Most Popular
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Pyongyang erects blockades along inter-Korean railways
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Blackpink's Rose and Bruno Mars' 'APT' sparks surge in related stocks
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FT Island's Choi Min-hwan under investigation for allegedly soliciting prostitution
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[From the Scene] How robotics reflect shift in S. Korea's food industry
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Opposition slams Yoon's suggestion to send offensive weapons to Ukraine
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[Exclusive] Korean adoptee sisters meet for the first time in 39 years
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Yoon calls for measures to protect Koreans amid escalating Iran-Israel conflicts
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Korea to regulate cross-border trading of crypto
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N. Korea says troop dispatch to Russia, if true, falls in line with int'l law
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N. Korea slams Seoul-Washington joint air exercise
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Seoul, Tokyo urged to allow special entry for vaccinated biz people
South Korean and Japanese businesspeople urged their governments Wednesday to issue special entry permits for fully vaccinated entrepreneurs in an effort to promote bilateral economic cooperation. The call was made at a meeting between Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi and South Korean and Japanese businessmen, which was hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries, the lobby for South Korea's family-controlled conglomerates. Citing bilateral travel restrictions as the biggest hurdle, busine
June 16, 2021
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Sales of big firms' Chinese units sink 28% over 4 years
Sales of South Korean large firms' Chinese units have tumbled nearly 28 percent over the past four years due to a bilateral row over the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system here and other reasons, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. According to CEO Score, 320 Chinese production units of 113 large corporations posted 103.98 trillion won ($93 billion) in combined sales in 2020, down 27.5 percent from four years earlier. The plunge resulted from the spat between Seoul and Beijing
June 16, 2021
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Hybe’s market value jumps on BTS’ new single ‘Butter’
The South Korean entertainment agency behind the global sensation BTS saw its market valuation exceed 10 trillion won ($8.95 billion) for the first time, as the boy band’s new single “Butter” swept global charts. After closing at 282,000 won per share on the nation’s main bourse Kospi Monday, Hybe’s market valuation exceeded 10 trillion won and continued its winning streak on Tuesday rising 2.48 percent to 289,000 won at close. The benchmark Kospi, the country&ls
June 15, 2021
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Lawmakers, entrepreneurs, scientists establish joint ESG forum
Amid growing awareness of the importance of environmental, social and corporate governance principles, South Korea’s lawmakers, entrepreneurs and scientists gathered Tuesday to promote sustainable growth by launching an ESG forum. Attending the kickoff event were lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, including Reps. Lee Won-wook, Hong Ihk-pyo and Lee Yong-bin, and representatives of organizations such as the Korea Enterprises Federation, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and I
June 15, 2021
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Duty-free industry revs up for recovery
As South Korea is gearing up to restrictively allow free travel on the back of vaccination progress, duty free shop operators here have set to reorganizing their offline services in anticipation of business normalization, industry data showed Tuesday. Lotte Duty Free has recently renewed its website and mobile app, adding preorder functions for products that are out of stock, according to officials. It is also working on introducing an offline duty free store exclusively dedicated to a limi
June 15, 2021
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[Herald Interview] South Korean researchers first to discover cause of rare hearing loss
South Korean researchers became the world’s first to discover a gene variant that causes a rare type of hearing impairment whose origins had so far remained unknown. The newly identified gene will help doctors better treat patients with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder, or ANSD, and to find out if their condition can be improved through surgery, according to Dr. Choi Byung-yoon, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital’s otorhinolaryngology professor who led the research.
