Op-ed: Evening with Space Poetry Reading Society Editor's Note: The following opinion article is contributed by Choe Chong-dae, a longstanding member of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea and an enthusiast of international cultural and historical affairs. My longstanding interest in literature led me to attend the monthly gathering of the Space Poetry Reading Society on July 2, 2026, at the gracious invitation of Choi Chong-ko, Emeritus Professor of Law at Seoul National University. During the event, I had the privilege of i August 7, 2026

ARMY answers Grammys as BTS lets music speak Two sold-out nights at MetLife Stadium passed without a word from the stage about the group's Grammy withdrawal. The jumbotron told a different story. For two and a half hours at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Saturday night, the biggest band in the world played 23 songs and said nothing at all about the Grammy Awards. This was three days after the group had announced it would not submit its music to the 69th ceremony. The omission was noticeable enough August 4, 2026

Wild Wild Seoul: How casino bet nearly broke the Chip Republic Summer is usually a sleepy season for stocks. Not this year. In Seoul, July was sheer chaos. The KOSPI plunged 22.19 percent from June's close, wiping out nearly a quarter of the roughly 100 percent rally it had built in the first half. The KOSDAQ dropped 21.44 percent, accounting for almost its entire 22.23 percent decline for the year after barely moving through June. By mid-month, sidecars and circuit breakers had become almost routine. The KOSPI ended 2025 at August 1, 2026

What Grammys lost when BTS walked away For five years, BTS wanted a Grammy, and the wanting was never hidden. The group submitted its music every cycle. Its members flew to Las Vegas and delivered performances that outclassed the ceremony hosting them, went home with nothing, and returned the next year to try again. On the red carpet in 2022, RM told American cable TV entertainment news operation E! News that the previous two years had been exhausting and devastating, and that a Grammy would make it all pay off. He sai July 30, 2026

Op-ed: Closing of last safe trade route Editor's Note: The following opinion article is contributed by Dr. Imran Khalid, a Karachi-based geostrategic analyst and senior fellow at Foreign Policy In Focus - USA. The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position, analysis or views of AJP, its editors or its parent organization. AJP publishes contributed opinion pieces from governments, diplomatic missions, experts and other exter July 29, 2026

The quiet weapon: Why Korea doesn't need to beg at the tariff table There is a war raging in the Middle East, oil is creeping back into the headlines, and an American midterm election is closing in fast enough that every policy in Washington now wears a campaign button. Into this crowded battlefield, Donald Trump has opened a second front — not with missiles, but with tariff schedules. Section 301, Section 122, Section 338, a Depression-era statute nobody in Congress remembered still existed: the instruments keep changing, but the intent d July 24, 2026

Op-ed: Brâncuși, Romania's Legendary Artist: A Bridge to Korean Modernism Editor's Note: The following opinion article is contributed by Choe Chong-dae, a longstanding member of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea and enthusiast of international cultural and historical affairs. SEOUL, July 21 (AJP) - My longstanding interest in art and my particular appreciation for cultural heritage recently brought me to a special exhibition honoring the life and legacy of Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957). Entitled Brâncuși – From Romania to Par July 21, 2026

Five centuries of standing in between makes Türkiye indispensable SEOUL, July 20 (AJP) - There is a reason the only direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in four years of war have happened in one city, and that city is Istanbul. Earlier this month, NATO leaders gathered in Ankara for the first summit the alliance has ever held in the Turkish capital. The choice of venue was not a courtesy. It was an acknowledgment that the country long treated as the alliance's difficult southeastern flank has become something closer to its hinge. To July 20, 2026

Türkiye rises from failed coup to global bridge SEOUL, July 13 (AJP) - Ten years ago this Wednesday, fighter jets bombed the Turkish parliament and tanks rolled onto the bridge spanning the Bosphorus. The coup attempt of July 15, 2016, was designed to break the Turkish state in a single night. Instead, it collapsed by morning, defeated by ordinary citizens who walked toward the tanks, and the decade that followed turned the country that survived it into one of the few states trusted to stand between the world's warring powers. July 13, 2026

From "Fall-nix" to full stack AI: SK hynix journey starts after Nasdaq debut There was once a nickname Korean investors reserved for SK hynix that captured both the company's fortunes and the country's skepticism toward its future. They called it Harak-nix—"Fall-nix"—because the stock seemed incapable of doing anything except decline. During the decade following its 1996 listing, it became one of the most punishing investments on the Korea Exchange, collapsing to just 135 won a share as the Asian financial crisis, governmen July 10, 2026