​​Pyongyang ups naval and air saber-rattling over Seoul's nuclear-submarine plan

SEOUL, December 25 (AJP) -North Korea on Thursday warned that U.S. and South Korean moves involving nuclear-powered submarines would destabilize the Korean Peninsula, as Pyongyang combined sharp rhetoric with fresh disclosures of naval and air-defense weapons development. North's leader Kim Jong-un condemned South Korea’s plan to develop nuclear-powered submarines during what appeared to be a deliberately choreographed visit to a submarine construction site, according to

December 25, 2025

President Lee pledges warmth and hope for all in first Christmas message

SEOUL, December 25 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday expressed hope that the coming year would bring warmth and hope to the daily lives of all people in his first Christmas message since taking office. In a Christmas Day post on Facebook, Lee said, "This is a day that comes around every year, but I hope it brings you a little more happiness, and that you can spend joyful moments smiling with your loved ones." Reflecting on the meaning of Christmas, the preside

December 25, 2025

K-fashion looks flat. The power shift is anything but.

Editor's Note: This is the fifth installment in AJP's 2026 outlook series on South Korea's key industries. SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - By the numbers, K-fashion is barely moving. Beneath the surface, however, control of the industry is shifting rapidly from department-store legacy brands to platform-born labels that now define how younger Koreans dress. Korea’s overall fashion market grew only about 2–3 percent in 2024 and is estimated to have expanded at

December 24, 2025

Bus drivers in Seoul threaten strike next month over wage dispute

SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - Unionized bus drivers in Seoul threatened on Wednesday to go on a strike next month after wage talks collapsed earlier in the day. They rejected a 10 percent-wage raise offer and threatened to strike on Jan. 13, citing management's failure to fulfill wage-related pledges. They argued that bonuses should be included in their wages, citing a Supreme Court ruling last year, and insisted that this is "not a bargaining issue but a legal requiremen

December 24, 2025

Korean mukbang gets Ingenious — and a little unhinged — to keep its crown

SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and nowhere is that crown greasier, spicier or more relentlessly filmed than in South Korea's food universe. Once again this year, the surprise breakout star from Korea's global content pipeline is not a pop idol or a prestige drama, but food — turbocharged by its cameo-laden role in Netflix's most-watched-ever series, "KPOP Demon Hunters," and freshly canonized as culture by the Wall St

December 24, 2025

Korea Zinc clears legal hurdle for $7.4 billion U.S. smelter project

SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - A South Korean court on Wednesday dismissed an injunction filed by Young Poong Group and MBK Partners seeking to block Korea Zinc's landmark investment deal with the U.S. government, paving the way for the world's largest non-ferrous metal smelter to proceed with a $7.4 billion refinery project in Tennessee. The Seoul Central District Court rejected the plaintiffs' request to halt a third-party share allocation that would give the U.S. governme

December 24, 2025

Kimchi loses ground at home to cheaper Chinese imports, British daily says

SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - South Korea's staple dish, kimchi, is losing ground on price, fueling a surge in imports of Chinese-made kimchi, the Guardian reported earlier this week. The British daily on Monday said, "South Korea imports more kimchi than it exports, and the gap has widened as cheaper Chinese-made products take hold in the domestic market." Figures from the Korea Customs Service show this trend, with kimchi imports totaling US$159.46 million during the

December 24, 2025

Hate it or not, Coupang remains indispensable to Korean consumers — for now

SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - Coupang is facing intensifying scrutiny from regulators in South Korea and the United States, alongside a growing list of civil and class-action lawsuits. Yet despite mounting criticism over its handling of a massive data breach, the e-commerce group remains deeply embedded in daily life for Korean consumers — from shopping and food delivery to streaming. This week, the South Korean government launched an inter-agency task force to investigate what o

December 24, 2025

Presidential office to move back to Cheong Wa Dae early next week

SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - President Lee Jae-myung is set to move into the sprawling compound of Cheong Wa Dae in central Seoul early next week, after vacating the current presidential office in Yongsan, his officials said on Wednesday. The relocation of the presidential office comes roughly three years and seven months after former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached earlier this year, moved it to the nondescript Defense Ministry building in Yongsan on the first day of his

December 24, 2025

Samsung contains brief smoke incident at Hwaseong plant; no injuries, no production impact

SEOUL, December 24 (AJP) - A brief smoke incident was quickly contained at Samsung Electronics’ Hwaseong plant on Wednesday, with no injuries or impact on production, the company said. Local fire authorities received a report at 10:01 a.m. that smoke was detected in a research building, caused by carbonization in a pump unit. Samsung’s onsite emergency team extinguished the source within about 10 minutes before firefighters arrived. Around 120 employees evacuated in

December 24, 2025