Dedicated cat owners are behind the boom in South Korea’s pet care market, market research firm Euromonitor International announced Friday.The size of Korea’s pet care market is estimated to surpass 1.8 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in 2019, twice what it was eight years ago. For that, Euromonitor credited cat owners’ careful attention to their feline friends.Spearheaded by squeezable packages of semi-liquid snack food, the cat snack market in Korea has seen explosive growth since 2017, the Euromo

The Asia News Network, an alliance of 24 media companies in 20 Asian nations, charted a new course for its future on the final day of its 20th anniversary board meeting Friday, at Lotte Hotel in Seoul.When ANN was founded in 1999, its founding members’ vision was to deliver news about Asia through Asian eyes. As the network marked 20 years of successful pan-Asian journalistic collaboration, its board gathered in Seoul to redefine ANN’s future vision and mission. ANN’s new tagline, “Bringing Asia

The Asia News Network, an alliance of 24 media companies across 20 Asian countries, had its board members gather Thursday at Lotte Hotel in Seoul to celebrate the group’s 20th anniversary and discuss its future direction at a time of closer regional cooperation on political, business and cultural fronts.ANN was founded in 1999 with the founding members’ vision to deliver news about Asia through Asian eyes. “We know Asia better” has been the ANN’s longstanding motto.Chon Shi-yong, chief editorial

Botulinum toxin producer Hugel has submitted a new drug application in China for its product, the company announced Wednesday.Hugel is to become the first Korean company to enter the greater China region, which includes mainland China and Taiwan. Hugel and its Chinese partner, Sihuan Pharm, completed phase 3 clinical trials in 2018 and submitted the application Wednesday after finalizing the paperwork. Hugel expects to receive marketing approval within the first quarter of 2020, as the standard

 진행자: 임정요, Kevin Lee Selzer1. Jinju arson-murder attack reveals shortcomings of Korea’s mental health care기사요약: 진주 방화사건으로 5명이 숨지고 15명이 부상을 입었다. 이를 계기로 대한민국 정신보건 환경에 미흡한 부분을 돌아보게 된다.아이튠즈(아이폰): https://itunes.apple.com/kr/podcast/koliaheleoldeu-paskaeseuteu/id686406253?mt=2팟빵 (안드로이드): http://www.podbbang.com/ch/6638[1] Wednesday’s brutal arson and murders in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, which left five people dead and 15 others injured, put the spotlight on the glaring shortcomings in the cou

The three-day Nexon Developers Conference kicked off Wednesday at Nexon Korea’s headquarters in Pangyo Techno Valley, Gyeonggi Province. The NDC began in 2007 as an opportunity for Nexon Korea employees to share knowledge internally. It has since become Korea’s biggest conference for sharing knowledge on game development.  (Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald)

Why don’t we see amputees in professional fields of work in South Korea? Where do all the patients who have lost limbs in an accident, or to diabetes, disappear here? Kang Yeoun-seung, 52, a rehabilitation medicine and certified ortho-prostheticts doctor, has grappled with this issue for long.According to the Ministry of Welfare data, the number of people with physical disabilities in Korea was over 1.2 million as of December. Those with visual or hearing impairment, brain lesions or cardiac dis

South Korea’s antitrust regulator said Friday it will carry out an extensive review of the consumer regulations of game firms. The Fair Trade Commission has contacted 10 game companies here, including Nexon NCSoft, Blizzard and Riot Games, for their opinion.Both computer and mobile games’ clauses are subject to a review. Part of the sweeping reviews include, but are not limited to, clauses regarding underage users’ in-game purchases. (Pixabay)“Some news reports suggest that it may become easier

The South Korean botulinum toxin company Medytox will launch a cosmetics brand and enter the market in 2020, the company said Friday.Medytox said Friday that its subsidiary Medytox Korea had acquired a 58.3 percent stake in cosmetics distributor Highwayone, which holds sales rights in Korea and throughout Asia for some 100 foreign brands, including the Polish label Ziaja and the German label Kneipp.  (Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Herald)The acquisition gives Medytox a distribution channel for cosmeti

South Korea serves as the backbone of world’s 5G advancement, praised Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)’s chairperson James. C. F. Huang, Thursday, at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul.“Korea is the first in the world to succeed in the commercialization of the 5G network services. The country is the backbone of the 5G era,” Huang said. “I look forward to Korea and Taiwan’s collaboration in the areas of 5G, AI and IoT.”TAITRA chairperson James C. F. Huang (Lim Jeong-yeo/The Korea Her

