Blockchain firm X-widget tests art NFT service with gallery

Blockchain company X-widget said it began a pilot service of a platform for non-fungible tokens that it developed with a major local art gallery to use NFTs as proof of ownership of digital assets such as artworks. The NFT Contest Market Your Own Pick, or NCOP, is a Web 3.0 platform that allows users to discover and assess the value of artworks using NFTs. It is a blockchain-based decentralized application that will be officially launched at the end of this year. Based on a strong community of a

Oct. 27, 2022

X-widget's AIIN to provide information all about virtual assets

Blockchain company X-widget said Thursday it is developing a virtual asset information-providing solution called Artificial Intelligence Index (AIIN) by combining artificial intelligence and big data technologies. The service is set to launch in early 2023. The new service will use X-widget’s independent blockchain platform to provide virtual asset-related indexes, a prediction on virtual asset prices, a collective virtual asset management service, and an investment community network servi

Oct. 27, 2022

Kakao Bank beefs up banking services for self-employed

Kakao Bank, the internet-only bank under mobile platform service provider Kakao Corp., on Thursday said it plans to enhance its banking services for the self-employed business, seeking to expand its customer base. The lender has posted fast growth with a focus on household banking since its launch of banking operations in 2017. According to the tax agency's data, more than 1 million individuals launch independent businesses every year as of end-2021. As of end-September, loans for individua

Oct. 27, 2022

Taking Samsung’s top post, Lee Jae-yong vows to seek out transcending technology

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has been promoted to chairman of the world's largest chipmaker and smartphone maker, ending a high-profile succession process that took more than three decades to complete, with a vow to invest in transcending technology that could reboot the tech giant's growth engine. Lee, 54, was crowned Samsung Electronics' new executive chairman with the board of directors' approval Thursday morning, 10 years after he held the vice chairman

Oct. 27, 2022

Samsung's Q3 profit sinks on weak chip demand

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday posted a sharp drop in profits for the third quarter, as its main semiconductor business faced major headwinds from weakening memory chip prices and demand. The world's largest memory chip and mobile phone maker said in a regulatory filing its third-quarter net profit declined 23.6 percent from a year earlier to 9.38 trillion won ($6.6 billion). Its operating profit for the July-September period fell 31.4 percent on-year to 10.85 trillion won. Revenue i

Oct. 27, 2022

Seoul shares open higher on battery, auto gains

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Thursday, buoyed by gains in blue chip battery and automakers, bucking overnight drops on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 22.38 points, or 0.99 percent, to 2,271.94 in the first 20 minutes of trading. The US S&P and Nasdaq finished lower Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing a tad higher, largely dampened by weaker earnings reports by major tech firms, including Microsoft and Alphabet. In Seoul

Oct. 27, 2022

Korea, ADB agree to launch ‘climate innovation hub’ in Korea

SEJONG -- South Korea and the Asian Development Bank agreed to expand cooperation on global issues, including climate change, on the occasion of Korea taking the chair for the upcoming meeting of the global development bank set to be held in Songdo, west of Seoul, next year, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday. At a meeting in Seoul, Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho signed a memorandum of understanding with ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa to collaborate for

Oct. 26, 2022

Boryung acquires Korean rights to Eli Lilly’s lung cancer drug

South Korean drug maker Boryung has acquired the selling rights of Alimta, a non-small cell lung cancer treatment developed by US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, for the local market. According to Boryung on Tuesday, the acquisition agreement also included the copyright and licensing rights of Alimta in the country. First introduced in Korea in 2006, Alimta was the first drug to significantly reduce the anti-cancer drug’s adverse effects and toxicity while improving the survival rate of

Oct. 26, 2022

SK Broadband expands ESG activities

As part of its ESG drive, South Korean internet service provider SK Broadband said Wednesday it has been bolstering eco-friendly corporate culture and media campaigns. The company has been seeking to lower carbon emissions and power consumption in the company by streamlining and replacing old equipment. It has also reduced the use of paper by adopting electronic bills. Under an in-house campaign titled "net zero life practice" to foster environment-friendly corporate culture, SK Broadb

Oct. 26, 2022

Tech giants tighten belts amid uncertainties, bleak outlook

South Korean electronics giants are bracing for uncertainties across the board, with some leading exporters mapping out belt-tightening plans to address the situation that some have described as grave as the 2008 global financial crisis. Memory chip supplier SK hynix is one of the companies hit hardest by slowing consumer demand and the US-China tech arms race. The memory chip downcycle follows a pileup of order backlogs, and uncertainties are growing in its Chinese operations due to semiconduct

