BOK maintains S. Korea's GDP growth forecast for 2023 at 1.4%

SEOUL -- South Korea's central bank announced on August 25 that it has revised the economic outlook for 2023 and maintained the growth forecast for the country's gross domestic product for 2023 at 1.4 percent. The figure is the same as the economic forecast announced in May 2023. However, it has slightly revised down its forecast for next year to 2.2 percent due to concerns about the economic slowdown in China, South Korea's largest trading partner, suggesting that South Ko

August 25, 2023

India's national security advisor visits Seoul for strategic cooperation

SEOUL -- Without disclosing details, the Indian Embassy in South Korea said India's national security advisor visited Seoul for strategic cooperation in various areas, including defense, technology, and economic security. This was the first dialogue between the two nations after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in 2022. The strategic dialogue was regularly held after the two countries' summit in 2014. The fourth event took place on August 23 about two year

August 24, 2023

​Online sales of megastore franchise increased during summer thanks to heat waves and torrential rain

SEOUL -- Online megastore sales of products that arrive at customers' doorsteps through one-day and instant delivery services have increased during summer thanks to a series of heat waves and the long rainy season that poured down rain about 200 percent more than the annual average of rainfall in South Korea. South Korea defines hot summer weather that reaches a temperature of more than 33 degrees Celsius (91.4 degrees Fahrenheit) as a heat wave. The year 2023 is the third-hott

August 24, 2023

Medical AI company Lunit unveils plan to become medical big data platform operator

SEOUL -- South Korea's medical artificial intelligence company Lunit revealed its plan to make a foray into the AI-based medical big data platform market. The company, specializing in chest and breast cancer analysis, will integrate and manage various health data from medical facilities across the world to improve the diagnosis accuracy of all kinds of cancer and the prediction of treatment outcomes. The South Korean AI solution developer is known for Lunit INSIGHT MMG, a solut

August 24, 2023

HD KSOE delivers world's first LNG-propelled bulk carrier with built-in AI engineer

SEOUL -- HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the holding company of Hyundai shipbuilding group, has built and delivered the world's first liquefied natural gas-propelled bulk carrier installed with an artificial intelligence engineer. The robot engineer will autonomously monitor for parts malfunctions and emergency situations such as fire. AI engineers or AI-based monitoring solutions collect data such as sounds machines make and the amount of heat and steam that ra

August 24, 2023

Busking festival to be held on Seoul's artificial island in late August

SEOUL -- Seoul City will hold a three-day busking festival on Nodeul Island, an artificial island known as a cultural space. A total of 50 artist teams will perform various music genres such as jazz, acoustic music, and traditional Korean music on the island on the Han River that flows through Seoul. Nodeul Island is under the Han River Bridge that connects the central district of Yongsan and the southern district of Dongjak. The artificial island has various cultural facilities su

August 24, 2023

N. Korea admits failed launch of second rocket carrying spy satellite

SEOUL -- North Korea has admitted that its attempt at firing a spy satellite into orbit failed due to an error in the newly-designed rocket. This was Pyongyang's second attempt at successfully sending a satellite into space after the first failed launch of a carrier rocket in May. According to North Korea's state-operated news agency, the new-type carrier rocket called "Chollima-1" carrying a reconnaissance satellite "Malligyong-1" was fired from a launch

August 24, 2023

Workcation facility for IT workers to be built by 2024 in southeastern county

SEOUL -- A "workcation" center where IT employees can spend their vacation while handling important tasks will be built in a campsite located in South Korea's southeastern county of Namhae. Visitors can enjoy a coffee at a cafe on the first floor and engage in their projects with co-workers on the second floor. Workcation is a combination of "work" and "vacation." Unlike conventional remote working, the new work trend allows employees to work in touris

August 23, 2023

Japan decides to discharge contaminated water from Fukushima nuclear accident site into sea

SEOUL -- Japan has decided to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident site into the Pacific Ocean, about 12 years after the nuclear accident was caused by a massive earthquake. The Fukushima disaster is regarded as the world's worst nuclear accident since the Chornobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. The contaminated water, referred to as "treated water" by Japan, is subterranean water that came in contact with Fukushima's reactor that was melted do

August 23, 2023

SK Enmove to commercialize immersion cooling technology with GRC and Dell Technologies

SEOUL -- Targeting the rapidly growing liquid immersion cooling market, SK Enmove, the lube-making wing of South Korea's SK Group, will work with GRC, an American liquid immersion cooling solution provider for data centers, and American information technology company Dell Technologies. The three companies will cooperate to commercialize liquid immersion cooling technology for data centers. Cooling systems are essential for data centers filled with data storage servers and computing

August 23, 2023