Editorial: Super-weak yen is Korea's problem too The yen has just done something it hasn't done in 40 years: it broke past 163 to the dollar, a level not seen since 1986. In Tokyo, that's being read as bad news for Japanese households, who now face pricier imports and a shrinking real income. But Seoul shouldn't be watching this from the sidelines. A weaker yen doesn't just weaken Japan's currency — it chips away at Korean export competitiveness and drags the won down with it. The won has been s July 24, 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

Editorial: From NATO to Mongolia: Seoul seeking strategic depth Viewed in isolation, President Lee Jae Myung's attendance at the NATO summit and his subsequent state visit to Mongolia may appear to belong to different diplomatic tracks. Together, however, they reveal a more coherent strategy. At NATO, Seoul sought to anchor South Korea more firmly within the emerging architecture of transatlantic defense cooperation. Discussions on expanding industrial cooperation and Seoul's negotiations toward a procurement framework with the all July 12, 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

The wisdom of the wind and the sun—and how the sun prevailed in Gwangju The wind and the sun is one of the best-known fables of Aesop. They quarrel over who is stronger and decide to settle the argument by making a traveler remove his cloak. The wind blows with all its might. But the harder it blows, the tighter the traveler clutches his coat. The sun simply shines a little warmer, and before long the traveler removes it himself. Gentleness can be more powerful than force. Perhaps a true adult is one who possesses not the power to overpower a July 6, 2026

Spiritual Asia (31): Sikhism in the age of AI This is the thirty-first installment of AJP's Spiritual Asia series, which explores the religious traditions, philosophical ideas and moral foundations that have shaped Asia's civilizations. In this concluding chapter of our three-part journey through Japanese Shinto, we examine how a faith rooted in reverence for nature was transformed into an instrument of the modern state, and how it later returned to everyday life. Human civilization now stands at a great turn July 5, 2026

OP-ED: Reality of 'China Opportunity 2.0' KARACHI, July 05 (AJP) - When over 1,700 business and political leaders gathered in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian in June for the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, they were not merely attending a conference. They were, in a sense, casting a vote. Amid geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and rapid technological change, the fact that representatives from more than 90 countries chose to show up in Dalian is itself a statement of stan July 5, 2026