Zepeto, the metaverse platform of Korea’s tech giant Naver, said Friday its number of domestic and international users reached 300 million since its launch, amid the burgeoning trend of interactions in virtual reality. “The number of international users alone is 285 million, accounting for 95 percent of users, while 15 million domestic users have subscribed to the app,“ a Naver official said. ”The number of monthly active customers reached 20 million.“ Companies

Technology March 4, 2022

The old rivalry between Shinsegae and Lotte looks set to head to winemaking. The nation’s top two retail giants who also are the major importers of cheaper casual wines are gearing up to produce high-priced premium wines on their own. Shinsegae Property, the group’s property development arm, acquired US winery Shafer Vineyards for 299.6 billion won ($250.3 million) last month. The 80-hectare vineyard is known for luxury wines like Hillside Select, whose price tag is around 860,000

Industry March 3, 2022

South Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang said Thursday that it posted $18.4 billion (22.1 trillion won) in sales last year, a record not just for the company, but also for a local e-commerce operator. The figure jumped 54 percent from a year ago. In the fourth quarter alone, its sales soared to $5 billion. Coupang said its record has surpassed the sales of the country’ top retailer Shinsegae and its subsidiaries -– Emart, SSG.com, eBay Korea, and G Market -– whose sale

Industry March 3, 2022

Korean space tech startup Space Star said Wednesday it will send the DNA of famous mountaineer Um Hong-gil to space, honoring his world record to have climbed the 16 highest peaks on Earth. After swabbing Um’s DNA from his mouth, the company plans to seal it in a capsule and send it to space by the end of this year. “Along with other world renowned celebrities, Um will be the first Korean celebrity to have his DNA sent to space. It is meaningful in the sense that their DNA will pe

Technology March 2, 2022

Four out of 10 young Koreans consider themselves poor, citing familial transfer of wealth as a key factor aggravating the social divide, data showed Sunday. According to data from National Youth Policy Institute, 42.6 percent of 4,114 respondents aged between 19 and 34 said they think they’re are poor and of those, some 34.3 percent answered they believe that they won’t be able to get out of poverty. Only some 28.5 percent said they think they can. Some 41.4 percent said they earne

Economy Feb. 27, 2022

Hana Bank said Sunday it will expand its wealth management services to trading art pieces -- both physical and digital -- amid growing retail demand for alternative assets. Hana Bank has forged a partnership with Seoul Auction Blue, an online auction house, to jointly work on developing new businesses such as nonfungible tokens and metaverse platforms, and operating online education and community platforms on art. The two will also provide traditional art services including artwork sales, art

Market Feb. 27, 2022

Kakao’s new CEO nominee Namkoong Whon said Thursday that he wishes to restore the company‘s stock price at over 150,000 won ($124.60) per share during his two-year term amid investors’ growing concerns over its underperforming stocks. 　 “We will be able to see (Kakao‘s stock price) to reach 150,000 won (per share) again if (we can) restore the market trust,“ Namkoong said during an online press conference. “I hope to see a boost in stock price within m

Technology Feb. 24, 2022

GS Retail, the operator of Korea’s convenience store chain GS25, said Wednesday it will deploy chicken-frying robots, joining the recent race to automate food manufacturing. The company forged a partnership with Roboarte, the food tech startup behind Robert Chicken that uses robot arms to fry chicken. GS25 plans to use the startup’s robots to fry frozen chicken from its own brand Chicken 25. “The robot arms will automatically put the bucket full of frozen chicken in a frying

Consumer Feb. 23, 2022

Dunamu & Partners, the investment arm of Korea’s blockchain firm Dunamu, said Tuesday it has invested a combined 100.3 billion won ($83.9 million) in a total of 46 startups over the past three years. Dunamu said artificial intelligence and data startups make up almost half of the beneficiaries it has funded, while others in the fields of gaming, fintech, blockchain and digital healthcare are key recipients. Many of the startups showed strong performance in elevating corporate valu

Technology Feb. 22, 2022

South Korean medalists have shown excitement at not only winning medals, but also free chicken for the rest of their lives. The so-called “chicken pension” is backed by Yoon Hong-geun, CEO of Korea’s fried chicken franchise Genesis BBQ, and also the chief of South Korea’s athletic mission at the Beijing Olympic Games. Yoon promised to give free chicken for the country’s short track speedskating medalists Hwang Dae-heon and Choi Min-jeong at their requests. &ldquo

Consumer Feb. 21, 2022

Going green is not just about having more electric vehicles or shutting down old factories powered by fossil fuels, says the head of South Korea’s food distribution and export promotion agency, but also extending that eco-friendly thinking to the table. Not just reducing food waste but also choosing to eat more local production would make a greater impact on the Earth, said Kim Choon-jin, president of Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. Kim and his agency have been taking an ini

Consumer Feb. 20, 2022

Shinsegae Property, the property development arm of Korea’s retail giant Shinsegae, said Wednesday it has acquired US winery Shafer Vineyards for 299.6 billion won ($250.3 million) to boost the group’s wine business. “With the acquisition, we plan to further expand the group’s wine business by creating synergy with its Shinsegae L&B that is in charge of the wholesale distribution of wine and liquor,” a Shinsegae Property official said. Industry sources say si

Consumer Feb. 16, 2022

Korea’s largest internet-only lender KakaoBank will launch a mobile mortgage loan service powered by an artificial intelligence-based chatbot this month, allowing for a user-friendly and convenient loan application process, the firm said Tuesday. “Most of the mobile mortgage loans in the country require customers to swipe left and right on a phone screen to go through a complicated process of loan application. But KakaoBank’s mortgage loan service provides much more seamless

Market Feb. 15, 2022

Cleanliness has risen as a key factor in choosing where to eat out since the pandemic started, a survey showed Sunday. According to data from Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp, 92.1 percent of 1,341 respondents aged between 20 and 69 said they thought restaurants cleanliness was important when choosing where to eat, compared to just 22.7 percent in 2019. The figure was the second most-important factor, behind taste and food quality on 94.3 percent. In 2019, cleanliness ranked fourth, wh

Consumer Feb. 13, 2022

Korea’s pharmaceutical giant Celltrion’s Remsima, a biosimilar of autoimmune treatment drug Remicade, has set an all-time high record in sales revenue in the US market, taking a half of the original drug’s share, market insiders said Sunday. Remsima’s sales revenue in the US surged on-year by 13 percent to $385 million as of last year, according to industry sources. Samsung Securities said Remsima’s market shares have increased from 15 percent to 33.7 percent, whi

Industry Feb. 13, 2022