BTS's lead rapper Suga appointed as global ambassador for NBA

SEOUL -- BTS member Suga was selected as the global ambassador of the National Basketball Association, a North America-based baseball league, to promote various events. The 30-year-old is a big fan of an Oregon-based team "The Portland Trail Blazers." "It is personally a great honor as I have loved basketball since I was young," the artist said in a video uploaded on NBA's official Twitter account. The South Korean singer earlier said his favorite basketball

April 6, 2023

Number of foreign tourists to S. Korea skyrockets by 400% on-year in January and February

SEOUL -- Thanks to the reopening of borders and lifting of regulations on compulsory face masks in public places, the number of foreign travelers who visited South Korea in January and February 2023 has skyrocketed by about 400 percent compared to the same period last year, South Korea's state-operated tourism promotion agency said. South Korea's tourism industry is one of the country's industries that was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Shopping districts frequent

April 6, 2023

LG Chem partners with CJ Logistics to recycle discarded packaging wraps collected at distribution facilities

SEOUL -- LG Chem, a chemical unit of LG Group, has partnered with CJ Logistics, South Korea's major logistics company, to recycle packaging wraps used at distribution centers. The chemical company will create recycled wraps and supply them back to the logistics company. According to data cited by LG Chem, most wraps used for packaging in South Korea are used to fasten loads at logistics centers and other industrial sites. Most wraps are made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate).

April 6, 2023

KT's multilingual AI voice synthesis service adopted in video production platform 'Mango Board'

SEOUL -- "AI Voice," a multilingual artificial intelligence-based voice synthesis service created by South Korea's major telecom company KT, was adopted by the operator of Mango Board, a domestic design and video content production platform. Depending on the written script context, the service creates various voices with different emotions. The service is available in Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese. AI Voice users can express many different emotions including

April 6, 2023

HD Hyundai Construction Equipment pushes to achieve 100% renewable energy electricity at overseas branches

SEOUL -- The Indian branch of HD Hyundai Construction Equipment, affiliated with South Korea's leading Hyundai shipbuilding group, has partnered with India's solar power generation company Ravindra Energy to expand the company's solar power generation capability to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity. RE100 is a global initiative designed to encourage businesses to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity through renewable energy sources such as solar power plant

April 6, 2023

Kia reveals big plan to accelerate electrification of vehicles to sell 2.3 mln eco-friendly cars by 2030

SEOUL -- Kia, a South Korean carmaker affiliated with Hyundai Motor, has revealed a big plan to go full throttle on the electrification of its vehicle lineups in a bid to capture the global future clean energy vehicle market. The world's clean energy vehicle market, mainly dominated by electric vehicles (EVs), is growing at a whopping speed of an average annual growth rate of about 55 percent to reach 10.2 million units sold in 2022, according to global market research firm Cou

April 6, 2023

S. Korea's homemade fighter jet KF-21 succeeds in short-range weapons separation test

SEOUL -- The second prototype of South Korea's homemade fighter jet KF-21 succeeded in its weapons separation test using a missile designed for short-range battles. The test was carried out to check changes in aircraft structure, engine, and aerodynamic features in case of separating various types of weapons. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) unveiled a video on YouTube showing the prototype firing a short-range missile called "AIM-2000" over t

April 6, 2023

BTS member Jimin gains explosive popularity through solo album 'FACE'

SEOUL -- BTS member Jimin is garnering explosive popularity through his first solo album "FACE," which has ranked second on Billboard's top 200 popular albums chart. The 27-year-old has also topped Billboard's top 100 popular song chart through the album's title track "Like Crazy." The album released on March 24 was ranked second on the list of Billboard 200 chart with 164,000 equivalent album units sold in the United States in the week ending on Mar

April 5, 2023

Samjin Pharmaceuticals partners with Viet Nam's OPC Pharmaceutical JSC to sell drugs and health supplements

SEOUL -- South Korea's Samjin Pharmaceuticals has partnered with Viet Nam's OPC Pharmaceutical JSC to supply and distribute drugs and health supplements in the Vietnamese market which stood at $7.5 billion in 2021 and growing at an average annual growth rate of about six percent. Samjin Pharmaceuticals, established in 1968, is domestically well-known for its painkiller brand Geworin and other drugs including antithrombotic drug Plalis and hyperlipidemia drug Neustatin Duo.

April 5, 2023

Squid Game actor Lee Byung-hun to discuss future of Korean Cultural Wave at Standford University

SEOUL -- Lee Byung-hun, a South Korean actor who starred in Netflix drama series Squid Game, will interact with global fans at a conference held by Standford University's research institute specializing in contemporary Asian studies. The conference is designed to discuss directions for South Korean films, K-drama, and Korean studies. Squid Game, released on September 17, 2021, was watched by some 111 million households around the world only 28 days after its release, beating Br

April 5, 2023