South Korea and Israel have pledged to invest up to $5.3 million (6.6 billion won) to support the joint development of robotics technology under a new strategic collaboration project named the Lighthouse Program, officials said Tuesday. As a joint research and development project between Seoul and Jerusalem, the Lighthouse Program is a follow-up of the revisions made to the industrial technology agreement between the two countries last year. Both sides agreed to double the annual funding for th

Technology April 12, 2022

Contract manufacturing giant Samsung Biologics has raised 3.2 trillion won ($2.6 billion) through issuing new shares, allowing the company to secure capital needed for the buyout of Samsung Bioepis’ stake and construction of its fourth plant, officials said Monday. According to the firm’s regulatory filing, some 2 trillion won out of the 3.2 trillion won will be used for buying out Biogen’s stake in Samsung Bioepis and cover expenses of building its fourth manufacturing plant

Market April 11, 2022

More South Korean conglomerates relying heavily on manufacturing and retail networks for growth are turning to the bio and health care industries to secure future growth engines and expand areas of business. Retail and confectionary giant Lotte Group officially announced that bio and health care businesses will be its new growth engine at the shareholders’ meeting last month. Lee Dong-woo, CEO of Lotte Holdings, said the firm plans to directly invest in the bio and healthcare businesse

Industry April 10, 2022

Science Minister Nominee Lee Jong-ho is a chip engineering scholar who supported, as an adviser, South Korea’s policy endeavor in building its strength in semiconductor industry for years. “I have experienced the semiconductor industry for a long time and I believe it has a great importance. I will try to advance it,” said Lee at the nominee selection announcement Sunday. “But our country has more than just semiconductors. I will look at all industries and listen to va

Technology April 10, 2022

Metaverse Entertainment, a subsidiary of Netmarble F&C, has attracted 2 billion won ($1.6 million) in investment from Hyundai Motor Group’s tech fund Zer01ne, according to Netmarble on Wednesday. Netmarble F&C is a development arm of the nation’s top mobile game developer. Netmarble said the latest funding was based on the auto giant’s tech fund’s valuation of the metaverse company at 100 billion won. With the investment, Netmarble said virtual humans being

Market April 6, 2022

Instagram has picked South Korea as a test bed for its expanded Reels service, the social media platform said Wednesday. The new Reels feed will include videos that can be up to 15 minutes long. The previous Reels feed only showed short clips up to 60 seconds, according to Instagram. Korea, along with Brazil, was one of the only two countries to be selected for the trial run of the more inclusive Reels service. As the video tab will be removed from each account’s profile page, all vid

Technology April 6, 2022

The South Korean regulator on network and IT services said Tuesday that it has reached the conclusion that Google’s new payment policy violates the Korean law that prohibits app store operators from forcing app developers to use in-app payment systems. Based on its conclusion, the Korea Communications Commission will make a final ruling on whether Google’s new billing system is against the law after reviewing related cases based on the levels of coercion and unfairness. The regulato

Technology April 5, 2022

South Korean IT giant Kakao and the Seoul Metropolitan Government have signed an agreement to build the country’s first and largest arena dedicated to staging K-pop performances, officials said Monday. Called Seoul Arena, the multicultural complex will begin construction in June and is expected to be completed in October 2025. Seoul Arena will be built in Seoul’s northern Dobong-gu and will be capable of accommodating more than 20,000 concertgoers for a single event. According to

Social Affairs April 4, 2022

South Korean botox maker Medytox has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission against its local rival Hugel over allegations of stealing its bacteria and manufacturing processes, the company said Friday. According to Medytox, the company lodged the complaint on Wednesday against Hugel, Hugel America and Croma-Pharma GmbH with top global law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan leading the litigation. Croma-Pharma, an Austrian family-owned company based on north of Vie

Industry April 1, 2022

South Korea’s entertainment and commercial fields have seen a rise of beautiful, multi-talented young women capable of doing almost everything -- from acting to fashion design. Despite being in their early 20s, they display impeccable skills and give performances that exceed human expectations. They have no stress, no sleep and no scandals. Though they are labeled as perfect human beings, they have their own limits. They are not actual people, but virtual humans produced by cutting-edge co

Technology March 31, 2022

SK Bioscience will look to spend “trillions of won” on aggressive mergers and acquisitions in taking the next step to become a vaccine and bio powerhouse, CEO Ahn Jae-yong said Thursday. “We will secure more funding through the assets compiled with the (initial public offering), operating cash and additional acquisition financing,” he said in an online press conference to mark the company’s one-year anniversary of going public. “We will use the funding on

Technology March 31, 2022

The technology of artificial intelligence will be used in every step of developing drugs to cut the time it takes to discover a new drug in half, the newly appointed leader of the Korea AI Center for Drug Discovery and Development said Wednesday. “Starting from designing candidate substances, AI technology can set up clinical trials based on biometric data and minimize uncertainty, time and cost by deriving the optimal patient group,” said Kim Woo-youn, head of KAICD at the Korea P

Technology March 30, 2022

Cha Medical and Bio Group has officially begun the construction of Cell Gene Biobank, which is expected to be world’s largest single facility in the business of contract development and manufacturing organization for cell and gene therapy, the company said Wednesday. According to the company, it has invested 300 billion won ($248 million) into building CGB that features 10 stories above ground and four below ground to cover a total floor area of 66,115 square meters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi P

Industry March 30, 2022

INCHEON -- With the buyout of Samsung Bioepis’ stake, Samsung Biologics will become a global bio company based on the three pillars of contract development and manufacturing, biosimilars and new drugs, CEO John Rim said Tuesday. “Through issuing new stocks to raise about 3 trillion won ($2.46 billion) this year, we will take a full-fledged leap into becoming a global comprehensive bio company and lay the groundwork for sustainable growth,” said Rim during the company’s

Industry March 29, 2022

In the wake of the collapse of an HDC Hyundai Development apartment building under construction in Gwangju in January, the government is pushing for legislation that would allow it to hand out stronger penalties against companies for poor construction. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Monday revealed plans for a “one-strike, you’re out” policy that would allow authorities to rescind the company’s construction license if three or more people die as a

Social Affairs March 28, 2022