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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[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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Seoulites celebrate coexistence at Wellness Seoul 2024
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[KH Explains] Can G-Star level up?
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[Lee Kyong-hee] Tone-deaf first lady causes chaos
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SK Chemicals to sell bioenergy biz to invest in green materials
SK Chemicals said Tuesday it is moving to finalize the sale of its cash cow bioenergy business to make new investments in green materials. The company plans to sell its bioenergy business to private equity fund Hahn & Co. for 382.5 billion won ($309.4 million). It had suspended the operation of bioenergy business on Feb. 5, excluding the sector from its first-quarter earnings report. “To enhance its value and secure funds through mergers and acquisitions, we decided to sell off th
May 26, 2020
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Hyundai Steel wins green award for climate change response
Hyundai Steel led by CEO Ahn Dong-il won the Carbon Management Sector Honors Award in the raw materials sector at the 2019 Best Companies for Climate Change Response hosted by the South Korean division of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in Seoul in April, the firm said Tuesday. The CDP, recognized as a global sustainability assessment index along with the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, is a global project of over 92 countries that financial and investment agencies demanding major compa
May 26, 2020
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Pandemic reshuffles market cap rankings, bio firms emerge
The market capitalization of large South Korean companies was hugely affected by the pandemic, with 89 of the nation’s top 100 by market value changing their rankings, according to latest data Tuesday. Local corporate tracker Korea CXO Institute surveyed changes in the rankings of the top 100 companies in market capitalization between Jan. 2 and May 22. According to the survey, the market cap of the top 100 companies in Korea stood at 1,082 trillion won ($876 billion) on May 22, an 8.5
May 26, 2020
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[Monitor] TV shipments in China drop below 10m
China, the world’s largest television market, has suffered a sharp drop in shipments in the first quarter upon the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Monday. According to Omdia, around 9,387,600 TV sets were shipped to retailers in China, dropping below the 10 million mark for the first time in nine years. The decline rate in TV shipments was 23.6 percent for China, 13.6 percent for West Europe, 8.5 percent for North America and 8 percent for Asia. Chinese TV manufacturers largely depend
May 26, 2020
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Netflix estimated to have record-high subscriptions in S. Korea in April: data
Global video streaming platform Netflix Inc. is estimated to have brought in record-high paid subscriptions in April amid the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed Tuesday. An estimated 2 million paid viewers in South Korea presumably paid 43.9 billion won ($35.5 million) for subscriptions last month, up 21 percent from 36.2 billion won in March, according to the data from industry tracker WiseApp. The number of South Korean subscribers to the US platform has gradually increased from 28
May 26, 2020
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31 diabetes drugs banned for suspected carcinogen substance
South Korea has banned the production and sale of 31 diabetes drugs with a substance that may pose cancer risks, although the drugs do not pose serious health risks, the country's public health agency said Tuesday. The drugs are metformin-based medication, with 257 other diabetes drugs also being checked for the substance, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said. "Of the drugs checked, the 31 had above the permitted level of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)," the ministry said. The
May 26, 2020
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S. Korean mobile games expanding clout overseas amid pandemic
South Korean mobile games have gained huge popularity in overseas markets partly on the back of the coronavirus pandemic that has confined more people to their homes, industry data showed Tuesday. Global mobile game usage shot up 20 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with a year earlier, data from app analytics firm App Annie showed. Global app downloads also rose 15 percent on-year during the cited period. Separate data from Nielsen showed that the average time spent gaming i
May 26, 2020
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S. Korea's telecom market lacks competition: report
South Korea's telecommunications market dominated by three major firms lacks competition and needs to improve its structure to provide better services to consumers, a state-run think tank said Tuesday. The Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) said although competition in the local telecom market, viewed as an oligopoly, has grown over the years, it still appears to be "insufficient." "The market share and concentration ratio of the country's top telecom ope
May 26, 2020
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Doosan Group struggling to sell assets to tide over credit squeeze
Heavy machinery and power equipment-focused Doosan Group is seeking to ease its severe credit squeeze stemming from its flagship Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. by coming up with a self-rescue plan that centers on sales of assets. The country's 15th-largest conglomerate said late last month that it will push ahead with a plan to sell its shares and non-core assets in a bid to secure more than 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in cash. At the request of its creditors, includ
May 25, 2020
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Bioneer to patent candidate materials for COVID-19 treatment
