Korea’s major game developers are taking preemptive measures to cope with the new industrial safety law and prevent another “crunch mode” controversy. Under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which took effect from Jan. 27, business owners can face a minimum prison term of one year or a fine of up to 1 billion won ($835,000) if a fatal accident at the workplace causes a death or more than one injured person. The punishment depends on whether the owners are found guilty of n

Although it has been over two years since the coronavirus began spreading in Korea, the country has not seen a homemade vaccine developed yet. SK Bioscience is the company closest to delivering the first Korean-developed vaccine as the biopharmaceutical firm’s GBP510 is in the third and final phase of clinical trials. The government and company officials have voiced hope for a successful result and swift authorization as well as commercialization of GBP510 in the first half of this year,

Samsung Biologics has reached an agreement with Biogen to buy out the US biotechnology firm’s stake in Samsung Bioepis for $2.3 billion (2.7 trillion won), the company said Friday. Biogen secured a 15 percent stake when Samsung Bioepis was established as a joint venture in 2012. The US company exercised its right in June 2018 to buy up to one share less of Samsung Bioepis’ 50 percent stock. The payment for the 10,341,852 shares will be carried out over the next two years and full

The government will introduce the Korean version of the US‘ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency this year to accelerate future-oriented research on innovative technology, Science and ICT Minister Lim Hye-sook said Thursday. Adapting the US DARPA model -- creator of the computer mouse, drones, the Internet predecessor Arpanet, GPS, and voice recognition -- the Korean agency will have its own independent rights in operation and budget to lead challenging research and development of n

South Korea will inject a record-high 9 trillion won ($7.5 billion) this year into its drive for digital transformation as part of the country’s Digital New Deal plan, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Wednesday. The biggest portion of the state fund, 5.9 trillion won, will be poured into strengthening the ecosystem of data, network and artificial intelligence. By the end of this year, it plans to set up 310 additional kinds of AI learning data and a comprehensive platform service t

Korea’s virtual asset market will reach 1,000 trillion won ($835 billion) by 2026, Boston Consulting Group Korea said Tuesday in its report Future of Asset 2022. According to the report, the country’s virtual asset market already surpassed 300 trillion won by the end of last year to take up 10 percent of the global market. With an average annual growth of 20 percent over the next five years, the virtual asset market will also create 40,000 jobs in the process, BCG Korea said. The

LG’s future mobility concept car LG Omnipod will make its first offline debut here next month at a tech conference organized by Kakao Mobility, companies said Monday. Introduced in a video at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas earlier this month, LG Omnipod is a concept model of future self-driving cars interpreted as  vehicles as extensions of the home. Based on users’ needs, it can be an office or personal space where users can enjoy various activities such as wa

The Korea Exchange on Monday will decide whether Osstem Implant should undergo an eligibility review to stay listed on the country’s second bourse Kosdaq, making it the third biotech firm facing a possible delisting this year. The dental implant manufacturer’s stock trading was suspended on Jan. 3 as the company announced that it had filed embezzlement charges against an employee for stealing 221 billion won ($185 million) in company funds. The stock market operator can postpone t

South Korea will nurture 40,000 professionals and 220 companies specialized in metaverse technology to achieve its goal of becoming the fifth largest country in the global metaverse market by 2026, the government said Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the country’s pan-governmental strategic blueprint to lead the new industry to respond to economic and social changes that will be brought by the metaverse and prepare for the future. In particular, authorities laid out

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced pubs and bars to close early and limited private gatherings, more people have been drinking at home. Frantz Hotton, CEO of global wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard Group’s Korean affiliate, saw a silver lining in the virus-driven trend. “Our sales and marketing teams have made great efforts to respond well to the growing needs of off-trade market and caught up rapidly to grab opportunities in line with new drinking patterns,” Hotton said i

