Korean Air and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute plan to develop the world’s first small-scale unmanned tiltrotor aircraft by 2013, the two companies announced Monday. The envisioned aircraft, dubbed “TR-6X,” will be about 60 percent the size of the first unmanned aerial vehicle unveiled in November by the state-run aerospace think tank, which flies like a plane but tilts its rotors to take...

Asiana Airlines, Korea’s second-largest carrier, said it won Air Transport World’s “Ad of the Year” award Monday. The renowned U.S. trade magazine, published by Penton Media Inc., also granted Asiana the Gold Award in the corporate category for a second consecutive year. Some 1,400 industry experts assessed all commercials printed in the magazine throughout last year to select the best advertis...

Nearly 1,000 companies from 30 countries will showcase their latest medical equipment and health care technologies at a trade show in Seoul starting Thursday. The Korea International Medical Hospital Equipment Show 2012 is the country’s largest exhibition for the burgeoning industry, co-hosted by Korea E & EX, the Korea Medical Devices Industrial Cooperative Association and the Korea Medical Dev...

KT&G Corp., Korea’s tobacco giant, said Wednesday it planned to freeze its cigarette prices for the time being, citing persistent inflationary pressures. The Seoul-based company has recently been faced with a dilemma as to whether it should follow the lead of its smaller rivals, which relayed price hikes since last year to cope with surging raw material and labor costs. Philip Morris Internatio...

By Shin Hyon-hee British American Tobacco Korea plans to introduce a stronger version of its Lucky Strike cigarettes to boost the nascent brand’s presence in the market, the local unit of the multinational group said Monday. The latest product, Lucky Strike Original Filters, will provide a richer and bolder taste than the previous version, and features cork-tipped filters with modern, black pac...

FTC last year slapped fines on Korean units of Sanofi-Aventis and Janssen Drug makers in Korea have offered nearly 100 billion won ($89.4 million) in rebates between 2006 and 2010, a report showed Sunday, pointing to a rampant illicit practice that has long dragged on one of Asia’s fastest growing pharmaceutical markets. Last year, 17 local and multinational firms were fined 14.3 billion for ha...

POSCO shares staged a brisk rise on Thursday after its executives bought stock en masse to display their confidence and help stabilize the market. The world’s fourth-largest steelmaker said its 73 executives led by chief executive Chung Joon-yang purchased a total of 4,351 shares, worth more than 1.82 billion won ($1.6 million). Chung, who was recently elected to a second term, and president Ch...

Philip Morris International Korea’s recent plan to raise its cigarette prices is fueling concerns over inflation as rumors swirl that its bigger rival KT&G will soon follow suit. The Korean unit of the U.S. tobacco giant is to slap an unexpected price increase averaging 6.8 percent starting Feb. 10 to offset rising raw material and labor costs. The hike, the first in seven years, will send the ...

LG Electronics said Wednesday that it will set a 35-million-unit smartphone sales target this year, with plans for smartphones to grow to 70 percent of its handset portfolio. In an earnings briefing at its headquarters in Yeouido, its chief financial officer Jung Do-hyun said the company will produce less feature phones and focus on the premium smartphone lineup, especially smartphones that run ...

GlaxoSmithKline Korea Ltd. said Wednesday that Korea’s drug agency has extended approval for its hot-selling pneumococcal vaccine to be used in babies born premature at 27 to 28 weeks and children up to 5 years old. The expanded approval makes Synflorix the first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine with posology for premature babies in Korea, the local unit of the U.K.-based corporation said. The va...