[Photo News] From the other side

The first photo of Earth and the moon taken by South Korea’s lunar mission Danuri was unveiled Tuesday. Korea became the seventh country in the world to explore the moon on Dec. 28, as its first homegrown uncrewed space vehicle successfully entered lunar orbit.

Jan. 3, 2023

[Photo News] Promoting Busan's Expo bid at CES 2023

A giant banner promoting South Korea’s bid for the 2030 World Expo is hung on the exhibition floor for the 2023 CES in Las Vegas on Monday. South Korea’s refinery-to-battery company SK Innovation, along with other SK companies, said it will promote the southern port city of Busan’s bid to host the World Expo during the world’s largest tech trade show that kicks off Thursday.

Jan. 3, 2023

AMAT to acquire stakes in SKC’s glass substrate unit

US chip materials maker Applied Materials (AMAT) will acquire 51 billion won ($39 million) worth of Absolics shares, the chip glass substrate production arm of Korean chemicals company SKC. According to SKC’s regulatory filing on Monday, Absolics will issue new shares to raise 165.9 billion won to expand its production facilities. Of the 130,000 new shares, SKC and AMAT will acquire 90,000 and 40,000 shares, respectively. SKC alone will invest 114.8 billion won to acquire the shares. &ldqu

Jan. 3, 2023

[Photo News] Sleep smart

LG Electronics said Monday that it will debut a smart sleep care solution, called brid.zzz, at the CES trade show that kicks off Thurday in Las Vegas. The earbud-shaped device analyzes the user's brain waves and sleeping habits to help improve sleep quality. Its official market debut is expected to come in the first half of this year, the company added.

Jan. 2, 2023

Biopharma firms suffer W55tr loss in market cap in 2022

South Korea’s major biopharma companies were hit by a combined loss of 55 trillion won ($43.5 billion) in their market capitalization last year, Korea Exchange data showed Sunday. According to Korea Exchange, the KRX Health Care Index, comprising 83 major biotech and pharmaceutical companies listed on either the benchmark Kospi or tech-heavy Kosdaq, fell 29.2 percent on-year to 2,634.49 points as of Thursday, from 3,721.17 on Dec. 30, 2021. The combined market capitalization of the 83 list

Jan. 1, 2023

Samsung Bioepis speeding up interchangeability study of Humira biosimilar

Samsung Bioepis has brought forward its interchangeability study of Hadlima to speed up its processes for obtaining interchangeability designation in the US market, according to industry sources on Sunday. Hadlima is Samsung Bioepis' biosimilar referencing AbbVie’s blockbuster drug Humira, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and other conditions. Samsung Bioepis previously planned to complete its study needed to establish the interchangeability

Jan. 1, 2023

Tech firms to highlight cutting-edge technology at CES

South Korean companies are gearing up to showcase their latest future technology at the upcoming CES 2023 -- the world’s largest tech convention -- slated to be held from Jan. 5 to Jan. 9 in Las Vegas. According to CES organizer, Consumer Technology Association, this year’s event will feature over 3,100 exhibitors from 173 countries and regions around the world. The CTA expects the four-day event to draw over 100,000 visitors. After years of pandemic disruptions, this year’s

Jan. 1, 2023

Typing without keyboard becomes reality

A group of researchers led by South Korean scientists have developed the world’s first meta-learning electric skin technology that enables typing without a keyboard, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Wednesday. The research team of Jo Sung-ho, a computing professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Ko Seung-hwan, a mechanical engineering professor at Seoul National University and Zhenan Bao, a chemical engineering professor at Stanford, came up with a “spray-o

Dec. 29, 2022

[Photo News] Convertible Laptop

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled its Galaxy Book2 Pro 360, a 2-in-1 laptop with a 360-degree hinge that flips from PC to tablet in a snap, while offering a touch screen and S Pen. The product is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor. It rolls out on Jan. 16.

