Most Popular
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Seoul Fireworks Festival ends smoothly, but leaves piles of trash
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[AtoZ into Korean mind] The price of numbers: How rankings shape lives in Korea
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Yoon set for talks with Marcos in Philippines
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Can Jennie break the K-pop solo artist slump?
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Baseball star Hwang Jae-gyun, T-ara's Jiyeon file for divorce mediation
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[Exclusive] Korea’s defense acquisition agency fails to meet legal standard for women representation
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First lady’s Dior bag scandal to be at center of Assembly audit
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Yoon honors veterans of Korean War in trip to Philippines
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2 US B-1B bombers conducted joint drill with S. Korean Air Force on Oct. 1 Armed Force Day
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Firefighters’ 3,000 won meals spark nutrition concerns
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Netmarble launches MMORPG-battle royal cross-genre game A3: Still Alive
South Korea’s mobile game powerhouse Netmarble is betting on a new genre that crosses massively multiplayer online role-playing and battle royal. The experimental product A3: Still Alive was launched on Thursday to a fervent response from domestic game enthusiasts. In January, Netmarble’s CEO Kwon Young-sig made a rare attendance at a press event to express deep expectations on this new game, saying that the convergence of MMORPRG -- a genre popular among Korean players -- and ba
March 12, 2020
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Foreign pharmas join efforts to tackle coronavirus
Foreign pharmaceutical companies operating in Korea are reaching out to those needing most help amid the coronavirus spread here. Medical device company GE Healthcare Korea said Thursday it will donate ultrasound and patient monitoring equipment worth 210 million won ($174,000) to the doctors in North Gyeongsang Province, while Novartis Korea has donated 30,000 masks for low-income households. GE Healthcare will donate GE Venue Go, an artificial intelligence-enabled ultrasound machine, and p
March 12, 2020
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LG Display continues to expand presence in smartphone OLED panel market
LG Display Co., a major display panel maker in South Korea, has continued to expand its presence in the global smartphone OLED panel market, industry data showed Thursday, as the company strives to improve its earnings. LG Display had a 10.8 percent share in the global smartphone OLED panel market in the fourth quarter of 2019, up from 2.1 percent in the third quarter, according to data from industry researcher IHS Markit. It marked the first time that LG Display's quarterly market share ha
March 12, 2020
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Lotte Duty Free closes store at Gimpo airport
Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s biggest duty-free retailer by sales, said Thursday it will temporarily close its store at Gimpo International Airport amid a rapid decline in number of passengers over COVID-19 spread. The outlet at Gimpo airport is largely used by passengers who travel on short-distance routes to Japan, China and Taiwan. But due to the suspension of such routes over coronavirus concerns, the number of flights plummeted to one to two flights per day as of Monda
March 12, 2020
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Samsung committee advises heir to apologize to public
Samsung’s compliance monitoring committee, led by former Justice Kim Ji-hyung, has advised the conglomerate’s heir, Lee Jae-yong, and seven affiliates to apologize to the public for past wrongdoing in connection with the group’s leadership succession plans, it said Wednesday. According to a statement released by the committee, it sent a letter setting forth its recommendations to Vice Chairman Lee and the affiliates, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T and Samsung
March 11, 2020
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[Monitor] Cancellation penalties invite complaints
More and more consumers are complaining about having to pay penalties after canceling plans due to the new coronavirus outbreak, data from the Fair Trade Commission showed. The majority of the complaints concerned travel plans and weddings. Between Jan. 20, when the first confirmed COVID-19 case was reported here, and March 8, the commission’s “1372 consumer consultation center” handled 14,988 cases from consumers requiring consultations. This was 7.8 times the figure from t
March 11, 2020
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Korea initiates free counseling amid coronavirus
“This is my third week of telecommuting, and I’m feeling down for lack of human communication. Is this enough reason to receive psychological counseling?” is a question one can ask for free in South Korea amid the coronavirus situation. The Korea Psychological Association, together with the nation’s disease control body, said Wednesday that it would provide free counseling for anyone needing emotional care through the COVID-19 scare. Some 48 counseling sessions are pr
March 11, 2020
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Doosan Heavy mulling paid leave to idle employees amid deepening crisis
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., South Korea's largest power equipment maker, said Wednesday it is considering asking idle workers to take paid leave as part of efforts to cut costs amid dwindling orders. Doosan Heavy said idle workers can receive 70 percent of their basic monthly wage for up to three months. The planned paid leave is subject to endorsement of Doosan Heavy's labor union. Doosan Heavy said it had 6,700 employees at the end of December, though it did not give det
March 11, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Coronavirus triggers ‘untact’ recruitment trend
Korean companies are turning to remote hiring processes to resume recruitment disrupted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. According to industry sources, major companies are shifting recruitment procedures online, replacing face-to-face interviews with video interviews to keep applicants safe and to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. The increasingly important trend of minimizing contact has been encompassed in the “untact” movement -- to “undo contact” where
March 11, 2020
