The tragedy in Itaewon claimed over 150 innocent lives, many of whom were in their 20s and just wanted to celebrate their first mask-free Halloween since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some of their stories. A family night out meets a tragic end The pictures of a mother and daughter are placed side-by-side on the altar at a funeral parlor in southern Seoul. Eighty or so middle school students in uniform line up to pay their respects. The daughter, a 15-year-old middle school studen

South Korea's science ministry is considering to develop a system that could warn authorities of potential crowd crush accidents by using digital data and technology to predict risk elements and the route of crowd movements. The new system was proposed at an emergency safety inspection meeting held by the Ministry of Science and ICT on Monday following the death of 154 people in a crowd crush that occurred Saturday evening during Halloween celebrations in Itaewon, central Seoul. “We h

Hyundai Oilbank has been cooperating across industries to improve its environmental impact, the company said in a statement Monday. The South Korean oil company said it has signed a business agreement with petrochemcial firm Lotte Chemical and retailer LG Household & Health Care on Oct. 17 to kick off its joint ecofriendly plastic project. According to the agreement, the three companies will jointly launch plastic products created solely from materials derived from pyrolysis of waste plastic

US beer brand and official sponsor of the FIFA Qatar World Cup Budweiser is hosting a World Cup viewing event in Seongsu-dong, eastern Seoul, in November, Korea distributor Oriental Brewery said Friday. Attendees can watch South Korea’s national football team play its group matches against Uruguay, Ghana and Portugal on Nov. 24, Nov. 28 and Dec. 2, respectively. The game will be streamed on a large screen, and cultural events including music and dance performances will be held on the sidel

South Korean game developer Nexon's mobile game Dungeon & Fighter Mobile has been ranked within the top 10 for sales in the country’s two largest application markets -- Google Play and Apple’s Appstore -- for seven consecutive months since its launch in March. The game is a mobile adaptation of the company’s hit PC game released 17 years ago that recorded 850 million registered users worldwide and $18 billion in accumulative sales. The PC version also became the only S

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday that it is mulling writing a guideline on how tech giant Kakao should compensate its free-service users who suffered damages during its service outage earlier this month. The government hopes that the guideline, which would be the first of its kind, would help expedite the compensation process under a "first compensate" principle, a ministry official told Yonhap. This comes after Kakao Chief Executive Officer Hong Eun-taek said the company

Blockchain company X-widget said Thursday it is developing a virtual asset information-providing solution called Artificial Intelligence Index (AIIN) by combining artificial intelligence and big data technologies. The service is set to launch in early 2023. The new service will use X-widget’s independent blockchain platform to provide virtual asset-related indexes, a prediction on virtual asset prices, a collective virtual asset management service, and an investment community network servi

The Korean Society of Ginseng kicked off its 13th International Ginseng Symposium on Tuesday in Seoul, bringing together experts from around the world who study the health effects of ginseng. This year’s event was held under the theme “Ginseng, a phytoceutical for health.” It runs through Friday. The event comprised 13 themed sessions, during which hundreds of scholars gave both oral and poster presentations on their studies and findings. The event ends on the third day with a

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) kicked off its 26th Economic Development Cooperation Fund Annual Workshop on Tuesday, in which 14 government officials from 14 different developing countries are participating. The EDCF Annual Workshop is hosted by Eximbank to introduce development officers from developing countries to Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund. The fund was created in 1987 as part of the South Korean government’s official development assistance initiativ

Renault Korea said Tuesday it has supplied 67 of its popular sport utility vehicle QM6 to law enforcement, to be used by local detectives and riot police officers. Renault Korea’s QM6 model was recognized by police officials as being fit for police operations for its low noise levels and spacious interior, the automaker explained. QM6 boasts the most spacious back seat among SUVs in the similar range. With the back seats folded, it opens up 2,000 liters of cargo space when including the tr

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Monday they succeeded in developing a brain-machine interface system which interprets brain signals to allow patients to control robot hand movements only by thought. By studying the electrocorticograms of epilepsy patients when they imagine hand movements, research teams led by KAIST’s brain and cognitive engineering professor Jeong Jae-seung and Seoul National University’s Medical School professor Chung Chun

Nearly 7 out of 10 four-year college graduates have practically given up searching for jobs, showed a survey result published Sunday by the Federation of Korean Industries. According to the survey of 2,469 job-seeking graduates and undergraduates by the lobby group, 65.8 percent of respondents had just about stopped job searching, with 31.8 percent only habitually looking for employment, 26.7 percent rarely partaking in job searching and 7.3 percent taking a break. Meanwhile, 66.3 percent of res

South Korean accommodation sales in the third quarter rose 142.5 percent compared to the same period in 2020 when COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, according data provided Sunday by hospitality tech firm Onda. The results revealed lodging firms' sales have been on a constant rise since the pandemic, with third-quarter sales this year increasing by 75 percent on-year, and 54.4 percent on-quarter. Among business types, hotels and resorts showed the highest increase rate. Hotels showed a 200.

GS Engineering and Construction subsidiary GS Inima said Thursday it received the Best Private Company Global award on Sunday at the 2022 International Desalination Association World Congress, held in Sydney, Australia. The IDA is a nongovernmental organization that promotes desalination and water recycling. It hosts the IDA World Congress biannually to recognize outstanding companies in the water industry. This year’s award for the best global private company was given to GS Inima for its

Local drug developer GI Innovation said Thursday its Merkel cell cancer drug GI-101, used to treat a rare type of skin cancer, has received orphan drug designation from the United States Food and Drug Administration. The designation is given to drugs that treat rare diseases that affect less than 100,000 people. The status gives tax cuts during clinical trials, and waives certain restrictions and fees. It also allows market monopolization for seven years after the drug is launched. Merkel cell c

The future of the metaverse will include telepathy, predicting the future and hyper learning, Ethereum Foundation founding member and CEO of the metaverse-building platform MetaMetaverse Joel Dietz said Wednesday at the Korea Herald Biz Forum held at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul. “I am going to make some bold claims,” Dietz said as he introduced three of his futurist visions of the metaverse. Dietz said that as the metaverse becomes more prevalent, people will begin to shift toward a

The KT&G Scholarship Foundation said Monday it is hosting a social innovation idea contest for college students to showcase creative business ideas that can tackle social challenges. Students can participate in groups of two to four, and may submit business proposals that create products or services to combat a wide range of social issues including climate change and education. Proposals are being received through the foundation’s website until Nov. 6. The first round of evaluations wi

Onmind, a subsidiary of South Korean game-maker Neptune, said Friday its artificial intelligence virtual human model Sua has signed a three-year modeling deal to work with Thai advertising firm DDD. DDD advertises for large Korean conglomerates, Thai Airways and global luxury brands such as Chanel and Dior. It currently has advertisement billboards at major landmarks in Bangkok including Suvarnabhumi Airport, and malls Siam Paragon and MBK Center. Under the contract, Sua will appear on billboard

South Korea’s second-largest steelmaker Hyundai Steel said Thursday it would expand the product lineup of its earthquake-resistant structural steel, branded as H Core. H Core was launched in 2017 to include materials used for earthquake-proof designs such as rebar and section steel. Through the recent expansion, the steelmaker will incorporate other materials that can be used throughout the construction process such as cold and hot rolled steel, steel plates, and steel pipes. The steelmake

South Korean nationals traveling through South Korea’s airports are expected to enjoy wider access to a new check-in system that works with biometric information obtained through palm vein recognition technology. The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC) said Friday it had signed a business agreement with the Korea Airports Corporation and nine major financial corporations to operate the new biometric check-in system at 14 gateways across the country. Incheon Ai