The National museum of Kazakhstan Ancient human remains found alongside gold artifacts are displayed at the Kazakhstan National Museum in Astana. August 23, 2026

The National museum of Kazakhstan Visitors enter the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Astana. August 23, 2026

Nvidia meets Korea's would-be challenger Rebellions as AI chip lines blur SEOUL, August 23 (AJP) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has recently met with the head of South Korean AI chip startup Rebellions, bringing the world's dominant AI chipmaker face to face with a company built partly around offering an alternative to Nvidia-powered inference. A Rebellions official confirmed to AJP on Sunday that Huang and Rebellions co-founder and CEO Sunghyun Park had recently met. "The two recently met," the official said, adding that the company was sti August 23, 2026

Kazakhs in Seoul vote in first Kurultai election SEOUL, August 23 (AJP) - The first voter reached the Kazakh embassy in Seoul at 7 a.m. Sunday, hours before most of the roughly 300 Kazakh nationals eligible to cast ballots in South Korea would make their way to the compound to help choose their country's new parliament. She was Azhar Karimzhanova, 23, a student at Korea University, according to Rakhymzhan Altynbay, an official at the embassy. By 1:30 p.m., Altynbay said, about 70 people had voted. That is roughly a quarte August 23, 2026

Korea's drinking culture loses its buzz as alcohol shipments hit 27-year low SEOUL, August 23 (AJP) - South Korea's alcohol shipments fell below 3 million kiloliters for the first time since the Asian financial crisis, as declining consumption and changing drinking habits continue to reshape a market long dominated by beer, soju and company gatherings. Domestic alcohol shipments totaled 2.988 million kiloliters last year, according to data from the National Tax Service's Tax Statistics Information Service, or TASIS. It marked the first time August 23, 2026

Korea looks to turn chip windfall into fiscal war chest SEOUL, August 23 (AJP) - South Korea is looking to turn a tax windfall from its booming semiconductor industry into a new fiscal reserve, extending the economic spoils of the AI memory boom from chipmakers, workers and shareholders to government coffers. The government plans to establish a "Future Response Fund" that would collect tax revenue exceeding longer-term trends and channel it into strategic areas including youth programs, future growth industries, regional deve August 23, 2026

KB Bank taps foreign residents to reshape services for growing customer base SEOUL, August 23 (AJP) - KB Kookmin Bank is bringing foreign residents into its product feedback process as the Korean lender expands financial services targeting the country's growing international population. The bank said Saturday it launched the first group of "KB Global Star Supporters," a 12-member customer panel made up of foreign residents in their 20s to 40s. The panel will test KB's banking services, including foreign exchange products, and provi August 23, 2026

Blizzard rules out Korea-only balance patches for Overwatch BUSAN, August 23 (AJP) - Blizzard Entertainment will keep balancing Overwatch as a single global game rather than tailoring patches to Korea even under its new Nexon partnership, its game director said, even as Korean players keep pulling the shooter's meta in their own direction. "We typically don't try to balance the game differently per region," Aaron Keller said at a press conference at BEXCO, on the second and final day of Overwatch Day, the fan festival stage August 23, 2026

CORTIS marks first anniversary with expanded EP, two new tracks SEOUL, August 23 (AJP) - K-pop boy group CORTIS will mark its first anniversary with an expanded edition of its second EP, adding two new tracks as the group continues its ongoing nine-city tour. The group will release "GREENGREEN playextended" at midnight on Monday, adding "PACK IT UP" and "MONEYMONEYMONEY" to the six tracks from its second EP "GREENGREEN." CORTIS gave fans an early preview of the two songs Saturday during the first August 23, 2026

Kazakhstan ties constitutional reform to stability before vote ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Aug. 23 (AJP) — The Kazakh government presented its constitutional overhaul to foreign correspondents as a way of protecting stability rather than disturbing it, a day before voters choose the country's first single-chamber parliament. Arman Issetov, deputy minister of foreign affairs, made the argument on Saturday (local time) at a briefing for journalists on a press tour covering the election, held at a hotel in Astana on Saturday afternoon. Pol August 23, 2026