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Many Korean firms plan to cut hiring in H1: report
A quarter of South Korea’s large companies are expected to cut recruitment in the first half of this year due to worsening economic and business conditions, according to a local economic research firm Wednesday. The Korea Economic Research Institute surveyed recruitment plans of the nation’s 500 largest companies with 300 employees or more between Feb. 5-19. The survey results showed that 27.8 percent of the 126 companies surveyed said they would reduce hiring or not hire at all i
March 11, 2020
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40% of S. Korean firms support work from home amid coronavirus scare: poll
Four out of 10 companies in South Korea are willing to allow their employees to work from home on hopes of containing the coronavirus outbreak, a poll showed Wednesday. The South Korean government has urged local communities to take part in social distancing, a series of tactics designed to keep people from gathering in large crowds, including working from home and avoiding in-person meetings. A survey released by the online job portal Saramin showed about 40.5 percent of the 1,089 local firm
March 11, 2020
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[Monitor] Passenger traffic on Korea-Japan routes nosedives
The number of passengers on flights between South Korea and Japan nosedived this month, as the two countries enforced entry restrictions over the coronavirus spread. As of Monday morning, Japan suspended its visa-waiver program for Korean citizens, on top of asking arriving passengers to stay at designated facilities for two weeks. In response, Korea also suspended its 90-day visa-free entry program for Japanese. Incheon International Airport Corp. estimated that 318 passengers traveled on th
March 10, 2020
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Hyosung ITX to implement quarterly dividend system
Hyosung ITX, an information technology affiliate of Hyosung, will strengthen its shareholder return policy by increasing dividends and buying treasury shares, the firm said on Tuesday. The company said it would implement a quarterly dividend system -- from the current one-time dividend per year -- starting this year and increase dividend payments by 30 percent. It also plans to increase shareholder value by purchasing its treasury shares and encouraging the electronic voting system. Hyosung
March 10, 2020
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Despite worsened ties, Korea, Japan hold talks on export controls
South Korean and Japanese government officials held a video conference Tuesday to discuss issues related to Tokyo’s export regulations on local firms -- the first in three months amid worsened bilateral relations. The meeting was aimed at resolving the restrictions imposed in July on three key materials of chips and display panels made against Korea last year, as well excluding the country from its export control whitelist, according to the Trade Ministry. The Trade Ministry’s t
March 10, 2020
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As demand soars, Yuhan-Clorox offers disinfection tips
South Korean pharmaceutical and chemical company Yuhan-Clorox said Monday that it had posted information on its website about how to use its bleach as a household disinfectant. The company said the tips on “sterilization and disinfection methods to prevent infectious disease” -- posted on March 2 -- were available on the Yuhan-Clorox website in response to an increasing number of customers inquiring about the efficacy of household disinfectants amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The K
March 10, 2020
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Seoul airspace lacks unified drone command center
While the use of drones both in the public and commercial realms expands, South Korea has yet to develop a unified position on how to authorize them, particularly in the R-75 zone of restricted airspace in Seoul. According to the Aviation Safety Act, a drone weighing 12 kilograms or less (without fuel) and with a length of 7 meters or shorter doesn’t require authorization for flight as long as it stays under an altitude of 150 meters and keeps out of airport control zones and prohibited
March 10, 2020
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S. Korea regains top spot in Feb. shipbuilding orders
South Korea overtook coronavirus-hit China to regain the top spot in global shipbuilding orders in February, industry data showed Tuesday. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and other local shipyards won orders of a combined 200,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs) to build eight ships in February, or 67 percent of the global total, according to London-based market tracker Clarkson Research Services Ltd. The Philippines came in second with 60,000 CGTs to build four ships, taking up 19 percent of the
March 10, 2020
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Refiners face double whammy of low demand, plunging crude prices
South Korean oil refiners are facing a double whammy of sluggish demand and tumbling international crude prices that will make a big dent in their first-quarter earnings, industry sources said Monday. Since the coronavirus outbreak, local refineries have been struggling to cope with falling refining margins and weaker demand for their products both at home and abroad. A refining margin, a key measure of refiners' profitability, is the difference between the total value of petroleum products an
March 9, 2020
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Battlegrounds creator to head both PUBG, Krafton
PUBG Corp. said Monday that CEO Kim Chang-han, developer of its eponymous game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, will take on the dual role as head of Krafton. The appointment is viewed by the game industry as Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-kyu’s strategy to raise the company’s market valuation for its rumored year-end initial public offering. Krafton is the parent company of game studios PUBG, Bluehole, Pnix, Red Sahara, Delusion and En Masse Entertainment. Chairman C
March 9, 2020
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KCCI calls for W40tr extra budget to revive economy
Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan said Monday that the supplementary budget currently being discussed at the National Assembly should be expanded to 40 trillion won ($33 billion) as the coronavirus damage is likely to continue for a considerable period of time. “This is the time for bold policies,” Park pointed out in an unscheduled press briefing, adding that “the country should drastically expand the extra budget to change the direction of the s
March 9, 2020