Most Popular
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Seoul Fireworks Festival ends smoothly, but leaves piles of trash
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Military aircraft evacuating S. Koreans in Lebanon returns home
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Yoon set for talks with Marcos in Philippines
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[AtoZ into Korean mind] The price of numbers: How rankings shape lives in Korea
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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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2 US B-1B bombers conducted joint drill with S. Korean Air Force on Oct. 1 Armed Force Day
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First lady’s Dior bag scandal to be at center of Assembly audit
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Firefighters’ 3,000 won meals spark nutrition concerns
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With US-Iran tension, Korea braces for oil price hike
Heightened tensions between the US and Iran may force South Korea to further lower its oil import reliance on the Middle East, according to industry watchers. As hostilities between the two nations escalated over the weekend, international oil prices have soared, stocks have fallen and prices for safe assets have soared. International benchmark Brent crude closed at $68.60 a barrel on Friday, up 3.55 percent, the highest level in six months. Gold rose 1.3 percent to $1,549 an ounce, the highest
Jan. 6, 2020
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[CES 2020] Samsung to produce microLEDs for homes
LAS VEGAS/SEOUL -- Under its mantra “Screen is Everywhere,” Samsung Electronics on Monday announced an expanded lineup of microLED screens aimed for mass production and commercial launch for homes in the second half of the year. A full lineup of Samsung’s highest-end self-emissive microLED display brand The Wall, including 75, 88, 93, 110 and 150 inches, will be mass-produced starting from the second half of the year, according to Samsung Visual Display President Han Jong-hee a
Jan. 6, 2020
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FDI to Korea falls 13.3% to $23.3b
Data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed Monday that foreign direct investment to South Korea fell 13.3 percent on-year in 2019 to reach $23.3 billion of investment in total.According to the data, last year’s FDI pledged to Korea was the second-largest amount after the $26.9 billion reported in 2018. The ministry said 2018 saw the record-high FDI thanks to earlier-reported investments by firms prior to the government’s planned abolition of corporate tax benefi
Jan. 6, 2020
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[Monitor] South Koreans use 3.3b plastic cups per year
According to a report by Greenpeace last week, South Koreans used in total 23.5 billion plastic bags, 4.9 billion plastic bottles and 3.3 billion plastic cups in 2017.The amount of used plastic bags would cover 70 percent of the Korean Peninsula, the report said.The organization, however, noted that 62 percent of disposed plastic waste is recycled in Korea, compared to 40 percent in the European Union. But simply comparing the figures is not realistic, Greenpeace noted, explaining that the EU fi
Jan. 6, 2020
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Apple most favored by Korean investors among foreign stocks in Q4: data
Apple Inc. was the top pick by South Korean investors among foreign companies during the fourth quarter of last year as local investors joined the rush to buy shares in the US tech giant on hopes of it making a rally, data showed Monday. Apple outperformed all other market-leading tech shares in 2019, rising 86 percent, as its new products, such as the Apple Watch 4 series, drew better-than-expected market response.According to the data compiled by the Korea Securities Depository, South Korean i
Jan. 6, 2020
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SKC to complete takeover of world's top copper foil maker for $1b
SKC Inc., a chemical unit of SK Group, said Monday that it will acquire KCF Technologies Co., the world's top producer of copper foil for lithium-ion batteries, this week in a bid to diversify its business portfolio.SKCFT Holdings Co., a subsidiary of SKC, is set to buy a 100 percent stake in KCFT from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a US-based private equity fund, for 1.19 trillion won ($1 billion) on Tuesday."The acquisition is meant to expand mobility business," SKC said in a reg
Jan. 6, 2020
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S. Korea's content industry grows 3.1% in first half of 2019
South Korea's content industry expanded 3.1 percent in the first half of 2019 from the same period the previous year, driven by growth in comics, information services and movies, data showed Monday.Sales of the South Korean content industry reached 58.13 trillion won ($49.7 billion) in the first six months last year, compared with 56.37 trillion won in the same period in 2018, according to the data by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency.Comics, mostl
Jan. 6, 2020
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Imported car sales dip 6.1% in 2019 as Japanese brands struggle
Imported car sales in South Korea fell 6.1 percent in 2019 from a year earlier as Japanese brands struggled with a boycott amid trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo, an industry association said Monday.The number of newly registered foreign vehicles fell to 244,780 units last year from the previous year's 260,705, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association."Local campaigns against Japanese vehicles and other products are still underway, weighing on imported
Jan. 6, 2020
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Korean firms expected to register better earnings in 2020
Nine out of 10 major listed firms in South Korea expect to see their profitability turn for the better in 2020 on the back of a much-awaited recovery in the global chipmaking sector and lower base effect, a market tracker said Monday.According to FnGuide, 264 listed companies, or 91.4 percent of the 289 major companies listed on the main bourse and the secondary bourse, said their performance will get better this year compared with last year.The combined operating profit of the 264 companies is
Jan. 6, 2020
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Hyundai sells over 50,000 Palisade SUVs in S. Korea last year
