Only two in world: Shinsegae to sell e-motorbikes inspired by its heir’s image

Shinsegae International will launch a limited-edition electric bike in collaboration with Super73, US-based electric motorbike manufacturer. By limited edition, they mean only two in the world. The company‘s signature gorilla character JRilla, designed after Shinsegae heir Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin, is the bike‘s mascot. The product even has its own narrative: JRilla, originally from Mars, opted for an electric bike in favor of both the environment and style while navigating h

IndustryFeb. 18, 2022

Beauty video platform Zamface raises W4.5b

Zackdang, operator of beauty video platform Zamface, said Wednesday it raised 4.5 billion won ($3.76 million) from Hi Investment Partners and Daesung Private Equity in January. With the fresh investment, the company’s cumulative investment has reached 11 billion won. Zamface saw its number of cumulative subscribers surpass 1.8 million in only 2 1/2 years since its launch in January 2019. Millennial- and Generation Z-females take up the lion’s share, or 94 percent, of its user base,

IndustryFeb. 18, 2022

Global DRAM shipments, prices down in Q4: report

Global DRAM shipments dropped nearly 6 percent in the fourth quarter from three months earlier, a report showed Friday, amid sluggish demand from manufacturers that had hoarded up the key consumer electronics component over continued chip shortages. DRAM shipments during the October-December period were valued at $25 billion, down 5.8 percent globally from the previous quarter, according to the data provided by industry tracker TrendForce. Declining purchasing momentum, it said, also led to a dr

EconomyFeb. 18, 2022

KT to pay $6.3m to US SEC to settle corrupt practice charges

KT, South Korea’s largest telecommunications firm by sales, will pay a total of $6.3 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an SEC announcement showed Friday. The SEC ordered the Seoul-based firm to pay $3.5 million in civil payments and $2.8 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest within a month, more than two years after the US authorities started their investigation. KT was accused of insuffici

TechnologyFeb. 18, 2022

Korean Air to use aviation fuel with smaller carbon footprint on Paris route

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Friday it will use more environmentally friendly aviation fuel on its Incheon-Paris route as part of efforts to join global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The move to use the so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for the route comes as Europe and the United States are leading efforts to build SAF production facilities and supply the fuel to cut greenhouse gas emissions from flights. "The company has decided to adopt SAF on t

MobilityFeb. 18, 2022

Raging omicron feared to hamper private spending recovery: finance ministry

South Korea's economy is on a recovery path on the back of robust exports, but the fast spread of the omicron variant is feared to hurt the recovery of private spending, the finance ministry said Friday. External economic uncertainties also heightened as oil prices have surged and volatility in the financial market has increased amid geopolitical risks between Russia and Ukraine, the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called the Green Book. "South Korea's exports have

EconomyFeb. 18, 2022

[Graphic News] S. Korea's instant meals market skyrockets 145% over 4 years

　The South Korean market of instant meals jumped more than 145 percent in 2020 from four years earlier on the increased number of convenience stores and the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　Shipments of ready-to-eat items, known as home meal replacement products in South Korea, came to 2.01 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in 2020, up a whopping 145.3 percent from 2016, according to the data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Co

BusinessFeb. 18, 2022

Global sales of Samsung Bioepis' 5 biosimilars jump 11% in 2021

Samsung Bioepis Co., a South Korean biopharmaceutical company, said Friday that global sales of its five biosimilar products, outside of the South Korean market, jumped 11 percent on-year in 2021. The combined sales of the five biosimilars -- Infliximab, Etanercept, Adalimumab, Trastuzumab and Bevacizumab -- came to around $1.25 billion last year, compared with $1.12 billion a year earlier, the company said. The company cited earnings reports of its global partners -- Oganon International and Bi

IndustryFeb. 18, 2022

Seoul stocks open steeply lower on rising Ukraine tensions

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Friday, tracking a plunge on Wall Street that stemmed from the elevating US-Russia tensions over Moscow's potential invasion of Ukraine. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 24.86 points, or 0.91 percent, to 2,719.23 points as of 9:15 a.m. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.88 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.78 percent, due to the US top officials' comments about the heightening possibilit

MarketFeb. 18, 2022

KRX to review delisting Osstem Implant

The Korea Exchange said Thursday that it has put Osstem Implant under review to determine whether to delist the company amid a probe into a massive embezzlement scandal.  A review committee will convene a meeting in March to make a decision on whether to allow the implant maker to continue trading or grant it a one-year grace period. Listed companies are suspended from trading and face delisting if they report embezzlement exceeding 5 percent of their equity. Osstem Implant was

