SK Bioscience signs deal to produce MSD’s new Ebola vaccine

SK Bioscience signed a contract manufacturing agreement with MSD to produce the latter’s next-generation Zaire ebolavirus vaccine candidate, the company said Monday. MSD is developing a next-generation Zaire Ebola vaccine candidate with Hilleman Laboratories to improve the production efficiency and thermal stability of the existing Zaire Ebola vaccine, Ervebo, which was approved in 2019. The development of MSD's new vaccine is in the early stage, and detailed manufacturing plans, howe

May 8, 2023

Naver to unveil its answer to ChatGPT this summer

South Korean internet giant Naver will unveil HyperClova X, its hyperscale artificial intelligence platform, which boasts greater Korean language skills than its US rival, OpenAI's ChatGPT, this summer to upgrade its services overall. “Based on HyperClova, which has the third-largest Korean language training volume in the world and the first in Korea, we’ll unveil a HyperClova X service that is comparable to GPT-4 (the successor of ChatGPT),” Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said d

May 8, 2023

SK bolsters carbon capture technology

SK Innovation and SK IE Technology announced Monday that the two companies will jointly invest in Airrane, a local firm specializing in membrane technology for gas separation, to strengthen their carbon reduction competitiveness. SK IE Technology -- a subsidiary of SK Innovation, an energy and chemical company under South Korean conglomerate SK Group -- manufactures lithium-ion battery separators, or LiBS, for electric vehicles. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. Airrane has worked

May 8, 2023

[Beyond Earth] ‘Space traffic control will be huge market’

As the global space race gets heated, more satellites will be launched into space. Dealing with the increasing number of satellites will be an enormous market. Nara Space, a South Korean startup specializing in developing small satellites and providing solutions with satellite images of the Earth, is aiming to become a pioneer in the space traffic control sector. “We think the market for controlling space traffic or markets related to space traffic will grow immensely,” Park Jae-pil,

May 8, 2023

Kishida confirms Japan working to put S. Korea back on export ‘white list’

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida confirmed Japan is in the process of reinstating South Korea to its “white list” of trusted trading partners amid joint efforts to improve bilateral economic ties, the leaders said Sunday. In a joint press conference following their summit in Seoul, the two leaders also said they agreed to bolster cooperation in industries including semiconductors, materials, parts and equipment. “Government talks

May 7, 2023

German envoy calls for close ties with 'like-minded' Korea in digital tech era

Germany's main envoy to South Korea discussed ways to forge stronger ties in the era of the "fourth industrial revolution" at the Global Business Forum hosted by The Korea Herald on Wednesday at the Ambassador Seoul - A Pullman Hotel. During the 11th session of the forum, German Ambassador Michael Reiffenstuel said that the two sides had intensified their collaboration in core areas of tech, while digitalization has revolutionized both economies. “As a like-minded country an

May 7, 2023

[From the Scene] Nuri rocket gears up for 1st space delivery

GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province -- South Korea’s homegrown Nuri rocket, also known as the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II, was waiting for the arrival of the satellites that it will carry into orbit later this month at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, on Wednesday. Successfully placing the satellites into the targeted orbit will be key for upcoming launch as the Nuri rocket readies for its third flight. “The first and second launches were about developing capabil

May 7, 2023

Samsung chief vows to repeat chip success story in biopharma

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung Group, vowed to boost the nation’s largest conglomerate’s burgeoning biopharma business to "repeat the success story of semiconductors," as he met with heads of major biopharmaceutical companies in the United States, the company said Sunday. Traveling to the US' East Coast, home to the world’s leading biopharma clusters, Lee met with the heads of global biopharmaceutical and venture incubat

May 7, 2023

[Photo News] Promoting Busan's Expo bid in Germany

Pedestrians walk past Samsung Electronics’ digital screen promoting Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Hamburg, Germany, in this photo provided by the tech giant on Sunday. Samsung took part in this year's Hamburg Port Anniversary, the world's biggest port festival, held last week.