The Korea Exchange on Tuesday announced its decision to delist biotech company SillaJen, 20 months after the biotech company’s market transactions were stopped due to breach of trust and embezzlement charges. The stock market operator will hold a Kosdaq market committee within the next 20 business days to finalize whether it will push ahead with the delisting decision or give SillaJen a second chance at revival. Although the company can raise an objection to the market committee if it o

Started as a mere app developing company, South Korea’s platform giant Kakao has been on the fast track of success, becoming the nation‘s fifth-largest business entity just in 11 years. Founded by Kim Beom-su, who used to run a PC room and work at Samsung SDS, the dominant takeover of the messenger app KakaoTalk laid the groundwork for the Kakao group’s expansion in the last decade. According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission, Kakao had 158 affiliates and subsidiaries in the

Celltrion’s COVID-19 antibody treatment Regkirona has received temporary approval in Switzerland, the Korean biopharmaceutical company said Friday. Celltrion submitted the results from its global third-phase clinical trial and all clinical data on virus variants including the delta variant, according to the company. Swissmedic, which is responsible for the authorization and supervision of therapeutic products in Switzerland, gave the temporary nod Wednesday. The approval is for use Reg

To solidify its No. 1 position in terms of production capacity, Samsung Biologics, a contract development and manufacturing organization under the Samsung empire, will begin partial operation of its fourth plant in Songdo, west of Seoul, this year, six months earlier than previously scheduled, the company’s CEO said Thursday. Touting its manufacturing capability, John Rim, CEO of Samsung Biologics, said the planned partial operation will add fresh new capacity of 60,000 liters in October

AfreecaTV will aim to expand communication with global users through esports content, the Korean video streaming service said Wednesday. According to the company, AfreecaTV currently operates a total of six firms in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the US, Thailand and Hong Kong to provide various streaming content in different languages so that overseas users can watch it without any communication barriers. The Korean video streaming service has held a number of esports competitions abroad, with

ABL Bio has signed a contract worth up to $1.06 billion (1.27 trillion won) with French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi to co-develop ABL301, an antibody treatment candidate for degenerative brain diseases including Parkinson’s disease, the Korean biotech company said Wednesday. ABL Bio will receive $75 million in down payments, according to the deal. The Korean biotech company will also be able to rake in up to $985 million depending on the success of clinical trials, regulatory approval and

Naver D2 Startup Factory has made a follow-on investment in local e-commerce data startup Datarize, the IT giant said Wednesday. Stonebridge Ventures led the series A funding of Datarize with co-investments from Weventures, Korea Development Bank and Mirae Asset Venture Investment. The total funding amounted to 11.5 billion won ($9.6 million). Naver D2 Startup Factory had previously taken part in the seed investment of Datarize in 2020. Datarize developed an all-in-one growth solution for onl

Hanmi Pharmaceutical will begin producing ZyCoV-D, the plasmid DNA COVID-19 vaccine developed by India’s pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila, starting in the second quarter of this year, the company said Tuesday. Hanmi Pharmaceutical on Friday signed a contract with local biotech company Enzychem Lifesciences for a consignment manufacturing agreement of the Indian vaccine. Previously, Enzychem Lifesciences signed a license-out deal with Zydus Cailda at the end of last year. The two Korean

SK Pharmteco, SK Inc.’s subsidiary of contract development and manufacturing organization, is planning for a pre-initial public offering this year, the group’s holding company SK Inc. said Tuesday.  "SK Pharmteco will hold an advantage in the global industry with its high-quality manufacturing capacity within the leading countries," said Lee Dong-hoon, SK Inc.'s executive vice president and head of the Bio Investment Center. "SK Inc. will be supporting th

Amid mounting criticism over Kakao executives forging a block deal to sell massive stakes they received as stock options, the IT giant’s next CEO stepped down voluntarily on Monday, leaving the company‘s management ethics in question. Ryu Young-joon, the appointee for Kakao’s next CEO, expressed his will to resign amid escalating criticism over the mass sale of his Kakao Pay shares, the IT giant said Monday. Kakao Pay is a payment platform which made a market debut in November