Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Seoul stocks down for 2nd day amid virus woes, Evergrande uncertainties
South Korean stocks slumped for a second straight session Friday after the country's daily COVID-19 cases hit a record high, erasing gains from easing fears over China Evergrande Group's debt crisis. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 2.34 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 3,125.24 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 738 million shares worth some 12.3 trillion won ($10.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering lo
Sept. 24, 2021
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LG Energy Solution jointly develops new solid-state battery
South Korea’s leading battery maker LG Energy Solution announced Friday that the company and UC San Diego have co-developed a new solid-state battery that is safer and more durable than existing ones. The research results have been published in Science, one of the top peer-reviewed academic journals, the company added. According to LG Energy Solution, the new solid-state battery, which uses both a solid state electrolyte and an all-silicon anode, has shown positive results during initi
Sept. 24, 2021
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Secondhand smartphone market sees growth in Korea
The secondhand smartphone market is enjoying a bump from recent releases of flagship models from Samsung and Apple. According to Bungaejangter on Friday, a South Korean mobile secondhand marketplace, the volume of transactions for used smartphones has reached some 100 billion won as consumers switched to new phones. Used phone transactions have become the most traded category on the platform during the first half of this year so far. The company said the “secondhand market has been energ
Sept. 24, 2021
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10 crypto exchanges file applications to register with KFIU
Ten cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea have filed applications to register with the nation's anti-money laundering body to continue their businesses under tougher regulations, according to the body Friday. By Friday midnight, both foreign and local cryptocurrency exchanges targeting Korean investors are required to register with the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KFIU) and have real-name bank accounts. If they have no real-name bank accounts, cryptocurrency exchanges will be banned fr
Sept. 24, 2021
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S. Korea reports surplus in trade of intellectual property rights in H1
South Korea reported a surplus in the trade of intellectual property rights in the first half of this year, as exports of copyrights increased, central bank data showed Friday. The nation's surplus in the intellectual property account came to $850 million in the first half, compared with a deficit of $1.11 billion in the second half of last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the first six-month surplus since the second half of 2019, when the nation rep
Sept. 24, 2021
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Lotte Department Store offers first-ever voluntary retirement
Lotte Department Store is offering its first-ever voluntary retirement since first opening 42 years ago. The operator of the department store chain, Lotte Shopping, said Friday it told employees that it will be “accepting voluntary retirement applications for the next two weeks” in an internal announcement Thursday. The restructuring program is particularly for staff members who have worked for the firm for more than 20 years. Around 2,000 employees meet this qualification, the
Sept. 24, 2021
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S. Korea's financial market stable but potential imbalance concerning: BOK
South Korea's financial market continues to be stable, but concerns remain over a build-up of financial imbalances due to surging home prices, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Friday. In a regular report on financial stability, the BOK also called for vigilance against a rise in the debt of households and companies amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The nation's financial stability index shot up to 22.3 in April last year, breaching the lower boundary for a crisis warning, but it has since come down to
Sept. 24, 2021
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S. Korea to further expand scope of beneficiaries of employment insurance system
South Korea plans to allow delivery workers and designated drivers to receive benefits from the employment insurance system starting next year as the government seeks to expand the labor safety net, a senior government official said Friday. It is part of the government's plan to expand the employment insurance scheme to all working people as the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the job market. The government plans to enable some platform workers, including delivery workers and designated
Sept. 24, 2021
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S. Korea to end injecting public funds into overseas coal projects
South Korea said Friday it will refrain from injecting public funds into overseas coal projects starting in October, in line with the global initiatives to gradually phase out traditional energy sources and go carbon neutral by 2050. Under the new guideline to be implemented next month, all public organizations will no longer disburse funds to overseas coal power plants, while private businesses in which the government has a stake will also be induced to follow the measure, according to the Min
Sept. 24, 2021
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Samsung reinforcing supply chain in Asia to expand production
Samsung Electronics Co. is reinforcing its supply chain in Asia to meet increased demand of its products amid the pandemic, industry insiders said Friday, as the South Korean tech giant eyes to build more plants and expand its workforce. Samsung is currently building a TV manufacturing plant in Karachi, Pakistan. It is expected to be in operation in the fourth quarter of the year and produce 50,000 units annually. The news was recently revealed by Abdul Razak Dawood, adviser for commerce and
Sept. 24, 2021
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[Graphic News] Overseas card spending jumps 80% in Q2 as lockdown eases
South Koreans‘ overseas card spending jumped 80 percent on-year in the second quarter as many nations eased lockdown rules following the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed. The amount of money spent overseas by South Koreans with cards, including both credit and debit cards, totaled $3.37 billion in the April-June period, compared to $1.87 billion for the same period last year, according to data from the Bank of Korea. Compared with three months earlier, overseas card sp
Sept. 24, 2021
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Seoul stocks open higher as China Evergrande fears ease
South Korean stocks opened higher Friday on overnight US rebound that stemmed from easing fears over China Evergrande Group's debt crisis. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 11.37 points, or 0.36 percent, to 3,138.95 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came off to a solid start as investors are monitoring the risks from the massive $310 billion debt of China's Evergrande Group. Market fears eased somewhat after the giant property developer announced t
Sept. 24, 2021
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Corporate direct financing slips 7.9% in August
South Korea's corporate direct financing fell 7.9 percent on month in August due to a decline in sales of bonds, data showed Friday. Local companies raised a combined 19.35 trillion won ($16.4 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in August, down 1.66 trillion won from a month ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Corporate stock sales rose 10.3 percent to 4.05 trillion won, with the value of initial public offerings jumping 27.4 percent to 4 trillion won.
