South Korea’s exports in November increased by 4 percent on-year to reach $45.8 billion, rebounding from a 3.8 percent decrease last month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Tuesday. The nation’s daily exports in November also marked a 6.3 percent rise on-year, the ministry said. It is the first time since November 2018 that the nation posted increases in both monthly and daily exports. The country’s exports, from March to August, posted on-year decr

Industry Dec. 1, 2020

 LG Electronics announced Monday that the company had started a trial using the robot at GS Retail’s convenience stores inside LG Science Park in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. The delivery robot, CLOi, will collect ordered items and deliver them to customers after autonomously riding on elevators inside the building. CLOi is capable of carrying items weighing up to 15 kilograms. The robot delivery service is expected to be introduced at hotels, hospitals, offices and airports in the future, acc

Technology Nov. 30, 2020

The National Science Museum, operated by the Science and ICT Ministry, said Monday that it was reviewing a list of eight items that may qualify for official recognition as part of South Korea’s scientific heritage. They include an early coin-operated public telephone and a series of books about East Asian medicine that was recognized as a national treasure in 2015. Donguibogam, compiled and edited by Joseon-era physician Heo Jun, is an encyclopedia of East Asian medical knowledge and tec

Technology Nov. 30, 2020

Hyundai Engineering & Construction will rent out new housing units in Bongdam in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, starting in December. Hyundai E&C said Sunday the company’s rental housing units, named Hillstate Bongdam, will be an alternative for those who are reluctant to purchase apartments in the overheated housing market in Seoul and nearby areas. The Bongdam apartments are part of the government‘s rental housing policy devised to help people to lease apartment units on a

Industry Nov. 29, 2020

Shinsegae Property, the real estate development company owned by Shinsegae Group, announced Friday that the company has opened official online stores for its shopping mall brand Starfield on both the group and Naver‘s online shopping platforms. The online stores at Shinsegae‘s online shopping site SSG.com and Naver Shopping are opening with around 1,500 products from stores of 30 brands at offline Starfield malls, the company said. The firm had been testing online sales by provid

Industry Nov. 27, 2020

E-Land Group Vice Chairman Choi Jong-yang of E-Land Group, which was recently hit with a ransomware attack, said Friday that the company will not surrender to the threats of the hackers. According to the South Korean fashion and retail conglomerate, Choi sent out an email to employees on Thursday in which he dismissed rumors that the hackers had acquired valuable corporate information. On Nov. 22, E-Land Group suspended operations at nearly half of its stores due to a ransomware attack. The

Industry Nov. 27, 2020

Posco, South Korea’s leading steelmaker, has been recognized for its environmental activities in a recent journal published by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, the company said Tuesday. “Posco’s efforts to clean and recover our planet’s oceans, as well as cooperate with steel industry on blue carbon, places it at the forefront in the battle against climate change,” the journal said. The journal illustrated Posco’s Clean Ocean Volunteer

Industry Nov. 24, 2020

Samsung Electronics posted an all-time high share in the global TV market in terms of revenue during the third quarter, according to a report. Market research organization Omdia said in its report that Samsung‘s market share in the third quarter reached 33.1 percent in terms of revenue, a record-high quarterly figure for the company. Samsung Electronics’ revenue from TV sales in the third quarter reached $9.3 billion, up by 22 percent on-year. Samsung sold a total of 14.85 mil

Technology Nov. 24, 2020

The South Korean government on Monday opened the 15th Job Fair for Foreign-Invested Companies. The job fair this year will be held online through Friday, according to the organizers. The event is co-hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Financial Supervisory Service. The event is designed to help participating foreign-invested companies in Korea find local staff, the organizers said. This year

Industry Nov. 23, 2020

Samsung Electronics said Sunday that sales of its home appliances launched under the Bespoke brand have increased rapidly. Bespoke refrigerators, for instance, took up 65 percent of its total refrigerator sales during the June-October period. Sales of the Bespoke dishwasher and oven models from January to October increased by 280 percent and 130 percent on-year, respectively. The Bespoke oven model launched in September last year accounted for 70 percent of the company’s total oven sa

Industry Nov. 22, 2020

A streamer is broadcasting an online eating show, or mukbang. Fans get their snacks and drinks ready, take photographs and share them on the streamer’s web page with stories and comments. The streamer goes over the photographs and reads comments as if they are having a table talk. The streamer holds up his glass and offers a toast to tens of thousands of viewers. Though they are e-connected, it somehow creates a sense of togetherness. The increasing number of one-person households on

Industry Nov. 21, 2020

Kakao said Thursday that the company will add a new visibility setting to its messenger application KakaoTalk to protect the privacy of users. The new visibility setting is to allow users to control what others see about you across KakaoTalk services. KakaoTalk users in the future will be able to set up several messenger profiles and select who on KakaoTalk can see which profile. KakaoTalk’s public beta testing of the new feature will begin during the first quarter next year. Previous

Technology Nov. 19, 2020

LG Innotek, the high-tech parts making unit of LG Group, said Thursday that the company had signed an agreement with the Korean Intellectual Property Office and partner firms to increase cooperation to safeguard confidential business information. Under the latest agreement, LG Innotek will provide its partners with education and policy consultations to improve the protection of confidential information. The company added that it would help its partners to build systems to protect business secre

Technology Nov. 19, 2020

Kakao said Wednesday that it would add a digital wallet feature to South Korea’s largest messenger application KakaoTalk. The company will also start introducing new subscription-based services via the messenger application. Kakao’s co-CEOs Yeo Min-su and Cho Soo-yong introduced new features that are to be added to KakaoTalk during an online press conference held as part of the company’s annual conference, which runs from Wednesday to Friday. The digital wallet feature woul

Technology Nov. 18, 2020

The growth rate of pay TV subscribers in South Korea has slowed this year, according to a report released Wednesday by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The number of new pay TV subscribers during the first half this year reached around 350,000, down by 220,000 compared to that of last year, marking the lowest increase in three years, the report said. In the first half of 2017, the number of new pay TV subscribers reached 830,000. The figure increased to 910,000 in the second half in 2017. I

Technology Nov. 18, 2020