Dec. 28, 2022

Samsung CEOs hold rare meeting amid recession woes next year

South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung Group recently held a rare gathering of CEOs of all affiliates in an apparent move to ramp up preparedness for a global economic downturn next year coupled with falling chip prices, unfavorable currency rates and further rate hikes, according to industry sources on Wednesday. The high-level meeting was convened at the Samsung Electronics Leadership Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Monday, according to industry sources who wished to remain

Dec. 28, 2022

[Newsmaker] Danuri successfully enters lunar orbit

South Korea’s first lunar mission Danuri has successfully entered lunar orbit, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said Wednesday. With Danuri’s successful entrance into lunar orbit, South Korea has become the seventh country in the world to have capability to explore the moon. Danuri, also known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, began circling around the moon at the targeted orbit altitude of some 100 kilometers above the lunar surface on

Dec. 28, 2022

[Photo News] Futuristic cockpit

LG Display said Wednesday it will showcase a futuristic digital cockpit using plastic-based organic light-emitting diode panels at the upcoming CES trade show in Las Vegas next month. Themed around “Advanced Mobility Lifestyle,” the display maker plans to set up an exhibition booth exclusively for automotive clients, including carmakers and parts makers. (LG Display)

Dec. 28, 2022

LG to debut ThinQ UP upgradable appliances in US

LG Electronics said Tuesday it is launching its “upgradable” home appliance brand LG ThinQ UP in overseas markets, starting with the US. Debuted as UP Appliance in Korea in January, the brand allows customers to add new features to their existing LG appliances through software updates. Currently, the product lineup consists of 24 different appliances, including washing machines, refrigerators, dryers and dishwashers. As of December, over 120 upgrades are available in Korea. Largely b

Dec. 28, 2022

Genshin Impact-themed Samsung foldable phones sell out in 14 minutes

Genshin Impact, an open-world action role-playing game, or RPG, has demonstrated its popularity once again as the game-inspired Samsung Electronics foldable smartphones and earbuds sold out shortly after they went on sale last week. According to Chinese game and animation studio HoYoverse, the 100 units of the Genshin Impact edition of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and the 200 units of the game-themed Buds 2 Pro earbuds were all gone only 14 minutes after they became available for purchase on Samsung'

Dec. 28, 2022

Bold goals set to tackle trade loss next year

South Korea on Tuesday laid out a set of bold goals to support private-sector-led growth in 2023, promising financial aid to achieve a trade surplus and attract foreign investment in a bid to minimize the impacts of a global economic slowdown. While 2023 is expected to be challenging for the economy amid growing uncertainties in the global market, the government said it will achieve $680 billion in exports and attract more than $30 billion of foreign investment, while investing some 100 trillion

Dec. 27, 2022

Samsung drives 63% surge in foldable phone sales in Q3

Global shipments of foldable smartphones shot up more than 60 percent in the third quarter this year, despite the stagnant smartphone market, owing to high sales of Samsung Electronics’ foldable devices, according to industry tracker Counterpoint Research on Tuesday. From July to September, foldable smartphone shipments worldwide surged about 63 percent on-year to 6.08 million units. Although the global smartphone market posted stagnant sales, foldable items accounted for 2 percent of th

Dec. 27, 2022

Hyundai Heavy Industries renames itself HD Hyundai

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group said Monday it is rebranding as HD Hyundai, opening a new chapter in its 50-year history as the nation’s top shipbuilder. The group also unveiled its new mission for the future -- to “pursue innovation that leads the era, and constantly challenge itself to pioneer the future of humanity” -- during its 50th anniversary ceremony held at a research and development center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province. It presented a vision for each of its three key bu

Dec. 26, 2022

'Half-baked' chips act falls short of drastic corporate tax cuts

South Korea last week passed a revision bill being deemed the "Korean chips act," expanding tax benefits for investments in the semiconductors industry. But the bill has done little to appease stakeholders in the industry, who said the increased tax cuts are too little to boost their competitiveness against other countries that have adopted their own chips laws. The National Assembly on Friday passed the revision bill to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act, which raised the corpora

Dec. 25, 2022

Celltrion submits FDA application for CT-P13 SC

Celltrion announced Friday that it completed submission of a biologics license application for subcutaneous version of biosimilar to anti-inflammatory medicine Remicade the US drug regulator. CT-P13 SC, or Remsima SC, is Celltrion’s subcutaneous formulation of the company’s infliximab biosimilar referencing Johnson & Johnson’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Remicade. CT-P13 SC is the world’s first SC formulation of biosimilar infliximab, which has earned sales approva

Dec. 23, 2022

LegoChem Biosciences inks W1.6t out-licensing deal with Amgen

LegoChem Biosciences, a South Korean drug company, announced on Friday that the company signed a technology transfer agreement with US multinational biopharmaceutical company Amgen to transfer antibody-drug conjugate technology. The contract could potentially be worth 1.6 trillion won ($1.2 billion), the Korean firm stated in a public disclosure. ADC is a medicine that can deliver highly potent chemotherapy agents to kill cancer cells. Under the contract, LegoChem Biosciences will transfer an an

Dec. 23, 2022