Kazakhstan turns to South Korea to share vision for 'Alatau City' project

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - Kazakhstan is betting big on its flagship plan to build a new innovation and AI hub in the Alatau region, located near the borders with Russia and China, and is seeking close partnership with South Korea based on their shared history and development aspirations, officials said Wednesday. The Kazakh government launched a high-profile roadshow titled “Alatau, Rise with Kazakhstan” in Seoul to promote the initiative. The Alatau City project, n

October 15, 2025

AI boom gushes down to midstream, buoying Asian fab operators

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - Investors are closely watching third-quarter earnings from Taiwan’s foundry leader TSMC and South Korea’s AI memory powerhouse SK hynix to gauge the depth of surging demand for artificial intelligence chips—especially after stronger-than-expected results from Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics on Tuesday reported record quarterly revenue of 86 trillion won (approximately $62.4 billion) and an operating profit of 12.1 trillion won (

October 15, 2025

Foreign investors turn heavy buyers of Korean stocks and bonds in September

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - Foreign investors became net buyers of more than US$9 billion worth of Korean stocks and bonds in September, marking a sharp turnaround from a $600 million net outflow in August and signaling a recovery in confidence toward the Korean capital market, the central bank said Wednesday. According to data from the Bank of Korea, net foreign inflows into Korean securities reached $9.12 billion last month — $4.34 billion in equities and $4.48 billion in

October 15, 2025

80 South Korean detainees refuse to return home, Cambodia says

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - Around 80 South Koreans are being held in Phnom Penh but are refusing to return home, Cambodian authorities said on Wednesday. Touch Sokhak, a spokesperson for Cambodia's Ministry of Interior, told China's state-run Xinhua News the previous day that South Korean officials have contacted these individuals, but they refuse to return to Seoul. But he added that he was unsure whether they are the same as the 80 missing people the South Korean Minis

October 15, 2025

KAIST develops AI that learns across hospitals and banks without sharing private data

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - KAIST researchers have created a new kind of artificial intelligence that can learn from multiple institutions, like hospitals and banks, without ever sharing personal information. The technology is based on "federated learning," a method where different organizations train a shared AI model using their own data locally instead of sending it all to one place. The team led by Professor Park Chan-young from KAIST's Department of Industrial and

October 15, 2025

MASGA adrift in US-China crossfire, Hanwha left to wait out the storm

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - The “Make America Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA)” slogan—emblazoned on caps during a high-profile summit between South Korean and U.S. leaders in Washington last summer and central to a bilateral trade deal tied to a $350 billion investment package—appears to be adrift amid stalled negotiations and intensifying U.S.-China trade frictions that have now reached the seas. China's Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday invoked its anti-f

October 15, 2025

Excavation of Korean War remains near DMZ resumes

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - A project to excavate the remains of South Korean soldiers killed during the 1950–53 Korean War has resumed near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Gangwon Province, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday. The project aims to "return the remains of war victims to their families and transform the DMZ into a zone of peace," the ministry explained. As part of a series of conciliatory efforts to ease military tensions between the two

October 15, 2025

Hanwha Aerospace secures $105 million modular charge contract with Sweden

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace has clinched a 150 billion won (around $105 million) deal to supply modular charge systems to Sweden, marking its second export agreement with the Nordic nation as global demand for artillery ammunition surges. The defense contractor announced on Wednesday its signing of a three-year framework agreement and initial contract with Sweden's Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) at the Association of the United States Army

October 15, 2025

Gov't unveils stricter measures to rein in housing market

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - Stricter real estate and loan regulations have been expanded to cover all of Seoul and about a dozen areas in Gyeonggi Province. According to a set of government measures announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and related ministries, the so-called speculative zones, previously limited to several districts in Gangnam and Yongsan, now cover all 25 districts of Seoul as well as parts of Gyeonggi Province such as Anyang, Gwacheon, G

October 15, 2025

Korea's FDI dips 18% as of Q3 2025 amid weak M&A and currency

SEOUL, October 15 (AJP) - Foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Korea fell 18 percent in the first nine months of 2025 from a year earlier, hit by sluggish merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, political uncertainty, and the Korean won’s steep depreciation against the U.S. dollar, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday. Cumulative FDI pledges as of the third quarter stood at $20.65 billion, down from $25.18 billion a year earlier. Actual arrivals al

October 15, 2025