June 15, 2021
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[Herald Interview] Saemangeum to be mecca of green industries in Korea
Saemangeum, located in the west of South Korea, is drawing wide attention under the government’s fresh vision to foster the area, where futuristic, eco-friendly industries as well as tour destinations can coexist. Saemangeum is a reclaimed area -- with the world’s longest seawall -- that stretches across parts of Gunsan, Gimje and Buan in North Jeolla Province. Earlier this year, the government shifted the area’s vision from the initial aims for a regional center of global t
June 15, 2021
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KDB's W100b investment in Toss Bank meant to stop unicorn exodus: chief
Korea Development Bank’s plan to invest 100 billion won ($89.4 million) in the nation’s latest internet-only bank backed by Viva Republica, the operator of fintech app Toss, is meant to keep local unicorns in the local market, the head of the state-run bank said. The announcement follows the nation’s financial regulator’s decision last week to grant final approval to a consortium led by Viva Republica to launch and operate the nation’s third internet-only bank. To
June 15, 2021
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Portal giants’ valuations surge on pandemic-led industry shift
Fueled by the contactless boom across the country amid the ongoing pandemic, the market capitalization of South Korean internet giants Naver and Kakao soared over 44 trillion won ($39.35 billion) to surpass the 120 trillion-won-mark when combined this year. According to Korea Exchange on Tuesday, shares of Naver rose 3.89 percent to close at 387,000 won, while Kakao advanced 5.17 percent to 142,500 won at the closing bell a day earlier. Following the stock price jumps, the market valuations
June 15, 2021
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Seoul stocks close at all-time high ahead of Fed meeting
South Korean renewed its all-time record for the second straight day Tuesday, backed by investors' optimism for the US Federal Reserve meeting this week. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.5 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 3,258.63 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.7 billion shares worth some 14.5 trillion won ($13 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 443 to 399. Foreigners sold a net 154 billion won
June 15, 2021
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S.Korea’s 2030 carbon emissions target ‘extremely’ challenging: Wood Mackenzie
South Korea aims to reduce carbon emissions 24.4 percent by 2030 compared to 2017, but the target appears to be “extremely” ambitious, according to energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie on Tuesday. Prakash Sharma, Wood Mackenzie’s Asia Pacific head of markets and transitions, cited two reasons for the pessimism. “First, only 3 percent has been reduced in the last seven years. To reduce the remaining 20 percent over the next 10 years is extremely challenging,”
June 15, 2021
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SKT unveils world’s 1st keycard combined with quantum, biometrics tech
SK Telecom said Tuesday it has launched the world’s first keycard applied with both quantum technology and biometric identification technology. Together with Switzerland-based quantum safety solutions firm ID Quantique and a local biometric identification startup Octatco, SKT co-developed the “EzQuant” keycard equipped with a quantum random number generator. “EzQuant combines QRNG technology with FIDO-based fingerprint certification keycard,” a company officia
June 15, 2021
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CU rolls out third collaboration beer
A new craft beer inspired by white sheep, a symbol of a local underwear brand, will hit CU convenience store shelves on Thursday. The Baik Yang BYC Vienna Lager is the third collaboration beer launched by CU, according to BGF Retail, the firm behind the convenience store chain. BYC is an underwear brand, established in 1946. The company is well known for its white undershirts, and it has used an image of a white sheep as its symbol from 1957, according to CU. The name of the beer and symbo
June 15, 2021
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When key rate is up 1%p, housing prices likely to decline 3%: report
Economies with solid demand for home-backed lending, including South Korea, are likely to see housing prices decrease merely 3 percent in the event of a 1 percentage point hike in the benchmark interest rate, a report showed Tuesday. Korea’s ratio of mortgage loans to gross domestic product came to 47.1 percent last year, up 14.7 percentage points from the 2010 estimate, according to a report from the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research on how monetary policy affects
June 15, 2021
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Financially troubled SsangYong Motor to launch first EV in Europe
Financially troubled SsangYong Motor Co. said Tuesday it will launch its first electric vehicle (EV) in Europe later this year as it seeks to speed up its sales process and survive in the changing business environment. SsangYong said it named the EV variant of the Korando EV the Korando Emotion and has begun domestic production to first target the European market in October. SsangYong said it has also been developing an all-electric SUV with a goal of launching it next year to join the global
June 15, 2021
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Money supply continues to grow in April
South Korea's money supply continued to grow in April, as loans to households and firms increased amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's M2 stood at 3,363.7 trillion won ($3 trillion) as of end-April, up 1.5 percent from a month earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 jumped 11.4 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply that
June 15, 2021
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Exports of strawberries up 25% in Jan.-May period
South Korea's exports of strawberries rose nearly 25 percent on-year in the first five months of this year on the back of robust output and rising demand amid the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The country's exports of strawberries reached $49 million in the January-May period, up 24.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The gain was mainly attributable to an increase in strawberry output and the use of chartered flights for outbound s
June 15, 2021
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Samsung releases new multi-chip package for 5G smartphones
Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday released a new multi-chip package (MCP) memory product for use in 5G smartphones as the South Korean tech giant tries to better target the fast-growing handset market. The world's largest memory chip producer said it has begun mass-producing low-power double data rate 5 (LPDDR5) universal flash storage (UFS) MCP that integrates high-performance DRAM and NAND flash memory chips in a single compact package. The latest MCP comes with Samsung's LPDDR5 mobile DR
June 15, 2021
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S. Korea to increase R&D investment in key future technologies
South Korea plans to expand investment in research and development (R&D) of key future technologies, such as system semiconductors, as part of the country's key digital policy projects, a senior government official said Tuesday. Without elaborating on the amount of the investment, First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said the country will focus on sharpening its competitive edge in new industries, including artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors and super high speed computers. Sou
June 15, 2021
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LG Uplus launches AI call center biz
LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean mobile carrier, said Tuesday it has joined hands with IT affiliate LG CNS Co. to develop call center services that use artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The service incorporates AI technology, such as speech recognition and synthesis as well as natural language processing, to respond to user questions and requests and can replace simple, repetitive tasks handled by call center agents. LG Uplus said it has accumulated the technology through its automa
June 15, 2021