus SEOUL, July 16 (AJP) - Homeplus, the ailing South Korean supermarket chain teetering on the edge of liquidation, is poised to secure a last-minute rescue after its major shareholder and largest creditor tentatively agreed to provide 200 billion won ($134.5 million) in emergency operating funds. MBK Partners, the private equity firm that controls Homeplus, and Meritz Financial Group reached the provisional agreement on Wednesday, according to financial industry sources. The injection July 16, 2026

Ten years on, Türkiye's fallen answer roll call ANKARA, July 15 (AJP) - The name of a dead man rang out over a sunbaked park in Ankara on Wednesday, and thousands of voices answered for him. "Burada!" the crowd shouted. Here. Present. Another name followed, and another answer. It went on 253 times, once for each person killed on the night of July 15, 2016, when a faction of the Turkish military tried to seize the state and the public walked into gunfire to stop it. To a foreign ear, the word sounded uncannily like July 16, 2026

Inside South Korea's making of a chip republic This is the first installment of AJP's Chip Republic series, examining how South Korea is reshaping its industrial landscape around semiconductors and artificial intelligence. SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - South Korea has rarely drawn as much scrutiny as it does now, as it emerges as the epicenter of the memory chips fueling the AI industrial revolution. Two companies — Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — account for roughly 40 percent of the country's record expo July 16, 2026

Failed UAM demo exposes long road ahead for Korea's flying taxi SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - South Korea's vision of launching urban air mobility services within two years suffered an awkward reality check Wednesday after the country's first public demonstration of a domestically developed air taxi failed to get off the ground. The unmanned aircraft remained firmly on the ground despite three attempts to take off during the K-UAM Flight Showcase at Incheon National University's INU Innovation Center. Organizers eventually called off th July 15, 2026

Homeplus tenants protest in Seoul as ailing supermarket chain on verge of going bust SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - More than 50 small business owners operating inside ailing supermarket chain Homeplus staged a protest in central Seoul on Wednesday. In a rally that gathered Homeplus-linked merchants and tenants from across the country, they demanded the government guarantee their right to continue operating and ensure payment of their unpaid dues. The massive rally came after Homeplus, whose court rehabilitation was terminated last week, abruptly s July 15, 2026

Korean sovereign bonds emerges as Asia's standout bond trade: MarketAxess SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) — While foreign investors have grown increasingly selective across Asia's bond markets, South Korea has emerged as the region's lone standout, attracting uninterrupted monthly inflows into government debt as global funds bet on the country's semiconductor-driven economy and forthcoming inclusion in one of the world's most influential sovereign bond indexes. "Korea has certainly been an interesting market when we look at Korean Treasu July 15, 2026

KOSPI climbs back above 7,000 as foreign investors snap up semiconductor shares SEOUL, July 15 (AJP) - South Korean stocks led gains across Asia on Wednesday as softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data and ASML's stronger earnings, higher guidance and chipmaking capacity expansion plans fueled broad-based buying, with foreign investors piling into semiconductor shares. The benchmark KOSPI surged 6.24 percent or 427.58 points to close at 7,284.41, rebounding above 7,000 just two days after falling below the level earlier this week. Foreign investors bough July 15, 2026