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  INTERVIEW: UAE, Korea deepening hydrogen and CCS partnership as they look beyond nuclear SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - The governments of the United Arab Emirates and South Korea are engaged in "high-level discussions" on joint hydrogen production and hydrogen logistics for future transportation and supply, according to a senior UAE energy official. His Excellency Eng Sharif Al Olama, Undersecretary for Energy and Petroleum Affairs at the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI), said hydrogen will play a central role in both countries' lon November 4, 2025
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  South Korea's martial law crisis revisited at IBA by leading constitutional scholar SEOUL, November 04 (AJP) - South Korea has successfully defended its democratic institutions in the face of its first declaration of martial law under a democratic government and a surge of disinformation that culminated in a presidential impeachment, a leading Korean constitutional scholar told a global legal audience. Sung Nak-in, former president of Seoul National University and one of Korea’s foremost constitutional experts, detailed the short-lived but deeply damaging November 4, 2025
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  Kazakhstan goes all-in on AI in bid to emerge as regional leader ASTANA, November 03 (AJP) - Soviet-era government buildings in Kazakhstan’s capital now hum with modern servers and fiber-optic cables as the Central Asian nation pushes to reposition itself as the region’s leading digital economy. The country of 20 million has already emerged as a GovTech leader, ranking 24th globally in the UN’s e-Government Development Index and 10th in online services. It is now doubling down with an expansive AI strategy built on supercomput November 3, 2025
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  INTERVIEW: Mysterious Hungarian bomb maker in Korean independence fight to come alive in upcoming book by ex-Hungarian envoy SEOUL, October 27 (AJP) - A Western engineer aiding Korean independence fighters in assembling bombs against imperial Japan sounds like a scene from historical fiction. But former Hungarian ambassador to South Korea Mózes Csoma found that it was real — and is preparing a book on the remarkable story of a Hungarian who joined Korea’s struggle for independence. "As a historian, I find deep meaning in the story of someone who fought for another people&rsquo October 27, 2025
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  INTERVIEW: Solana pivots to Korea as key APAC blockchain hub SEOUL, October 22 (AJP) - A passionate crypto community backed by financial stability and regulatory transparency rarely found across Asia-Pacific makes South Korea a key strategic focus for Solana, one of the world’s top five blockchain platforms, according to its regional head. "For us, South Korea within APAC is definitely one of our key strategic focus areas," said Alex Scott, head of Solana Middle East, in an exclusive interview with AJP during the Expand No October 22, 2025
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  INTERVIEW: Tourism chief aims to boost Seoul's global appeal SEOUL, October 22 (AJP) - Ghil Gi-yeon, who recently secured a third term as CEO of the Seoul Tourism Organization, has been instrumental in revitalizing the tourism industry since assuming his post in July 2021, helping restore the city's vibrancy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. "With support from Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, we carried out several major projects swiftly and efficiently, including opening a marketplace at Gwanghwamun Plaza, organizing a series of sea October 22, 2025
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  INTERVIEW: Europe's largest Korean Cultural Center powers hallyu expansion in Budapest SEOUL, October 21 (AJP) - One in every 200 Hungarians has joined a Korean cultural program in recent years — a sign that Budapest has become the beating heart of the Korean Wave in Central Europe, according to the head of the Korean Cultural Center in Budapest. "In the past three years, more than 51,000 people have taken part in the center’s programs — an impressive figure in a country of only 9.6 million, meaning roughly one in every 200 Hungarians has join October 21, 2025
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  INTERVIEW: K-Park in Kazakhstan's smart city embodies fortitude of ethnic Koreans — past and future SEOUL, October 17 (AJP) - The K-Park Project, rising in Kazakhstan’s flagship smart city of Alatau, encapsulates both the endurance of the Koryo-saram—descendants of Korean settlers across the Russian Far East in the 19th and early 20th centuries—and their forward-looking confidence as a thriving minority in Kazakhstan’s digital transformation drive. "K-Park is not merely a memorial project. It is a symbol of gratitude toward the Kazakh people who emb October 17, 2025
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  Creativity and farsightedness, key to global IB outreach: SK Securities global chief SEOUL, October 06 (AJP) - Abundant investment opportunities lie in diverse global markets when matched with Korea’s high-tech, manufacturing, and soft-power competitiveness, said Patrick Han, head of Global Business at SK Securities. "Identifying needs before demand arises and aligning them with Korean capital is the path forward for Korean investment banking," Han told AJP in an exclusive interview, highlighting that Korea’s financial sector lags far behi October 7, 2025
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  INTERVIEW: Young N. Korean defectors seek to break stigma inside and outside SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) - Portraying North Korean life in a truer light—rather than through stigmatized or patronizing lenses—and linking the reclusive state with the outside world through flash drives is the core mission of young defectors, according to a human rights activist. "While media coverage has shifted from rumor-driven reports to more fact-based accounts, portrayals still tend to be oversimplified," said Seongmin Lee, who heads the Korea desk and p October 2, 2025