Posco said Tuesday it is promoting “good consumption” with its partner companies by making advance payments in traditional markets for vouchers to revive local economies depressed by the COVID-19 outbreak. On May 21, Posco Group and its 90 partner suppliers that provide equipment in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, bought grocery vouchers from traditional markets there to donate to the socially vulnerable. Posco said the group and its partn

Coupang, an e-commerce giant, said Tuesday it will reinforce hygiene measures to cleanse and sterilize millions of products ordered through its Rocket Delivery. Before the products are delivered to customers, the delivery worker will use a portable disinfectant to sterilize the product. The disinfectant is approved by the food and drug administrations of both Korea and the US, the company said. To allow the customers to double check, Coupang said it developed an alert system to notify the d

Posco International said Monday that it had offered a flower arranging class for immigrant children with a South Korean stepparent, as a form of emotional support in this prolonged time of social distancing. The company said President and CEO Joo Si-bo and the employees’ flower arranging club had donated their talent to organize the event. Apart from benefiting the students, the class also helped local business owners cope with financial difficulties amid the COVID-19 crisis. To minimi

SPC Global Food Service, the food distribution affiliate of SPC Samlip, said Monday that it is exporting to Poland a number of canned kimchi and laver products it developed with small food manufacturers. According to the company, it is launching the canned kimchi and dried laver it developed jointly with BosungilukjoKorea and Jinheon Food at Poland’s largest supermarket chain, Biedronka. They will be available at all 2,800 stores in July. The canned kimchi was designed to offer conven

BMW Korea said Friday it will introduce an electronic contract system, called the Digital Sales Platform, becoming the first foreign carmaker to do so here. According to the BMW Korea, the new system, which would entirely replace the traditional face-to-face contract services, will be implemented in all of its seven dealerships and 52 showrooms across the country, starting July 1. The Digital Sales Platform will replace all paperwork necessary in purchasing a car, including registering for a

South Korea’s second-largest telecom firm KT said Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with an artificial intelligence solutions company Wonderful Platform to develop AI care services for seniors and children. The two companies have agreed to cooperate in developing and commercializing artificial intelligence-powered care robots and services by equipping the robots with KT’s GiGA Genie Inside -- the software of its AI speaker GiGa Genie. Wonderful Platform is an AI

Duty-free stores are planning to offer huge discounts, including on luxury items, next week to clear out their inventory, following lackluster sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shilla Duty Free said Friday it will start selling duty-free products next week on its platform Shilla Trip, which was launched last year. While duty-free products are usually banned from domestic sales, Korea Customs Service has temporarily allowed sales of the goods that have been in stock for more than six months

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said Tuesday it ranked second in the eighth edition of the CNBC Disruptor 50 list from among 1,355 nominees worldwide. The list of 50 private companies with the potential of becoming the “next generation of billion-dollar businesses” is released by the US broadcaster annually. Coupang said it was the first Korean company to be included in the list. According to CNBC’s description, the 2020 CNBC Disruptors are “50 private companie

Starbucks Korea said Tuesday it is set to open its renovated Hwangudan Store in Seoul, upping its efforts to safeguard the domestic cultural heritage. According to the coffee chain, it has revamped the existing Sogongdong Store in Jung-gu to reflect the designs of Hwangudan -- a site for performance of the rite of heaven, designated as South Korea’s Historic Site No. 157 in 1967. Starbucks Korea held the opening ceremony of the store with the Cultural Heritage Administration and Nation

Aekyung Industrial said Monday it has launched its flagship cosmetics brand Age 20’s on Amazon, entering the US market for the first time. The cosmetics company said it will present the makeup products of Age 20’s, including the Essence Cover Pact, primers and tone-up boosters, all approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Aekyung said launching the products on Amazon is expected to help raise the brand’s awareness in the US and global markets. The South Korean firm

HiteJinro Beverage, the beverage arm of HiteJinro, said Monday that it is launching Black Bori, its barley tea product, in one of the largest retailers in the US.  The company said it exported the first 260,000 bottles of Black Bori on May 30, and has completed the clearance procedure. It is the first time any South Korean beverage company has joined hands with a major retailer in the US, the company said. The company said the export deal was possible because the barley tea is

Korean food company SPC Samlip said Monday it has launched the home deli brand YAAM! with Coupang, an e-commerce giant here. Under the new brand, the company said it is presenting 17 products, including bread, salad and soup items to go up against home meal replacements. The new brand is available only via online retailers. SPC Samlip said it has partnered with Coupang to target the growing food delivery market, and that they selected items that encompass wider choices of Western food, as

SPC Group, the operator of Korea’s leading bakery franchise Paris Baguette, said Sunday it will enter Canada by launching the flagship Paris Baguette brand next year. According to the company, it recently established Paris Baguette Family Canada Licensing with a plan to open the first stores in major cities in the country, including Vancouver and Toronto in the first half of next year. The move comes as part of its plan to expand its business in North America. SPC Group has had laid o

Seoul International Wines & Spirits Expo 2020 was held from Friday to Sunday to present novel items related to drinking, under stricter disinfection measures amid the COVID-19 outbreak. A total of 330 companies participated in the three-day annual event, the only wine and spirits exhibition of its kind in Korea, to promote their products, including beer, wine, traditional drinks and related devices, such as homebrewing machines. Held amid the prolonging COVID-19 crisis, the organizer sa

Kim Jin-kyung first encountered “fake meat” several years ago, when she had a Korean course meal at a restaurant. The idea of “bean meat,” a brownish lump neatly laid on a plate, was fascinating, but the taste came short of her expectations. Years have passed and now Kim is having fun exploring different meat alternatives that are more abundant in flavor than her first experience. “There are not many, but still some decent fake meat products that are plant-based

SK Engineering and Construction was handed a $68.4 million penalty by a US court Thursday on charges of bribing an official to win an Army contract. The Department of Justice said in a press release that the Court for the Western District of Tennessee has ordered SK E&C to pay $60.6 million in criminal fines along with $2.6 million in restitution to the Army and serve three years of probation. The fine is the largest ever imposed against a criminal defendant by the federal district court.

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of its flagship scotch whisky brand Johnnie Walker, Diageo Korea said Thursday it will roll out a limited edition in retail shops across the country. Founded by John Walker in Scotland in 1820, Johnnie Walker is the world’s No. 1 scotch whisky brand selling over 100 million bottles annually in about 200 countries across the globe. Marking the anniversary, the South Korean branch of British liquor firm said it will present a limited edition of Johnnie

South Korean liquor maker HiteJinro said Wednesday it will start exporting its hit soju brand Jinro Is Back to seven countries, marking the first anniversary of its release. According to the company, it will export 1.3 million bottles of Jinro in the first batch to Japan, China, the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore. “We decided to export (Jinro) to mark the first anniversary, as there have been consistent demands for exports from the global markets, especially centering on

McDonald’s Korea said Wednesday that despite the COVID-19 pandemic it posted sales growth of 9 percent from January to April on-year, thanks to its Best Burger initiative. The announcement was made by Managing Director Antoni Martinez, who was appointed to the position in February, in his first public message via a video on its official YouTube channel, titled “Invitation to Best Burger: Antoni Martinez’s Message.” Unable to hold a physical press conference due to th

Cleanwrap, a leading food packaging company in South Korea, said Wednesday that its flagship Clean Gloves are now available through the US shopping website Amazon. The company’s sanitary gloves received attention during the general election, held April 15, when 1.25 million packs (or 60 million gloves) were supplied to polling stations across the country to prevent voters from contracting COVID-19. According to the company, its sanitary gloves and plastic bags are made of nontoxic mate