Kim Ji-yeon, a 29-year-old elementary school teacher, stopped eating out during weekdays and started to eat lunch at a school canteen. Instead of going to cafes after lunch, Kim drinks instant coffee in her office. It has been two weeks since she has not spent any money during weekdays. “I first heard about the ‘no-spend challenge’ on Instagram, and thought it was a good way to save money. I was able to save around 200,000 won ($153) in two weeks.” Kim is one of the gr

Consumer July 21, 2022

More Koreans plan to spend their summer vacation this year on the country‘s east coast instead of flying to the southern resort island of Jeju to save money amid rising inflation, a survey showed Wednesday. The year’s busiest travel week is expected to be from July 30 to August 5, as usual, and households plan to spend an average of 952,000 won, according to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The survey showed that 24.7 percent of responde

Industry July 20, 2022

With the fast-growing appetite for low-calorie and healthy food sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, South Korean retailers have seen a spike in their “low-food” products. Low-food refers to low-calorie, gluten-free or non-alcohol food and beverage with fewer artificial additives. E-commerce platform WeMakePrice said on Tuesday that its zero-calorie soft drink sales surged 396 percent as of June. Sales of caffeine-free drinks increased by 96 percent. Among them, barley coffee, a

Consumer July 19, 2022

South Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang will boost its overseas and domestic sales of plant-based meat products to 200 billion won ($151.9 million) by 2025, the company said on Monday. “The US and European countries including the UK and Germany, and Japan, which show increasing demand for Korean food and culture, will be our key target markets. We also plan to make forays into China, Singapore and other southeast Asian countries, expanding global business to account for 70 percent of tota

Consumer July 18, 2022

Travelers with little time to wait in long queues at airport cafes can now pick up a cup of coffee and a sandwich from delivery service robots at Korea‘s largest airport. Local food delivery app Baemin said Friday it launched a robot delivery service for airport cafes and bakeries located in Incheon International Airport’s Terminal 1. Air-dilly, a service robot made by LG Electronics, will deliver food and beverages from Baskin Robins, Paris Baguette and two Dunkin’ location

Consumer July 15, 2022

Retail giants Lotte and Shinsegae are set to enter the whiskey business by constructing distilleries on Jeju Island, home to some of Korea’s best-quality water. Lotte Chilsung Beverage, Lotte Group’s beverage arm, said Friday that it has recently received the green light from Jeju to change a former tangerine farm into whisky distillery. “After getting advice from experts, we picked Jeju Island because its natural environment, clean water and temperature are optimal con

Consumer July 15, 2022

The ownership family of Hankook Tire and Technology, the world’s sixth-largest tiremaker, has lost a lawsuit against the local tax agency concerning a fine of 4.59 billion won ($3.5 million) for allegedly hiding assets overseas. The Seoul Administrative Court recently ruled against the suit brought by Cho Yang-rae, honorary chairman of Hankook & Co., the parent company of Hankook Tire, and his eldest son Cho Hyun-sik, a Hankook & Co. adviser. Cho and his son have argued that op

Industry July 14, 2022

With the emerging digital health care market sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, demand for digital health care services for seniors is continuing to grow in South Korea, a report showed Tuesday. According to Samjong KPMG, a Seoul-based consulting firm, the digital literacy level of the elderly here has surged by 4.8 percentage points to 69.1 percent last year, compared to 2019. The report said seniors are emerging as key customer base for digital health care, noting that one out of three Ko

Industry July 12, 2022

SPC Group chairman Hur Young-in attended a global business event held by the French government as the only Korean entrepreneur to have participated in the event twice, the food company said Tuesday The one-day event, called Choose France, invites overseas companies to accelerate their investment in the second-largest economy in Europe. The government-led event has been held since 2018. On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a banquet to welcome global entrepreneurs from over 250 c

Consumer July 12, 2022

South Korean convenience stores are actively making forays into Malaysia, a lucrative market based on growing local demand for consumer goods and convenience stores, along with the Malaysian public’s great interest in Korean food. Korean convenience store chain GS25 said Monday it has partnered with Malaysian retail giant KK Group to open the first GS25 store in Malaysia next year. The two agreed to expand to 500 locations in five years. According to a report from GS25, Malaysia’s

Consumer July 11, 2022

Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai, the three retail giants in South Korea, are scrambling to be the first to build a new mega shopping complex in the southwestern city of Gwangju, one of the key campaign pledges of President Yoon Suk-yeol that is aimed at facilitating the local economy. Hyundai Department Store on Wednesday announced that it is in talks with Humans Holdings, a local real estate developer, to open a mega shopping mall in Gwangju. The proposed construction site is a 310,000-square-

Consumer July 10, 2022

A 23-year-old university student surnamed Han has a study partner whom he has never met. When Han studies for exams, he plays videos of Cho Chan-hui, a Korean influencer and YouTuber also known as Nojambot. Cho, a high school dropout studying to become a police officer, broadcasts and posts videos of himself studying for hours. He has over 152,000 followers on Instagram and 400,000 subscribers on YouTube. He gained fame overnight in 2017, when a video of him studying went viral. “Yes, N

Consumer July 9, 2022

South Korean convenience stores are testing their service accessibility to remote areas by deploying drones for delivery use to enhance customer experience. Local convenience store chain CU said Wednesday that it has launched a drone delivery service for the first time at CU’s Yeongwol Gongju branch in Gangwon Province. The delivery drone, which weighs 17 kilograms and measures 70 centimeters in height, will carry products from the CU branch to Oasis Glamping, a camping site located som

Consumer July 6, 2022

Local property technology firm Zigbang made a bold decision last year to relocate its Seoul headquarters -- not to New York or Tokyo, but to a virtual world. For its 400 workers, instead of a hellish commute in the mornings and evenings, they log in to a new interface the company has created. Workers’ avatars hop on elevators to get to their office in the metaverse to chat and have meetings with their colleagues. Meanwhile, their physical bodies stay wherever they choose to be -- at home

Technology July 5, 2022

The South Korean government has begun imposing zero tariffs on 50,000 tons of imported pork from Thursday, in a move to stabilize the skyrocketing price of pork here. It is the first time in 11 years for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to introduce a tariff quota on pork. The ministry allows the import of a certain quantity of a commodity duty-free or at a lower-duty rate. With zero tariffs, the ministry forecasts that the production cost of pork will go down as much as 18

Consumer June 30, 2022