An image of a neatly dressed man welcomes visitors and answers questions on finance services on a monitor at KB Kookmin Bank in Yeouido, western Seoul. The male character, powered by artificial intelligence and modelled on TV personality Kim Hyun-wook, explains the difference between a debit and a credit card in a tone and manner identical to a real human staffer. He is a prototype of the AI bankers set to work alongside human bank staff in the near future.  KB plans to test the AI ba

Telecommunications provider SK Broadband has been making a host of new changes as part of its effort to speed up the environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, management, with a particular focus on reducing carbon emissions. SK Broadband has been replacing old infrastructure, developing energy efficient products, and reducing energy consumption at network stations to match its carbon-emission-free goal. According to company officials Sunday, the telecommunications company has to

  The average income for both farmers and fishers increased last year, government data showed, but the gain was mostly attributable to state emergency relief handouts aimed at propping up Korea’s pandemic-laden economy. The average farm household earned 45 million won ($40,300) last year, up 9.3 percent from the previous year, according to data by the Statistics Korea released on Wednesday. It was a record high for the industry since the institution started compiling relevant statis

BMW Korea plans to add more benefits to its existing premium membership program provided to owners of its Luxury Class models, the global carmaker announced Thursday. For members of the BMW Excellence Club -- made up of owners of BMW’s New 7 Series, New 8 Series and the New X7 model -- the company is expanding its rental car service, which was previously only available in the southern island of Jeju. Beginning in August, BMW Excellence Club members can borrow a BMW X7 for 72 hours for

Hyundai Engineering is accelerating efforts to gain a bigger foothold in the European plant construction market, having been chosen as a preferred bidder for a 2 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) deal in Poland. The South Korean firm has teamed up with Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas for the project, lead by Poland’s PKN Orlen, one of the biggest oil refiners and petroleum retailers in Central and Eastern Europe, to build a petrochemical complex in Plock, central Mazovia, about 120 kilometers

The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced Wednesday it has appointed Martin Henkelmann as the institution’s new CEO and president. Henkelmann practiced as a lawyer in Germany and has more than 20 years of experience working with private companies and government organizations. He built his career at the German Insurance Association, one of the largest business associations in his home country. Henkelmann later moved on to the public sector, taking leadership roles at

LG Innotek, LG Group’s materials and components maker, received the Jaguar Land Rover Quality Certificate from the global car maker, the company announced Wednesday. 　 Jaguar Land Rover awards a quality excellence certificate to one supplier every year based on quality and the supplier’s adherence to delivery schedule.　 LG Innotek has been supplying a DC-DC converter product to the automaker since 2017. A DC-DC converter is a key component used in hybrid and electric cars. 　 This

South Korea’s IT giant Naver unveiled a supersized artificial intelligence platform on Tuesday that can process massive amounts of data, saying it aimed to lead the era of “hyperscale” AI. Dubbed HyperCLOVA, the firm’s latest AI tool is not only the local industry’s most advanced but is also the first large-scale AI trained in the Korean language, Naver said. “As a company that represents Korea’s artificial intelligence technology, we will find our w

  South Korea’s top steelmaker, Posco, is expanding its social outreach effort to help immigrant mothers and their children. The company said Monday that it is launching a three-year support program in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Institute for Healthy Family. A three-way memorandum of understanding is to be signed Tuesday. The institute, an agency under the auspices of the Gender Ministry that supports the social integration of multi

Having more than three cups of coffee a day can help those in their 40s or older live longer, researchers from Chung-Ang University found in a study with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The study was conducted on 110,920 individuals older than 40. Scientists tracked the patients’ daily coffee intake and death rate for an average of 9.1 years. Individuals already diagnosed with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer were not included in the study. The study conclude

Consumer complaints about clothes and accommodations surged in April as outdoor activities increased sales of those products, the Korea Consumer Agency said Friday. Complaints about fashion goods saw the steepest increase. Compared with the previous month, the total number of inquiries about women’s dresses increased by 46.1 percent and T-shirts by 31 percent. Most complaints were about shipping fees when customers requested refunds for defective products. Complaints about accommodati