Apple will reopen its Seoul store on Saturday, the company said Thursday. The branch, located in Garosugil in Gangnam-gu, will be the first store outside of China to reopen. Apple previously closed all stores outside of China amid the viral COVID-19 pandemic, and hundreds of Apple Stores around the globe remain closed. “South Korea has shown great progress during the spread of COVID-19 and we’re excited to announce the re-opening of Apple Garosugil. We look forward to seeing our

Industry April 17, 2020

NCSoft has submitted a letter of intent to purchase a 800 billion-won property in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, sources said Friday. A consortium led by the online games giant was the sole bidder for the property, which is a public parking lot. Kakao, a South Korean internet giant based in Pangyo, was known to have shown interest in the purchase. But the company made no action by the Thursday deadline. The city government is expected to choose NCSoft as its preferred bidder by June 5 and fin

Industry April 17, 2020

South Korean discount chain Homeplus said Wednesday that the number of customers joining its membership programs has surpassed 300,000. The number of members reached 301,225 as of April 14, up 153 percent on-year from 119,127. Since 2018, Homeplus has been operating seven membership programs based on product categories such as wine and kids’ products. Each membership program regularly offers special discounts with events on a monthly basis. The jump in membership has led to an increa

Industry April 15, 2020

Video streaming giant Netflix has sued local internet network operator SK Broadband, according to industry sources Tuesday. The Korean unit of the US-based firm has reportedly filed a civil suit at the Seoul Central District Court arguing that it is not liable to pay for using SK Broadband’s internet network or other maintenance or upgrade costs. The two companies have been clashing over the issue since last year, as the Korean provider asked the traffic-heavy streaming service to shar

Technology April 14, 2020

KT on Wednesday said that it is still considering options to acquire local cable TV operator D’Live. According to a regulatory filing Wednesday, it is still discussing options of acquiring the cable TV operator, but no details have been confirmed yet. The company added it is current exploring various choices to strengthen its pay TV business. The latest official comment on the acquisition of D’Live came in six months since it showed its intention to purchase the local cable TV op

Technology April 8, 2020

The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology on Tuesday announced that it has invented a cold-chain safety sticker that allows one to tell whether frozen food products have been mishandled during delivery. The nanofiber-film sticker, which costs around 120 won (1 cent) to produce, can be used when transporting different types of frozen foods, as well as expensive medicines and medical supplies, the research team said. The cold-chain sticker is designed to indicate how long frozen food

Technology April 7, 2020

The number of cyberattacks in South Korea spiked in the first quarter this year, due to the number of people working remotely amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to SK Infosec on Monday. The nation‘s biggest data security solution provider detected 1.74 million cyberattacks in the first quarter, up 21 percent on-year -- the monthly average reached 0.58 million, up from 0.48 million last year. The company said that there has been a significant increase in hacking attempts a

Technology April 6, 2020

Japan Tobacco International Korea announced Friday that it has launched its odor-reduced tobacco vapor product Ploom Tech on local e-commerce platforms. The product and accessories are currently available on two platforms -- Naver’s Smart Store and Tmon -- at discounted prices. On Naver’s Smart Store, Ploom Tech Starter Kit, which contains a battery, a USB charger, and an adaptor, which is available for 17,500 won ($14.20), at a 50 percent discount from the retail price. On Tmo

Industry April 3, 2020

Five out of 10 part-timers in South Korea have experienced a loss of earnings due to the nationwide COVID-19 outbreak, according to a survey released by job information platform operator Albamon on Friday. Of 1,738 part-time workers who answered the survey, 50.5 percent said their incomes had declined after the viral outbreak. The part-time workers, who answered their incomes remained the same, accounted for 48 percent. Only 1.5 percent of part-time workers said their incomes had increased

Industry April 3, 2020

  South Korea’s Tmon announced Thursday that it posted its first monthly operating profit in 10 years, and plans to get listed next year. The firm recorded 160 million won ($130,000) operating profit last month, becoming the first local e-commerce platform operator to be in the black. The improvement in revenue began to materialize since the fourth quarter of last year, and will hopefully continue, a company official said. Tmon this year has seen a 44 percent increase in the numb

Industry April 2, 2020

South Korea’s exports in March managed to stabilize, although the fall in export prices and lowering overall sentiment portend a drop amid the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Trade Ministry on Wednesday. The nation’s exports reached $46.9 billion, down 0.2 percent from a year ago. Export prices went down by 11.7 percent on-year, while the amount of outbound shipments went up by 13.1 percent, the largest leap in the last 17 months. Export prices of oil products, for i

Industry April 1, 2020

Hyundai Engineering and Construction said Tuesday it will open sales of 1,150 high-quality residential units in Daegu, Gyeongsang Province. The new residential complex, named Hillstate Dowon Central, consists of five 49-story high-rises located near Dalseong Park Station in Junggu, central Daegu. The Junggu area is expected to offer new 11,000 housing units in the future, attracting potential buyers with the location’s proximity to social and commercial infrastructures, including dep

Industry March 31, 2020

SK hynix’s said Monday its non-memory semiconductor sales marked a 1.5-fold increase last year, while sales of memory products decreased by 33 percent on-year. The DRAM sales of SK hynix marked 20.3 trillion won ($16.6 billion), down 37 percent from a year earlier, while sales of NAND flash reached 5.1 trillion won, down 31 percent. The sales of SK hynix’s non-memory business, however, increased by 139 percent to reach 1.6 trillion won last year, from 650 billion won in 2018. Of

Industry March 31, 2020

Newly appointed CEO of South Korea’s leading telecom company KT Koo Hyun-mo on Monday relinquished his title as chairman, vowing independent and future-oriented management. Koo, who was formerly head of KT’s customer and media division, officially received the green light as the new CEO and president during a shareholders meeting in Seoul. The shareholders also approved the removal of the chairman position, as part of efforts to maximize roles of other decision-makers to improve i

Technology March 30, 2020

GS Group is expected to undergo a transformation under the leadership of Huh Tae-soo, who was formally appointed CEO of the group’s holding firm and chairman of the board during a shareholders meeting Friday. Huh Tae-soo, the youngest brother of former GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo, has been widely known for his experience in the global market, as well as his emphasis on digital transformation. “Huh Tae-soo is expected to take the leadership role to bring new business models an

Industry March 29, 2020