Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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[Music in drama] An ode to childhood trauma
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'The Roundup: Punishment' becomes fastest 2024 film to top 2 mln admissions
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Producer prices grow for 7th month in July on electricity, service costs
South Korea's producer prices increased for the seventh straight month in July as electricity and transportation service bills rose, raising worries that it could add to upward pressure on already-high inflation, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 120.47 last month, up 0.3 percent from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Compared with a year earlier, the index jumped 9
Aug. 25, 2022
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Ramen next in line for sharp price hike
Amid soaring food costs, prices of ramen, Koreans’ most favored instant food and a common low-cost meal option, are set for an increase next month, in another blow to customers already grappling with persistent inflation. Koreans consumed the most instant noodles per capita in the world in 2020. Nongshim, a leading South Korean ramen maker, said Wednesday that it was raising prices for instant noodles and snacks, effective Sept. 15, by an average of 11.3 percent and 5.7 percent, respectiv
Aug. 24, 2022
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Oriental Brewery VP shares how beer company could go green
South Korea’s largest beer maker Oriental Brewery introduced its climate change-tackling technology at the Conference of Global Climate Action Fund, according to the company on Wednesday. The conference, initiated for the first time and scheduled to be held from Monday to Friday, was co-hosted by the W Foundation and United Nations Climate Change Convention. It was designed to support private sector efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. At the conference, Nataly Borges, vice president o
Aug. 24, 2022
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K-content tweets increase 546% over 10 years
The amount of tweets related to Korean content has grown 546 percent over the past 10 years, according to Twitter. “K-content’s growth on Twitter follows the explosive growth pattern of K-pop,” said Kim Yeong-jeong, Twitter’s head of global K-pop and K-contents partnership, Tuesday at the Content Marketing Summit 2022 held at the InterContinental Hotel in Seoul. “Twitter‘s strength, which allowed K-pop to expand its reach over the past few years, is expect
Aug. 24, 2022
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Lotte Chemical becomes sole bidder for Iljin Materials
Lotte Chemical has emerged as the sole bidder in the sale of South Korea’s second-largest copper foil manufacturer Iljin Materials, according to a local report Wednesday. Global private equity fund operators and foreign strategic investors have pulled out during the bidding process due to Iljin Materials’ high prices and rate hikes, leaving Lotte Chemical as the only bidder, the Herald Business said in an exclusive report, citing investment bank sources. Lotte Chemical on Monday c
Aug. 24, 2022
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Hyundai Motor invests in automotive semiconductor startup
Hyundai Motor Group said on Tuesday it has decided to invest in Bos Semiconductors, an automotive semiconductor startup. Bos Semiconductor is a fabless startup which specializes in manufacturing system semiconductors used in automotive software. The startup aims to design high-performance semiconductors that consume low amounts of power. It also aims to manufacture central processing units and high-speed interfaces that are essential for automotive semiconductors. Hyundai Motor’s inv
Aug. 24, 2022
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Seoul stocks snap 5-day losing streak; local currency up for 1st in 7 sessions
South Korean stocks finished higher Wednesday, after five consecutive sessions of losses, as investors bought oversold issues. The Korean won also gained ground against the US dollar for the first time in seven sessions. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 12.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,447.45, breaking the five-day losing streak. Trading volume was moderate at 407.61 million shares worth 7.93 trillion won ($5.91 billion), with gainers outpacing decliners 575 to 275.
