Retail industry looks offline to drive customer experience: report

  As Korea transitions to the endemic stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the online-focused retail industry is shifting toward offline stores to enhance customer experience, a report showed Tuesday. Although the vacancy rate rose in commercial districts during the pandemic, retail brands are eyeing prime spaces to open pop-up or flagship stores, according to a report from commercial real estate platform Cushman & Wakefield Korea. For instance, Apple opened its second store in a new buildin

Oct. 4, 2022

Samsung aims to produce 1.4nm chips from 2027

Samsung Electronics unveiled a five-year road map for its contract chipmaking business Monday, saying it would start producing chips using the 2-nanometer technology in 2025 and the 1.4-nanometer technology in 2027. The new plan came after the South Korean tech giant became the first chipmaker to produce chips on the 3nm production process, the most sophisticated chipmaking technology in the market, in June. Chips with smaller nanometer ratings are more powerful, as they can fit in more transist

Oct. 4, 2022

Hyundai, Kia EV sales drop after new US EV subsidy act

Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle sales in the United States dropped significantly last month after a new US act that excludes tax benefits on vehicles produced outside of the US took effect, data showed on Tuesday. Hyundai Motor America sold a total of 1,306 Ioniq 5 units in September, far less than the 2,853 units of the EV model sold in June, 1,978 in July and 1,517 in August. Its sister company Kia’s sales of its flagship model EV6 also dropped to 1,440 units last month fr

Oct. 4, 2022

Countries with high income inequality, debt suffer higher COVID deaths: report

Countries with high income inequality and national debt have reported more COVID-related deaths in the first year of the pandemic, a report showed Tuesday. Of the 38 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations, those with a high Gini coefficient -- a gauge of economic inequality such as levels of income -- and high national debt saw the most deaths from COVID-19 in 2020, a report released by the Korea Institute of Public Finance said. “Our research showed that if

Oct. 4, 2022

[From the Scene] SK expands manufacturing capacity to meet growing global demand

SEJONG -- SK Group, South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate by market capitalization, is looking to expand its contract development and manufacturing organization businesses with the completion of SK Biotek Sejong plant’s third pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. With SK Biotek’s Module 3 launch in September, the Sejong Plant’s total manufacturing capacity increased by over 50 percent to 290 cubic meters. Combined with Modules 1 and 2, the plant can now produce up t

Oct. 4, 2022

Luxury home spa brand LBB issues NFTs for premium care service

La Boutique Bleue, a premium home spa care brand that launched in South Korea in 2021, introduced a non-fungible token certification service, the company said Friday. According to LBB, it has offered VIP membership cards in the form of NFTs to participants that took part in the launch event of the Italian luxury golf wear brand Filippo Piana in Seoul. LBB had collaborated with Filippo Piana in hosting the launch event by showcasing its newest product, Golden Camellia All Day Care Lotion, and off

Oct. 4, 2022

Stock market stabilization fund to be launched to ease downswings

Financial authorities plan to launch a stock market stabilization fund as part of efforts to counter downswings amid growing worries over global financial tightening and slowing economic growth, industry sources said Tuesday. Consultations are ongoing among relevant agencies with an aim to complete preparations for the launch of the around 10 trillion-won ($7 billion) fund within this month, according to the sources. The move comes as stock markets here have nose-dived this year on worries over

Oct. 4, 2022

Blockchain company enters ‘token economy’ with STokens

  Blockchain-based payment and business development company X-widget said it is entering a “token economy” business where tokens are paid to users when they spend money. Through a blockchain-based discount coupon system that allows users to collect 10 percent of their purchases and gives them a 10 percent discount, X-widget hopes to draw 100 million users worldwide, including 10 million in South Korea, by 2024. X-widget said its blockchain-based mileage project called SToken, de

Oct. 4, 2022

Seoul shares open higher on US gains

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, to rebound from an over two-year low amid lingering fears of a global economic recession. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 33.54 points, or 1.56 percent, to 2,189.03 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.66 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.27 percent, as US Treasury yields retreated from levels unsee

Oct. 4, 2022

[Contribution] New R&D pre-feasibility study system 'dons the cape of innovation'

Since I took office as vice minister for science, technology and innovation, many of the opinions suggested by the research community called for improvement of the "preliminary feasibility study system for national research and development projects,” hereafter referred to as the “R&D pre-feasibility study.” Suppose a huge R&D project had been planned to develop high-performance technologies and state-of-the-art infrastructure in line with global trends. But when th

Oct. 4, 2022

[Graphic News] Internet banking use grows 7% in H1

　South Koreans’ use of internet banking services grew 6.9 percent in the first half of this year from six months earlier as customers preferred financial services through mobile devices, central bank data showed. 　The daily use of online banking services, including mobile banking, reached 18.82 million cases in the January-June period, compared with 17.61 million in the second half of last year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. 　The value of daily transactions through inter

Oct. 4, 2022

4 in 10 households projected to be single-person by 2040

Four out of 10 households in South Korea are projected to be single-person by 2040, with the portion of families of four or more – once the most common form of family here – shrinking to 10 percent, a report showed Monday. According to a report compiled by KB Financial Group, the number of single-person households was 7.1 million, or 33.4 percent of the total, last year. And the figure is expected to reach some 9 million by 2040, taking up 37.9 percent of the total households here.

