New phone activations require face verification under pilot program

SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) - Starting Tuesday, anyone activating a new mobile phone in South Korea must undergo face verification in addition to presenting an ID. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it launched a pilot program for stricter identity checks to prevent phones from being illegally activated for crimes such as voice phishing and smishing. Under the program, face verification will be mandatory for new activations at in-person sign-up counters run by major telecom oper

December 23, 2025

KAI-backed AI firm Meissa raises $7 million ahead of planned 2026 IPO

SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) - Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) said on Tuesday that Meissa, a drone- and satellite-based geospatial artificial intelligence company in which it is a strategic investor, has completed a 9.7 billion won ($7 million) pre-IPO equity financing round. The deal brings Meissa’s cumulative funding to 35 billion won, the company said, adding that the proceeds will be used to upgrade its business operations. Meissa is targeting an IPO in the second half o

December 23, 2025

Unionized rail workers postpone strike for now

SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) - Unionized railway workers called off their planned all-out strike after receiving a new offer on bonus payments overnight. State-run rail operator KORAIL's workers, who had planned to go on strike starting with the first train on Tuesday unless the agreements are fulfilled, said they would discuss further on performance-based bonuses, as management proposed gradually restoring them from 80 percent of base pay to 90 percent next year and to full pay in

December 23, 2025

South Korea unveils roadmap to move chemical sector up global value chain

SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) - South Korea will revamp public-private research and development in its chemical industry to accelerate a shift toward higher value-added and environmentally friendly production, the government said on Tuesday, aiming to lift the sector’s global standing by 2030. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it launched a chemical industry innovation alliance at a ceremony held at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul, attended by representatives fro

December 23, 2025

KAIST researchers develop animal-free culture platform to improve intestinal stem cell therapy

SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) - Researchers have developed a new technology to grow human intestinal stem cells without using animal-derived materials, resolving a major safety hurdle for regenerative medicine. The method significantly improves the ability of these cells to move and repair damaged tissues, potentially accelerating treatments for intractable gastrointestinal diseases. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) announced on December 23 that a joint re

December 23, 2025

K-ramyeon, AI chip and doll: Korean ramyeon joins WSJ's culture list for 2025

SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) -A vivid-red bowl of Korean instant noodles—slurped onscreen by a purple-braided K-pop heroine—has joined the Wall Street Journal’s list of the “20 objects defining culture in 2025,” placing Korean ramyeon alongside China’s viral toy craze Labubu and global pop phenomenon Taylor Swift. The ramyeon moment, drawn from Netflix’s animated smash KPop Demon Hunters, ranked third on the Journal’s list, following the

December 23, 2025

Korean Inc. leaders seeking large-scale trip to China in January

SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) -South Korea’s leading business leaders are seeking to visit China early next year as part of a large-scale economic delegation, a move that could coincide with a summit under discussion between President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to sources closed to the matter Monday. The delegation, expected to include Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Myung Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun

December 23, 2025

Lee Jae-yong reviews next-generation chip technologies at Samsung R&D and manufacturing hubs

SEOUL, December 22 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the company's Giheung and Hwaseong semiconductor campuses on Monday to review research progress and manufacturing readiness for upcoming memory and system semiconductor technologies. Lee toured the NRD-K complex in Giheung, Samsung's advanced R&D hub dedicated to next-generation memory, foundry and system semiconductor development. The facility focuses on overcoming scaling limits in cutting-e

December 22, 2025

Samsung HBM4 scores well with Nvidia, unnerving memory end users amid tight supply

SEOUL, December 22 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics is poised to share next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) orders for Nvidia’s upcoming Rubin artificial-intelligence accelerator with SK hynix, after earning strong evaluations in final sample testing by Nvidia, people familiar with the matter said. Samsung is said to have received one of the most favorable assessments in early system-in-package (SiP) validation for its HBM4, marking a sharp turnaround from earlier hurdles

December 22, 2025

North Korea-linked hackers found distributing malware via word files

SEOUL, December 22 (AJP) - A North Korea-linked hacking group has been detected running a cyber operation code-named "Artemis," which distributes malware through word files. South Korean cybersecurity firm Genians said on Monday that it traced the operation, which is believed to have been carried out by the group known as APT37. The operation started with spear-phishing emails disguising others to evade detection by security software. When victims opened the files,

December 22, 2025