HDC Hyundai Development Co. said Tuesday it plans to develop a new underground square near Yongsan Station, under a build-transfer-operate agreement signed with the Yongsan District Office. Build-transfer-operate refers to public or private entities’ financing of private firms to build and operate a facility. The Yongsan District Office and HDC signed the agreement on Dec. 20 last year to build the 22,505-square-meter underground square.According to the company, the square will connect to

The Export-Import Bank of Korea said Tuesday it had signed a loan agreement to provide $86 million from the Economic Development Cooperative Fund for Ethiopia’s project involving a university. The ceremony was attended by Eximbank Chairman Eun Sung-soo and Ethiopia’s State Minister of Finance Admasu Nebebe during Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali’s state visit to Korea.The EDCF offers long-term low-interest loans to developing countries, set up and managed by the Korean g

Brent Deep, vehicle performance manager at GM North American Headquarters, presents Chevrolet’s Colorado at Welli Hilli Park in Gangwon Province on Monday. GM Korea launched the US-made Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck in hopes for it to perk up lackluster sales. The Colorado pickup comes with a 3.6-liter six-cylinder gasoline engine with up to 312 horsepower and an eight-speed automatic transmission. The pickup truck segment now accounts for 2 percent of the country’s automobile mark

GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo called for preemptive measures to respond to the sluggish economy at a strategy meeting held on Saturday and Sunday. Under the theme “Strategies for Growth in Low-Growth Era,” the meeting was attended by some 60 CEOs and managers of group affiliates, the firm said.“I hope this conference will be the first step in providing insights amid the changes and uncertainties we are facing in the low-growth era,” Huh remarked.At the two-day meeting,

South Korean steelmaker Posco announced Sunday the launch of its second #SteelSaveEarth campaign starting Aug. 28 to raise awareness on the detrimental effects of single-use plastic waste on the environment.The campaign was first launched in April to encourage the use of reusable and recyclable steel products as an alternative to plastic. The upcoming campaign will focus on the harm of plastic waste in the marine environment, the company said.Posco’s Clean Ocean Volunteer Group, consisting

Dong-A Pharmaceutical said Thursday its pharmaceutical product for acne treatment, Noscarna, leads to a 33.2 percent reduction in scar thickness.According to the company, Noscarna could reduce scar visibility when applied to skin with acne scarring or keloid scars from surgery. Through clinical trials conducted on animals, the results showed 78 percent skin color recovery on skin with scarring as well as 33.2 percent reduction in scar thickness, compared to before the product was used. The produ

Singapore Airlines said Wednesday it will launch an updated mobile application to enhance customer experience. The app, set to be released in September for Apple iOS users, will have three new features that provide convenience for passengers. It is being released between July and September for Android users.  English-only feature Capture & Discover matches users’ travel plans with destinations to provide relevant information. Translation Assistance provides real-time voice transla

Riding on the growing popularity of carbonated drinks, Coca-Cola Korea’s sparkling water brand Seagram’s has released new zero-calorie flavored sparkling water, Seagram’s The Tansan, the company said Tuesday.The company said Seagram’s The Tansan will have two flavors -- lemon and apple mint -- designed as palate refreshers. Tansan in Korean means carbonic acid, which gives carbonated drinks their signature bubbles and refreshing “bite.” “The crisp flavor

Papago’s image translation function will be updated to automatically detect text and improve accuracy for three languages.South Korean tech giant Naver said Monday its service Papago will upgrade its image translation for English, Chinese and Korean. The function translates text captured in images.The improved image translation uses deep learning technology to enhance text extraction and recognition from an image.With the “Translate all” feature, users will no longer need to ma

Incheon International Airport Corp. said Sunday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s state-run airport operator Angkasa Pura I for cooperation in overseas airport projects. The signing ceremony, attended by IIAC CEO Koo Bon-hwan, President Director of AP I Faik Fahmi and some 20 officials from both companies, took place at Paradise City in Incheon on Wednesday. Under the memorandum, IIAC and AP I will upgrade relations to a strategic partnership to closely cooperate

