Samsung likely to unveil three foldable phones on Aug. 11

Samsung Electronics will unveil a lineup of new mobile devices, including foldable phones, next month, according to industry sources on Monday. Industry watchers say that Samsung will be holding a Galaxy Unpacked event at 11 p.m. on Aug. 11, Korea time, which will be livestreamed from Seoul. Samsung, however, hasn’t yet sent out an official invitation to its partners and media worldwide. Regarding the schedule, Samsung said it is not yet fixed. The upcoming show will be the first th

July 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] Cyworld comes alive again

Cyworld, the dominant social networking site here before the era of Facebook throughout the 2000s, was set to reopen Monday evening, with many in their 30s and 40s ripe with anticipation to revisit their past. Cyworld Z, the company that bought Cyworld in January this year, said it has recovered some 17 billion photos and over 100 million videos stored in the old servers. With nearly 32 million members at one point, Cyworld was the uncontested champion of social media here, as the country&rsqu

July 5, 2021

S. Korea to offer sea radiation level via website

South Korea's oceans ministry said Sunday it plans to launch a new platform to provide the latest information on the radiation level in local seas to the public amid growing safety concerns over Tokyo's planned release of contaminated water. "We plan to minimize the public's concerns over the safety of our waters and seafood, and bolster monitoring on the radiation level of the ocean," the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said in a statement. In April, the Japanese government said it

July 4, 2021

LG invests W100b in Kakao Mobility

LG Corp., the holding company of Korea’s fourth-biggest conglomerate, on Friday inked a 100 billion-won ($88 million) investment deal with Kakao Mobility as part of efforts to discover new opportunities in future mobility. Both sides did not reveal how much stake LG would acquire in the digital transportation service app operator with the latest deal. LG said the investment was made as part of considerations to develop potential synergy between the conglomerate’s affiliates and

July 2, 2021

SK Biopharm aims to crack ranks of world’s top 10 health care companies

South Korean central nervous system drug developer SK Biopharmaceuticals CEO Cho Jeong-woo vowed to help the firm attain a value of 50 trillion won ($44.02 billion) by 2030 and make the list of the world’s top 10 health care firms. SK Biopharm shared its latest corporate vision during an online event titled “Financial Story,” held Friday. During the event, SK Biopharmaceuticals presented detailed strategies to achieve the goal. SK Biopharm said the company would launch mor

July 2, 2021

LG Chem chief takes initiative to attract top talent

LG Chem Vice Chairman Shin Hak-cheol has rolled up his sleeves to recruit top-tier talent who could lead the company’s future research and development under environmental, social and governance standards. The chemical affiliate of LG Group on Friday held a conference at InterContinental Seoul COEX in southern Seoul, inviting 45 engineers who are pursuing master’s or doctorate degrees at local universities and research institutions. LG Chem’s executives joined the conferenc

July 2, 2021

Korean biz community expresses concerns about OECD ‘digital tax’

South Korea’s business community expressed concerns Friday about a global move toward additional taxes on technology companies that would affect Korean tech giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The Federation of Korean Industries, an organization that represents the interests of Korean businesses, said in a statement, “We express concerns about the side effects of an agreement on the digital tax announced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

July 2, 2021

LG Chem receives positive phase 2 clinical study results for gout treatment candidate

LG Chem announced Thursday that the company received positive results from the phase 2 clinical trial of its gout treatment candidate LC350189 in the US. LC350189 is a novel nonpurine selective inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, which oxidizes both hypoxanthine and xanthine to uric acid. High uric acid levels can increase the risk of gout. The phase 2 clinical trial in the US, which involved 156 patients, showed efficacy of the gout treatment candidate in lowering uric acid levels, accordi

July 1, 2021

Seegene inks partnership with Bio-Rad to sell its diagnostic tests in the US

South Korean diagnostics company Seegene said Thursday that the company has partnered with Bio-Rad Laboratories for the clinical development and commercialization of diagnostic products in the US. Under the agreement, Seegene will provide the company’s diagnostic tests for use on Bio-Rad’s molecular diagnostic CFX96 Dx Real-Time PCR Detection Systems. The contract will run for five years from the date that the two companies win approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration.

