South Korea's No. 1 flag carrier, Korean Air Lines, said Tuesday that it will start a six-month-long work stoppage for more than 70 percent of its workforce, as the novel coronavirus wreaks havoc on the airline industry. The measure is part of an ongoing effort to survive the worsening business environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused air passenger movement to nosedive with countries around the world restricting movement of people. The stoppage, which will go into effec

The South Korean government has initiated a temporary tax relief program for domestic petrochemical companies as global demand has plummeted amidst the worsening coronavirus pandemic. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday it will allow 54 petrochemical companies to delay their tax payments on oil imports and sales of petroleum products for 90 days, giving financial room to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. “Tax payments for April, May and June will be p

Zamface, a beauty video app, said Tuesday that its “Time Jump” service function accumulated over 10.17 million clicks from users since its launch in June 2019. The app’s Time Jump service allows users to skip ahead to parts of beauty YouTube videos to search out specific information, without having to watch the whole video. Time Jump, which is based on artificial intelligence, automatically analyzes a video to mark different chapters and create the time jump options -- shad

After Baemin’s attempt to change commission system takes flak, watchdog checks for monopoly

Owners of large South Korean conglomerates have been buying their low-priced shares amid the stock plunge caused by the coronavirus pandemic, raising questions as to whether they are taking advantage of the situation for their succession plans. Over the past two months, Korean stocks have tumbled and major firms have lost their market value by a third. Amid the stock market crash, the repurchase of treasury stocks has been on the rise. The cumulative spending on treasury stocks amounted to aro

German companies doing business in South Korea are concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business operations but are likely to retain their local workforce, a survey showed Tuesday.  The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry released the results of a survey measuring the impact of COVID-19 on its member companies. It was conducted from March 19 to April 2, and 82 companies took part.  According to the chamber, one-third of respondents said the curre

Market capitalization of the nation’s top 100 companies has fluctuated widely amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, while that of bio-related companies surged, according to a local corporate tracker Tuesday. Korea CXO Institute surveyed the market cap of more than 2,300 listed companies in the first quarter, noting that the combined market value of the top 100 companies fell 17 percent from 1,218 trillion won ($994 billion) on Jan. 2 to 1,011 trillion won on March 31. Despite the stock

South Korea received the second largest amount of new shipbuilding orders in the first quarter of the year after China, with global shipbuilding orders plunging 71 percent amid the spreading coronavirus outbreak, industry data showed Tuesday. South Korea won new shipbuilding orders totaling 360,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs) in the January-March period, accounting for 16 percent of overall orders around the globe totaling 2.33 million CGTs, according to the data from Clarkson Research Servi

‘Economic effects of COVID-19 will rub off on profit starting Q2’

　South Korea’s car sales fell 15 percent last month from a year earlier as the spreading coronavirus outbreak affected vehicle production and sales. 　The country’s five carmakers - Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Korea, Renault Samsung Motors and SsangYong Motor - sold a combined 597,826 vehicles in March, down from 702,929 units a year ago, according to data from the companies. 　The lower sales largely resulted from suspended operations of Hyundai and Kia’s major overseas

Korea Aerospace Industries said Monday its plan to sell light fighter jets to Argentina has been put on hold as the coronavirus outbreak is dealing a huge blow. South Korea’s sole aircraft manufacture said its plan to export around several FA-50 light fighter jets -- a combat variant of its advanced supersonic trainer jet T-50 -- to Argentina has been delayed indefinitely. “It must have been difficult for Argentina to spend its defense budget for fighter jets when it is experien

Ivermectin, a parasiticide, could be the next breakthrough solution to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to initial reports, but further tests must prove the efficacy of the drug in living organisms, experts say. Ivermectin became the center of attention after scientists from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia found that a single dose of the parasiticide could stop the replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus growing in a cell culture. Ivermectin effectively eradicated all genetic material of

Samsung Biologics said Monday it has signed a contract to develop PharmAbcine’s anti-cancer and angiogenesis material PMC-402. The South Korean firm will provide all-step CDO support from cell line development to clinical sample manufacturing and investigational new drug application, as well as produce preclinical and global clinical trial materials. PMC-402, according to PharmAbcine, helps normalize newly formed abnormal blood vessels that feed the growth of tumors, or the condition c

The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled trade in Korean personal health and hygiene products. According to the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Sunday, exports of hand sanitizers in March reached $5.69 million, a steep climb of more than 600 percent, or 12 times the volume, from the same month a year before. This one-month figure is equal to 84 percent of hand sanitizer exports for the whole of 2019. The spread of COVID-19 has led to explosive in international demand for Kore

Baedal Minjok’s recently restructured fee system, which involves charging restaurant owners a fixed-rate commission of 5.8 percent, is now facing criticism from restaurants that say it imposes a higher cost burden, industry sources said Sunday. The country’s No. 1 delivery app has expanded its fixed-rate system Open Service by lowering the rate from 6.8 percent to 5.8 percent per order starting Wednesday, while scaling back the other optional flat-sum system, Ultra Call. This