Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Hyundai Steel bets big on waste recycling in ESG push
Hyundai Steel, the nation’s No. 2 steel maker, said Sunday it is betting big on waste recycling in its renewed push for carbon neutrality. The company has recycled used coffee grounds as part of its social contribution activities. More recently, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Incheon Yeonsu Rehabilitation Center to accelerate related research. The North Gyeongsang Province Government Public Institute of Health and Environment, the key beneficiary, will carry out a stu
Aug. 21, 2022
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Posco chief touts battery materials as future growth driver
Posco Group Chairman Choi Jeong-woo recently touted battery materials as a key growth driver during his meeting with investors in Singapore, the steelmaker’s holding group said Sunday. The pledge came as Choi briefed officials from US-based investment giant BlackRock and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation – a state-run investment agency – of Posco’s performance so far in management and strengthening its financial soundness on Friday, according to Posco H
Aug. 21, 2022
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Korean chipmakers’ reliance on China jumps 13-fold over 20 years
South Korea’s reliance on China for semiconductor exports jumped nearly 13-fold in the last two decades and Seoul needs to take action to resolve any associated risks, a report said Sunday. Semiconductor exports made up 39.7 percent of Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s total exports to China last year, a surge from 3.2 percent in 2000, said the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a major business lobby that represents some 300 companies including Samsung Electronics and SK
Aug. 21, 2022
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[Weekender] The mundane job of teaching AI about the real world
Tech evangelists say artificial intelligence and robots will one day liberate humans from simple and repetitive physical or cognitive tasks. But before we are all freed from the tedium of such chores, AI first needs an army of patient workers to teach it the subtleties of the real world, such as how to differentiate between a cat and a dog. Known as data labelers or data annotators, these workers handle large amounts of raw data, made up of images, videos or audio record
Aug. 20, 2022
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[Herald Interview] ‘Low driver pay is the root cause of taxi crisis’
In recent months, a severe taxi shortage saw people hailing a taxi on the streets of Seoul to no avail while ride-hailing apps like Kakao T failing to dispatch a driver, especially during nighttime peak hours. Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., only one 1 of 4 attempts to call for a taxi succeeds, according to Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong last month. The taxi crisis is blamed on a number of factors, including a sudden post-pandemic spike in demand and a reduced driver pool after many switched o
Aug. 20, 2022
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FSC forges ahead with COVID debt relief plan amid worries
Self-employed people and small businesses who have suffered major economic disruptions due to the pandemic will receive government support in writing off their debts as long as they pass a thorough screening process, the Financial Services Commission said Thursday. The plan -- revealed earlier to help the group repay loans they had taken out since the pandemic -- aims to reduce their debts, which the agency says needs to happen now because they could soon go bankrupt. But critics have said too
Aug. 19, 2022
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Hyosung donates AI care robots to older veterans
Hyosung Group said Friday that it has donated10 AI care robots, called Pibo, to older patriots and veterans, as part of its social contribution activities. Pibo, an AI care robot developed by a South Korean startup, Circulus, offers information such as news and weather while also monitoring the user’s body temperature and heart rate. It also manages medication tracking by setting a specific reminder of a user’s treatment schedule. The robot can monitor a user’s state of
Aug. 19, 2022
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Korea seeks to find big trading partners in Africa
South Korea will expand economic cooperation with African countries and promote local businesses’ advancement into the continent, the nation’s top economic policymaker said Friday. At a ministerial meeting to discuss operation plans for the Economic Development Cooperation Fund in Seoul, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said the nation “is seeking to find new trading partners in Africa, whose growth potential is big.” He expressed hopes that Kore
Aug. 19, 2022
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Kospi firms’ operating profits jump on Samsung Electronics
Companies on South Korea’s benchmark Kospi overall saw their combined operating profit in the first six months of this year rise 7 percent from a year earlier, thanks to Samsung Electronics, the biggest company on the main board by revenue. According to Korea Exchange data Friday, 696 firms on the Kospi reported 746 trillion won ($562.2 billion) in revenue between January and June, up 19 percent from the previous year. Operating profits came to 54 trillion won, a 7 percent jump. But the
Aug. 19, 2022
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Samsung Electronics Lee launches activities after pardon
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong revived his management activities by participating in the groundbreaking of a new semiconductor research and development complex in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday. This marked Lee‘s first official activity after being granted a pardon by President Yoon Suk-yeol earlier this month. In a speech during the groundbreaking ceremony at the company’s Giheung campus, Lee said it is time to “make the future using new technologies.&r
Aug. 19, 2022
