Homeplus's rocky road continues despite W200b lifeline

Homeplus pulled back from the edge of bankruptcy on Thursday by securing 200 billion won ($135 million) in emergency financing from Meritz Financial Group, but the retailer still faces a steep climb toward normal operations and long-term survival. Homeplus plans to appeal the court's termination decision by its July 20 deadline. If accepted, rehabilitation would extend to Sept. 4, while Homeplus must still win creditor and court approval for a revised plan or risk another termination and bankrup

2026-07-17 16:30:31:00

Busan's department stores cash in on record foreign visitor numbers

Foreign tourists are pouring into South Korea's second-largest city in record numbers, and the city's department stores are cashing in, with some branches posting sales growth that outpaces Seoul's retailers. Busan welcomed nearly 1.94 million foreign visitors between January and May, a 40 percent jump from a year earlier and nearly double the national growth rate, according to city data on Friday. Foreign visitor spending hit 132.2 billion won ($89 million) in May alone, second only to Seoul na

2026-07-17 13:46:52:00

[Photo News] Grab a bowl of ramyeon in St. Petersburg

The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., known as aT, said Thursday it ran a Korean food-themed booth at a culture festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 12, drawing roughly 3,000 visitors to experience K-food, K-beauty and K-pop firsthand. Billed as the region's largest Korean culture event, the festival featured Korean street food, beauty products, traditional games, a K-pop stage and taekwondo demonstrations, alongside aT's booth showcasing export staples and an instant noodle statio

2026-07-17 10:41:17:00

Uber lands $14.8b deal to acquire Baemin parent company Delivery Hero

Uber agreed to acquire German food delivery company Delivery Hero for roughly $14.8 billion, the company said Thursday, a deal that would fold South Korea's Baemin and other major delivery platforms into Uber's global network. Uber signed a merger agreement with Delivery Hero and will launch a voluntary tender offer, paying shareholders 41.50 euros ($52) per share in cash. The offer values Delivery Hero at about $14.8 billion for the full company, or roughly $13.7 billion after accounting for Ub

2026-07-16 18:00:48:00

Homeplus secures W200b lifeline from Meritz to avert liquidation

Homeplus said Thursday that Meritz Financial Group agreed to extend 200 billion won ($135 million) in emergency financing to the cash-strapped retailer, keeping its court-supervised rehabilitation alive with only days left before liquidation. Meritz's board approved the debtor-in-possession loan Thursday, contingent on MBK Partners chair Michael Byungju Kim personally guaranteeing the debt. Meritz also agreed to cooperate with the subsequent approval of Homeplus's rehabilitation plan. The agreem

2026-07-16 16:39:18:00

'Mongtan': Mongolian capital wrapped in Korean food, retail brands

The capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, has earned the Korean nickname "Mongtan," a mashup of Mongolia and Dongtan, the large planned city south of Seoul. Home to roughly half the country's 3.5 million people, the capital has grown dense enough with Korean storefronts to pass for a Korean suburb, with Korean convenience chains facing off on street corners and bakeries and burger shops lining the sidewalks. President Lee Jae Myung even invoked the nickname at a recent Korea-Mongolia business forum,

2026-07-16 14:03:23:00

Coupang steps up Q2 Washington lobbying via Trump-linked firm

Coupang spent $250,000 lobbying the Trump administration and Congress in the second quarter through a firm with close ties to the president, extending a Washington campaign amid its ongoing conflict with South Korean regulators over the company's massive data breach. In a lobbying disclosure filing Wednesday, Ballard Partners, a Florida-based lobbying and public affairs firm, reported that client Coupang Inc., the e-commerce giant's parent, paid it $250,000 for the April-through-June period, up

2026-07-16 11:40:34:00

Korean Air may keep dual mileage programs after merger

Korean Air may have to run two separate mileage programs even after its merger with Asiana Airlines takes effect Dec. 17, as South Korea's antitrust regulator withholds approval of the integration plan. In a securities filing on Tuesday, the national flag carrier stated that absent approval from the Fair Trade Commission before the merger date, it "may need to maintain and operate the existing Korean Air and Asiana Airlines mileage systems separately." This would avoid making the programs less f

2026-07-15 14:35:07:00

K-beauty eyes Wall Street glow-up with first ETF

A prospectus for what would be the first US-listed K-beauty exchange-traded fund arrived at the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, stirring expectations that global capital could soon flow into the sector at scale. The prospectus was filed by US-based asset manager Guinness Atkinson for its K-beauty ETF, ticker KBTY, which plans to list on NYSE Arca. The fund will put at least 80 percent of net assets into K-beauty companies, defined as firms organized, headquartered, or listed in Sou

2026-07-14 15:14:34:00

One face, one formula: Inside Amorepacific's AI beauty lab

Yongsan-gu has never been Seoul's beauty district, not like Seongsu or Myeong-dong, but it may be inching in that direction with Amorepacific's newest flagship store, Amore Yongsan, where beauty means one formula for one face. During The Korea Herald's visit to the store last week, a two-armed robot behind a glass wall labeled Hera Custom Match was at work inside its own sealed booth, selecting a bottle, carrying it to the pigment station and mixing, every so often breaking into a small dance mi

2026-07-14 11:20:42:00