Samsung Life Science Fund invests in US gene therapy firm

Samsung Life Science Fund, an investment fund created by Samsung affiliates, will invest in Latus Bio, a US gene therapy development company, according to Samsung Bioepis on Friday. It is the sixth investment made by the fund between Samsung Biologics, Samsung C&T and Samsung Bioepis, to explore new business opportunities in the biotechnology sector. The exact amount of investment has not been disclosed. Latus Bio is a US biotech that develops novel gene therapy candidates for disorders of t

May 3, 2024

Hugel to develop next-generation botulinum toxin product

Hugel has started its development of new botulinum toxin products using a botulinum toxin type that has a faster onset and shorter duration of effect, the aesthetics firm said Friday. According to Hugel, botulinum neurotoxins that are currently used for therapeutic and cosmetic applications have been botulinum neurotoxin type A and B. The onset of action of botulinum toxin A, which is most widely used for cosmetic applications, ranges from three to seven days, while its therapeutic effect usuall

May 3, 2024

Hyundai Motor aims to lead hydrogen truck business in US

Hyundai Motor Company is looking to spearhead the hydrogen-powered truck business in the United States as the Korean automaker welcomed the official launch of NorCAL ZERO Project, a pro-environment initiative using the company's hydrogen fuel cell technology to bring zero-emission freight transportation to the San Francisco Bay Area and California's Central Valley, on Friday. "The NorCAL ZERO Project in Oakland marks a significant step forward in realizing Hyundai's vision fo

May 3, 2024

Naver Q1 net income soars 1,171.9% on growth of major businesses

South Korean tech giant Naver Corp. said Friday its first-quarter net profit soared 1,171.9 percent from a year earlier on the overall growth of its major businesses, including its search platform and e-commerce. Its net profit reached 555.8 billion won ($404 million) in the January-March period, compared with 43.7 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. The operating profit jumped 32.9 percent on-year to a quarterly high of 439.3 billion won, and sales rose 10.8 percent

May 3, 2024

Seoul shares open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean shares opened higher Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 14.63 points, or 0.55 percent, to 2,698.28 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.85 percent higher Thursday, while the Nasdaq rose 1.51 percent on dovish remarks from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggesting there will unlikely be a rate hike in the near future. In Seoul, most large caps were in positive terrain.

May 3, 2024

KASA chief vows full support for private-led space missions

Korea’s new state space agency, the Korea AeroSpace Administration, or KASA, will focus on rearranging roles with the private sector to support companies to lead commercial space developments while the government concentrates on long-term space projects, the nominee for the top leadership position at KASA said Thursday. “So far, Korea’s space sector has been led by the government out-sourcing projects to the industry,” said Yoon Young-bin, an aerospace engineering profess

May 2, 2024

Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride

South Korea's inflation fell to the 2 percent range as the country’s directive to lower price growth has been continuing to go down a bumpy path on fluctuations in the oil and agricultural prices, data showed Thursday. Consumer prices, a key metric of inflation, rose by 2.9 percent in April, marking a 0.2 percentage point decrease from the 3.1 percent reading shown in both March and February, according to the data from Statistics Korea. “The prices of petroleum products, which r

May 2, 2024

Celltrion seeks bigger footing in South America

Celltrion announced Thursday that the company has won public tenders in Peru to provide its autoimmune disease treatment Remsima (infliximab) and anticancer product Herzuma (trastuzumab) to the South American country. According to Celltrion, Remsima has won a tender held by the Peruvian Workers' Insurance System (EsSalud), which is the largest of its kind, accounting for 81 percent of the total infliximab volume in Peru. The company will supply Remsima for a year starting this month. Celltr

May 2, 2024

LG CNS enters steel scrap market

LG CNS said Thursday that the company has entered the steel scrap market by setting up a joint venture with local steel firm Daehan Steel. The new entity, called Aimos, will develop a cloud and artificial intelligence-based solution that can sort out scrap steel from metallic waste. “The demand for steel scrap is increasing along with the wider adoption of environment-friendly electric arc furnaces that use steel scrap as its raw material,” an official from LG CNS said. Its new sol

May 2, 2024

Seoul shares snap 3-day rise after FOMC decision

South Korean stocks fell slightly Thursday following the US Federal Reserve's decision to hold the key rate flat. The Korean won rebounded against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 8.41 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,683.65, ending the three-session winning streak that started last Friday. Trade volume was slim at 342.7 million shares worth 8.9 trillion won ($6.5 billion). Decliners outnumbered gainers 513 to 357. Individual and foreign investors bought a ne

