Seoul pledges 230,000 additional homes in capital area SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - More than 230,000 additional homes will be supplied in the Seoul metropolitan area in the coming years to curb housing prices amid a shortage of housing, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on Thursday. According to a set of plans announced by the ministry, about 120,000 of the 230,000 new homes will be built by as early as 2030. This includes 21,700 homes in newly designated sites in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, and 4,500 homes in Gwa August 13, 2026

Fiji takes Pacific fuel crisis to Seoul as Hormuz closure drags on SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - Much of the Pacific has spent this year rationing diesel and living with blackouts. On Thursday, Fiji brought that issue to Seoul, asking South Korea to expand energy cooperation at the first meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers in nearly 11 years. Sakiasi Ditoka, Fiji's minister for foreign affairs and external trade, told Cho Hyun that the Asia-Pacific has no choice but to be more exposed than most regions to the supply disruption August 13, 2026

Seoul defends nuclear submarine plan against Pyongyang's warning SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - South Korea's planned nuclear-powered submarines will carry only conventional weapons and sit entirely within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday, rejecting North Korea's warning that the program will set off a nuclear domino across the Asia-Pacific. The position rests on a document the Ministry of National Defense released on May 26, the first time Seoul set out publicly how it intends to build and o August 13, 2026

Korea's fiscal deficit hits 3-year midyear low SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - South Korea’s managed fiscal deficit narrowed to 84.4 trillion won ($59.6 billion) in the first half, its smallest midyear shortfall in three years, as the semiconductor upcycle and buoyant asset markets helped revive tax receipts and lift government revenue faster than spending. The Ministry of Planning and Budget said Thursday that total revenue rose 19.1 percent from a year earlier to 381.9 trillion won in the January-June period, while expenditure August 13, 2026

Seoul moves to curb fresh food prices as heat bites SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) - South Korea will spend 30 billion won ($21.2 million) on seafood discounts and expand emergency fish releases and farm aid as prolonged heat, drought and unusually warm seas threaten to push up food prices. The measures were announced Thursday at a joint economic and cost-of-living meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Koo Yun Cheol. The government issued a package aimed at stabilizing agricultural, livestock and fishe August 13, 2026

Seoul cuts red tape to fast-track mega AI projects SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) -South Korea has hit the accelerator on President Lee Jae Myung’s “chip-and-beyond” industrial drive, clearing land and construction rules holding up more than 4.2 trillion won in planned investment as Seoul races to get new semiconductor capacity in southern region running before his term ends in 2030. The package unveiled Thursday turns Lee’s call earlier this week for a “decisive battle” on industrial investment into a August 13, 2026

Seoul plants 7 tech seeds for post-AI growth SEOUL, August 13 (AJP) -South Korea is placing seven long-term bets on technologies from small modular reactors and fusion power to quantum computing and brain-computer interfaces to secure new growth engines for the 2030s and beyond, as demographic decline and slowing investment threaten to deepen structural low growth. The government on Wednesday unveiled the seven SEED projects at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday, laying out development and commercialization targets spanning clean August 13, 2026

Korea's job market shuts out 20s as first rung of hiring narrows SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - For many South Korean parents, the cost of supporting children no longer ends at university graduation, as college-educated young adults spend longer trying to secure steady jobs. "People my age rarely ask what their children do these days. Some of my friends have kids living with them without regular jobs five years after graduation," said Yun Mi-hyeong, a 56-year-old mother of two living in Seoul's Gangnam district. Employment among South August 12, 2026

PPP lawmaker hosts forum with group downplaying May 18 massacre SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - Days after police raided Starbucks Korea over a marketing campaign accused of insulting the memory of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-sook is set to co-host a forum with a right-wing group that disputes describing the 1980 bloodshed as a massacre planned by state authorities. Lee will hold the forum, titled “Reexamining the May 18 Democratization Movement,” with the New History National Movement August 12, 2026

Lee offers condolences to victims of deadly earthquake in Columbia SEOUL, August 12 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung mourned the victims of a strong earthquake in Colombia earlier this week and expressed hope that the missing would still be found safe. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, Lee said he was saddened by the devastating damage caused by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck western Colombia, killing more than 100 people and damaging hundreds of buildings. He offered condolences to Colombians who lost family members and ne August 12, 2026