​Stray Kids achieves second highest album sales in US

SEOUL -- Boy band Stray Kids ranked second in album sales in the United States, with Taylor Swift topping the sales. The eight-member band has gained explosive popularity through "5-Star," an album released in June 2023, and Maxidient, an album rolled out in October 2022. Through 5-Star, the group topped Billboard's top 200 popular albums chart in June this year. The music video of S-Class, the album's title track featuring hip-hop elements, has gained more than 11

September 4, 2023

S. Korea and French company L'Oreal kick-start incubation program for 'beauty tech' startups

SEOUL -- South Korea and French personal care company L'Oreal have kick-started an incubation program for South Korean startups that specialize in "beauty tech" products. The project is part of a partnership between South Korea's startup industry and the French beauty product company that was forged in June 2023. Beauty tech refers to skin care technology that incorporates artificial intelligence-based devices and solutions that analyze and provide appropriate care

September 4, 2023

S. Korea to offer visa and duty-free benefits to attract more Chinese tourists

SEOUL -- South Korea will try to attract more Chinese tourists by exempting the fee for the application of the electronic travel visa and simplifying the process for duty-free tax refund processes. The country will also seek to upgrade its tourism environment by preventing over-competition by travel agencies and sales of overly budget travel programs. Before Beijing imposed a travel ban on South Korea as part of retaliatory steps over the installment of an advanced American missile

September 4, 2023

SK ecoplant joins project to build wind power facilities in Canada

SEOUL -- A consortium that involves SK ecoplant, an environmental and energy solution provider affiliated with South Korea's SK Group, has secured a 1,077.91 square-kilometer-wide land in eastern Canada to build wind power facilities. Along with Canadian renewable energy provider World Energy GH2, SK ecoplant aims to generate carbon-free green hydrogen by breaking down water with electricity produced by wind generators and deliver it to other continents including Europe after convertin

September 4, 2023

S. Korea to inject $109 mln to boost seafood industry amid fears of radioactive waters from Japan

SEOUL -- South Korea will inject a total of 144 billion won ($104 million) in a bid to stimulate the consumption of seafood after the industry was frozen due to Japan discharging contaminated water including radioactive materials such as tritium from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the world's worst nuclear disaster site since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1996, into the Pacific Ocean. Despite South Korea's seafood market entering one of its busiest seasons at the end of

September 1, 2023

Exports of S. Korean instant noodles Ramyeon surpass $520 mln in 2023

SEOUL -- Exports of South Korean instant noodles known as Ramyeon soared 17.7 percent year-on-year to a record high of $522 million during the first seven months of 2023, state data showed. The instant noodles, featured in many South Korean movies including the Oscar-winning film "Parasite" and live streaming content, have created a global phenomenon, with consumers uploading themselves eating hot noodles onto YouTube. According to data provided by the Korea Agro-Fisherie

September 1, 2023

​International dragon boat race to be held in Busan

SEOUL -- A total of 16 teams from 12 countries including the United States and Singapore will participate in an international dragon boat competition in South Korea's southern port city of Busan. 12-seater and 22-seater boats with a dragon head and tail will be provided and all members should compete in 200-meter (656-foot) and 500-meter-races. According to data released by Busan, the number of dragon boat lovers has increased all over the world after the water sport was officia

August 31, 2023

[OPINION] ​Japan and South Korea Reach Important Accord

SEOUL -- On August 18, Prime Ministers Fumio Kishida of Japan and Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea met with President Joe Biden at Camp David to complete a historic accord. The thre

August 31, 2023

Hyundai auto group develops low-temperature paint curing technology to reduce carbon emissions

SEOUL -- South Korea's Hyundai auto group has developed paint curing technology and demonstrated the technique for the prototype of G80, a flagship sedan of its Genesis brand. The amount of carbon can be dramatically reduced by lowering the temperature of the manufacturing process. Paint curing is the process of hardening the paint in the car manufacturing process. According to Hyundai Motor, the conventional painting process used melamine which could be cured at temperatures of 14

August 31, 2023

S. Korea launches smart logistics working group for effective policy-making

SEOUL -- South Korea has launched a smart logistics working group in a bid to receive help from the private sector for the optimization of the government's policy-making process and further upgrade the country's logistics infrastructure into a more future-oriented one that would harness the latest technologies. South Korea with some 52 million people had some 1,550 logistics complexes as of 2021. The country teeming with overnight grocery delivery and single-day parcel delive

August 31, 2023