TV Tokyo's KoreaNOW report on Galaxy Robot Park — 6 min 21 sec
Why a Japanese business broadcaster came to Seoul
In September 2026, Japan's TV Tokyo devoted 6 minutes and 21 seconds to Galaxy Robot Park in Seoul on its Korea affairs segment, KoreaNOW. The produced feature combined location filming with studio analysis, showed the K-pop robot performance staged about five times a day and the attraction visitors operate themselves, and closed by naming reliance on foreign-made hardware as the challenge ahead.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Outlet | TV Tokyo — Japanese terrestrial broadcaster, business and industry focus |
| Segment | KoreaNOW — analysis of Korean political and economic affairs |
| Aired | September 2026 |
| Length / format | 6 min 21 sec — location report plus studio analysis |
| Subject | Galaxy Robot Park (Seoul; grand opening 21 August 2026) |
| Operator | Galaxy Corporation |
| Framing | "World's first Physical AI theme park" · Korea's strategy while China leads |
| Challenge raised | Reliance on foreign-made hardware → in-house development planned |
“Last month, a theme park billing itself as the world's first Physical AI park opened in the Korean capital. With Chinese firms out in front, we went to look at the strategy behind this new complex.”— TV Tokyo, KoreaNOW anchor introduction
Two sentences in the anchor's introduction fixed the coordinates. One called the site a theme park billing itself as the world's first for Physical AI. The other asked what Korea intends to do in a field where China is ahead. The report is built to answer that second question, which makes it a piece about industrial strategy rather than a travel segment about a new attraction.
KoreaNOW exists to explain Korean political and economic developments to Japanese viewers. A theme park run by an entertainment company appearing in a slot usually reserved for semiconductors and trade policy is itself a signal: the subject was filed as economics, not culture. Galaxy Robot Park held its grand opening on 21 August 2026; the broadcast followed the next month.
What the camera recorded — daily operation, not a demo
The crew followed the same route a visitor does: the new building on the bank of the Han River and the astronaut and alien sculptures on its roof, then the stage, the arena and the café. Four sequences made the broadcast.
- K-pop robot dance show — group choreography set to current K-pop tracks with taekwondo movements mixed in. The report noted it runs about five times a day and more than 1,000 times a year, matching the resident-performance target the company set at its grand opening.
- Robot boxing — an attraction visitors drive by controller. The punches, the kicks, the blunt sound of contact and the moment one robot went down and stopped moving all aired without a cut.
- The humanoid café — a robot playing background music on a grand piano and robots working a pizza line: programmes run by the 17 new robot types that joined at the August 2026 grand opening.
- Visitor response — an interview with a child who visited on opening day ran in full.
“It danced and said hello, and I copied it and played along. It was strange and new.”— a child visitor on opening day, interviewed in the report
What this route demonstrates is not sophistication but continuity. A lab demo needs one good run; five shows a day and an attraction visitors operate themselves have to produce the same result every time. A foreign crew can walk in unannounced and film the same scene — that is what the broadcast recorded.
How the report read the business — a stage that doubles as a data source
Midway through, the report shifts to the operator: Galaxy Corporation, a company that produces content including metaverse work and manages artists such as G-DRAGON. An entertainment business, in other words, that has recently been putting its weight behind Physical AI.
The notable part is how the report defined the park: a venue for visitors and, at the same time, a stage on which the company tests the robots it develops, where encounters between robots and people generate the data its software work requires. Seen through the lens of treating humanoids as a platform rather than a finished product, the park is a learning environment before it is a revenue line.
“Everything about Physical AI is new right now, so our approach is to gain experience first, meet our customers, and build what consumers actually want.”— Choi Yong-ho, CEO, interviewed in the report
That is a sequence: not finish the technology and then release it, but put it in front of an audience and use the response as material. It explains the choice of a permanent venue with paying visitors every day. Some data does not appear in controlled conditions, and that data becomes the input for the next version.
Why coverage in Japan matters
The final third moves to the studio. The anchor asked the reporter who had been on site whether Physical AI is being positioned as another instrument of the cultural export drive Korea has pursued with K-pop and beyond.
The answer went to the structure of the business. The company operating the park has artists signed to it and stages its own concerts — meaning it owns its content. One way to use that advantage, the report explained, is to package and sell K-pop shows performed through Physical AI. It also mentioned plans for performances in places ordinary tours rarely reach, such as Africa or conflict-affected parts of the Middle East.
This is where the significance of the broadcast surfaces. The report named the expansion sequence in concrete terms: a second site by the end of the year at a shopping mall inside the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, third and fourth sites in the United States, and Tokyo and Osaka in the first half of next year.
Japanese viewers, in other words, saw the real thing on their own national broadcaster before it reaches their cities. Six minutes had already explained what the robots do, how the children reacted and what kind of company runs the place. A market's own media laid the groundwork ahead of arrival — an asset of a different kind from the coverage by the BBC, Bloomberg and UPI.
The challenge the report raised — the bodies still come from elsewhere
The report did not end on praise. Its closing question was about challenges, and the answer was hardware: many of the humanoids in use are manufactured abroad. The premise the anchor opened with — “with Chinese firms out in front” — returns in the conclusion.
The observation does not conflict with the company's own position. The report closed by noting that Galaxy regards this as a task ahead and intends to develop its own Physical AI. What the company has accumulated sits above the hardware layer: Soulware, its in-house robot operating system built around K-pop choreography learning, multi-unit synchronised control, and the characters and repertoire that come out of artist IP.
The more hardware is commoditised, the more differentiation moves to the layer above it. Even so, as the report pointed out, that premise eventually meets the question of whether you can build the body yourself. That a Japanese broadcaster spent the last minute of 6 minutes 21 on this question says something in itself: it was covering an industry, not an attraction.
An Italian public broadcaster's feature, a British public broadcaster's video report, an American business outlet's IPO coverage — and now a Japanese business broadcaster's produced segment. The way international media has recorded Galaxy Corporation has one thing in common: all of them came to verify an operation running daily in front of an audience, not a finished technology.
Frequently asked questions
When did TV Tokyo cover Galaxy Robot Park, and for how long?
In September 2026, on its Korea affairs segment KoreaNOW, as a produced feature running 6 minutes and 21 seconds — location footage combined with studio analysis rather than a short opening item.
How did the report define Galaxy Robot Park?
As a theme park billing itself as the world's first for Physical AI and, at the same time, a stage on which the company tests the robots it develops and gathers the data its software work requires.
How often are the shows staged?
The report said the K-pop robot dance show runs about five times a day and more than 1,000 times a year — the same level as the resident-performance target the company set at its grand opening.
Did the report mention overseas expansion?
Yes: a second site by the end of the year at a shopping mall inside the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, third and fourth sites in the United States, and Tokyo and Osaka in the first half of next year.
What challenge did the report raise?
That many of the humanoids currently in use are manufactured abroad. It closed by noting that Galaxy also treats this as a task ahead and intends to develop its own Physical AI.