The government has been working to develop a national artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model, while planning to launch a separate effort to develop frontier models. This two-track strategy is raising questions: Why is the government pushing the new project and how will it draw the line between the two programs? The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed that the ongoing AI foundation model project will proceed with a third-stage evaluation, with two finalists expected to be selected in February. Separately, the government plans to allocate 4.7 trillion won ($3.5 billion) for a frontier AI program set to begin in March 2027. The split reflects the government's growing concern that the rapid advances in global AI have made the foundation model project's original goals harder to achieve, while abandoning the project could undermine the ecosystem and capabilities built up over the past year. Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon has repeatedly rejected speculations that the foundation model project is being scrapped. “The national AI foundation model project has b

Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said Sunday it will host the 2026 Incheon Airport Sky Festival on Nov. 7 and 8 at Inspire Arena near the airport, featuring K-pop performances and hands-on cultural activities. Marking its 21st edition, the event is billed as the world's only airport-based cultural festival. Under the theme “K-Vibe Starts at Incheon Airport,” it will offer visitors a chance to experience Korean culture through music, fashion, beauty, food and tourism. The Korea Tourism Organization, Incheon Tourism Organization and Korea Heritage Agency will offer hands-on programs showcasing Korean culture and tourism. The two-day concert will feature popular K-pop acts spanning various genres and generations. Epik High, BIBI, TNX, KickFlip and H//PE Princess will perform on Nov. 7, followed by PSY, Zion.T, Kim Na-young, Forestella, xikers, hrtz.wav and OURBIRTHDAY on Nov. 8. A 300-seat viewing area will also be set up near Inspire Arena, allowing visitors to watch live broadcasts of the concerts outside the main venue. Inspire Ballroom will host about 20 booths offering hand

Starbucks Korea reclaimed its lead among coffee chains in September, five months after a marketing controversy sparked consumer backlash. According to data from market tracker IGAWorks on Sunday, the coffee chain recorded 121.08 billion won ($90.1 million) in estimated credit and debit card spending last month, up 4.3 percent from August, overtaking rival Twosome Place to reclaim the top spot. Starbucks trailed its rival for four consecutive months as its estimated card spending dropped by 13.13 billion won to 121.19 billion won from April to May, before bottoming out at 100.39 billion won in June. The coffee chain's estimated card spending then rose for three consecutive months, reaching 110.06 billion won in July, 116.12 billion won in August and climbing back above 120 billion won in September for the first time since the downturn. Twosome's estimated card spending fell 6.4 percent from August to 110.5 billion won in September, about 10.58 billion won below Starbucks. The recovery follows nationwide backlash over a Starbucks promotion that dubbed May 18, the anniversary of the 1980 Gwa

Cyberattacks are becoming a more consequential credit risk for financial firms, as the damage can extend beyond data theft to operational disruptions and higher funding costs. Korea Ratings is considering more objective ways to measure firms’ exposure to cyber threats, industry officials said Sunday. In a recent report, the ratings agency said cyber risk can weaken both a financial institution’s business prospects and its financial health. International rating agencies have already downgraded companies after cyberattacks disrupted operations or exposed weaknesses in internal controls. In 2019, S&P Global Ratings cut Bank of Valletta’s rating to BBB- from BBB following a cyberattack, citing operational risks and governance weaknesses that hurt its creditworthiness. Korea Ratings has also recently incorporated cyber-related concerns into its assessment of a domestic financial firm. In March, it lowered Lotte Card’s score for the “risk management” factor in its regular credit assessment. Lotte Card disclosed a data breach in August last year that exposed information belonging t

A wave of recent data breaches at major Korean banks is putting pressure on both customer confidence and the industry’s defenses, with deposits at these lenders declining by more than 20 trillion won ($15 billion) in just 11 days, according to industry officials, Sunday. They are now stepping up security spending and hiring specialists to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI)-driven attacks. Demand deposits at the country’s five largest lenders — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — totaled 675.5 trillion won on Sept. 30, but dropped to 655.4 trillion won as of Sunday. Fixed-term deposits, which had risen for five consecutive months, also fell by more than 2.7 trillion won to slightly more than 1 quadrillion won. On Oct. 1, Shinhan Bank first reported that about 25,000 customers were affected, with names, phone numbers, annual income and loan limits exposed. The following day, KB Kookmin reported 119 affected customers, while Hana Bank said personal information belonging to 89 customers was exposed. Lenders are responding with bigge

The event will show just how serious Apple is about making a push into the smart home market.

The answer to the question on everyone’s lips is hugely important to Apple, now and in the future.

