South Korean department stores on Friday boosted security measures after copycat crime threats went viral online, following a stabbing rampage at a department store in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday. Lotte Property & Investment, one of the leading department store operators here, on Friday dispatched a security team of 130 members to the area around Lotte Tower near Jamsil Station. Lotte added it has also sent three anti-terrorism agents to search the area. Jamsil Station was one of

Industry Aug. 4, 2023

By Ben Verhaert Oriental Brewery CEO Now is the best season for enjoying a refreshing beer, and Aug. 4 is International Beer Day and I would like to speak for beers today, especially for Korean beers. As one of the oldest human-produced drinks, the beer has many charm factors which have allowed humankind to enjoy it for so long as 8,000 years. First of all, beer is inclusive. Men and women across geographies and socioeconomic groups enjoy having a beer with friends. Beer has always been a great

Industry Aug. 4, 2023

Real estate prices of logistics centers in the greater Seoul area in the first half of this year have dropped over 20 percent from the previous six month period, amid an oversupply of such facilities and a sluggish economy, according to a local report released on Thursday. According to real estate market research firm Rsquare's report, the average price of a plot of land measuring 3.3 square meters used by logistics centers in Seoul and the surrounding area came to 5.96 million won, down 23

Industry Aug. 3, 2023

Samsung Bioepis is considering acquiring a biosimilar business unit of Biogen for around 1 trillion won ($775.3 million) to improve its presence in the US market, according to local reports on Wednesday. The acquisition will see Samsung Bioepis secure a direct sales network in the US, which could help it boost sales in the world's largest drug market. The reports on Samsung Bioepis’ potential acquisition came as Biogen is in the process of restructuring to cut costs, after the compa

Industry Aug. 2, 2023

Northern Ireland may not have always been a priority market for South Korean firms seeking overseas expansion, but the country has great potential to become an attractive investment destination in the near future, taking advantage of upcoming new free trade talks between Korea and the UK. “We will be starting to renegotiate the UK-Korea Free Trade Agreement this autumn. We already have a free trade agreement that we inherited from the (European Union) but will now be renegotiating that, to

Industry Aug. 1, 2023

LG Chem, a Korean chemicals manufacturer and drug developer, said Tuesday that the company is developing the country's first homegrown hexavalent vaccine for babies. A hexavalent vaccine, in which the country is entirely dependent on imports, is a combination vaccine that allows fewer injections for babies. It also provides more protection against six deadly diseases, including diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, Haemophilus influenza type B and hepatitis B. LG Chem said the comp

Industry Aug. 1, 2023

The number of South Korean tourists to Japan surpassed 3 million in the first half of this year, recovering to pre-pandemic levels. The number of Japanese people visiting South Korea, however, has rebounded at a much slower pace to reach some 860,000, according to government data Monday. The yen’s prolonged weakness and Japan’s well-established tourism infrastructure and diverse tourist destinations made the difference, industry sources explained. According to data compiled by the Ko

Industry July 31, 2023

The size of South Korea’s domestic drug market reached an all-time high of 29.9 trillion won ($23.4 billion) last year, up 17.6 percent on-year, according to government data, Sunday. The drug market size is calculated by adding the value of total drug production here and the drug import value, then subtracting the drug export value. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the country’s drug production in 2022 grew 13.6 percent on-year to 28.9 trillion won, from 25.49 trill

Industry July 30, 2023

KT&G, South Korea's dominant tobacco and ginseng company, said Thursday its chief executive and employees carried out voluntary work at a soup kitchen in Seoul to help homeless people and senior citizens bear the summer heat. KT&G CEO Baek Bok-in and 20 other executives and employees took part in serving food to homeless people and aged people living alone, at the meal center, according to the firm. “May the food that we have prepared become a strength to people who are suffer

Industry July 27, 2023

Samsung Biologics said Wednesday that the company’s earnings in the first half reached all-time highs, with 1.59 trillion won ($1.23 billion) in sales and an operating profit of 445.2 billion won, supported by a solid contract-winning spree. Compared with the first half of last year, Samsung Biologics' sales increased by 36 percent, while its operating profit climbed 29 percent. Samsung Biologics’ attributed its improved earnings this year to the large-scale contract manufacturi

Industry July 26, 2023

Posco Holdings, the holding company of South Korea's top steelmaker Posco, said Monday that its operating profit in the second quarter reached 1.3 trillion won ($1.03 billion), recovering from a sluggish performance in the previous quarter this year. It is also the first time for the company's operating profit to surpass 1 trillion won since the second quarter of last year, the company added. During the three-month period, the company’s sales reached 20.1 trillion won, also up fr

Industry July 24, 2023

Shares of SK Chemicals soared sharply Friday, a day after the chemicals and drug developer announced that it signed a contract manufacturing deal for British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca’s diabetes medicines. Its shares started at 79,800 won ($62.27) as of 9 a.m., a 23 percent jump from the previous trading day. In the afternoon, the stocks were traded slightly lower at 72,200 won, still up around 11 percent from a day ago. In its regulatory fi

Industry July 21, 2023

South Korea's antitrust regulator on Thursday announced it has decided to assess 40.9 billion won ($32.3 million) of fines for 32 pharmaceutical firms and wholesalers for colluding to secure orders for the government’s vaccine procurement bids. The 32 companies included global pharmaceutical firm GSK, GC Biopharma, Yuhan, Boryung and SK Discovery, which has SK Plasma and SK Bioscience as subsidiaries. Under the the Fair Trade Commission's decision, Korea Vaccine Sales will receiv

Industry July 20, 2023

Prestige BioPharma, a Singapore-based Kospi-listed pharmaceutical company said Tuesday that the company has joined the Cancer Moonshot Project, a White House initiative aimed at advancing cancer prevention and treatment. The Cancer Moonshot initiative was first launched in 2016 and relaunched in 2022 by US President Joe Biden. The goal of the initiative is to cut the cancer death rate by 50 percent in the next 25 years. Its first project will aim to reduce the cost of cancer care and research by

Industry July 18, 2023

SK Biopharmaceuticals plans to increase its corporate value to $15 billion by 2026, largely buoyed by burgeoning sales of the company’s seizure treatment Xcopri, or cenobamate, said the company's CEO Lee Dong-hoon during a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday. Lee added that profits from Xcopri could be poured into mergers and acquisitions in the future, through which the company aims to diversify its product portfolio to include more biological medicines. According to SK Biopharmaceu

Industry July 18, 2023