S. Korea's fried chicken franchise Kyochon opens first store in Taiwan

SEOUL -- The operator of South Korea's popular chicken franchise Kyochon has opened the brand's first store in Taiwan's northern city, New Taipei City, with a population of around 4 million. Along with fried chicken, consumers can enjoy craft beer and fried noodles. The fried chicken brand's operator will open its second store in Taipei in October. The first Kyochon store was launched at a 40 square meter (430 square foot)-wide shopping mall in New Taipei City, Kyoch

August 3, 2023

​Sales of Hyundai and Kia cars exceed 140,000 in US, up 12.1 percent year-on-year

SEOUL -- Vehicles made by South Korea's Hyundai auto group are garnering explosive popularity in the United States. Sales of Hyundai vehicles in July 2023 soared 12.1 percent compared to the same period a year ago in the U.S. market, selling a total of 143,787. According to data released by Hyundai Motor America, Hyundai Motors sold 72,857 units in July, up 10.7 percent from a year earlier. Hyundai's American office said sales of its green vehicles such as Santa Fe Hybrid and I

August 2, 2023

Taihan Cable's high-voltage direct current transmission cable receives international certification

SEOUL -- A 525-kilovolt-class high-voltage direct current transmission cable developed by Taihan Cable & Solution, a power cable and grid infrastructure company in South Korea, has obtained an international certification from a Dutch testing center. The 525-kilovolt-class is currently the highest voltage among commercialized cables. High-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) converts alternating current (AC) into high-voltage DC and can send large amounts of current far aw

August 2, 2023

S. Korea's GDP per capita drops 8.2 percent year-on-year to $32,142 in 2022

SEOUL -- South Korea's gross domestic product per capita was $32,142 in 2022, down 8.2 percent from a year ago. This is the third-largest decline among 47 major economies in the world. Data released by Representative Jin Sun-mee of the main opposition Democratic Party on August 2 showed that South Korea ranked 23rd among the 47 countries with a GDP per capita of $32,142. The list included the member countries of the OECD and the top 30 economies. Japan experienced the largest d

August 2, 2023

Hanwha Ocean wins $259.9 mln LNG tanker contract from Asian client

SEOUL -- South Korean major shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, has won its first LNG tanker contract worth 332.2 billion won ($259.9 million) after the company went through a rebranding in April 2023. In April 2023, South Korea's Hanwha Group, one of the country's largest defense contractors, received the green light from the country's Fair Trade Commission to proceed with the acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Ma

August 1, 2023

CJ Cheiljedang sells Chinese food production wing Jixiangju for $235 mln

SEOUL -- CJ Cheiljedang, a key subsidiary of South Korea's food and entertainment conglomerate CJ Group, has sold Jixiangju, a food production subsidiary known for a Chinese pickle called "zhacai" and Chinese-style fermented food items. Without disclosing the buyers, the South Korean company said all of its shares were sold for 300 billion won ($235 million). Before the sell-off, CheilJedang owned 60 percent of Jixiangju's shares. The Chinese company was acquired

July 31, 2023

Hospitality tech company ONDA makes foray into Türkiye's hotel management solution market

SEOUL -- South Korean hospitality tech company ONDA has made a foray into Türkiye's hotel management solution market through a partnership with CMH Solutions, a Turkish hotel management solution company. The two companies will accelerate the digital transformation of Türkiye's hotel management sector. Digital transformation is a process in which traditional paper and manual work-based companies undergo a structural change to adopt digital technologies such as cloud co

July 31, 2023

LG Energy Solution records operating profit of $360 mln in 2Q 2023, up 135.5% year-on-year

SEOUL -- LG Energy Solution, the battery-making wing of South Korea's LG Group, announced that its operating profit in the second quarter of 2023 was 460.6 billion won ($360 million), up 135.5 percent from a year ago. The battery maker, which has strived to build supply chains in North America, aims to achieve annual sales growth of more than 30 percent in 2023. LG Energy Solution (LGES) said on July 27 that its operating profit reached 460.6 billion won and sales increased to some

July 28, 2023

SK Telecom joins forces with global telecom companies to beef up AI platform business

SEOUL -- To obtain a competitive advantage in the artificial intelligence market, South Korea's major mobile carrier SK Telecom has joined hands with three global telecom companies -- Germany's Deutsche Telekom, United Arab Emirates-based e&, and Singapore's Singtel. Through the alliance, the South Korean company aims to establish a new large language model, a type of deep learning-based artificial intelligence algorithm that can understand, summarize, generate, and pre

July 28, 2023

K-water becomes first S. Korean state agency to join Ukraine's dam reconstruction project

SEOUL -- K-water, a state water resource development and management agency in South Korea, has partnered with Ukrhydroenergo, a Ukrainian firm in charge of the operation of hydroelectric dams, to rebuild the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine's southern region. The water resource developer has become South Korea's first state-run company to be involved in a reconstruction project for the dam destroyed in June 2023. The destruction of the dam located in Kherson took the lives o

July 27, 2023