Lee to meet Samsung chief later this week amid AI boon share debate SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung is expected to meet Samsung Group Chairman Lee Jae-yong later this week, according to government sources. Their upcoming meeting, likely to be held at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Thursday, follows a series of talks Lee has held with major business leaders as part of efforts to drive balanced regional development, which is one of the key agendas of his administration. Lee has reportedly already met with SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won an June 23, 2026

Samsung develops industry's fastest UFS 5.0 storage chip for on-device AI SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has engineered the industry's fastest UFS 5.0 memory chip designed to power next-generation on-device artificial intelligence applications, the company said on Tuesday. As generative AI rapidly shifts from the cloud to local devices, the new memory chip is designed to significantly reduce latency and accelerate response times when running large language models (LLMs) in on-device AI environments. Built on Samsung's ninth-genera June 23, 2026

World-OKTA readies 2026 Korea-China trade expo in Shenzhen SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - The World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Associations (World-OKTA) has formally launched an organizing committee for the 2026 Korea-China economic and trade exchange expo, opening preparations for the October event in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. The federation said Tuesday it held an inaugural ceremony for the committee in Beijing on June 21, aiming to recruit exhibitors, build local cooperation channels, match buyers and steer on-the-ground June 23, 2026

KOSPI tumbles below 9,000 as Wall Street tech selloff hits Seoul rally SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) — South Korean stocks succumbed to foreign-led profit-taking Tuesday, pushing the benchmark KOSPI back below the 9,000 mark and sending the won toward 1,540 per dollar, as a broad correction in artificial intelligence stocks spread across Wall Street and Asia. As of 9:56 a.m., the benchmark KOSPI fell 1.73 percent to 8,957.02, while the junior KOSDAQ sank 3.40 percent to 935.47. The correction followed a record-setting streak in Seoul that had propelled June 23, 2026

Mandatory facial recognition to exempt foreign residents SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - South Korea will mandate facial recognition for all new mobile phone subscriptions starting in July to combat financial crimes, but the system will launch entirely without foreign residents. The exclusion creates an immediate regulatory loophole, as foreign-registered accounts make up nearly half of all illegal burner phones used in the country's voice phishing networks. By pushing ahead with a domestic-only rollout, the Ministry of Science and ICT risks June 23, 2026

North's Kim vows stronger nuclear force, denounces Seoul's sub push SEOUL, June 23 (AJP)-North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reiterated the state ambition to expand as a nuclear-arms power while denouncing South Korea's push on homegrown nuclear-powered submarine, state media reported Monday. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday said the Workers’ Party of Korea held an enlarged plenary meeting of its Central Committee from June 20 to 22 to review progress on decisions adopted at the party’s ninth congress and discuss futur June 23, 2026

Samsung Elec HBM4 chip sales surpass $1 bln in first four months SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics, vying to leapfrog in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) race, has shipped out $1 billion worth of the sixth-generation HBM4 over the last four months since mass production, according to sources close to the matter. The news come as the long-standing No.1 stock surrendered its place to SK hynix, the frontrunner in HBM essential to power AI accelerators of Nvidia and other major chip designers as well as hyperscale datacenters. SK hynix on June 23, 2026

South Korean PM to deliver address at Summer Davos in China SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - Prime Minister Kim Min-seok is set to deliver a special address at the World Economic Forum (WEF)'s Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC), which opens in Dalian, China on Tuesday. In his address, Kim is expected to outline South Korea's vision and propose ways to strengthen international economic cooperation. The AMNC, also known as the "Summer Davos" runs through Thursday under the theme "Innovating at Scale," with discussi June 23, 2026

Nexon launches $162 million fund for early-stage game studios SEOUL, June 23 (AJP) - Nexon is rolling out a five-year, 250 billion won ($162.2 million) investment program aimed at seeding early-stage game developers, moving to fill what it described as a widening capital gap in South Korea's domestic gaming market. The South Korean game maker said Tuesday it would channel money into studios at the seed and Series A stages, pairing large-scale private capital with government policy funds in a public-private structure designed to revive falt June 23, 2026

HD Hyundai Heavy challenges KDDX evaluation over security penalty SEOUL, June 22 (AJP) - HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has filed a formal objection to the evaluation results for South Korea’s next-generation destroyer program after losing to Hanwha Ocean by less than one point, industry sources said Monday. The company submitted the objection to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration over the bidding process for the detailed design and construction of the lead vessel under the Korean Destroyer Next Generation, or KDDX, program. HD H June 22, 2026