S. Korea and China to build smart agriculture complex in Pocheon

A massive agriculture complex will be developed in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province as part of a joint project between Korean and Chinese industry players, the Korea-China Private Economic Association announced Sunday. The agriculture complex, which would sit on a 250,000-square-meter parcel of land, has been designed as an eco-friendly town comprising smart farms, hydrogen fuel cell generators, logistics systems and housing with leisure facilities. The private companies from two countries would

April 4, 2021

Krafton earnings soar ahead of IPO

South Korean game developer Krafton’s sales last year jumped 53 percent to around 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion), the company said in its annual report. The company behind the hit battle royal game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is expected to accelerate steps for an initial public offering, on the back of the strong performance. According to Krafton’s business report for 2020, the company’s revenue for the whole of last year amounted to 1.67 trillion won, up 53.6 per

April 4, 2021

ITC dismisses LG’s request to drop SK’s patent violation suit

The United States International Trade Commission on Friday dismissed a request made by LG Energy Solution to sanction SK Innovation’s lawsuit that accused LG of infringing on patents. The ITC dismissal came just one day after the US government agency ruled in favor of SK in another patent case filed by LG against SK. The latest denial involves SK’s complaint that accused LG of infringing on its patents in September 2019, a separate case from the two archrivals’ dispute abou

April 2, 2021

S. Korean pharmas eye Nasdaq after Coupang success

South Korea’s pharmaceutical and biopharma companies are ramping up efforts to get listed on the Nasdaq market, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Korean e-commerce giant Coupang with their US market debut. According to industry sources Thursday, CoImmune, a joint venture between SCM LifeScience and Genexine, is preparing for an initial public offering on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite. CoImmune’s appointment of biotechnology and finance expert Dr. Edgardo Baracchini to the co

April 1, 2021

Kakao Mobility attracts $50m investment from Google

Kakao Mobility, Korea’s digital transportation service app operator, said Thursday the company will explore new business opportunities together with Google. Under their partnership, Kakao has attracted investment of $50 million from the US tech giant, which is to be paid completely by April 22, according to the company’s regulatory filing. With the investment, Kakao and Google will work together on advancement of artificial intelligence technologies based on the cloud, create s

April 1, 2021

S. Korea to encourage 5G competition through budget mobile providers

South Korea's ICT ministry said Thursday it aims to encourage more competition in the local 5G market through the release of affordable mobile data plans from mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). The ICT ministry said 10 MVNOs in the country, including Sejong Telecom Inc., will release new data plans starting this month that provide up to 30 gigabytes of data for around 40,000 won ($35). The country's major telecom operators -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- do not currentl

April 1, 2021

Kimchi could help ease coronavirus symptoms: study

Kimchi, South Korea’s traditional fermented cabbage dish, could help mitigate coronavirus symptoms, a recent study showed. The research was jointly conducted by the government-funded World Institute of Kimchi and Jean Bousquet, an honorary professor of Pulmonary Medicine at Montpellier University, France. The study found that the intake of kimchi could lead to a milder case of the coronavirus due to the bioactive compounds present in the dish. A metabolite result from fermentation, the

March 31, 2021

Samsung SDI joins international push for deep-sea mining ban

South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI is among the first four companies in the world to sign on to a World Wildlife Fund call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, according to an announcement by WWF on Wednesday. The battery-making affiliate of Samsung Electronics joined Google, BMW and Volvo in committing not to source any minerals -- such as cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese -- from the seabed or finance deep-sea mining activities, and to exclude minerals obtained this way from their s

March 31, 2021

[Herald Interview] Local firm aims to turn Korea into hub of hair-transplant tourism

South Korea could become a hub of hair-transplant tourism in Asia, said Han Bio Chairman Kang Da-witt, introducing the technology that his company developed to treat hair loss. Han Bio, a Seoul-based company that develops cell therapies based on natural killer cells and stem cells, last year developed a technology that can be used in the mass culturing of dermal papilla cells, a population of cells that play pivotal roles in hair formation, growth and cycling. During an interview with The Ko

March 31, 2021

KT offers first mobile fee discounts for foreign subscribers

KT is rolling out a mobile fee discount program exclusively for non-South Korean nationals, becoming the first mobile carrier here to do so, the firm announced Wednesday. While many local subscribers are eligible for family plans, which entail discounts and benefits such as shared data usage, most foreigners have been left out of such benefits as many are here without their families. KT’s new plan for non-Koreans will group five foreign customers with the same nationality and offer a