The Korea Post will issue commemorative stamps honoring esports player Lee Sang-hyeok, better known as Faker, on Oct. 23, celebrating his career and contributions to Korean esports. The state-run postal service under the Ministry of Science and ICT said on Saturday it will release 140,000 stamp sheets alongside stamp albums and other commemorative products. The stamps depict milestones in Lee’s career, including portraits of him celebrating at award ceremonies. Lee, who debuted in 2013, has won six League of Legends World Championships, 10 League of Legends Champions Korea titles and two Mid-Season Invitational titles, according to the authority. He also won gold at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, defending the title he won at the 2023 Hangzhou Games. In 2024, he became the first player inducted into the game's Hall of Legends. In January, Lee became the first esports player to receive the Cheongryong Medal, the highest honor of Korea’s Order of Sport Merit. To mark the release, Korea Post opened a special exhibition dedicated to Faker at its stamp museum inside Seoul Central Post

One thing Shin Jeong-ok, a team leader at a McDonald’s restaurant in Seoul’s Seongbuk District, enjoys about her job is being looked up to by friends and acquaintances in their 60s and older. In Korea, where the population is rapidly aging, seniors face increasingly fierce competition for employment as they outnumber younger job seekers. As of this year, more than 11 million people in Korea, or 21.6 percent of the population, are aged 60 or older. Many are baby boomers born between 1955 and 1963, a generation larger than those that came before them. Now entering retirement, they are increasingly seeking jobs, but age-related health issues and physical limitations restrict their employment options. Fortunately for Shin, her current job title is a hard-earned position she began in her early 50s. Now, the 63-year-old says she cannot imagine a life without working five times a week at McDonald’s Jongam SK branch in northern Seoul. “When I tell my neighbors or friends that I work at McDonald’s, I see the envy in their eyes. Being able to say that I have a job and seeing their admira

High-flying executives from across the world jetted in to the AI inquiry but the most startling revelations came from ordinary Australians.

The F1 exhibition will run until 18 October.

Kurt Campbell is a veteran US diplomat and strategist who has played a leading role in shaping Washington’s approach to China and the Indo-Pacific for more than a decade. He served as the White House coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs from 2021 to 2024 and as US deputy secretary of state from 2024 to 2025. Previously, he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2009 to 2013 and was a key architect of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia”. Often...

The new Urban Cruiser is smaller, not just in size, but also in price.

AI fakery made a fool of me but soon I’ll be too mad to notice.

Firmus’ bankers claimed it had a “slowly, then suddenly” growth story. Instead, that was how its public listing unravelled.

Chinese state funds are ramping up support for the country’s second-largest contract chipmaker, pouring billions of yuan into the parent of Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor and a new manufacturing facility to fuel Beijing’s drive for self-reliance in mature-node chips. The capital blitz, spanning Hua Hong’s Shanghai-based parent company and a fabrication plant in Wuxi, highlights how government-coordinated financing is doubling down on domestic foundries, as Washington tightens technology...

Sales of winter products surged at South Korean convenience stores as temperatures fell sharply this month, industry sources said Friday. According to retailers, sales of disposable hand warmers at GS25 convenience stores, operated by GS Retail Co., rose more than elevenfold in the first seven days of this month compared with the previous week. Sales of tights, worn to keep warm, increased by a similar margin. Demand for popular winter snacks and beverages, such as instant fish cakes, baked sweet potatoes and traditional tea, climbed 653 percent, 132 percent and 50.2 percent, respectively, over the period. CU convenience stores, operated by BGF Retail Co., reported a 400 percent increase in sales of disposable hand warmers over the same period. "As cold weather sets in, sales of winter snacks and cold-weather gear are rising sharply," an industry official said.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said Friday his business group will make efforts to build a new semiconductor cluster in the southwestern part of the country as quickly as possible to meet growing global demand. Chey made the remarks during a visit to Gwangju Air Base in the southwestern Jeonnam-Gwangju region, where SK hynix Inc. has proposed building a new chip cluster. "Once the conditions are met, we plan to build (the new cluster) as quickly as possible," Chey said. "Demand for chips is growing rapidly, and the current situation requires us to accelerate the pace of supply to keep up with demand," he added. The chairman said the group still needs to determine when construction will begin but stressed that it intends to break ground as soon as possible. Chey noted that demand for chips is expected to grow significantly, adding that the proposed cluster will be around two-thirds the size of the one currently under construction in Yongin, just south of Seoul. It marked Chey's first visit to the region since the conglomerate unveiled its building plan in June. Earlier in the year, SK hynix

The Cove lineup consists of three speakers, and can even work with JBL soundbars to create a home theatre setup.

Oliver Curtis’ comeback was meant to end with the biggest float since Telstra. It ended with bankers going to ground and a plan B in New York.

High-flying executives from across the world jetted in to the AI inquiry but the most startling revelations came from ordinary Australians.

Samsung’s next-generation portable SSDs feature USB4 connectivity, delivering sequential read speeds of up to 4,000MB/s.

LiDAR technology used by drone archaeologist Dr Jacob Bongers from the University of Sydney has successfully identified three unrecorded ancient Indigenous shelters.

More of Australia’s economy now depends on digital systems operating in real time.