May 7, 2023

[Eye Interview] Treating patients and R&D go hand in hand

As we exchange business cards at the start of the interview, his card catches my attention. The navy blue card with silver letters and an embossed seal of the school is very distinguished looking. The design clearly intends to command respect. I note the unusual design and Dr. Bae Sang-cheol, distinguished professor at Hanyang University, explains that the school’s distinguished professors are given the special cards. Bae, a former director of Hanyang University Hospital for Rheumatic Dise

May 6, 2023

SK Bioscience shares soar after contract deal with MSD

SK Bioscience’s share price soared over 16 percent on Thursday after the company signed a manufacturing deal with international pharmaceutical firm MSD. According to the Health Ministry and SK Bioscience on Friday, SK Bioscience and MSD inked the contract manufacturing deal to produce a vaccine. Following the signing, SK Bioscience’s stock price increased 16.39 percent to 83,100 won ($64.04) on Thursday, largely on the hopes that the company's sluggish performance will improve i

May 5, 2023

Samsung CEO hints at supercomputers on the way

Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kyung Kye-hyun, who oversees the tech giant’s chip business, unveiled the company's five-year plan to develop memory chip-centered supercomputers and catch up with its Taiwan-based foundry rival TSMC. Kyung visited the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Chungcheong Province, on Thursday to deliver a special lecture to promising talents. It was the first time Kyung delivered a lecture to students since taking office as co-CEO

May 5, 2023

[Photo News] Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs debut in India

Samsung Electronics said Friday it showcased its new 2023 Neo quantum dot light-emitting diode TV lineup at the Samsung Opera House, a mobile exhibition center for Samsung Electronics products, in Bengaluru, India, on Thursday. The products introduced at the event include the 98-inch and 55-inch Neo QLED 8K TV models and Lifestyle TVs, as well as the tech giant’s newest sound tower and sound bar products, according to Samsung officials. Samsung applied its sustainability management practic

May 5, 2023

Telehealth availability challenged as pandemic wanes

Six major South Korean business lobby groups issued a joint statement Thursday, calling on the National Assembly to amend related laws to keep telehealth platforms running. The groups, including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Korean Industries, asked lawmakers to legislate the medical law amendment bill to protect the telemedicine industry. Telemedicine services boomed in Korea during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they soon may no longer be available

May 4, 2023

Kakao’s Q1 profit halves due to aggressive investment

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s No. 1 messenger app, KakaoTalk, said Thursday that its first-quarter operating profit had tumbled by more than half due to increased investment in infrastructure and promising businesses. The IT giant’s operating income came to 71.1 billion won ($53.6 million) in the January-March period, dipping 55.2 percent from 158.7 billion won marked a year ago. Net profit nosedived 93.4 percent on-year to 87.1 billion won, according to Kakao in a regulatory

May 4, 2023

Hackers promise AI, install malware instead

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) -- Meta on Wednesday warned that hackers are using the promise of generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT to trick people into installing malicious code on devices. Over the course of the past month, security analysts with the social-media giant have found malicious software posing as ChatGPT or similar AI tools, chief information security officer Guy Rosen said in a briefing. "The latest wave of malware campaigns have taken notice of generative AI technology t

May 3, 2023

Merck to build bioprocessing plant in Korea

Merck, a leading science and technology company based in Germany, said Wednesday it plans to build a bioprocessing unit in Daejeon, South Korea. Under a three-way memorandum of understanding signed by the firm with Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the government of Daejeon, they will discuss detailed plans for building the international pharmaceutical company’s new bioprocessing unit that can produce raw materials for drugs. The Trade Ministry and the Daejeon city go

May 3, 2023

LG CNS, Microsoft Korea bolster security business ties

Information technology service provider LG CNS said Wednesday it will accelerate business cooperation in the IT security sector with the Korean unit of US tech behemoth Microsoft. The Korean firm said it became Microsoft’s managed security service provider, offering integrated security solutions from consulting to operations. Microsoft considers a firm’s security business capabilities and growth potential to determine its MSSP partner qualification. The news came after the top manage

May 3, 2023

Samsung Electronics may face 1st labor strike over wage deadlock

Samsung Electronics could face its first-ever labor strike as unionized workers have secured the right to legally conduct a walkout after wage talks between the tech giant and unionists fell through. According to industry sources Wednesday, Korea’s National Labor Relations Commission, a government agency under the Labor Ministry, held a steering session to arbitrate the wage deal a day earlier but ended up deciding to stop the talks due to an unbridgeable gap. The Tuesday meeting marks t

May 3, 2023

Samsung bans AI chatbots after leak

Samsung Electronics joined other tech companies in banning the use of ChatGPT and other AI-powered chatbots by its employees, after discovering leaks of sensitive internal codes by its engineers. Taking measures to ban access of generative AI tools on company-owned computers, tablets and phones, Samsung is also reportedly creating its own service tools to support translation and the summarizing of documents, as well as software development. The tech giant confirmed Wednesday it issued a memo las

May 3, 2023