March 31, 2021

S. Korean EV battery makers see global market shares dip in Jan.-Feb.

South Korea's three electric vehicle (EV) battery makers saw their global market shares fall in the first two months of the year amid Chinese rivals' big advances, a market tracker said Wednesday. Worldwide consumption of EV batteries stood at 25.2 gigawatt hours (GWh) in the January-February period, up 102.4 percent from a year earlier, according to SNE Research. South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd., which spun off from LG Chem Ltd. in December last year, shipped 4.8 GWh equival

March 31, 2021

YouTube Music's Android users more than double on-year in Feb: data

YouTube Music ranked as the second-most popular music streaming platform among South Korean Android users last month, with listeners on the platform more than doubling from the previous year, data showed Wednesday. The music streaming service from YouTube had 2.61 million users in February, compared with just 1.22 million the previous year, according to mobile analytics firm WiseApp based on its data on local Android smartphone users aged 10 and older. Local music streaming giant Melon, operat

March 31, 2021

EXEM posts record-high fiscal year 2020 results

EXEM, a South Korean IT company, reported its best performance ever in the fiscal year 2020 that ended on Dec. 31. EXEM recently announced that consolidated sales reached 39.2 billion won ($34.8 million) last year, up by 14 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit and net profit rose 53 percent and 79 percent to 9.6 billion won and 8.7 billion won, respectively. “We have been able to achieve a record-high performance based on our accumulated DBPM, APM core technology plus a solid b

March 31, 2021

LG Energy, Samsung SDI among top 3 in 2020 smartphone battery market: report

South Korea's two major battery makers -- LG Energy Solution Ltd. and Samsung SDI Co. -- were ranked in the top three in the global smartphone battery market last year, a report showed Wednesday. LG Energy Solution, a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem Ltd., had a revenue share of 26 percent to rank second in the worldwide smartphone battery market in 2020, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. Samsung SDI, an affiliate of the world's largest smartphone maker Samsung Electronics C

March 31, 2021

SK hynix appoints Park Jung-ho as co-CEO

SK hynix Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho, who is also the chief of SK Telecom, has been appointed as the chipmaker’s co-CEO at its board meeting Tuesday, the firm said. As co-CEO, Park will assume the role of building the corporate culture and leading establishment of long-term strategies for the chipmaker to strengthen global competitiveness and find new growth opportunities. Current CEO Lee Seok-hee will be responsible for development, investment and operation to strengthen technology and

March 30, 2021

Samsung, LG TVs support faster connectivity with Wi-Fi 6E

Newest TV models by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have been certified for Wi-Fi 6E technologies, the first in the global TV industry, according to the companies on Tuesday. Samsung said its 2021 Neo QLED 8K TV models have earned the world’s first Wi-Fi 6E certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi 6E, a new standard in connected technology, offers four times faster connectivity based on stable and reliable data transfers – even when multiple devices are connected t

March 30, 2021

[Newsmaker] Korea pins high hopes on ‘K-syringes’

Despite taking an early leadership in COVID-19 diagnosis and epidemic response, South Korea has been months behind in the global race to either develop vaccines or secure jabs already developed and inoculate its citizens. While playing catch-up, the government is hoping to draw attention to its achievements elsewhere -- their syringes. Low dead-space syringes, which local firm PoongLim Pharmatech developed in partnership with the government, has allowed the country to inoculate 1,880 more p

March 30, 2021

Celltrion’s sales of COVID-19 treatment to reach W1.2tr: report

Sales of Celltrion’s COVID-19 treatment could reach 1.2 trillion won ($1.06 billion) this year, a local securities firm said Monday. According to a report from Hana Financial Investment, sales of Celltrion’s COVID-19 antibody treatment CT-P59 are expected to increase since Celltrion received a positive scientific opinion from the European Medicines Agency last week for its monoclonal antibody treatment candidate. But the report said Celltrion’s production capacity for the d

March 30, 2021

KAIST unveils deepfake-detecting mobile app

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said Tuesday its research team launched the country's first mobile app that detects deepfakes -- images or videos digitally manipulated with artificial intelligence (AI) -- to curb misinformation and prevent potential harm to victims targeted by the technology. The software, named KaiCatch, can accurately detect deepfakes by using AI technology that recognizes abnormal distortions in a subject's face in images, according to KAIST, S

March 30, 2021

Magnachip to be sold to Chinese fund

Magnachip, spun off from South Korea’s SK hynix and listed on the US stock market, has been sold to a Chinese private equity fund, according to industry sources Monday. The chipmaker will be acquired by China’s Wise Road Capital for 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion) according to the company announcement. All of the shares will be sold to the Chinese fund at $29 per share with a 75 percent premium, which is estimated to be $1.4 billion. “The latest deal will not only bring

March 29, 2021