Bond yields shoot up after back-to-back hike SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean government bonds staged a sharp reversal Thursday after the Bank of Korea's second straight rate hike, while the won strengthened only modestly despite closing at an 11-month high. The dollar-won rate fell 3.9 to close daytime trading at 1,380.9, its lowest level since September last year. The rate dropped as low as 1,377.3 shortly after the decision before recovering much of the decline later in the session. The BOK raised its base August 27, 2026

For Kazakhstan's Koryo-saram, exile became home ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Elena Ko has little difficulty answering a question that history made complicated for her family. "I'm Korean, but I think like Kazakh," she said through an interpreter. Ko, 55, is a third-generation Koryo-saram, a descendant of ethnic Koreans who settled across the former Soviet Union. She keeps Korean traditions, stays close to Kazakhstan's Korean community and travels to Seoul roughly once a year. But when she talks about home, August 27, 2026

KOSPI closes a tad higher as Nvidia boost fades on BOK rate hike SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean stocks opened higher on Nvidia's earnings beat on Thursday but gave back most of their gains after the Bank of Korea (BOK) raised its key interest rate for a second straight time and signaled further hikes. The main KOSPI closed at 6,912.37, up 104.16 points or 1.53 percent from the previous session, after opening 2.76 percent higher at 6,996.12. The country's two major chipmakers SK hynix and Samsung Electronics kept only part of the August 27, 2026

Court rules foreign children have right to register births in South Korea SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - The Constitutional Court of Korea ruled on Thursday that the lack of legal provisions for foreign nationals born in South Korea to register their births is unconstitutional. The ruling came in a case filed by a Vietnamese man, his spouse and their child, in which the court unanimously found the government's failure to establish a system for registering the births of foreign children born in here unconstitutional. The man entered South Korea in 2008 on August 27, 2026

Google-backed study finds Korean workers use AI more adeptly SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korean workers apply artificial intelligence with a sophistication about 1.7 times the global average, a report commissioned by Google Korea found, as employers increasingly treat fluency with the technology as a hiring priority. Google Korea released the findings on Thursday, drawing on a study by global consultancy Public First titled "Growth and Innovation in Korea Driven by AI." The report also concluded that training-driven productivity August 27, 2026

South Korea's homegrown Nuri rocket set for liftoff in early October SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea will launch its homegrown Nuri rocket for the fifth time this fall, the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) said on Thursday. KASA decided to launch the rocket on Oct. 7, at a meeting in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province earlier in the day after reviewing preparations for the space mission. The rocket carrying 15 satellites is scheduled to lift off between 12:23 p.m. and 1:23 p.m., with the exact time to be determined on the day based on we August 27, 2026

South Korea probes failed loitering munition test SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea’s arms procurement agency said Thursday it is investigating why two domestically developed loitering munitions crashed into the sea immediately after being launched from a Navy ship, while stressing that the failed maritime test does not mean the underlying development project has fallen short of its original goals. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said the medium-sized loitering munition was developed under an applied August 27, 2026

Top-income Koreans earn more cash, while real wages slide SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea's richest households pocketed much larger income gains in cash terms than those at the bottom in the second quarter, widening the absolute income gap even as workers suffered a third straight month of falling inflation-adjusted wages. Average monthly household income rose 4.5 percent from a year earlier to 5.30 million won in the April-June period, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' quarterly household survey released Th August 27, 2026

Korea expands half-price travel subsidy to 9 more rural areas SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - South Korea will expand a half-price travel subsidy program to nine more rural areas this fall after a first-half rollout boosted local spending, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Thursday. The program, aimed at rural areas facing population decline, refunds half of a visitor's travel expenses through mobile local gift certificates, up to 100,000 won ($72) per person and 140,000 won for young travelers. It launched in April across 16 August 27, 2026

Netflix and Stella Artois to launch global campaign SEOUL, August 27 (AJP) - Netflix and Belgian beer brand Stella Artois will launch a global campaign tied to the second season of "The Gentlemen: The Series," Netflix said Thursday. The campaign, titled "The Gentlemen's Serve," will run in eight countries: South Korea, the United States, Britain, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and South Africa. Netflix said it is the first brand partnership for "The Gentlemen: The Series." It is also the fi August 27, 2026