The controlling stake in South Korea’s biggest game company Nexon may end up in the hands of Walt Disney Co., a report suggested Wednesday. The anticipated price for the stake to go on sale is 15 trillion won ($13.2 billion), with premiums for business management rights on top of the Nexon Japan share price, which closed up slightly at 1,681 yen ($15) Tuesday, but slid to 1,558 yen as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.The Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo quoted the international banking industry as saying that N

Downloads for Nexon’s new high-end mobile game, “Traha,” began Wednesday on Google Play and the App Store.Gamers can officially start playing Thursday, but Nexon decided to allow app downloads a day earlier to cut down on rush traffic.“Traha,” serviced by Nexon and developed by Moai Games, is welcomed with much anticipation by industry watchers, who expect it to become a hit with an in-game domain 16 times the area of the Seoul financial district of Yeouido, and with graphics “unrivaled” in clar

The annual Bio Korea International Convention 2019 opens on Wednesday at Coex in southern Seoul, gathering researchers, developers and biopharmaceutical firms to discuss next technologies and innovation, organizers said Tuesday.The event, running through Friday, will feature talks on topics including immuno-oncology drug development, global business expansion strategies, cell therapies for incurable diseases and current and next-generation therapeutic antibodies. Participants will also share vie

In a match that may sound unusual at first, there is a gaming company in South Korea that has been consistently contributing to the country’s cultural heritage preserving organization.The Korean arm of Riot Games has given over 5 billion won ($4.4 million) to the Cultural Heritage Administration here for the past seven years. The funds were spent on helping preserving palaces, heritage sites, and most recently for the recovery of a 102-year-old printing woodblock that had been lost for many year

Riot Games Korea and SK Telecom on Thursday forged a strategic alliance to air the final match of League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) 2019 live on the latter’s platform Oksusu. The LCK Spring Final 2019 is slated for Saturday at Jamsil Arena in Songpa, Seoul. Fans can watch the game on SKT’s Oksusu’s sports channel.This partnership is not a one-off affair. SKT said it will work as LCK’s official 5G sponsor till end-2020, with exclusive rights to create virtual and augmented reality contents

Celltrion recently gained approval from the Canadian Health Ministry to begin sales of Truxima, a rituximab biosimilar used to treat blood cancer, the company announced Thursday.“Celltrion will quickly enter the Canadian market so that patients there will enjoy a more affordable high-quality anticancer biosimilar,” said a Celltrion representative. This is the first time Canada has approved a rituximab biosimilar. Truxima (Celltrion)Canada has made efforts of late to cut drug costs and improve pa

South Korea excels in the field of regenerative medicine, one of three key next-generation gene technologies, said Amit Agarwal, managing director at Deloitte Consulting in San Francisco.Agarwal spoke at Deloitte Anjin’s seminar for Life Sciences and Healthcare Solutions, held at the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association in Seocho, Seoul on Tuesday.With worldwide health care spending estimated to top $10 trillion by 2022, global pharma sales are anticipated to reach $1.2

Drug wholesalers stuck with having to dispose of unsold pharmaceuticals worth hundreds of billions of won are working with their suppliers to limit the losses.While no industry enjoys zero leftover inventory, an accumulation of specific drugs that are no longer in doctors’ prescriptions spell a particular problem, a KPDA spokesperson said.“Medicines aren’t like clothes that can be sold off at a discount. Unsold drugs have to be discarded. It becomes complete loss,” he said, adding that in most c

The most well-known fact about late Ilhan New, or Yu Il-han, is that he founded one of the oldest South Korean pharmaceutical company, 93-year-old Yuhan Corp. What is lesser known is how New had studied in the US even before the Japanese colonial rule of Korea to learn the “Western ways,” or how he went to high school on an American football scholarship, or had a multicultural family with US-educated Chinese doctor Ho Mi-ri, and last but not least that he bequeathed all his worldly possessions f

The state-run antitrust agency has notified Samsung BioLogics that it is no longer a holding company of Samsung Bioepis, the company said Friday in a regulatory filing. Because Samsung BioLogics has only 43 percent of its total assets invested in Samsung Bioepis -- less than the required 50 percent -- it is no longer a holding company under FTC’s Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, the statement added.Samsung BioLogics, mainly a contract manufacturing organization for pharmaceuticals, establ