Lotte Department Store to launch Line Friends pop-up store in southern Seoul

SEOUL -- Targeting Southeast Asian tourists who often use messenger platform LINE, the department store wing of South Korea's retail giant Lotte Group will open a pop-up store featuring Line Friends, a character brand lineup of IPX, a digital IP platform operator under South Korea's largest portal operator Naver. Lotte Department Store said in a statement that a large offline store would be launched in Seoul's southern district of Jamsil on April 13. The company said t

April 13, 2023

N. Korea fires ballistic missile into East Sea

SEOUL -- Without verifying the missile type, the South Korean military authorities reported that North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the East Sea. The unspecified missile was launched by Pyongyang, 17 days after firing two short-range ballistic missiles on March 27. This is the ninth missile launch committed by Pyeongyang only in 2023. The missile detected by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) was fired near Pyongyang at 7:23 a.m. on April 13. The ballistic missile fell int

April 13, 2023

Convenience store franchise CU demonstrates autonomous delivery robot capable of going up stairs and hills

SEOUL -- South Korea's top convenience store franchise CU has partnered with Mobinn, an in-house venture of the Hyundai auto group, to demonstrate an autonomous robot capable of delivering convenience store items to apartment residents by going up and down stairs and hills without any difficulties. The robot can maintain balance even on stairs because it changes the shape of its wheel. Although various autonomous robots have been tested in South Korea, door-to-door delivery ser

April 13, 2023

LG Chem partners with US' advanced biofuel company to co-develop bioplastic technologies

SEOUL -- In a bid to become the leading company in the rapidly-growing global bio-based plastic material industry, South Korean chemical company LG Chem has partnered with Gevo, an American renewable chemicals and advanced biofuel company. The two companies will cooperate to develop ethanol-to-olefin (ETO) technology which is vital for the commercialization of biomaterial-based propylene. Olefins are a class of chemicals that include ethylene and propylene is the key material of pl

April 13, 2023

About 60% of S. Korean firms do not predict China's "reopening" will help boost business performance

SEOUL -- China, which tightly locked up its borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, has started its step-by-step "reopening" process, trying to normalize the country's economy-related sectors including the international trade sector and domestic commerce sectors. However, about 60 percent of South Korean companies feel that China's trade normalization will not be much help in boosting South Korea's exports to China, a survey showed. Since early 2020, China has a

April 13, 2023

Research institute KAIST to showcase AI and metaverse-based factory capable of controlling actual plant

SEOUL -- At a global trade fair in Germany, a South Korean technology institute will showcase an artificial intelligence-based virtual factory where operators can remotely control actual manufacturing sites in a metaverse environment. In case of emergency, the AI system will notify human operators in the virtual world so they can counteract. The virtual plant can also be used to monitor facilities and educate employees. The metaverse, which uses virtual reality (VR), augmented real

April 13, 2023

S. Korean elderlies struggle to adapt to over-digitalized world of kiosks and smartphones

SEOUL -- "My friend and I went to a fast food restaurant to have a hamburger but we had to turn back and leave because there was no one at the counter but a digital kiosk for ordering. The letters were too small and we did not know how to use the ordering machine." Kim Kwee-hee, a 65-year-old housewife, recalled her recent incident with the ordering robot. Kim said that she has trouble using digital kiosk machines every time she encounters one. "I would at least try

April 12, 2023

​President Yoon promises generous government support to beef up EV production by 500% by 2030

SEOUL -- South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol has promised that the government will provide "generous" support, including tax benefits and administrative support for research and development of technologies, for South Korean carmakers to beef up the country's annual electric vehicle production capacity by 500 percent in a bid to put South Korea in the list of the world's top three EV manufacturing countries. The president made the promise during an opening ceremo

April 12, 2023

BLACKPINK member Jisoo's dance song 'Flower' gains worldwide popularity

SEOUL -- K-pop girl band BLACKPINK member Jisoo's song "Flower" ranked second on two Billboard charts -- Global 200 and Global Excl. In the dance song featuring dreamy vibes, the 28-year-old portrayed the end of a relationship between two people that has left nothing but the scent of a flower. Billboard said in a statement on April 11 that the title track of Jisoo's solo album "Me" has recorded 108.7 million streaming and 210 million downloads worldwide.

April 12, 2023

​Spotify selects S. Korean rapper Huh as promising rapper for artist support program

SEOUL -- Heo Sung-hyun, a South Korean rapper known by his stage name Huh, was selected for an artist support program by Spotify, the world's most popular music streaming service. The 24-year-old who finished second in "Show Me The Money," a cable TV hip-hop audition show series, has garnered attention through a rap song titled "Midnight law." Spotify said in a statement that the rapper was selected for this year's RADAR KOREA, a program designed to nurt

April 11, 2023