The meticulously planned out stories behind brand names often go unnoticed by consumers.That is the case especially for alphanumeric brands, which combine words and numbers. These brand names may roll off the tongue easily, but oftentimes consumers have very little understanding of why certain numbers have been chosen to represent the brand.Below are five well-known South Korean brands and the stories behind them.8SecondsHow long does a company have to make a first impression? According to cloth

Industry Aug. 11, 2019

Kakao IX, the Kakao company that oversees the characters of Kakao Friends, announced Friday the release of Kakao Friends Twice Edition, a new merchandise series in collaboration with girl group Twice. First to be released from the series are nine pin badges with pictures drawn by the members of Twice themselves.  “Twice members have been actively participating throughout the idea planning and designing processes,” Kakao IX said, with behind-the-scenes videos of the process to be

Industry Aug. 9, 2019

President Moon Jae-in conducted a major Cabinet reshuffle on Friday, nominating Choi Ki-young to lead the Ministry of Science and ICT.Choi, currently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, is dubbed an expert in the fields of artificial intelligence and semiconductors. He has a bachelor’s degree in SNU, master’s from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and a doctorate from Stanford University.Within the field

Technology Aug. 9, 2019

South Korea’s leading oil refiner S-Oil held a ceremony Wednesday to award scholarships to students at an orphanage.  The S-Oil Dream Scholarship is an annual donation organized by the company to provide educational opportunities to less-advantaged students.This year, 135 students from Sundukwon Orphanage, as well as a choir group at the center, were provided scholarships totaling 330 million won ($273,000). Since 2016, the company has donated 1.2 billion won to aid 485 students.Of th

Industry Aug. 8, 2019

Local corporate tracker CEO Score revealed Wednesday that among CEOs of major listed companies in South Korea, LG Household & Health Care Vice President Cha Suk-yong raised the market cap of the company by the largest margin during his tenure. According to CEO Score, LG H&H’s market cap was valued at 435.7 billion won ($358.6 million) in January 2005, when Cha was first appointed as the CEO, but rose to 19.63 trillion won as of end-July, a whopping 4,405.4 percent increase in 14.6

Industry Aug. 7, 2019

CarrieSoft announced Tuesday that it plans to get listed on South Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq on Aug. 23.The firm first began with the YouTube channel “Carrie and Toys” in 2014 and exclusively produces kids’ contents. It is home to the iconic character “Carrie,” who reviews popular toys and goods. The character has evolved and now has own branded products.  Last year, CarrieSoft’s sales reached 10 billion won ($8.25 million) with an operating lo

Market Aug. 6, 2019

Sales of imported cars from Japan fell by double digits in July, amid an escalating trade feud between Korea and Japan and a subsequent Korean boycott of Japanese goods. According to data released Monday by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, the number of newly registered cars from Japanese carmakers dropped 17.2 percent to 2,674 units in July, down from 3,229 units registered the same time last year.Compared with 3,946 units registered in June, the figure was also do

Mobility Aug. 5, 2019

Poland’s flagship airline, LOT Polish Airlines, said Thursday that it would start operating direct flights between Seoul and Budapest in September. Starting Sept. 23, the airline will offer direct flights to and from Budapest three times a week on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The flight will take around 13 hours and passengers will have access to Korean in-flight entertainment and Korean-speaking flight attendants, the airline said.“The new route will meet the expectations of both Kore

Industry Aug. 1, 2019

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Monday it will start sales of its new premium apartments located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.Gwacheon Prugio Summit is a complex of 32 apartment blocks with seven different apartment floor plans to choose from. Starting from 254 units of 59 square meters, sizes range all the way to 151 square meters.Unlike other similar complexes that have been renovated, the new complex in Gwacheon is designed with luxurious features.Residents will get to enjoy Euro

Industry July 29, 2019

South Korea’s official export credit agency Export-Import Bank of Korea said Thursday it will expand its credit policy to be more inclusive in financing new exporters with low credit ratings. According to Eximbank, it has allocated a total of 20 billion won ($17 million), with individual raw material exporters funded up to 3 billion won.Also, firms in the innovative growth industry -- such as the energy, information and communications technology, and future transportation and materials sec

Market July 25, 2019

Boosting greenery in cities may seem like a difficult task. However, a project has been coming up with innovative solutions to the lack of green space for the past 20 years. School Forest Project -- launched in 1999 through a collaborative effort between nongovernmental organization Forest for Life and sanitary product manufacturer Yuhan-Kimberly -- targets public schools in South Korea lacking green space on their school grounds. By planting various types of greenery, such as trees and bushes,

Industry July 24, 2019

Automaker Renault Samsung said Monday it has partnered with telecom firm KT to provide Easy Link, a “vehicle infotainment” system utilizing voice assistant technology.Easy Link is a new in-vehicle system that provides a combination of information and entertainment to car users. It will be equipped on the upgraded QM6, the company’s most popular midsized sport utility vehicle model that was unveiled in June. According to Renault Samsung, with a simple call to Giga Genie, KT&rsqu

Mobility July 22, 2019

Global credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said Wednesday that it has assigned South Korean construction and petrochemical company Daelim Industrial a Baa2 grade with a stable outlook. According to Daelim Industrial, it is the first construction company in Korea to be given a global rating. On Moody’s rating scale, Baa2 stands ninth out of 21 and is considered a medium grade, indicating a moderate credit risk. SK hynix and S-Oil have been assigned the same rating.“Da

Industry July 17, 2019

Japan Tobacco International Korea, the local unit of a global tobacco manufacturer, announced Thursday the upcoming release of its odor-reduced tobacco vapor product Ploom Tech.The heat-not-burn vapor product, set to release on Monday next week is said to be the first vapor product to utilize hybrid technology, in which tobacco leaves are indirectly heated through vapor.According to JTI Korea, the liquid cartridge, which does not contain nicotine, is first heated at a low temperature to emit vap

Industry July 11, 2019

South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction said Wednesday that it had obtained a whopping 3.2 trillion won ($2.7 billion) deal to expand the production capacity of an offshore oil field owned by Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company Saudi Aramco.The contract encompasses two oil development projects, Package 6 and Package 12, to be undertaken at the Marjan offshore oil field in northeastern Saudi Arabia. For Package 6, the company will expand the production capacity of an exi

Industry July 10, 2019