Hancom Group, South Korea's leading office software developer, has launched the country's first private Earth observation satellite into orbit, the company said Thursday. According to the firm, the satellite named Sejong-1 was carried on a Falcon 9 rocket developed by US firm SpaceX. The rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2:35 p.m. on Wednesday. A Han...

The second launch of South Korea’s homegrown Nuri rocket will take place on June 15, about eight months after its first blastoff failed to complete its mission in October last year, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Wednesday. The launch control committee, composed of officials at the Science Ministry and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, left a window of backup launch dates open from J...

With Google poised to begin removing applications that disobey its mandatory in-app payment policy from June 2, South Korean content providers are raising consumer charges as the global IT giant's billing rules require hefty fee rates. Google's in-app payment system means that consumers must use the internal payment system developed by the app market operator, also Google, when purchasing paid c...

South Korea's first lunar probe mission, formally known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, has been named "Danuri," the Ministry of Science and ICT said Monday. Danuri is a combination the two Korean words "dal" and "nuri," meaning moon and enjoy, respectively. According to the ministry, the name expresses a desire for the country's first moon mission to be successful, and for the probe to e...

The number of metaverse users across major virtual world platforms in South Korea has dropped sharply since social distancing measures were lifted, a report showed Sunday. According to big data analysis firm Mobile Index, the number of Roblox’ weekly active users recorded 773,678 during the period between May 9 and 15, a nearly 18 percent drop from the previous weekly figure. It was the lowest n...

Hana Financial Group is expanding its project to help youth startups nationwide, as it has signed the first regional partnership with the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage, the group said Sunday. According to the group, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding at the KNUCH in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province on Friday. They agreed to provide support for startup ideas rela...

Hyundai Steel has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Institute of Energy Research to push for comprehensive cooperation on technologies in the energy and environment sectors with the goal of leading the steel industry’s movement towards carbon neutrality. According to the South Korean steelmaker, Hyundai Steel CEO Ahn Dong-il and KIER President Kim Jong-nam attended the MOU cere...

Danger of crypto volatility, metaverse monopoly Regarding the market frenzy around cryptocurrencies and questions remaining over their extreme volatility, Tapscott said, “It is a bubble in the sense that it’s way down right now and so is the stock market ... It sort of parallels the stock market. You know crypto is an asset class, at least in North America.” The tech guru, however, warned of cr...

Over 70 percent of job seekers in South Korea said they were willing to get a position at a startup company, a survey showed Thursday. According to online recruiting platform JobKorea’s survey of 1,063 workers and job seekers, the most-selected reason for expressing a willingness to work at a startup was their growth potential, with 52.9 percent. Respondents could pick more than one reason, and...

SPC has opened three more Paris Baguette stores in Indonesia, the South Korean food and bakery company said Wednesday. According to SPC, two of the new stores are located at shopping malls in the country‘s capital Jakarta and the other is in South Tangerang. The latest opening of the bakery cafe came two months after the company’s fourth Paris Baquette store began operation in Bekasi in March. ...

South Korean IT giant Kakao will provide mobility services in Guam before the end of the third quarter through a partnership with Miki Taxi, one of the largest taxi services on the US island territory, Kakao Mobility said Tuesday. In doing so, the firm will become the country’s first mobility company to apply the entire infrastructure ranging from the platform, driver application and administrat...

South Korean entrepreneur Do Kwon was a rising star of the global digital asset market when his company Terraform Labs launched the cryptocurrencies UST and luna with the goal of achieving a decentralized economy three years ago. His stardom reached its peak as the price of luna skyrocketed to over $119 early last month, becoming the first Korean-developed cryptocurrency to crack the top 10 list...

The global cryptocurrency market has been shaken up by the freefalling prices of Korean-made cryptocurrency terraUSD, also known as UST, and its sister token luna, raising concerns that it may lead to the crypto market’s version of the Lehman Brothers collapse. According to crypto market analysis website CoinMarketCap, the prices of terraUSD and luna recorded 857 won ($0.66) and 443 won as of 2 ...

South Korean researchers have developed a nasal spray that can kill viruses and bacteria including COVID-19, the culprit of the unprecedented pandemic, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology said Thursday. Labeled the “invisible mask” for its capacity to prevent virus infection as if one was wearing a mask, the nasal spray can remove harmful substances from the outside and protect the muc...