July 1, 2021

LG U+ upbeat about Disney partnership on content streaming

The chief of LG U+, the smallest of the three major mobile carriers in South Korea, on Wednesday expressed confidence that Disney would choose it as the local partner for its Disney+ streaming service launch, slated for September. “Disney puts its top priority on customer convenience and requires very high standards in terms of quality of content service,” said CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik, during his first press conference since taking office seven months ago. His remarks were embargoed un

July 1, 2021

S. Korea's 5G users near 16m in May

South Korean mobile users on 5G networks reached nearly 16 million in May, data showed Thursday, as telecom operators seek to expand applications of the next generation networks. As of the end of May, 5G subscriptions stood at 15.84 million, accounting for 22 percent of the total 71.45 million mobile subscriptions in the country, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. South Korea has a population of around 51 million. Top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. had the most 5G subsc

July 1, 2021

LG Uplus aims to expand non-telecom biz: CEO

LG Uplus Corp., one of three mobile carriers in South Korea, is aiming to boost its profile by expanding media and business-focused services beyond its established focus in telecommunications, its chief has said. Hwang Hyeon-sik, CEO of LG Uplus, said in a press conference Wednesday that he aims to raise the company's share of sales from non-telecom services to 30 percent of the total by 2025 from the current 20 percent. "The future B2B market will transition from a focus on infrastructur

July 1, 2021

Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra wins best smartphone award at MWC 2021

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, has won the best smartphone award at the world's largest mobile telecommunications expo. The high-end model of the Galaxy S21 series was honored at the Global Mobile Awards at Mobile World Congress 2021 in Barcelona on Wednesday (local time), the South Korean tech giant said. The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G, which was launched in January, competed for the award with the Galaxy S20 FE 5G, Apple iPhone 12 Pr

July 1, 2021

S. Korea eases rules for phase 3 clinical trial of new COVID-19 vaccine

South Korea’s COVID-19 vaccine candidates can be evaluated through comparison with previously authorized vaccines. This means domestic vaccine developers will no longer have to recruit large control groups for a phase 3 clinical trial. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Wednesday, the government has revised guidelines for phase 3 clinical trials in a bid to accelerate the development of homegrown vaccines against COVID-19. Under the new rules, drugmakers would need j

June 30, 2021

Hundreds of 5G users file joint lawsuit over disappointing network services

Hundreds of 5G mobile users filed a joint lawsuit Wednesday against the country's three major mobile carriers -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- over disappointing quality of the latest generation networks, according to their legal representative. Around 520 people are taking part in the joint lawsuit, which argues that carriers have offered incomplete 5G services, leading to poor network quality, Kim Jin-wook, an attorney at law firm Joowon, said. "The action seeks compens

June 30, 2021

[News Focus] Korea’s IPTV business confronts challenges despite revenue increase

South Korea’s overall broadcasting industry suffered a drop in revenue last year, but IPTV operators bucked the trend, achieving a respectable 11 percent increase in revenue during the same period. Yet the 2021 outlook for the IPTV business remains mixed due to raging disputes over content fees. According to data released Tuesday by the Korea Communications Commission, the combined revenue of 342 broadcast operators stood at 18.1 trillion won ($16 billion) in 2020, up 340 billion won, o

June 30, 2021

Korea launches mRNA vaccine consortium

South Korean biopharmaceutical companies have joined forces to co-develop and co-produce 100 million doses of a homegrown messenger RNA vaccine for COVID-19 next year, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tuesday. Dubbed the “K-mRNA vaccine consortium,” it will be led by three major firms -- Hanmi Pharmaceutical, GC Pharma and ST Pharm -- and backed by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association and the Korea Innovative Medicines Consortium, a gr

June 29, 2021

[News Focus] Ruling against Netflix signals impact on digital content market

A high-profile ruling made against Netflix last week by a Seoul court is expected to have repercussions on the Korean market, affecting not only viewers but also domestic and foreign internet companies. The court’s decision confirmed that the streaming service has an obligation to negotiate with mobile carriers over the payment of network usage fees. The legal battle traces back to November 2019, when internet service provider SK Broadband filed a complaint with a local telecommunicatio

June 29, 2021

BTS meets robots in new Hyundai Motor clip

South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor on Tuesday released a promotional video featuring K-pop supergroup BTS and robots, as part of efforts to reposition the company as a tech firm leading future technologies. Titled “Welcome to the Family with BTS,” the clip, which is around two and a half minutes long, was uploaded to the carmaker’s official YouTube channel. It seeks to make the field of robotics familiar to young people, by introducing Spot and Atlas of Boston Dy

June 29, 2021

Hanmi announces positive phase 3 clinical trial results of its diabetes drug candidate

Hanmi Pharmaceutical said Tuesday that efpeglenatide, its long-acting diabetes drug candidate, had significantly reduced the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events and kidney disease, quoting the results of phase 3 clinical trials. Sanofi, which has purchased the license for efpeglenatide from Hanmi, presented the results of the global, large-scale clinical trial at the American Diabetes Association’s 81st Scientific Sessions. The phase 3 clinical trial involved 4,076 patient

June 29, 2021