South Korea’s Ministry of Energy said on Monday it would establish the nation’s first research institute dedicated to dismantling nuclear power plants, for the safe disposal of nuclear power plants whose operations have been permanently suspended. In a groundbreaking ceremony held in Ulju-gun, located on the border between the southeastern port cities Busan and Ulsan, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that construction of the institute is expected to be completed by the

Industry Oct. 31, 2022

South Korea’s employment elasticity to GDP growth is expected to fall drastically next year amid a widespread of recession fears and corporate belt-tightening across industries, a report found Sunday. According to the report released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the nation’s employment elasticity -- the percentage change in employment associated with a 1 percent growth in GDP -- posted a record high this year. Based on Bank of Korea estimates, this year Korea is exp

Economy Oct. 30, 2022

As part of its ESG drive, South Korean internet service provider SK Broadband said Wednesday it has been bolstering eco-friendly corporate culture and media campaigns. The company has been seeking to lower carbon emissions and power consumption in the company by streamlining and replacing old equipment. It has also reduced the use of paper by adopting electronic bills. Under an in-house campaign titled "net zero life practice" to foster environment-friendly corporate culture, SK Broadb

Industry Oct. 26, 2022

South Korean electronics giants are bracing for uncertainties across the board, with some leading exporters mapping out belt-tightening plans to address the situation that some have described as grave as the 2008 global financial crisis. Memory chip supplier SK hynix is one of the companies hit hardest by slowing consumer demand and the US-China tech arms race. The memory chip downcycle follows a pileup of order backlogs, and uncertainties are growing in its Chinese operations due to semiconduct

Technology Oct. 26, 2022

Naver said on Wednesday it has joined EV100, an initiative to electrify a firm's vehicle fleet, becoming the first internet platform company in the world to join both RE100 and EV100. Naver was the first internet company in Korea to join RE100 last August. RE100 is a coalition comprising 380 global enterprises that are committed to becoming 100 percent renewable. EV100 urges businesses to replace all corporate vehicles with electric ones by 2030. By joining EV100, Naver will have all of its regi

Industry Oct. 26, 2022

A South Korean movie director and the mayor of Newport Beach will jointly host the world’s first non-fungible token film and art festival in Newport Beach -- a coastal mecca in California just an hour away from Hollywood. “I thought of hosting the Beach Cities NFT Film & Art festival because of the currently centralized and inefficient way to make movies,” Kim Jeong-jung, a film director and the festival's organizer, said during an interview with The Korea Herald. “Cu

Industry Oct. 26, 2022

Netflix Korea, a Korean subsidiary of the global streaming platform Netflix, saw over 1.2 trillion won ($836 million) in sales for last three years but paid only 0.5 percent of its revenue in tax, a ruling party lawmaker said on Tuesday, raising suspicion that the US company may have been evading local taxes. According to an audit report of Netflix Korea released by Rep. Kim Seung-su of the People Power Party, from 2019 to 2021, Netflix Korea gained 1.23 trillion won and transferred 959.1 billio

Industry Oct. 25, 2022

KakaoTalk, South Korea’s immensely popular messaging app, has raised nearly 2.6 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in advertising revenue over the past 1 1/2 years, antitrust data showed Friday. According to data submitted by the Fair Trade Commission to Rep. Kang Min-guk of the People Power Party, KakaoTalk’s revenue from its ad platform Talk Biz amounted to 2.558 trillion won until the second quarter this year from January 2021. Talk Biz has two revenue sources -- KakaoTalk Biz Board

Technology Oct. 21, 2022

South Korean stem cell research company Miracell said Friday it had published the clinical trial results of a new regenerative skin stem cell therapy at a recent conference hosted by the IMCAS held in Bangkok. The clinical trial was conducted on a patient with psoriasis, a skin disease that is generally treated with steroids, but has a tendency to recur over time. The patent was found to have completed recovered after receiving intravenous injections with bone marrow stem cells and cells extract

Industry Oct. 21, 2022

The world is shifting toward a world of Web 3.0, the emerging blockchain-based platform, and the new era will drastically change the way people live, according to chairman of BOSagora Foundation Kim In-hwan, who spoke at The Korea Herald Biz Forum held at Four Seasons Seoul on Wednesday. As Web 3.0 moves away from having a central authority that governs the operations of the web, it will utilize its blockchain-based decentralized structure to strengthen individuals' ownership rights over their c

Technology Oct. 19, 2022

A recent report showed Monday that people in South Korea consume ramen 1.7 times a week on average, with Nongshim’s bestseller Shin Ramyun being the top pick. The report, published by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., is based on a survey conducted on 500 people aged between 15 and 65. By gender, men and women ate ramen 1.8 times and 1.5 times per week, respectively. Men in their 20s and 50s were the most frequent ramen consumers, eating ramen twice a week, while women in

Business Oct. 17, 2022

The longest-ever server outage for KakaoTalk, the nation's most popular messenger app, and its affiliated services, is prompting people here to seek alternatives, according to data on Sunday. As of 3 p.m. Sunday, the top downloads on Apple's app store were alternatives for Kakao's popular apps. Naver's messaging app Line topped the list, rising six steps since Saturday, while taxi reservation app UT came in second, with GPS location service Naver Map coming in third. Other mobility apps, such a

Technology Oct. 16, 2022

A fire Saturday at a Kakao data center in Pangyo, south of Seoul, has led to a server outage affecting the KakaoTalk messenger app, along with other apps such as Kakao T, Kakao Map, Kakao Metro, Kakao Webtoon, Kakao Bank, Kakao-owned portal Daum and music streaming service Melon. The internet connection for the apps has been unavailable since 3:30 p.m. "There has been a fire at SK C&C data center since 3:30 p.m. Work has begun to put down the fire, but we are uncertain when the fir

Industry Oct. 15, 2022

South Korea's leading refiner SK Innovation celebrated 60 years since its foundation with a new climate initiative to become more carbon-free on Thursday. The company said it would go beyond achieving its 2050 net-zero goals, pledging to drastically reduce its carbon emissions across all workplaces by 2062, its 100th anniversary. Under a new initiative, called "All Time Net Zero," the company aims to offset carbon emissions by recycling plastic, streamlining manufacturing processes and

Industry Oct. 13, 2022

South Korean wireless telecommunications operator SK Telecom, which operates its own metaverse platform called ifland, said Wednesday it signed a deal with United Arab Emirates’ top telecommunications carrier e& Group to provide its metaverse service to Middle Eastern countries. Under the memorandum of understanding, South Korea’s leading telecommunications carrier will be developing an optimal metaverse service tailored to Middle Eastern users’ tastes, based on the data e&

Technology Oct. 12, 2022