Aug. 24, 2022
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Samsung C&T wins W800b solar power plant project in Qatar
Samsung C&T said Wednesday it has inked an 800 billion won engineering, procurement and construction contract with QatarEnergy to build solar power plants with the capacity to generate 875 megawatts of electricity. The project involves building one solar power plant with 417 megawatt capacity in Mesaieed and another one in Ras Laffan with 458 megawatt capacity, which will start generating electricity by the end of 2024. Around 1.6 million solar panels will be installed in these power
Aug. 24, 2022
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Resistance growing over big tech’s push into insurance agency biz
South Korean technology firms are gearing up to launch new services where users can compare different insurance products on their platforms, but the move has been met with strong resistance from traditional agents, sources said Wednesday. Financial authorities earlier this week approved local big tech firms such as Naver and Kakao to launch test-runs of their new “insurance agent” services starting from as early as October, according to the policymaking Financial Services
Aug. 24, 2022
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[Newsmaker] Chung Euisun heads to US as inflation law puts Hyundai Motor EV strategy in peril
Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun made an emergency trip to the US on Tuesday to seek ways to deal with the latest US tax credit bill that has scrapped subsidies for foreign-made electric vehicles. Amid looming concerns that the bill may jeopardize the carmaker’s EV strategy, Chung left for Washington, D.C., with Hyundai Motor President Gong Young-woon who is in charge of public relations, media outlets reported Wednesday, quoting unnamed sources. They plan to meet high-ra
Aug. 24, 2022
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LG to launch AI ethics group for better transparency
LG Group said Wednesday it is launching a new artificial intelligence ethics group later this year with an aim to build more responsible AI systems and their deployment across all LG companies. Ahead of its official launch, LG AI Research, the group's AI research hub, recently set up a task force to be charged with educating LG employees to better understand AI ethics and evaluating ethical risks related to privacy, bias and fairness before product development. The upcoming ethics group
Aug. 24, 2022
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S. Korea to announce comprehensive measures to boost exports
South Korea plans to come up with a set of measures this month to strengthen the competitiveness in exports amid the global economic downturn, the industry ministry said Wednesday. The envisioned plan comes as the country has seen a slowdown in the growth of exports, which account for half of the economy, and its trade deficit has widened in recent months due to high energy prices. In July, exports rose 9.4 percent on-year, marking the 21st consecutive month of growth. But they began to mark sin
Aug. 24, 2022
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LG Uplus rebrands K-pop platform to Idol Plus with foreign language support
LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's third-largest mobile carrier, said Wednesday it has rebranded its K-pop content platform and has newly enabled official foreign language support for foreign users. The company's U+ Idol Live platform has been renamed as Idol Plus and its menu and subtitles now officially support English, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indonesian, in addition to Korean. LG Uplus said it has analyzed overseas customer usage during its beta web service period since November in s
Aug. 24, 2022
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Regulator OKs KG Group's takeover of SsangYong Motor
SEJONG -- South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has approved a deal by chemical-to-steel business group KG Group to buy the debt-ridden SsangYong Motor Co., as the takeover does not hurt market competition. In July, KG asked the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to review its deal to acquire some 61 percent stake in SsangYong Motor for 950 billion won ($ 708 million). The FTC said it has given the green light to the deal, saying that the acquisition is not likely to hamper competiti
Aug. 24, 2022
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Hyundai Motor chief visits US amid new tax break law
Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday its Chairman Chung Euisun is visiting the United States amid growing concerns over a new US law excluding electric vehicles (EVs) built outside the US from tax breaks. The South Korean carmaker didn't provide any details about Chung's US schedule. Chung is expected to meet US government officials and business leaders to ask them to "help improve an unreasonable part" of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), auto industry officia
Aug. 24, 2022
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Seoul shares open higher as investors brace for monetary tightening
South Korea's stock market opened higher Wednesday amid uncertainty over the direction of the global economy and monetary policy at home and abroad. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 17.27 points, or 0.71 percent, to trade at 2,452.61 as of 9:15 a.m. Investors are bracing for more monetary tightening policy at home, along with the possibility of hawkish remarks from the United States later this week. The Bank of Korea is widely expected to raise its interest rate
Aug. 24, 2022
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Individual bond buying soars amid flight to safety
South Korean retail investors' bond purchases have surged this year as they seek safe-haven assets amid rising interest rates and a bearish stock market, data showed Wednesday. Local individual investors had bought a net 10.2 trillion won (US$7.6 billion) worth of bonds over the counter this year as of Monday, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The amount is more than double their net buying of 4.6 trillion won for all of last year. By type, corporate bon
Aug. 24, 2022
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Won weakens further despite warning against speculation
The South Korean won weakened to 1,345.5 won per US dollar on Tuesday, marking a fresh 13-year low, despite a warning that authorities would rein in speculative trading seen as behind the depreciation. The verbal warning, coming for a fourth time for the year, reflects growing volatility gripping the currency markets amid the persistent hawkish outlook on a US rate hike in September boosting the dollar’s safe-haven appeal. The key psychological threshold of 1,300 won is considered
Aug. 23, 2022
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LG Innotek’s thermoelectric system gets green tech certificate
Electronic component manufacturer LG Innotek said Tuesday that its key material for thermoelectric generators, which allow vessels to reuse waste heat and cut carbon emissions, has won a green technology certificate by the government. Powered by the nano-polycrystalline semiconductor material developed by LG Innotek, the thermoelectric system uses the heat flux due to temperature differences within the semiconductor to generate electrical energy, according to the company. Its nano-polycristal
Aug. 23, 2022
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KRX, Busan to launch professional ping pong team
The Korea Exchange said Tuesday it signed an agreement with the city on Friday to launch a Busan-based professional table tennis team by next month. The envisioned team will take part in the Korea Table Tennis League in the upcoming regular season, which begins in late January. The KRX, South Korea’s bourse operator, said it will help find new talent, foster professionals and contribute to the local community as it runs the Busan-based team. “We will support outstanding players t
Aug. 23, 2022