In times of digital transformation, bigger firms have the tools, technology and personnel for digital transformation, but smaller companies often lack the necessary resources. This is where the Seoul Business Agency steps in to support small- to medium-sized companies in the capital. "Conglomerates or IT companies are undergoing digital transformation and making business opportunities out of it. SMEs are aware of the shift, but they are very busy with their daily workload," said Kim H

Industry Dec. 8, 2021

Led by major biopharmaceutical companies in Celltrion and Samsung Biologics, South Korea is poised to make a bigger impact on the global market, according to German science and technology group Merck. “Executives at Merck headquarters think the Korean government’s vision to turn the country into a global vaccine hub by 2025 is impressive. There were suggestions to actively cooperate with the Korean government and support its strategic efforts to foster the bio industry,” said

Industry Dec. 7, 2021

Trade Week 2021 -- the Seoul Business Agency’s global trade conference, established to offer export opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in Seoul -- began its four-day run Tuesday. The SBA, a city-run agency that supports SMEs in the capital, said a total of 300 companies will participate in more than 1,200 online export consultations with 500 foreign buyers from more than 20 countries. The participating companies work mainly in the categories of beauty, lifestyle, food,

Industry Dec. 7, 2021

Metaverse, a shared virtual world where people can interact with others through avatars, has been the talk of the town in the second half of this year. While some doubt metaverse will be able to take off or see it as just another marketing strategy, others seem to believe it is the next giant leap in information technology. Regardless of the perceptual divide, Kim Beom-joo, head of evangelism at graphics developer Unity Korea, says the coming of the virtual platform was inevitable and its ar

Technology Dec. 6, 2021

Kyobo Life Insurance, one of Korea’s biggest life insurers, has picked up speed in its digital transformation efforts this year by innovating its traditional businesses and securing future growth engines. According to Kyobo Life Insurance, the company reorganized its structure with a digital transformation, opening departments on digital strategy, digital new businesses and IT support. The life insurer also implemented Amazon’s Public Cloud services in order to cope with the para

Market Dec. 6, 2021

Amid worries over the omicron variant of COVID-19, Korean testing kit makers showed confidence in their equipment’s ability to detect the new virus variant, pushing up their stock prices again. GreenCross Medical Science said Friday that the effectiveness of its COVID-19 testing kit has been confirmed for the new omicron variant as well. In order to assess the validity of the result from its testing equipment, GCMS conducted the ‘in-silico’ experiment, which refers to a typ

Industry Dec. 3, 2021

The licenses of six botulinum drugs will be revoked on Dec. 13, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday. The Drug Ministry said the drugs were being sold in the country without obtaining the state approval to sell them in the domestic market. The drugs are four of Hugel’s Botulax units and two of Pharma Research Bio’s ReNTox units. The Drug Ministry will also shut down Pharma Research Bio’s production for six months, citing that the biopharmaceutical firm&

Industry Dec. 2, 2021

South Korea will foster 89,000 more people specialized in software technology by 2025 to cope with a shortage of digital talent in the future, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday. Unveiling the government’s plan to support younger generations in times of digital transformation, the ministry said a total of 413,000 software professionals will be supplied over the next five years. The government’s original plan was to raise 324,000 software talents, but the expected demand

Technology Dec. 2, 2021

The government’s Innovation-Communication Open Network (i-CON) project has been helping Korea’s small and medium-sized bio companies expand their networks and improve the quality of their products, according to the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization. The organization is currently running the bio and health program of the i-CON project to support small and medium-sized enterprises to develop technology capabilities by using infrastructure and manpower owned by research instit

Industry Dec. 1, 2021

Celltrion Healthcare has inked supply contracts for its COVID-19 antibody treatment Regkirona with nine European countries as of Monday, the company said Tuesday. Under the contract, Celltrion Healthcare, an affiliate of local biopharmaceutical company Celltrion, plans to roll out an initial supply of 150,000 vials of Regkirona to the countries before the end of the year. The amount is enough to treat 50,000 people. More supply orders of the antibody are expected to be placed in consideratio

Industry Nov. 30, 2021

SK Square became the second-largest shareholder of Korbit, one of South Korea’s top four cryptocurrency exchanges, by investing about 90 billion won ($75.5 million) to acquire a 35 percent stake, the company announced Monday. The largest shareholder of Korbit is NXC, the holding company of local online game maker Nexon. SK Square expects that holding a stake of Korbit itself will increase the net asset value of SK Square, as the volume of cryptocurrency transactions has rapidly increase

Industry Nov. 29, 2021

The total value of South Korean biotech and pharmaceutical companies’ technology exports is expected to reach $10 billion for the first time this year, according to the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association. The country’s biotech and pharmaceutical companies’ technology exports amounted to 11.4 trillion won ($9.6 billion) as of Nov. 17, the KPBMA said Monday. As there were deals that did not disclose their contract values, the KPBMA expected the total

Industry Nov. 22, 2021

South Korea’s two presidential front-runners -- Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Yoon Seok-youl of the major opposition People Power Party -- paid their respects at the Seoul and Daejeon national cemeteries soon after winning their parties’ primaries. “The state’s first duty is the security to protect the national community,” Lee said during his visit to the Daejeon National Cemetery on Oct. 11, a day after winning the primary. “Of

Politics Nov. 22, 2021

Supporters in MAGA hats have been a common sight on the campaign trail in the US in recent years, but in Korea that kind of promotion won’t wash. According to Korea’s Public Official Election Act, a hat bearing a campaign slogan candidate can lead to a fine or even jail if the wearer is not a candidate or on the campaign staff. This is one of several obscure clauses in addition to the more widely known rules such as prohibiting giving money out to voters, damaging candidates’

Politics Nov. 16, 2021

"When I met a new friend in Busan, he asked me where I was from. I said Gwangju and he called me a ‘Jeolladian.’ I did not know what it meant at first." A 20-something cellphone seller in Busan, S has lied about his hometown to his customers, not wanting to cause any unnecessary trouble. "My customers would ask me where I was from," he said. "I did not say that I was from Gwangju because I thought it would not benefit me in any way if I told them the truth

Social Affairs Nov. 15, 2021