With the fast-growing appetite for low-calorie and healthy food sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, South Korean retailers have seen a spike in their “low-food” products. Low-food refers to low-calorie, gluten-free or non-alcohol food and beverage with fewer artificial additives. E-commerce platform WeMakePrice said on Tuesday that its zero-calorie soft drink sales surged 396 percent as of June. Sales of caffeine-free drinks increased by 96 percent. Among them, barley coffee, a

South Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang will boost its overseas and domestic sales of plant-based meat products to 200 billion won ($151.9 million) by 2025, the company said on Monday. “The US and European countries including the UK and Germany, and Japan, which show increasing demand for Korean food and culture, will be our key target markets. We also plan to make forays into China, Singapore and other southeast Asian countries, expanding global business to account for 70 percent of tota

Travelers with little time to wait in long queues at airport cafes can now pick up a cup of coffee and a sandwich from delivery service robots at Korea‘s largest airport. Local food delivery app Baemin said Friday it launched a robot delivery service for airport cafes and bakeries located in Incheon International Airport’s Terminal 1. Air-dilly, a service robot made by LG Electronics, will deliver food and beverages from Baskin Robins, Paris Baguette and two Dunkin’ location

Retail giants Lotte and Shinsegae are set to enter the whiskey business by constructing distilleries on Jeju Island, home to some of Korea’s best-quality water. Lotte Chilsung Beverage, Lotte Group’s beverage arm, said Friday that it has recently received the green light from Jeju to change a former tangerine farm into whisky distillery. “After getting advice from experts, we picked Jeju Island because its natural environment, clean water and temperature are optimal con

The ownership family of Hankook Tire and Technology, the world’s sixth-largest tiremaker, has lost a lawsuit against the local tax agency concerning a fine of 4.59 billion won ($3.5 million) for allegedly hiding assets overseas. The Seoul Administrative Court recently ruled against the suit brought by Cho Yang-rae, honorary chairman of Hankook & Co., the parent company of Hankook Tire, and his eldest son Cho Hyun-sik, a Hankook & Co. adviser. Cho and his son have argued that op

With the emerging digital health care market sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, demand for digital health care services for seniors is continuing to grow in South Korea, a report showed Tuesday. According to Samjong KPMG, a Seoul-based consulting firm, the digital literacy level of the elderly here has surged by 4.8 percentage points to 69.1 percent last year, compared to 2019. The report said seniors are emerging as key customer base for digital health care, noting that one out of three Ko

SPC Group chairman Hur Young-in attended a global business event held by the French government as the only Korean entrepreneur to have participated in the event twice, the food company said Tuesday The one-day event, called Choose France, invites overseas companies to accelerate their investment in the second-largest economy in Europe. The government-led event has been held since 2018. On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a banquet to welcome global entrepreneurs from over 250 c

South Korean convenience stores are actively making forays into Malaysia, a lucrative market based on growing local demand for consumer goods and convenience stores, along with the Malaysian public’s great interest in Korean food. Korean convenience store chain GS25 said Monday it has partnered with Malaysian retail giant KK Group to open the first GS25 store in Malaysia next year. The two agreed to expand to 500 locations in five years. According to a report from GS25, Malaysia’s

Lotte, Shinsegae and Hyundai, the three retail giants in South Korea, are scrambling to be the first to build a new mega shopping complex in the southwestern city of Gwangju, one of the key campaign pledges of President Yoon Suk-yeol that is aimed at facilitating the local economy. Hyundai Department Store on Wednesday announced that it is in talks with Humans Holdings, a local real estate developer, to open a mega shopping mall in Gwangju. The proposed construction site is a 310,000-square-

A 23-year-old university student surnamed Han has a study partner whom he has never met. When Han studies for exams, he plays videos of Cho Chan-hui, a Korean influencer and YouTuber also known as Nojambot. Cho, a high school dropout studying to become a police officer, broadcasts and posts videos of himself studying for hours. He has over 152,000 followers on Instagram and 400,000 subscribers on YouTube. He gained fame overnight in 2017, when a video of him studying went viral. “Yes, N