Hyundai Motor Co. said Monday that it sold over 50,000 Palisade sport utility vehicle models in the domestic market last year, helping buoy the carmaker's annual sales. For the whole of 2019, 52,299 Palisades were sold here following its launch in January, Hyundai sales data showed. Some potential SUV buyers chose the flagship Palisade over the midsize Santa Fe SUV last year amid concerns of cannibalization, or competition between models from the same carmaker. But the flagship Palisade's h
Jan. 6, 2020
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Hyundai Motor steps up car-sharing business in Los Angeles
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker, has stepped up its car-sharing business in Los Angeles, about two months after entering the market. Last November, Hyundai Motor set up a venture, MoceanLab, to offer mobility services in the US city with 15 Ioniq plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.Hyundai Motor plans to deploy about 300 Ioniq electric cars and vehicles from its affiliate, Kia Motors Corp., company officials said. Hyundai Motor's car-sharing business is a part of the US city'
Jan. 5, 2020
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SKT, SK Broadband, GS Caltex, Hotel Lotte top user satisfaction in 2019: NCSI
Throughout 2019, customer satisfaction in overall industries improved to reach an all-time high despite economic hardships, according to an annual survey by the Korea Productivity Center.The KPC’s National Customer Satisfaction Index, or NCSI, for 2019 stood at 76.7 points, up 0.2 points from 2018 and the highest since the survey began in 1998. This means that despite grim economic conditions throughout last year, Korean businesses worked to enhance customer satisfaction. The survey was co
Jan. 5, 2020
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Tech firms’ earnings to rebound this year
The 2019 fourth quarter earnings by South Korea’s electronics firms will be disappointing but the figures would start to rebound in the first quarter this year, industry watchers said Sunday.Korean electronics firms will begin posting their final quarterly performance results from 2019 with Samsung and LG Electronics spearheading the announcements. The release of the quarterly reports around Wednesday is to coincide with their participation in the world’s biggest consumer electronics
Jan. 5, 2020
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[Trending in Pairs] Delicious or exotic? Koreans’ mala craze, black sugar hype continue
In a country where food trends come and go, stores selling black sugar milk tea and Mala xiang guo -- Sichuan-style spicy stir-fried vegetables and meat -- are widespread these days. Korea’s “sweet fever” peaked when Taiwanese boba milk tea franchise Tiger Sugar opened here in March last year, selling milk tea with dark brown sugar syrup called “heukdang” in Korean. In less than a year, Tiger Sugar has opened 16 additional stores in Korea.Coffee shops like Coffee Be
Jan. 5, 2020
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AI, eco-friendly, consumer needs to be key trends in 2020
Facing an increasingly competitive market, companies are ratcheting up their efforts to better meet consumer expectations, with artificial intelligence, eco-friendliness and customer needs expected to be the key trends in major industries like information and communications technologies, cars and retail, according to an analysis by state-run Korea Productivity Center. Last year, the nation’s three mobile carriers -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- made efforts to innovate products and servi
Jan. 5, 2020
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S. Korea allocates budget of W1.5tr to help SMEs develop technologies
South Korea has allocated a research budget of 1.5 trillion won ($1.28 billion) for this year to help small and medium-sized enterprises develop technologies, officials said Sunday. The annual budget rose by 414.4 billion won from last year, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. About 200 billion won will be spent to help SMEs develop technologies in sectors including non-memory semiconductor, biotechnology and artificial intelligence, the ministry said. Another 118.6 billion won
Jan. 5, 2020
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Level 3 autonomous car to be sold in S. Korea from July
South Korea will allow carmakers to sell a vehicle with basic Level 3 self-driving technology in the domestic market from July, the transport ministry said Sunday, claiming that the country is the first to adopt safety standards for the limited self-driving vehicle.The government has adopted a set of safety standards required for the Level 3 autonomous vehicle, with the lane keeping assist function to run on a highway or motorway, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Jan. 5, 2020
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Korean snacks enjoy growing popularity overseas
South Korean snacks are increasingly gaining huge popularity in the global market as more consumers are addicted to new flavors and opted to pick up more Korean products in line with the Korean Wave, industry officials said Sunday.Exports of local snack products were tallied at $43.14 million in 2018, up from $41.6 million tallied a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Korea Agricultural Trade Information. Last year's tally was not available at the moment, but the figure is surely to
Jan. 5, 2020
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Beauty goods exports to Japan up nearly 30% despite trade row
South Korea's exports of beauty products to Japan advanced nearly 30 percent in the first 11 months of last year, data showed Sunday, despite the ongoing bilateral trade row stemming from their shared history.Asia's No. 4 economy shipped $370 million worth of beauty products to Japan in the January-November period of 2019, according to the report released by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, which cited the latest data available from IHS Markit.The country's overall exports to Japan,
Jan. 5, 2020
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Daewoo Shipbuilding targets over $6.8b in deals for 2020
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world‘s second-largest shipbuilder by order backlog, is seeking to secure deals worth more than $6.88 billion this year, an official said Saturday.In 2019, Daewoo Shipbuilding won orders worth $6.88 billion to build 39 vessels, achieving 82 percent of its annual order target of $8.37 billion, according to the company official.On Friday, South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Group said its three shipbuilding units are seeking to s
Jan. 4, 2020