Fried chicken brand BBQ opens first store in Michigan

SEOUL -- BBQ, a popular South Korean fried chicken franchise, has opened its first store in the northern region of Michigan. The fried chicken brand, which operates some 250 stores in 24 states in the United States, aims to open 50,000 affiliated stores all over the world. BBQ, operated by Genesis BBQ, was launched in 1995 and became the iconic fried chicken franchise in South Korea. Compared to chicken made by foreign brands including KFC or Popeyes, most BBQ chicken less oily. As

June 8, 2023

​VR solution developer Ziwoo to release machine gun for virtual combat training

SEOUL -- Ziwoo Information & Technology, a virtual solution developer in South Korea, will release a machine gun that could be used in various types of virtual combat training. Along with the machine gun, the company will also provide different virtual scenarios such as maritime battles, trench warfare, and anti-tank warfare so that machine gunners can adapt to many different combat situations. Currently, South Korea's defense forces are utilizing virtual reality-based trai

June 8, 2023

[INTERVIEW] Australian critical minerals company builds business partnership with S. Korea

SEOUL -- Australian Strategic Materials (ASM) is an Australian company building a global rare earths and critical minerals business with a strong partnership with Korea. Aju Business Daily interviewed ASM CEO Rowena Smith in written form to ask her about her company’s Dubbo Project, its eco-friendly aspects, their "mine to metal" strategy. We also asked her for the reason her company decided to form such a strong relationship with Korea. She provided some unique insig

June 8, 2023

Seoul becomes world's ninth most expensive city to live for foreign people: study

SEOUL -- Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, has become the world's ninth most expensive city to live for foreigners, a study by a global expatriate information and data analysis and consulting firm showed. New York dethroned Hong Kong to become the world's highest cost of living for expatriates. According to a study of 207 cities in 120 countries across the world, conducted by ECA International in March 2023, Seoul was ranked ninth in 2023's Cost of Living Rankings

June 8, 2023

Online music streaming service Melon to provide chart data for Billboard

SEOUL -- Chart data by South Korea's major online music streaming service Melon will be included in Billboard charts. Melon, operated by the content and entertainment wing of South Korea's web service giant Kakao, became the first domestic streaming service to provide chart data for the global magazine that creates music charts of popular songs all over the world. Kakao Entertainment said in a statement that Melon streams would be provided to Billboard starting on June 7. T

June 7, 2023

HD Hyundai Heavy partners with defense company Babcock for submarine technology cooperation

SEOUL -- South Korea's shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will work with the Canadian branch of Babcock, a defense company based in Britain, to combine key technologies for submarines. Using the combined technologies, Babcock would export submarines to foreign nations. The agreement was made at MADEX 2023, an international maritime defense industry exhibition held in South Korea's southern port city of Busan, HD Hyundai Heavy said on June 7. "We should be able to

June 7, 2023

S. Korean game publisher NCSoft to introduce hyper-scale AI language model in 2023

SEOUL -- South Korea's major game publisher NCSoft will introduce a large language model, a type of deep learning-based artificial intelligence algorithm that can understand, summarize, generate, and predict new content, later this year. The so-called hyper-scale AI language model would help NCSoft create new content platforms including a digital human platform that incorporates an artificially-created interactive human model. Large language models (LLMs) are widely being devel

June 7, 2023

Research institute KAIST's four-legged robot wins international quadruped robot walking contest

SEOUL -- A South Korean technology institute has won an international quadruped robot walking competition in London with its four-legged robot that can autonomously walk on roads and even sandy grounds like beaches and sand dunes. The dog-like robot that won the event over its competitors from the United States and France would be used to carry out missions in disaster situations such as fires. The robot called "DreamWalker" features reinforced learning, which is a t

June 7, 2023

​2 mln S. Koreans 'silently exit' from country's favorite messenger group chat rooms in 3 weeks

SEOUL -- Two million people have "silently exited" from group chat rooms created on Kakao Talk, South Korea's favorite smartphone messenger app with more than 47 million monthly active users, during the first three weeks since its operator added a feature that allowed people to leave chat rooms without notifying other users. It is common to see companies of various sizes operate group chat rooms with up to dozens of workers because company operators can easily send

June 7, 2023

Indonesia partners with Pusan National University to develop hydrogen-based waste management vessel

SEOUL -- Indonesia's maritime ministry will work with the Pusan National University to develop and utilize a hydrogen ship capable of cleaning up ocean waste. A joint research institute will be also established at the university located in South Korea's southern port city of Busan. Pusan National University (PNU) said in a statement that the institute signed an agreement on June 2 to cooperate in the shipbuilding and maritime affairs. The two organizations will carry out va

June 5, 2023