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One-third of newly registered taxis electric: data
More than one-third of newly registered taxis this year were electric vehicles, illustrating their continuously expanding market in the country. According to Transport Ministry data analyzed by CarIsYou data center, 7,394 electric vehicles were newly registered for taxi operation from January to July. This equates to 36.4 percent of the 20,296 units newly registered as taxis in the same period. The number of electric taxis has significantly increased in the last decade. In 2013, there
Aug. 19, 2022
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Celltrion clinches W110b drug substance supply deal from Teva
Celltrion Inc., a major South Korean biopharmaceutical firm, said Friday it has secured a 110 billion-won ($83 million) drug substance supply deal from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. for use in producing the Israel-based generic drugmaker's migraine medicine. Under the contract manufacturing organization (CMO) deal, Celltrion will provide drug substance material for Ajovy, Teva's prescription medicine used for the preventive treatment of migraine in adults. The deal is approximate
Aug. 19, 2022
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S. Korea to preemptively deal with short-term foreign debt, capital flows
South Korea said Friday it plans to preemptively tackle a rise in the short-term foreign debt and volatility of cross-border capital flows as heightened external economic uncertainty could pose risks to its external soundness. The government also said the pace of the South Korean currency's weakness against the US dollar is not steep, compared with other major currencies such as the yen and the euro. "South Korea's external soundness remains relatively good even in the midst of he
Aug. 19, 2022
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S. Korean economy likely to slow down amid high inflation: ministry
South Korea's economy is feared to lose growth momentum as the country is grappling with high inflation and export growth could slow down amid heightened external economic uncertainty, the finance ministry said Friday. The Federal Reserve's fast rate hikes, China's economic slowdown, and the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine have increased downside risks to the global economy, the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called the Green Book. "Domesti
Aug. 19, 2022
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Seoul shares open lower amid uncertainty over Fed's rate hikes
Seoul shares opened lower Friday amid uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve's future rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 10.53 points, or 0.42 percent, to trade at 2,497.52 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks came off to a lackluster start in the face of overnight gains on Wall Street. The Fed's latest minutes hinted at a possible slowdown in inflation growth. In July, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points for a second straight t
Aug. 19, 2022
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Facebook sees over 25% drop in MAU in S. Korea since 2020: report
Facebook, the US social media network operated by Meta Platforms Inc., has seen an over 25 percent decline in the number of monthly active users (MAU) in South Korea across the past two years, an industry analysis report showed Friday. According to Mobile Index, the big data analysis unit of local data tracker IGAworks, the South Korean MAU tally for Facebook reached 11.09 million as of last month, compared with 14.87 million in May 2020, when the company started compiling related data. Mobile
Aug. 19, 2022
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FSC issues warning over unregistered crypto firms
Investors are being discouraged from using 16 cryptocurrency services companies operating in South Korea without registration from the Financial Services Commission, the top financial regulator said Thursday. The firms, all foreign, are KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, ZB.com, Bitglobal, CoinW, CoinEX, AAX, ZoomEX, Poloniex, BTCEX, BTCC, DigiFinex and Pionex. The firms are expected to face police probes for having failed to report to the agency their plans to engage in business with Kor
Aug. 19, 2022
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Law professor named head of antitrust watchdog
President Yoon Seok-yeol has appointed a professor who specializes in insurance law and investor protection to lead the Fair Trade Commission, the presidential office said Thursday in a statement. Han Ki-jeong, who teaches commercial law at Seoul National University and led the private Korea Insurance Research Institute between 2016 and 2019, will help revitalize a free market economy the Yoon government seeks, according to the statement. “Han has long studied what consumers need and kno
Aug. 18, 2022
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No. of state-run agencies to be reduced for better efficiency
SEJONG -- The number of state-run agencies are expected to be reduced substantially under a government plan to streamline efficiency and performance. The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday proposed a total of 42 institutions, or 32 percent of the nation’s 130 government-affiliated institutions, to be converted into “a third group” public agencies with more autonomy and responsibility. Currently, those with assets worth 1 billion won ($757,000), a yearly earnin
Aug. 18, 2022
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Coway’s ice-making water purifier sales jump 30% in July
Coway Co., South Korea’s leading water purifier maker, said it began full operation of its production plant in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, to meet high demand for its new ice-making water purifier. Sales of Coway’s Icon ice-making water purifier jumped 30 percent on-year in July as frequent heat waves sizzled the nation. The new product’s inventory for August was sold out in the beginning of the month, and orders continue to flood in, according to a Coway official.
Aug. 18, 2022