Oct. 3, 2022

Korea's 1st homegrown COVID-19 vaccine maker underlines global partnership

As SK Bioscience is poised to contribute to the world’s prolonged battle against the COVID-19 pandemic with its SKYCovione vaccine, the South Korean vaccine maker has underlined the importance of global partnerships in developing the country’s first homemade COVID-19 vaccine. SK Bioscience joined hands with the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington School of Medicine to develop SKYCovione, a self-assembled nanoparticle vaccine. The development process was also

Oct. 3, 2022

All eyes on SoftBank chief’s Seoul visit on Arm deal

SoftBank Group Corp. CEO Masayoshi Son arrived in Seoul on Saturday to meet business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, on a possible deal involving UK chip designer Arm. His visit comes after the Samsung chief hinted at their planned meeting late last month upon arrival from a business trip to the UK, where Arm is based. In the next day, Son also confirmed the meeting, saying he planned to discuss a strategic alliance with Samsung on Arm. Their possible meet-up r

Oct. 3, 2022

Infant grandchildren inherited W99b last year

South Korean grandparents gifted their grandchildren aged one or under around 99.1 billion won ($68.8 million) last year, a recent report showed Monday. According to a report based on data from the National Tax Service, the total amount of financial gifts transferred to children up to a year old from their grandparents last year jumped approximately threefold compared to 2020. The case where grandparents who gift financial assets to grandchildren, those who are more than one generation below tha

Oct. 3, 2022

SPC's Paris Baguette ranked 25th among best franchise brands in US

South Korean food giant SPC Group said Sunday its coffeehouse-to-bakery brand Paris Baguette has ranked 25th among the best franchise brands evaluated by the US-based magazine Franchise Times. According to the Franchise Times Top 500, an annual ranking of the largest franchise brands by sales in the US, Paris Baguette's ranking jumped 13 spots from last year's 38th. Its ranking is the highest among Korean brands in the list this year. “Our 77 years of baking know-how, efficient bakery mana

Oct. 3, 2022

Tesla’s plan to adopt its own diagnosis system draws concerns

US electric vehicle maker Tesla plans to develop its own vehicle diagnosis system for the first time and apply it to all Tesla models sold in South Korea from October next year, instead of going through mandatory safety checks conducted by the local authority, drawing concerns among the public as Tesla could hide fatal technical glitches on purpose. According to Korea Transportation Safety Authority data obtained by Rep. Park Sang-hyuk from Democratic Party of Korea on Monday, Tesla plans to a

Oct. 3, 2022

Hyundai Mobis completes 5G tech essential for autonomous driving

South Korean auto parts and mobility solution maker Hyundai Mobis said Monday that it has developed a 5G-based communication module for cars, a core part for autonomous driving and connected car systems that enables real-time, large-volume data processing. According to Mobis, the new module combines communication and memory functions, as well as a radio frequency circuit and GPS, based on ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency and hyper connectivity technology. The company will apply this 5G comm

Oct. 3, 2022

GS25 opens 100th convenience store outlet in Mongolia

GS Group's convenience store chain GS25 said Monday it has opened its 100th outlet in Mongolia since its entry into the East Asian country 16 months ago. GS25 aims to expand the number of outlets in Mongolia to more than 500 by 2025 by launching more customized food products. For its expansion in Asia, the company entered Vietnam in 2018 and currently operates 186 outlets in the Southeast Asian country. BGF Retail's CU was quick to enter the Mongolian convenience store market. CU opene

Oct. 3, 2022

US, Britain may announce review outcome of Korean Air-Asiana deal in Nov.

Antitrust regulators in the United States and Britain may decide next month whether to approve a deal by South Korea's largest carrier Korean Air Lines Co. to buy its smaller rival Asiana Airlines Inc., industry sources said Sunday. Currently, antitrust regulators of five nations, including the European Union, China and Japan, are reviewing Korean Air's combination with Asiana. The company has received approval from nine other countries, including South Korea. Seoul's regulator gave conditiona

Oct. 2, 2022