May 2, 2024

Global X Canada debuts as Mirae Asset aims unified global ETF brand

Mirae Asset Global Investments announced Thursday that its Canadian exchange-traded fund subsidiary, Horizons ETFs, is rebranded as Global X Canada, aligning with an integrative strategy of its global ETF offerings under the unified brand, Global X. Since being acquired by Mirae Asset Global Investments in 2011, the Canadian ETF firm has witnessed substantial growth in assets under management. AUM have escalated by 963 percent, growing from approximately 3 billion Canadian dollars ($2.2 billio

May 2, 2024

[Herald Interview] Former IEA chief calls for strong global governance to achieve net zero

The Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, calls for limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, stressing that emissions need to be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Nobuo Tanaka, former executive director of the International Energy Agency, says that the world needs to do a lot more to countermeasure global warming and achieve these goals. “The IEA’s net zero by 2050 scenario tells us th

May 2, 2024

Kakao’s SM takeover gets conditional green light

Korea’s antitrust regulator has approved IT giant Kakao’s acquisition of a 39.87 percent stake in SM Entertainment, the K-pop agency behind EXO, aespa and NCT, contingent upon the implementation of corrective measures. The Fair Trade Commission said Thursday that it imposed two forms of corrective measures to address concerns that the merger of Kakao, a major IT company that owns both the music streaming service Melon and SM Entertainment, may pose a threat to competition in the loca

May 2, 2024

Mercedes-Benz Financial names new Korea chief

Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Korea announced Thursday that Thomas Waggershauser, an automotive finance expert, has been appointed as its new CEO. The new Korea chief is an industry veteran with a career spanning 20 years at Mercedes-Benz Mobility, the financial service company affiliated with Mercedes-Benz Group. Prior to his appointment, he served as the head of overseas and Greater China market management at Mercedes-Benz Mobility in Stuttgart, Germany, where Mercedes-Benz is headquartered

May 2, 2024

[Photo News] Tous les Jours at PGA Tour

CJ Group’s Tous Les Jours bakery operates a booth at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which kicks off Thursday in Dallas. Having previously hosted its own PGA Tour event since 2017, CJ CheilJedang took over title sponsorship for the Texas-based tournament from AT&T last year. (CJ CheilJedang)

May 2, 2024

Hyundai Rotem to export armored vehicles to Peru

Korean defense firm Hyundai Rotem said Thursday that it has been chosen as the preferred bidder for a Peru military project for wheeled armored vehicles. The company will deliver 30 units of its K808 White Tiger wheeled armored vehicle to Peruvian military authorities in the first batch, valued at approximately $60 million. This deal was facilitated by Korean trading company STX. This deal signifies not only the first export of Hyundai Rotem’s wheeled armored vehicles, but also the first t

May 2, 2024

'Our HBM chips are sold out until 2025': SK hynix CEO

SK hynix on Thursday said that its high-bandwidth memory chips have already sold out until 2025, boasting its leadership in the advanced memory chip market for artificial intelligence. "Demand for ultra-fast, high-capacity and low-power memory products for AI applications is expected to see explosive growth,” said SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung during a press conference held at the company’s headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. “Our HBM chips from the 2024 output have al

May 2, 2024

[Photo News] Kim Whan-ki's art reborn

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Kim Whan-ki’s death, LG Electronics’ latest OLED evo TV will showcase his masterpieces reborn as media art in New York. The high-end TV serves as a digital canvas, upgrading the original quality of Kim’s works with artificial intelligence. (LG Electronics)

May 2, 2024

[Photo News] New Kia EV6

Kia unveiled teaser images of the new EV6 on Thursday. The Korean automaker said the headlamps feature the brand's new "Star-map Signature Lighting" to give more dynamic and futuristic vibes. The new EV6 will be the first product enhancement model of Hyundai Motor Group's first electric vehicle developed on its EV-dedicated platform E-GMP. The existing EV6 was launched in August 2021. Detailed specs of the new EV6 will be released later this month. (Hyundai Motor Group)

May 2, 2024

Seoul shares open lower on Fed's rate freeze

South Korean stocks started lower Thursday following the US Federal Reserve's rate-freeze decision. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 7.6 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,684.46 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Wall Street, US stocks closed mixed after the central bank held the key interest rate flat and signaled a future rate cut, citing volatile inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.23 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.33 percent. In Seoul, chi

May 2, 2024