Samsung Electronics on Thursday estimated 107.4 trillion won ($80.28 billion) in operating profit for the third quarter, becoming the first Korean company to surpass 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. In a regulatory filing, the company said its third-quarter operating profit and revenue are each estimated at 107.4 trillion won and 195 trillion won, respectively. If the figures are finalized when the company announces its full earnings results on Oct. 29, they would represent year-on-year increases of 782.5 percent in operating profit and 126.6 percent in sales. Beside Samsung, no other company in the world expect for Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco has posted a quarterly operating profit exceeding that amount. Aramco reported $86.5 billion in operating profit in the second quarter of 2022. The operating profit surpassed brokerages’ consensus estimate of 106.64 trillion won, though sales fell slightly short of the 200.64 trillion won forecast. The earnings are particularly significant as they exceeded expectations despite concerns that the Korean won's sharp

Hyosung Heavy Industries, the power equipment and grid infrastructure unit of Korean conglomerate Hyosung Group, has built a facility to test the performance of its 2-gigawatt high-voltage direct current (HVDC) controller, marking a first for Korea using homegrown technology, the company said Thursday. The hardware-in-the-loop simulation system, recently installed at the company's research center in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, links an actual HVDC controller to a simulated 2-gigawatt converter valve and power grid. This lets engineers check how the controller responds under conditions close to those of a real grid, the company said. HVDC technology converts alternating current into direct current to carry large amounts of electricity over long distances with less power loss. A 2-gigawatt system requires two to three times as many test scenarios, such as grid faults and emergencies, as a 200-megawatt one, according to the company. The simulator can reproduce hazardous situations that are difficult to test on a live grid and run them repeatedly over long periods, it said. Hyosung said it d

Korea's leading office software developer, Hancom, is taking its Nomadian artificial intelligence (AI) workforce platform to the U.S. market, teaming with Amazon Web Services to shape everything from product design and pricing to marketing and distribution. Hancom said Thursday that it will work with AWS on a 10-week program called Hancom x AWS CoLab as it prepares to launch Nomadian in the U.S. The program will cover product development and market strategy, with AWS supporting development in its cloud environment while both companies examine market size, customer willingness to pay, pricing and revenue models. Hancom will lead product vision and key decisions, while CoLab will use Amazon’s Working Backwards approach to map out its initial customers, market-entry strategy and launch road map. Hancom and AWS held a kickoff meeting Sept. 21, attended by business development and sales representatives from Hancom and AWS technology. Nomadian is designed for solo entrepreneurs, allowing users to assemble teams of AI agents for roles including data analysis and content marketing and assign wo

Korea is not considering to replace the term artificial intelligence (AI) with “super intelligence,” or SI, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT, distancing itself from a terminology push underway in the United States. An official from the ministry told The Korea Times that the government has no plans of replacing AI with SI. “There has been no consideration at our level of using such terminology,” the official said on Tuesday. The clarification came after Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, during a National Assembly audit earlier in the day, used the term SI while describing U.S. efforts to secure leadership in advanced AI competition. The Donald Trump administration has been promoting the use of SI instead of AI. Trump signed an executive order titled "Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence" on Sept. 29, requiring federal executive agencies to use SI instead of AI in official documents, including websites, reports and policy papers. The shift has also drawn attention from the private sector. Elon Musk has said he plans to rename SpaceX’s AI

Nearly 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion) worth of shares held by the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) remain unclaimed by some 26,000 shareholders, data showed Thursday. According to data released by Rep. Han Min-soo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the KSD held 800.84 million unclaimed shares worth a combined 1.47 trillion won as of the end of August. Unclaimed shares typically arise when shareholders fail to claim shares issued through rights offerings, bonus issues or stock dividends. Shareholders may be unaware of the newly issued shares or miss notifications after changing their addresses. In such cases, the shares are held by the KSD or other designated transfer agents until their rightful owners claim them. The value of unclaimed shares rose by about 26.4 billion won in the first eight months of this year, from 1.44 trillion won at the end of last year, when 763.54 million shares remained unclaimed. The number of shareholders with unclaimed shares also increased by 931, from 25,349 at the end of last year to 26,280 as of August. The figure included 22,526 individual sharehol

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Thursday approved Hanmi Pharmaceutical's Eppe, Korea's first domestically developed glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based obesity treatment. Eppe is the 45th novel drug developed in Korea and the country's first domestically developed GLP-1-based obesity drug. It has been approved in five doses: 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 milligrams. According to the ministry, the injectable drug is intended for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or for those who are overweight and do not have diabetes, as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and exercise. The drug was initially licensed out to global pharmaceutical company Sanofi in 2015 as a diabetes treatment, but the rights were returned in 2020. Hanmi Pharm then decided to develop the drug as its own obesity treatment. Eppe was initially expected to become Korea's 44th domestically developed new drug, but became the 45th after an eye treatment jointly developed by Aju Pharm and GL Pharm Tech received approval on Sept. 8. Eppe is set to compete with leading GLP-1-based obesity treatments such as Wegovy and