South Korea is stepping up efforts to improve the quality of Korean restaurants overseas, aiming to certify 1,000 establishments within five years as global interest in Korean cuisine continues to grow. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced plans to overhaul its overseas restaurant designation system, strengthen culinary training and help restaurants secure Korean ingredients and skilled workers. Awareness of Korean food overseas rose to 68.6 percent in 2025 from 60 perce

Google Chrome has widened its lead over Naver in South Korea's mobile search and browser market, ranking first in usage time for the fifth consecutive month. Chrome logged 260 million hours of usage in September, outpacing Naver's 240 million hours, according to mobile app analytics firm Wiseapp Retail. Chrome has held the top spot since it first overtook Naver in May. Samsung Internet ranked third with 130 million hours. Together, the three apps accounted for 630 million hours, or about 80 perc

APR said Wednesday that its beauty brand Medicube posted record daily sales across participating markets during Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days, with US sales up about 85 percent from the previous year. The Oct. 6-7 shopping event marked Medicube's debut in five European markets — the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and France — alongside its established US presence. Medicube topped Amazon's overall search rankings in several markets, including the US, UK, Italy and Spain. The brand had previously claime

Samsung Electronics may raise prices for next year's Galaxy S27 series more than it had initially planned, according to a Korean technology leaker, as the company has just increased prices for its current Galaxy S26 lineup in Korea only seven months after launch amid sharply higher memory costs. Lanzuk, a Naver-based leaker, said Wednesday that Samsung had already set an initial price structure for the S27 lineup but was now preparing higher starting prices because of rising DRAM and NAND flash

Samsung Electronics is expanding its appliance subscriptions business to corporate customers, as the company says revenue from the segment is nearing 1 trillion won ($740 million), broadening a service that has so far focused mainly on consumers. The company said Monday it will offer subscriptions to public institutions and businesses including hotels, hospitals and financial companies. Corporate customers can spread out the upfront cost of buying appliances and receive up to six years of free a

Foreign visitors will be able to pay for rides on Seoul buses by tapping the contactless credit or debit cards they use at home, without buying or topping up a local transit card. Tmoney said Thursday it plans to introduce the service on Seoul city buses in 2027, followed by buses in Incheon and airport bus services. System development and testing are scheduled to run through the end of 2026. The service will use an open-loop payment system based on EMV, the global standard used for contactless

At lunchtime in southern Seoul's Gangnam, the line for a burrito bowl stretched down the block. Nearly a week after Chipotle opened its first Asian location in Seoul on Sept. 2, customers were still being told to expect waits of up to two or three hours. On Sunday, some 150 people were counted in line by 11 a.m., stretching more than 50 meters. For some of those waiting, however, the food was only part of the point. "We've got to keep up with what's trending," said university student Kim Min-ju,

Gimbap prices are rising faster than dining out as the costs of rice, eggs and seaweed continue to climb. According to the Korea Consumer Agency, the average price of a roll of gimbap in Seoul reached 3,838 won ($2.77) in June, up 5.9 percent from a year earlier. It marked the sharpest increase among the eight popular dishes surveyed, followed by samgyeopsal at 4.3 percent, kalguksu at 3.6 percent, and naengmyeon and samgyetang at 2.8 percent each. The increase was driven largely by higher ingre

The scientists behind Grabity, the hair-loss shampoo brand that has gained traction in South Korea and overseas with its polyphenol-based technology, have stepped out of their labs and into an unusual second job: modeling for their own products. On buses and product packaging, researchers Yang Han-yeol, Kim Eun-u and Ju Helen pose alongside Lee Hae-shin, a KAIST distinguished professor of chemistry and the founder of Polyphenol Factory, the startup behind Grabity. "We are not professional models

South Korea's alcoholic beverage production plunged to below 3 million kiloliters for the first time in 27 years in 2025, data showed Sunday, signaling a structural decline in the industry, with more South Koreans turning to healthy lifestyles. Shipments of beer and soju have fallen for three consecutive years since 2022, while those of takju, or traditional Korean rice liquor, have dropped for five consecutive years as of 2025, according to the data from the National Tax Service. The total outp

Mom’s Touch said Thursday it opened its first Singapore location, marking its first store under a master franchise agreement with Singapore retailer FairPrice Group. The first Singapore location opened on South Bridge Road in the central business district and drew about 200 customers waiting to enter. Despite its 90-seat capacity, the store’s average daily sales during its first five days more than doubled the local target. Mom’s Touch said it will focus on localization by taking Singapore’s div

Dongwha Pharm said Thursday it will take its 129-year-old Whal Myung Su digestive medicine overseas under a new brand, K.O.D, enlisting K-pop group Cortis to promote the product globally. Short for Korea Original Digestive, K.O.D adapts the taste and ingredients of Whal Myung Su for overseas consumers while drawing on the heritage of one of Korea’s best-known digestive medicines. K.O.D will debut at Korean pharmacies and duty-free stores this month before entering US supermarkets, pharmacies and

Cheaper and more visually entertaining stamina-boosting dishes are popping up at local cafes as Koreans find new ways to mark malbok on Friday, the last of the three hottest days of summer. The unusual cafe items have drawn plenty of praise from customers for their taste and affordability. The Venti garnered particular attention online after launching chilled vinegar chicken noodles, or chogye guksu, on Tuesday, largely because of the dish’s unusual presentation. The dish is served in a coffee c

Homeplus reopened 67 stores nationwide Thursday, drawing crowds of shoppers eager to take advantage of reopening discounts as the retailer seeks to recover from a severe liquidity crisis. The reopening marked a striking change from earlier this month, when the store was operating with largely empty shelves amid the company’s financial troubles. Some food sections had been left sparsely stocked, with household goods filling otherwise empty displays. Homeplus entered court-led rehabilitation earli

Yanolja is taking its artificial intelligence hotel concierge global after testing the service at around 1,000 properties in India. Its hospitality technology affiliate, Yanolja Cloud Solution, said Thursday that it will officially launch Pulse AI, a multi-agent platform designed to automate hotel operations throughout a guest’s stay. The platform deploys eight specialized AI agents covering guest communications, reservations, check-in and checkout, room service, housekeeping, payments and upsel