To commemorate its 40th anniversary, South Korean clothing manufacturer Hansae is preparing to take a leap forward with its textile business by undertaking an efficient and sustainable working process, according to the company on Tuesday. "We aim to have the company reach one hundred years by discovering new growth engines with a creative and innovative corporate culture," said Kim Ik-hwan, vice chairman of Hansae. As part of its aim to work under a more efficient production process, t

South Koreans' working hours may have decreased by 10 percent compared to a decade ago, but the country still works longer hours than most of its OECD peers, ranking fifth among them, data found Monday. According to the recent OECD's data, Koreans worked 1,915 hours last year, the fifth-longest among 38 OECD member countries. The hours marked a 10.3 percent decline from 10 years earlier, when the country topped the list with 2,136 hours in 2011. Despite the decrease in average annual hours worke

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission is seeking to set up a new team dedicated solely to overseeing merger and acquisition deals among local and foreign businesses, according to industry sources on Sunday. The plan was reportedly included in a recent report on the antitrust watchdog’s reorganization submitted to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Currently, the FTC is responsible for reviewing the legitimacy of M&A deals and other antitrust issues involving Korean companies

South Korean energy company GS Caltex is seeking to diversify its business portfolio with the completion of a new olefin production facility worth 2.7 trillion won ($2.01 billion) in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. On Friday, the company held a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the facilities, with its top brass, including CEO Hur Sae-hong, in attendance. Olefin, a linchpin element in the petrochemical business, is used as a basic material for plastic, synthetic fiber and synthetic rubber. T

Korean general trading firm STX said Thursday it has donated 130 million won ($95,000) to the families of foreign victims of the Itaewon Halloween tragedy, as it seeks to offer comfort for their losses. The company said it donated money to the family and multiculturalism division of the Seoul Metropolitan Government for them to then deliver to the bereaved families. "We would like to convey our condolences to the foreigners who lost family members on foreign soil due to a sudden accident,&q

South Korean dairy company Purmil's announcement of its business termination, which stirred nationwide controversy for unilaterally firing its employees, had been upended as of Thursday. According to a statement from Purmil, the company will be normalizing its business operations but will still downsize 30 percent of its workforce to increase management efficiency. The announcement was made after an agreement was reached between management and labor, it added. The company intends to continu

South Korean plant builder Doosan Enerbility said Thursday it won an order worth 1.6 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for a construction job at the El Dabaa plant, the first nuclear power plant project in Egypt. Doosan Enerbility will be responsible for the supply of 82 pieces of equipment including turbine generators, key components for nuclear power plants that extract thermal energy from pressurized steam and convert it into electrical energy. Doosan Enerbility is scheduled to construct cooling fa

South Korean tobacco company KT&G unveiled its series of new heat-not-burn tobacco devices equipped with artificial intelligence on Wednesday, with aims to maintain its leading position in the growing domestic electronic cigarette market. The new HNB cigarettes, or electronic devices which heat processed tobacco instead of combusting it to deliver aerosol with fewer toxicants, come in two models each named Lil Aible and Lil Aible Premium. Lil Aible comes in four colors 'Ultra Blue

Having lived in South Korea since 2005, Chris Truter set up a restaurant dedicated to celebrating the cuisine of his native country South Africa in central Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood soon after marrying his Korean wife and deciding to permanently settle in the country. His restaurant, Braai Republic, opened in hopes of offering home-style meals to the few, often marginalized South African immigrants living in South Korea, but it quickly gained popularity as it began to attract adventurous

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Monday that South Korea's uncrewed space vehicle Danuri transmitted BTS’ "Dynamite" music video to Earth, successfully relaying data from space to Earth. According to the Ministry of Science, Danuri, also known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, underwent disruption tolerant network tests on Aug. 25 and Oct. 28. DTN tests are designed to test if data is transmitted wholly under extreme conditions and over very large distances. During