Oct. 26, 2022

Naver says it's first internet firm to join both EV100, RE100

Naver said on Wednesday it has joined EV100, an initiative to electrify a firm's vehicle fleet, becoming the first internet platform company in the world to join both RE100 and EV100. Naver was the first internet company in Korea to join RE100 last August. RE100 is a coalition comprising 380 global enterprises that are committed to becoming 100 percent renewable. EV100 urges businesses to replace all corporate vehicles with electric ones by 2030. By joining EV100, Naver will have all of its regi

Oct. 26, 2022

Ratio of young workers at manufacturing halved over 20 years: FKI

The working population of the manufacturing industry in South Korea is aging faster than those in the US and Japan, showed research published Wednesday by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a local organization representing businesses. According to the research of Korean manufacturing industry workers from 2001 to 2021, the ratio of young workers, aged 15 to 29, dropped from 29.7 percent in 2011 to 14.8 percent in 2021. Also, the ratio of workers in their 30s decreased from 33.9 percent

Oct. 26, 2022

Amid IRA setback, Hyundai Motor Group breaks ground for new EV plant in US

  Hyundai Motor Group on Wednesday officially kicked off a construction of its first electric vehicle-dedicated manufacturing plant in Georgia, US, gearing up for mass production of 300,000 cars annually from the first half of 2025 amid the US government pushing ahead with a full implementation of a new law that removes subsidies on electric vehicle made outside of American soil. The envisioned plant named Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) illustrates the carmaker’s latest

Oct. 26, 2022

[Herald Interview] World's first NFT film and art festival to start in Newport Beach

A South Korean movie director and the mayor of Newport Beach will jointly host the world’s first non-fungible token film and art festival in Newport Beach -- a coastal mecca in California just an hour away from Hollywood. “I thought of hosting the Beach Cities NFT Film & Art festival because of the currently centralized and inefficient way to make movies,” Kim Jeong-jung, a film director and the festival's organizer, said during an interview with The Korea Herald. “Cu

Oct. 26, 2022

Coupang launches cross-border e-commerce service in Taiwan

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said Wednesday it has launched a cross-border online shopping service in the burgeoning Taiwanese market, saying it would help small and medium-sized Korean companies expand their businesses overseas. Through the Taiwanese version of Coupang's mobile app, consumers in Taiwan can use the company’s ultrafast Rocket Delivery service. Customers can order millions of groceries, daily necessities and other products from South Korea, and receive them i

Oct. 26, 2022

Ginseng good for treating memory and muscle loss: experts

The Korean Society of Ginseng kicked off its 13th International Ginseng Symposium on Tuesday in Seoul, bringing together experts from around the world who study the health effects of ginseng. This year’s event was held under the theme “Ginseng, a phytoceutical for health.” It runs through Friday. The event comprised 13 themed sessions, during which hundreds of scholars gave both oral and poster presentations on their studies and findings. The event ends on the third day with a

Oct. 26, 2022

LS Cable's acquisition of KT Submarine expected to create synergy

LS Cable & Systems recently said it will make a 25.2 billion won ($17.58 million) equity investment in KT Submarine to foster its undersea cable business. The cable manufacturing unit of LS Group said it will acquire 4.04 million stocks, or a 16 percent stake in KT Submarine by December, and become the second-largest shareholder of KT Submarine. Once LS Cable exercises its call option in the four months from April 1 next year, the cable manufacturer can purchase a 42 percent stake in KT Subm

Oct. 26, 2022

OECD recommends Samsung Heavy ensure workplace safety over 2017 deadly crane accident

The Korean branch of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development called on Samsung Heavy Industries Co. on Wednesday to fulfill due corporate responsibility to better ensure worksite safety following a deadly crane accident in 2017. In May 2017, two cranes collided at the shipbuilder's shipyard in the southeastern port city of Geoje, killing six and injuring 25 others. Civic groups filed a complaint with the OECD's Korean National Contact Point in 2019 against Samsung Hea

Oct. 26, 2022

South Korea well positioned to cope with economic shocks: IMF official

South Korea is well positioned to fight off any economic shock because it maintains “strong economic fundamentals and ample buffers,” a senior official at the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday, amid growing recession worries prompted by surging borrowing costs seen globally to corral inflation. Krishna Srinivasan, director of the Washington-based lender’s Asia and Pacific department, said that the country’s current account surplus and net foreign assets -- which ac

Oct. 26, 2022

Seoul shares open almost flat amid eased Fed rate woes

South Korean stocks opened nearly unchanged on Wednesday amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve may ease up on its hawkish interest rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 1.14 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,236.21 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Softer data on home price growth and consumer confidence, released Tuesday, renewed speculation that the Fed could start scaling down the rate hikes after its November monetary policy meeting set for next week. In Seou

Oct. 26, 2022