South Korean convenience stores are testing their service accessibility to remote areas by deploying drones for delivery use to enhance customer experience. Local convenience store chain CU said Wednesday that it has launched a drone delivery service for the first time at CU’s Yeongwol Gongju branch in Gangwon Province. The delivery drone, which weighs 17 kilograms and measures 70 centimeters in height, will carry products from the CU branch to Oasis Glamping, a camping site located som

Local property technology firm Zigbang made a bold decision last year to relocate its Seoul headquarters -- not to New York or Tokyo, but to a virtual world. For its 400 workers, instead of a hellish commute in the mornings and evenings, they log in to a new interface the company has created. Workers’ avatars hop on elevators to get to their office in the metaverse to chat and have meetings with their colleagues. Meanwhile, their physical bodies stay wherever they choose to be -- at home

The South Korean government has begun imposing zero tariffs on 50,000 tons of imported pork from Thursday, in a move to stabilize the skyrocketing price of pork here. It is the first time in 11 years for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to introduce a tariff quota on pork. The ministry allows the import of a certain quantity of a commodity duty-free or at a lower-duty rate. With zero tariffs, the ministry forecasts that the production cost of pork will go down as much as 18

South Korea’s duty-free shops are launching cross-border sales services starting Friday with high hopes to secure consumers overseas, as they are losing price advantage to local clients due to high won-dollar exchange rates. Lotte Duty Free opened the overseas shipping service on Wednesday, which sells around 220 kinds of products including cosmetics, fashion items and food products. Consumers in nine countries including China, Japan, US, Singapore and Thailand can enjoy free shipping as

Lydia Ko, a Korean-born New Zealand professional golfer, is getting married with Chung Jun, Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young’s youngest son. According to industry sources, Ko and Chung’s wedding ceremony is set to be held at Myeongdong Cathedral in central Seoul in Dec. 30. The two are reported to have been in a relationship for over two years. In August 2021, Ko uploaded a selfie with Chung on her Instagram story with the word “soon.” Ko was born in Seoul in

South Korean food giant Pulmuone said Monday it has sponsored a documentary production with the Culinary Institute of America, one of the world’s most prestigious culinary schools, to promote Korean food to a global audience. In partnership with Pulmuone, the CIA plans to document Korea’s plant-based recipes and food culture. The documentary will be used for educational purposes for chefs, CIA students and food and cafeteria service providers in the US. Starting with Korea, the CI

LG Electronics said Sunday it is making its foray into the burgeoning electric vehicle charging market, calling the sector one of its key growth drivers for its next big leap. As part of the big push, the firm said it has acquired a 60 percent stake in AppleMango, a local battery maker, in partnership with GS Energy and GS Neotek that took over 34 percent and 6 percent in the company, respectively. Following the deal, AppleMango has become a subsidiary of LG Electronics. Through the new su

South Korean social media platform Cyworld on Sunday launched a new service called “digital inheritance,” which allows the family of a deceased user to inherit digital data. Family members will gain access to published photos, videos and even the diary of the deceased, while other private materials open to friends or the account owner may not be disclosed due to privacy issues. The company added the “inheritance” will be made only if the user agrees to the terms befo

With fast-growing interest in high quality skin and hair care products in South Korea, the dermocosmetics market -- cosmetics that are just as effective as dermatological care -- has expanded in recent years to surpass the 4 trillion won ($3.1 billion) mark, a report showed Thursday. According to Samjong KPMG, a Seoul-based consulting firm, the country’s dermocosmetics market size has increased by 17.6 percent to 4.5 trillion won in 2020, compared to five years ago. The report said new

GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province -- In its second attempt, South Korea successfully launched the nation’s first domestic rocket into orbit on Tuesday, a landmark step that opens a new era of homegrown space technology and lays the foundation for outer space excursion. After spending eight months on improving technical problems that caused an early shutdown of the third-stage rocket engine, the Nuri rocket (KSLV-II), weighing 200 metric tons, once again flew to outer space at the state-run