South Korean biotechnology firm Bioneer said Monday it had filed a patent application for candidate materials for COVID-19 treatment co-developed with its subsidiary siRNAgen Therapeutics. According to Bioneer, it analyzed nucleic sequences of the SARS virus and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and found matching sequences. Based on those matches, Bioneer said it created 960 candidate materials and is currently testing which one is most effective to COVID-19. “As coronavirus
May 25, 2020
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SK Global Chemical to make 70% of products ‘green’ by 2025
SK Global Chemical, an affiliate of South Korean energy giant SK Innovation, said Monday that it would make 70 percent of its products green by 2025. Currently only 20 percent of its products are considered green, and the change is needed not only for the environment but also to ensure long-term survival, the company noted. In a recent online meeting with staff and executives, SKGC President and CEO Na Kyung-soo openly questioned whether the conventional chemical business would survive in
May 25, 2020
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Philip Morris Korea celebrates 3rd anniversary of Iqos launch
Philip Morris Korea said Monday it would hold a four-week promotion event to introduce limited edition goods to celebrate the third anniversary of the launch of Iqos, the flagship heat-not-burn product, in South Korea. During the event, PMI Korea said it will introduce two limited editions of device covers. The first edition, “Sun Rose,” represents the colors of roses, and the second edition “Twilight” draws the color of the sky in spring, the tobacco company explaine
May 25, 2020
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‘Remdesivir has become standard for COVID-19 treatment’
Remdesivir, an investigational ebola treatment by US-based Gilead Sciences that is increasingly being pursued as as an effective COVID-19 treatment globally, has now become the barometer for all future coronavirus treatments, according to Seoul National University Hospital on Monday. SNU Hospital and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, are two clinical trial sites for remdesivir in Korea included 73 sites across the world. “This NIH clinical research proves remdesivir as th
May 25, 2020
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Daewoong gets diabetic foot ulcer treatment halal-certified
Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Monday it has acquired halal certification for its biologics drug Easyef solution. Easyef solution is a recombinent human epidermal growth factor that treats diabetic foot ulcer. “Since December 2019, it is required for all biologic drugs distributed in Indonesia to indicate whether they are halal certified or not. In order for the wider Muslim population to be able to access our drugs, we are expanding the number of halal certified products,” a Daewo
May 25, 2020
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[Monitor] Spending patterns change in pandemic
As expected, the spending patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed drastically, according to a report by Hana Institute of Finance under Hana Bank. Credit card use at travel agencies, airlines and duty-free shops dropped most significantly while overall online shopping spending surged during the first three months of the year. Among offline markets, less were spent at large retail stores and department stores, while spending at convenience stores and supermarkets increased. Purchas
May 25, 2020
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Korea Western Power recycles oyster shells to reduce fine dust
Korea Western Power (Kowepo) said Friday that it is recycling oyster shells to create a material that can transform sulfur dioxide emitted from fossil fuel plants into ashes. When released, sulfur dioxide can react with other pollutants in the air and generate fine dust. According to the state-run utility, it began operating an oyster recycling facility in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, as oyster shells -- which are made of calcium carbonate -- can react with sulfur dioxide and turn it
May 24, 2020
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Solgent’s test kit receives emergency use authorization from FDA
Solgent’s COVID-19 test kit has received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration, becoming the 10th South Korean kit to receive the green light from the agency. According to industry sources Sunday, the DiaPlexQ kit is a real-time polymerase chain reaction test kit that can produce a diagnosis in under two hours. Solgent was already exporting the test kits to the US, with the first batch of 150,000 test kits going out last month. Last month, the company a
May 24, 2020
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Dongsuh Foods supports aspiring female writers
South Korea’s instant coffee giant Dongsuh Foods Corporation is continuing to back aspiring female writers and is donating books to libraries as part of its efforts to support the local literary scene, the firm said Sunday. The coffee and tea manufacturer also hosts an annual go competition, one of its major corporate responsibility projects for the past 21 years. Launched in 1989, Dongsuh’s biennial Dongsuh Literary Award has been at the forefront of cultivating new female writer
May 24, 2020
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Korean firms brace to bounce back from pandemic
Major South Korean companies have resumed operations at their overseas plants and are speeding up business normalization since suffering disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. This month, the nation’s two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, restarted their production plants in India, which had been shut down due to the host government’s strict containment measures. Now, they have restarted work at more than 90 percent of the global production bases they had shut do
May 24, 2020
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Lotte Shopping to sell 121 stores this year due to virus impact
Lotte Shopping Co., the operator of South Korea's biggest department store chain, said Sunday it will sell 121 brick-and-mortar stores within this year amid the new coronavirus impact on the retail industry. Lotte Shopping runs about 700 department stores, large discount stores, supermarkets and LOHB's online shopping mall's offline stores, and was originally planning to sell 200 of them over the next three to five years to strengthen the e-commerce business. "The company has decided t
May 24, 2020