Starbucks has joined hands with high fashion and cosmetics brand Anna Sui to launch a special collection of mugs, water bottles, bags and card pouches in South Korea.　　The collection includes the Anna Sui Rose DW Mug, the Anna Sui Boutique DW Mug, the SS Swell Anna Sui Water Bottle, the Anna Sui Tote Bag and the Anna Sui Card.Starbucks is selling a limited run of 40,000 of its specially prepared set package — composed of a tote bag, a Starbucks gift card and a card pouch — on a first come, first

Shinsegae officially opened a new duty-free store in Incheon International Airport on Tuesday, offering some 300 brands to those traveling in and out of South Korea.　　“Shinsegae Duty Free will feature a range of new brands in a new store concept unseen among existing duty-free shops in the country,” said Shinsegae DF president Sung Young-mok.Shinsegae’s new duty-free store at Incheon International Airport (Shinsegae)　Established by Shinsegae Group after winning the duty-free operating rights to

MID-END HANDSETS WITH PREMIUM FEATURES -- Samsung Electronics unveiled its updated midrange smartphone lineup Galaxy A in Seoul Thursday. The lineup consists of three models, the A7, A5 and A3. The A7 and A5, fitted with a fingerprint sensor, support mobile payment solution Samsung Pay. (Samsung) MID-END HANDSETS WITH PREMIUM FEATURES -- Samsung Electronics unveiled its updated midrange smartphone lineup Galaxy A in Seoul Thursday. The lineup consists of three models, the A7, A5 and A3. The A7 a

  LG RECOGNIZED FOR SUPERIOR DESIGN -- LG Electronics said Thursday its premium fridge Double Magic Space had won the Compasso d’Oro Award, Italy’s highest accolade for design. The company has also won prizes for the high-end fridge at IDEA, iF and Red Dot design awards. (LGE)

Faced with the looming demise of the PC era, the world’s largest software developer, Microsoft, has been shifting its focus toward operating systems for a wider variety of devices, including smartphones and game consoles.The company has been specifically targeting tablet PCs, which are expected to replace desktops and laptops in the coming years. Jang Hong-kook, the head of Microsoft Korea’s device partner business division, delivers a speech at a press meeting in Seoul on Thursday. (MS Korea)Pa

The National Assembly on Wednesday passed next year’s budget of 386.4 trillion won ($342.3 billion) after days of bipartisan wrangling. Along with the budget, the Assembly endorsed five economy-related bills fervently pushed by the government as key to preparing for further economic slowdown.The revised budget is 300 billion won less than the original plan submitted by the government. The budget for publishing state-authored textbooks and subsidies for the panel to investigate the 2014 Sewol sin

South Korean baseball club Kia Tigers said Wednesday they've signed two former major league pitchers.The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) has acquired right-handerHector Noesi and right-hander Zeke Spruill, both to one-year deals.Noesi signed for US$1.7 million, becoming the second-highest paid foreign player in the KBO behind Esmil Rogers, a right-handed pitcher who got a $1.9 million deal from the Hanwha Eagles earlier Wednesday.Noesi, 28, has a career major league record of 12-31 with a 5.30

Boy band EXO plans to tour five North American cities in February in what would be their first concert tour in the region, the group's agency said Wednesday.The North American concert, "EXO FROM PLANET #2 The EXO'luXion Tour," will follow EXO's on-going Asian tour, according to S.M. Entertainment.Since March, the 12-member band has been hosting their second concert series in major Asian cities including Seoul. Details of the February tour, including the schedule and ticket sales, will be release

A traditional Korean tug-of-war folk game had its name added to UNESCO’s intangible heritage list Wednesday, jointly with three other Asian countries with similar traditions. Tugging rituals and games, proposed by South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines, gained status as UNESCO-recognized traditions of humanity during the 10th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Windhoek, the capital of southwest African country Namibia. 

Understanding the emotional reaction of the consumer is crucial in both the beauty and tech industries, experts said at the Seoul Design Forum, which took place Wednesday at Dongdaemun Design Plaza.During the beauty session, makeup artist Seo Su-jin, CEO of cosmetics brand S2J, spoke on the globalization of Korean beauty products and the distinctive characteristics of different foreign markets. Seo, who has been working in China as the chief makeup artist for various TV programs, asserted that “

LG OLED TV IN NYC -- LG Electronics said Wednesday that it would run a roadshow to display its high-end organic light-emitting diode TVs at Grand Central Station in Manhattan. The event will be held until the end of this month. (LGE)

GEAR S2 POP-UP STORE FOR HOLIDAY -- Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it would operate a pop-up store for its smartwatch Gear S2 during the year-end holiday season in Garosu-gil, Seoul, a street brimming with upscale coffeehouses and clothing shops. (Samsung)

Facing a looming battle with global media behemoth Netflix, mobile carrier SK Telecom said Wednesday it would invest around 5 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in beefing up its media platform business for the next five years. The investment plan came on the heels of the firm’s announcement of acquiring CJ Hellovision, the nation’s largest cable TV operator and an affiliate of CJ Group.The Korean mobile carrier unveiled its plan earlier last month to merge its wholly owned Internet TV operator SK Broa

Samsung Electronics’ new mobile business chief Koh Dong-jin vowed to maintain the company’s leadership in the world’s smartphone market despite market concerns about competition from rivals.Entering Samsung’s head office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on Wednesday, the new president of the mobile communications business -- a smaller unit under the firm’s IT and mobile communications division -- told reporters that Samsung’s smartphone unit is “not at the end of its rope.” He also pledged that he would m

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday named Koh Dong-jin, executive vice president in charge of mobile R&D, as the new mastermind of the company’s flagship mobile business division amid its recent struggle for profitability. 　A surprise appointment, the 54-year-old engineer’s replacement of the current mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun, 60, hinted at a generational shift in the Korean tech giant’s top brass. “Shin will focus more on long-term strategy and foster new growth businesses,” the company said in a

CULTURAL DIPLOMACY -- LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo (center) attends a jazz concert Monday in Seoul to mark the 50th anniversary of ties between Korea and Japan. Koo said he wished for the two nations to strengthen their relations through cultural exchanges. (LG Group)

COLLABORATION FOR 5G -- LG Uplus said Tuesday that it had set up a research and development center for 5G network technology where it would work together with local and global network equipment firms on projects for the next-generation network technology. (LG Uplus)

　LG Display said Friday it would invest a whopping 10 trillion won ($8.7 billion) in building a new plant for organic light-emitting diode displays in Paju, Gyeongi Province.　The firm’s recent investment plan is part of its initiative, which was announced in August, to invest 10 trillion won in projects to foster businesses for OLEDs along with liquid crystal displays over the next three years.　The nation’s leading display manufacturer will first pour 1.84 trillion won into the construction of a

As digital disruption is accelerating across all industries, top market leaders will be outgunned by challengers quick to adapt to a digitization wave, according to a Cisco executive.Presenting a recent report about technological disruption and future business models at Cisco’s office in Songdo, west of Seoul, Thursday, Ross Fowler, president of the U.S. firm’s Digital Transformation and IoE (“Internet of Everything”) Acceleration in Asia-Pacific and Japan, said that "four out of top 10 companie

CHIPPING AWAY -- Samsung Electronics said Thursday it had started mass production of the world’s first 128-gigabyte DDR4 module for enterprise servers and data centers. The new DDR4 boasts the industry’s largest capacity and highest energy efficiency of any DRAM module. (Samsung Electronics)