MarketFeb. 17, 2022

NK defector gets US doctorate under Hanmi Global chief‘s support

A North Korean defector sponsored by a South Korean company received a doctoral degree in international relations from a US university. Kim Seong-ryeol, a 37-year-old from Chongjin, North Korea, made three failed attempts to flee North Korea with his family by crossing the Tumen River to China since 1997, and was subsequently jailed. Kim finally fled the North in 2004, and settled in South Korea with his family. Having dropped out of middle school in North Korea, Kim completed the South Korean

IndustryFeb. 17, 2022

APG calls for 10 S. Korean firms to cut carbon emissions

Dutch pension fund APG said Thursday it has urged Samsung Electronics Co. and nine other South Korean companies that it has invested in to intensify efforts to reduce carbon emissions. APG, the largest pension fund in the Netherlands, said it has sent a letter to major companies, including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix Inc. and LG Chem Ltd., urging them to conduct "ambitious climate and carbon reduction strategies and commitments." The pension fund called on them "to evaluate thei

IndustryFeb. 17, 2022

Seoul stocks up for 2nd day on eased Fed uncertainties

South Korean stocks advanced for a second straight session Thursday, as the US Federal Reserve's January minutes largely remained within the market expectations. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) increased 14.41 points, or 0.53 percent, to close at 2,744.09 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 602 million shares worth some 11.7 trillion won ($9.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 464 to 372. Foreigners bought a

MarketFeb. 17, 2022

Lippert’s expertise to boost Samsung’s US strategy

Samsung Electronics America said Wednesday it has hired former US Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert as its public relations chief, in an apparent move to better respond to uncertainties surrounding policy changes in the US, especially on chips. The former envoy will lead the company’s Washington office as executive vice president and head of North American public affairs from March 1. Samsung said Lippert’s insight into policy changes and regulations in the US will play a key

TechnologyFeb. 17, 2022

Coway Q4 sales up 9.7% to W945b

Coway posted 945.9 billion won ($789 million) of sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 with an operating income of 139.2 billion won, the company said Thursday. The firm also logged 3.66 trillion won in 2021 sales, logging a 13.2 percent growth year-on-year. Operating income was 640.2 billion won and net income 465.5 billion won, each up 5.6 percent and 15 percent.　 The company‘s global outposts saw a yearly revenue of 1.21 trillion won last year and 301.6 billion won in the fourth quarter

IndustryFeb. 17, 2022

Auction for additional 5G spectrum band delayed

The auction for an additional 5G spectrum band, which was slated to take place sometime this month, will be delayed over the remaining differences between the country’s three largest telecommunication companies, officials said Thursday. Earlier in the day, the Science and ICT minister and CEOs of SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus met at the Seoul Central Post Office to discuss the ongoing dispute of the 5G spectrum auction, but failed to come to a conclusion. After the meeting, Hwang Hyun-si

IndustryFeb. 17, 2022

Secret of maintaining the top: OB brings real life story to ads to soothe customers

Oriental Brewery (OB), Korea’s largest beer maker, won the grand prize at the 2021 Korea Brand Awards for its marketing strategy that added sentimental elements to soothe customers hit by the pandemic. The award, overseen by the Korean Marketing Association, recognizes companies that put “consumer value” at the forefront of brand management. The key to OB’s marketing strategy was “clicking with” consumers, stressed the beer manufacturer. While beer advertisem

IndustryFeb. 17, 2022

Korea's 'Grand Challenge' unites Korean firms to commercialize flying cars by 2025

Under the South Korean government’s plan to commercialize flying cars, or Urban Air Mobility, in central cities by 2025, the Transport Ministry on Thursday kicked off the K-UAM Grand Challenge program to coordinate all of South Korea’s UAM-related activities as part of its focus to enable emerging aviation markets. This Ministry-led program will bring together industry players including aircraft developers, airspace designers, and air traffic management operators with the goal of d

IndustryFeb. 17, 2022

Samsung woos wine lovers with new Bespoke refrigerators, IoT features

Samsung Electronics said Thursday a wine cooler will be part of its new home appliance package under its Bespoke brand to target wine lovers in South Korea, coupled with its Internet of Things features for wine pairing recommendation. Its new premium built-in side-by-side refrigerator, under its brand-new Bespoke Infinite lineup, has a dual-zone vertical wine cooler that can hold up to 101 bottles of wine. The temperature for each zone can be set at between 4-18 degrees Celsius, enabling user

TechnologyFeb. 17, 2022

[Market Eye] MSCI upgrade for South Korea: How much does it really matter?

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki was supremely confident in November last year when he said the government would consult index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International on having the country reclassified as a developed market from its current emerging market status. The government’s drive to receive MSCI’s highest recognition is not new, as it has been pursuing it for the last 14 years. Seoul first floated the idea in 2008 to remove underlying market volatility of Asia’s four

MarketFeb. 17, 2022