Sept. 24, 2021
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Producer prices up for 10th month in August
South Korea's producer prices gained 0.4 percent on-month in August due to a modest rise in prices of food and energy, extending their monthly gains for the 10th straight month, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, stood at 110.72 in August, compared with 110.28 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The July index advanced 7.3 percent from the previous year, the BOK data showed. The prices of agricultural goods
Sept. 24, 2021
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[ESG Talk] Overseeing critical ESG risks: Environmental issues
As regulatory and stakeholder issues heighten around environmental, social and governance factors, companies must now oversee the associated risks more strategically. Unfortunately, ESG issues are sensitive to public choices, rely on future scenario-based materiality and require longer time horizons. Thus, the challenge in quantifying ESG risks has prompted companies to adopt different risk management procedures. Since ESG risks can turn to sizable negative impacts throughout a company’s
Sept. 23, 2021
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Korean firms neglect science in setting climate targets: study
South Korean companies’ climate targets are not grounded in scientific evidence, a study showed Thursday, indicating that ambitious goals to achieve carbon neutrality for a sustainable future lack substance. This heightens calls for the country, which recently unveiled its ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, to have its companies take more concrete action to cut greenhouse gas emissions -- a major culprit behind global warming -- ahead of the Group of 20 Summit in October, acc
Sept. 23, 2021
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DataStreams marks 20th anniversary, vows to grow further
DataStreams, a data management and cloud solutions provider, marked its 20th anniversary with a pledge to accelerate the company’s growth in the next two decades. The company hosted a ceremony for the 20th anniversary of its foundation last Friday, holding it online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 163 employees tuned into the event to celebrate the firm’s anniversary and its growth over the past 20 years. During the event, CEO Lee Young-sang highlighted the importance of l
Sept. 23, 2021
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Celltrion to supply rapid COVID-19 tests to US govt.
Celltrion announced Thursday that it had won a contract to supply its rapid COVID-19 test DiaTrust to the US government. Starting Oct. 1, Celltrion USA, Celltrion’s US-based unit, will begin supplying COVID-19 tests to 25,000 sites, including military facilities, nursing homes and COVID-19 test centers. Under the deal signed with the US Defense Logistics Agency, the US authorities could buy more if needed. Celltrion said the total amount could reach 738.2 billion won ($626.61 million),
Sept. 23, 2021
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S. Koreans spend all-time high on Netflix in Aug.: data
Netflix recorded record sales for South Korea in August, a local report said Thursday. According to the report released by industry tracker WiseApp, South Koreans’ payments to Netflix last month reached an estimated 75.3 billion won, up 78 percent from a year earlier. The number of people who subscribed to the US streaming service reached 5.14 million, increasing 63 percent from 3.16 million last year, according to WiseApp. By age groups, people in their 20s accounted for 40.1 percen
Sept. 23, 2021
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[Herald Interview] ‘Designing user experience key to business success’
Technology is advancing at a dizzying speed, bringing future mobility closer to us. Scenes of driverless vehicles cruising down smart roads and up in the skies no longer sound like science fiction. Against such a backdrop, the idea of design should go beyond just making products look good. It should also be about planning the experience of users, says Kwon Young-jin, who leads Hyundai Motor Group’s Zer01ne Playground, an open innovation platform. “Hyundai Motor Group seeks to rep
Sept. 23, 2021