North Korean footballers get hero's welcome home after record fifth Asian Cup title SEOUL, May 20 (AJP) - Young North Korean footballers received a hero's welcome as they returned home after winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-17 Women's Asian Cup, state media reported on Wednesday. North Korea beat Japan 5-1 in the final in Jiangsu, China last Sunday to win the biennial tournament for a record fifth time, successfully defending the title it won in Indonesia in 2024. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, the players May 20, 2026

ASIA DEEP INSIGHT: Korea-Japan shuttle diplomacy evolving to civilian-led partnership Andong in May 2026 was not merely a provincial Korean city. It became a symbolic stage in the diplomatic history of Northeast Asia. Under the evening winds of Hahoe Village and the cascading sparks of the traditional Seonyu Julbulnori fire ritual, President Lee Jae-myung and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a message to the world that extended far beyond the formalities of another summit meeting. It was, in essence, a declaration that relations between South Korea and Japan a May 20, 2026

Samsung Live: Samsung faces 'D-Day' as last-ditch labor talks spilled over into execution eve SEOUL, May 20 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics and its largest labor union will head back to the negotiating table on Wednesday morning after grueling, marathon talks failed to reach a breakthrough overnight, leaving the tech giant just hours away from a historic full-scale strike. The closed-door session is scheduled to reconvene at 10 a.m. at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) in Sejong, marking the third round of post-mediation talks. The immediate eve-of-strike meeting May 20, 2026

Rides to see and feel Seoul by water and sky SEOUL, May 19 (AJP) - The Han River has always cut Seoul in two. Rising from the Taebaek Mountains and emptying into the Yellow Sea, it served for millennia as Korea's commercial artery — grain barges, merchant boats, wartime supply lines threading through the heart of the peninsula. Then the expressways came, the subway came, and the river was quietly pensioned off into a parkland backdrop while the roads above filled up and stayed that way. Anyone who has sat on the O May 19, 2026

Samsung Live: Govt to mediate if talks fail in settlement by 10 p.m. SEOUL, May 19 (AJP) -The South Korean government is ready to put up its mediation version if Samsung Electronics Co. and its largest labor union fail to reach a wage agreement by 10 p.m. as it endeavors to stop a potentially disruptive strike at the world’s largest memory chipmaker planned for Thursday. "We will see if the management and union come to a settlement by around 10 p.m., and it will be decided whether an agreement is reached or whether a mediation is necessary May 19, 2026

ASIA DEEP INSIGHT: The Curtain has risen on the great U.S.-China AI war The U.S.-China summit held in Beijing in May 2026 appeared calm on the surface. President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping projected an image of management rather than confrontation. In the aftermath of the meeting, both sides reiterated the familiar diplomatic line that “dialogue will continue,” and financial markets responded with a measure of cautious relief. Yet the true significance of this summit lay far beyond the choreography of diplomacy. What unfolded in May 19, 2026

Digital hermitage exhibition opens at Seoul's Oil tank culture park SEOUL, May 19 (AJP) - A digital exhibition of Russia's Hermitage Museum, considered one of the world's three greatest museums, is being held at the Oil Tank Culture Park in Sangam, Mapo-gu, Seoul. On Monday, May 18, diplomatic envoys from 31 countries, including Russia, visited the exhibition featuring majestic masterpieces created over centuries. Russian Ambassador to South Korea Georgy Zinoviev emphasized, "What I want to stress is that this project May 19, 2026

Samsung strike threat highlights widening Korea-U.S. divide in AI-era pay SEOUL, May 19 (AJP) - With memory giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix posting operating margins above 70 percent and quarterly chip profits of $25 billion to $35 billion, South Korea's AI-boom windfall has laid bare a compensation system still tethered to the industrial era — and the workers who built it want their share. Marathon government-mediated labor talks, watched closely by the president, politicians and investors alike, underscore the national stakes: Samsun May 19, 2026

Uniqlo's flagship outlet to return to Seoul's shopping district of Myeong-dong SEOUL, May 19 (AJP) - Japanese fast-fashion brand Uniqlo is returning to Seoul's major shopping district of Myeong-dong later this week. The reopening of its Myeong-dong outlet, slated for Friday, comes after most of its stores gradually exited the market about five years ago except for a few key locations, due to South Koreans' boycott of Japanese products over historical spats between the neighboring countries, compounded by declining sales during the coronavirus pan May 19, 2026

Korea's bond and currency retreat deepens rate hike bias SEOUL, May 19 (AJP) - South Korean bonds and currency took a renewed beating amid broad strengthening in the greenback and a global debt retreat amid jitters over government borrowing to finance war costs and inflation risks with little sign of the Gulf crisis abating. Long-dated sovereign bonds across major economies — including the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom — have hit levels unseen in two to three decades. And Korean bonds rank among the worst pe May 19, 2026