New Kazakh parliament opens with 109 first-time deputies SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Of the 145 members of Kazakhstan's new single-chamber legislature, 109 have never held a seat in the national parliament. Within four days of taking their seats, they had elected a speaker, confirmed a vice president and returned a prime minister to office. The Kurultai opened on Aug. 28, replacing the Mazhilis and the Senate under the constitution that took effect July 1. Its members were elected on Aug. 23 in the first national vote held under that con August 31, 2026

Trump traded Coupang shares again in June, reviving conflict-of-interest concerns SEOUL, August 29 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump traded shares of South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang twice in June, according to his latest financial disclosure released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Friday. Trump made another 1,000-plus stock transactions including two involving common shares of Coupang, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Trump sold Coupang shares worth between US$1,001 and $15,000 on June 3, then bought shares worth between $1 August 29, 2026

Kazakhstan feels familiar. Family duty runs in reverse SEOUL, August 28 (AJP) - Kazakhstan can feel unexpectedly familiar to a Korean visitor. Across Astana, there are faces that at first glance would not look out of place in Seoul. Dark hair, familiar facial contours and gestures of deference toward older people can create fleeting moments of recognition in a country separated from the Korean Peninsula by thousands of kilometers of mountains, desert and steppe. The sense of familiarity runs deeper around the family table. Younger August 28, 2026

For Kazakhstan's Koryo-saram, exile became home ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Elena Ko has little difficulty answering a question that history made complicated for her family. "I'm Korean, but I think like Kazakh," she said through an interpreter. Ko, 55, is a third-generation Koryo-saram, a descendant of ethnic Koreans who settled across the former Soviet Union. She keeps Korean traditions, stays close to Kazakhstan's Korean community and travels to Seoul roughly once a year. But when she talks about home, August 27, 2026

Uzbekistan turns Islamic heritage into cultural diplomacy TASHKENT, August 26 (AJP) -Uzbek officials highlighted the country's rapid modernization and deeper integration into the global community while stressing efforts to preserve its cultural roots and use its Islamic heritage as a bridge to the wider world. “Given the current geopolitical difficulties around the world, Central Asia is increasingly important to global progress,” Munira Aminova, adviser to Uzbekistan’s foreign minister, said Wednesday, highlighting August 26, 2026

Five Central Asian states join Korea in new industry ministers' forum SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - A standing consultative body of industry ministers will anchor the economic agenda when South Korea hosts the leaders of five Central Asian countries in Seoul next month, giving a relationship built largely on separate bilateral deals its first permanent multilateral working channel. The first Korea-Central Asia Summit, set for Sept. 16 and 17, puts industrial modernization, infrastructure, critical minerals and energy, workforce training and private-secto August 26, 2026

Tashkent turns Islamic heritage into living technology TASHKENT, August 26 (AJP) -For roughly 40 minutes Tuesday night, the massive façade of Uzbekistan's new Center for Islamic Civilization became a screen for a different telling of Islamic history. Astronomers, physicians, thinkers and poets appeared across the building in light, animation and digital imagery as music accompanied a narrative tracing the contribution of scholars from present-day Uzbekistan and the wider Islamic world to science, medicine, literature August 26, 2026

Trump persists overture to N. Korea's Kim despite cool response SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday again expressed his desire to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, while criticizing a joint military exercise between Seoul and Washington amid speculation that the two leaders could meet later this year. "Based on my very good relationship with , I was not happy with the fact that the United States had, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea," Trump wrote, August 26, 2026

Trump's nuclear realism tests Seoul's denuclearization line SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) - North Korea, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, is not Iran. Washington may have "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, as Trump puts it, but Pyongyang already possesses what he describes as 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons — an arsenal he appears more inclined to address through renewed diplomacy and his lingering personal rapport with Kim Jong Un. Trump's contrasting approaches to the two nuclear challenges pos August 25, 2026

Uzbekistan marks independence through Islamic heritage SEOUL, August 25 (AJP) -Uzbekistan is marking the 35th anniversary of its independence by looking deeper into its Islamic heritage, bringing journalists, scholars and media executives from around the world to Tashkent for an international conference on the country's civilizational roots and their place in the modern world. The International Media Forum, titled “Islamic Civilization: A New Perspective — New Discoveries,” opened its main program Tuesday at the Ce August 25, 2026