The meticulously planned out stories behind brand names often go unnoticed by consumers.That is the case especially for alphanumeric brands, which combine words and numbers. These brand names may roll off the tongue easily, but oftentimes consumers have very little understanding of why certain numbers have been chosen to represent the brand.Below are five well-known South Korean brands and the stories behind them.8SecondsHow long does a company have to make a first impression? According to cloth

Kakao IX, the Kakao company that oversees the characters of Kakao Friends, announced Friday the release of Kakao Friends Twice Edition, a new merchandise series in collaboration with girl group Twice. First to be released from the series are nine pin badges with pictures drawn by the members of Twice themselves.  “Twice members have been actively participating throughout the idea planning and designing processes,” Kakao IX said, with behind-the-scenes videos of the process to be

President Moon Jae-in conducted a major Cabinet reshuffle on Friday, nominating Choi Ki-young to lead the Ministry of Science and ICT.Choi, currently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, is dubbed an expert in the fields of artificial intelligence and semiconductors. He has a bachelor’s degree in SNU, master’s from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and a doctorate from Stanford University.Within the field

South Korea’s leading oil refiner S-Oil held a ceremony Wednesday to award scholarships to students at an orphanage.  The S-Oil Dream Scholarship is an annual donation organized by the company to provide educational opportunities to less-advantaged students.This year, 135 students from Sundukwon Orphanage, as well as a choir group at the center, were provided scholarships totaling 330 million won ($273,000). Since 2016, the company has donated 1.2 billion won to aid 485 students.Of th

Local corporate tracker CEO Score revealed Wednesday that among CEOs of major listed companies in South Korea, LG Household & Health Care Vice President Cha Suk-yong raised the market cap of the company by the largest margin during his tenure. According to CEO Score, LG H&H’s market cap was valued at 435.7 billion won ($358.6 million) in January 2005, when Cha was first appointed as the CEO, but rose to 19.63 trillion won as of end-July, a whopping 4,405.4 percent increase in 14.6

CarrieSoft announced Tuesday that it plans to get listed on South Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq on Aug. 23.The firm first began with the YouTube channel “Carrie and Toys” in 2014 and exclusively produces kids’ contents. It is home to the iconic character “Carrie,” who reviews popular toys and goods. The character has evolved and now has own branded products.  Last year, CarrieSoft’s sales reached 10 billion won ($8.25 million) with an operating lo

Sales of imported cars from Japan fell by double digits in July, amid an escalating trade feud between Korea and Japan and a subsequent Korean boycott of Japanese goods. According to data released Monday by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, the number of newly registered cars from Japanese carmakers dropped 17.2 percent to 2,674 units in July, down from 3,229 units registered the same time last year.Compared with 3,946 units registered in June, the figure was also do

Poland’s flagship airline, LOT Polish Airlines, said Thursday that it would start operating direct flights between Seoul and Budapest in September. Starting Sept. 23, the airline will offer direct flights to and from Budapest three times a week on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The flight will take around 13 hours and passengers will have access to Korean in-flight entertainment and Korean-speaking flight attendants, the airline said.“The new route will meet the expectations of both Kore

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Monday it will start sales of its new premium apartments located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.Gwacheon Prugio Summit is a complex of 32 apartment blocks with seven different apartment floor plans to choose from. Starting from 254 units of 59 square meters, sizes range all the way to 151 square meters.Unlike other similar complexes that have been renovated, the new complex in Gwacheon is designed with luxurious features.Residents will get to enjoy Euro

South Korea’s official export credit agency Export-Import Bank of Korea said Thursday it will expand its credit policy to be more inclusive in financing new exporters with low credit ratings. According to Eximbank, it has allocated a total of 20 billion won ($17 million), with individual raw material exporters funded up to 3 billion won.Also, firms in the innovative growth industry -- such as the energy, information and communications technology, and future transportation and materials sec