South Korea's leading kimchi maker Daesang said Monday it signed an agreement with a Polish food company to establish a joint venture to sell kimchi in Europe. Named "Daesang ChPN Europe," the joint venture will be 76 percent owned by Daesang and 24 percent owned by Charsznickie Pola Natury (ChPN), a Polish food product distributor. The new entity will be launched in January, next year. With this joint effort, Daesang said its popular kimchi brand Jongga will be able to enter the

South Korean power solutions producer LS Electric said Friday that a Thai delegation, led by Ambassador to Korea Witchu Vejajiva, recently visited its smart factory in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, and discussed ways to bolster business cooperation. During the visit on Thursday, the ambassador was accompanied by Nithi Patarachoke, president of Siam Cement Group, Thailand’s second-largest business group specializing in construction, chemistry and packaging. The Cheongju factory prod

Millie’s Library, one of South Korea’s largest e-book subscription platforms, said Friday it will make its stock debut on the tech-heavy secondary bourse Kosdaq later this month, despite the unfavorable market sentiment. “This is the time to invest in growth. We aim to grow into a multicontent platform based on reading,” Seo Young-taek, CEO of Millie’s Library, said during a press conference held the same day. "The company no longer requires marketing tactics t

Meta-owned social networking service Instagram said Tuesday its software bug, which resulted in a global-scale malfunction and affected random users, was fixed after eight hours. According to a US-based service outage-tracking website Downdetector, reports regarding the malfunction of Instagram soared starting around 10 p.m. Monday in Korea. Reports of the Instagram service malfunction soared from 305 at 9:48 p.m. to 7,300 at 11 p.m. Reported in-app type failures varied, such as suspension of ac

South Korea’s Ministry of Energy said on Monday it would establish the nation’s first research institute dedicated to dismantling nuclear power plants, for the safe disposal of nuclear power plants whose operations have been permanently suspended. In a groundbreaking ceremony held in Ulju-gun, located on the border between the southeastern port cities Busan and Ulsan, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that construction of the institute is expected to be completed by the

South Korea’s employment elasticity to GDP growth is expected to fall drastically next year amid a widespread of recession fears and corporate belt-tightening across industries, a report found Sunday. According to the report released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the nation’s employment elasticity -- the percentage change in employment associated with a 1 percent growth in GDP -- posted a record high this year. Based on Bank of Korea estimates, this year Korea is exp

As part of its ESG drive, South Korean internet service provider SK Broadband said Wednesday it has been bolstering eco-friendly corporate culture and media campaigns. The company has been seeking to lower carbon emissions and power consumption in the company by streamlining and replacing old equipment. It has also reduced the use of paper by adopting electronic bills. Under an in-house campaign titled "net zero life practice" to foster environment-friendly corporate culture, SK Broadb

South Korean electronics giants are bracing for uncertainties across the board, with some leading exporters mapping out belt-tightening plans to address the situation that some have described as grave as the 2008 global financial crisis. Memory chip supplier SK hynix is one of the companies hit hardest by slowing consumer demand and the US-China tech arms race. The memory chip downcycle follows a pileup of order backlogs, and uncertainties are growing in its Chinese operations due to semiconduct

Naver said on Wednesday it has joined EV100, an initiative to electrify a firm's vehicle fleet, becoming the first internet platform company in the world to join both RE100 and EV100. Naver was the first internet company in Korea to join RE100 last August. RE100 is a coalition comprising 380 global enterprises that are committed to becoming 100 percent renewable. EV100 urges businesses to replace all corporate vehicles with electric ones by 2030. By joining EV100, Naver will have all of its regi

A South Korean movie director and the mayor of Newport Beach will jointly host the world’s first non-fungible token film and art festival in Newport Beach -- a coastal mecca in California just an hour away from Hollywood. “I thought of hosting the Beach Cities NFT Film & Art festival because of the currently centralized and inefficient way to make movies,” Kim Jeong-jung, a film director and the festival's organizer, said during an interview with The Korea Herald. “Cu