South Korea's imports of Japanese beer products more than doubled on-year in the first quarter this year, despite a 20 percent drop in the country's overall beer imports during the same period, government data showed Wednesday. According to the Korea Customs Service, the combined value of Korea's beer imports in the January-March period decreased by 19.8 percent on-year to reach $45.2 million. In terms of volume, the country' beer imports went down by 24.1 percent to 48,322 t

Luxury fashion houses reported a slowdown in sales growth in Korea after years of upbeat sales that peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to recent earnings reports. “Consumption of expensive luxury products soared over the past few years, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. But, luxury purchases started to slow down last year as consumer confidence remained low amid economic woes,” an industry source said on the condition of anonymity. The two largest luxury brands in

Greyd, a social commerce platform developed by Seoul-based software developer Arbaim, aims to secure a bigger footing in overseas markets as it offers an effective marketing tool for Korean sellers that is also entertaining to attract global customers. Short-form videos, typically defined as any video under 90 seconds in duration, have become increasingly popular on a variety of social media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Advertisers are also turning their eyes to the new ty

Earnings of Korean steel companies in the first quarter are expected to fall due to increased prices of raw materials and the sluggish construction market, according to reports from local securities companies, Sunday. Analysts had a bleak outlook for Posco, the country's steel giant, expecting that both sales and operating profit will drop from the previous year, when its sales and operating profit came to 15.5 trillion won ($11.2 billion) and 338 billion won, respectively. Due to the decre

Some perhaps remember a stone slab from director Bong Joon-ho’s Academy Award-winning film “Parasite,” which Ki-woo, one of the main characters, holds onto throughout the film. In the film, his friend Min-hyuk delivers the stone, stolen from his grandfather’s collection, telling Ki-woo the stone will bring wealth to his family. The stone, which is known as "suseok" or scholar’s rock here, is a collectible item that was prominent among scholars during the J

Kakao Healthcare, the digital health care unit under platform giant Kakao, announced Thursday that the company would boost its collaboration with Google to improve its cloud-based data platform. The announcement came after Kakao Healthcare CEO Hwang Hee shared the company's recent progress with Healthcare Data Research Suite (HRS), the company’s cloud-based data platform service, during Google's Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas this week. According to Hwang, Korea has a significant amoun

Discussions on expanding telemedicine services are speeding up here as no immediate breakthrough can be seen in the prolonged mass walkout by junior doctors in protest against the government’s push to raise the admission caps of medical schools. Ahead of Wednesday’s General Election, candidates from both ruling and opposition parties also announced pledges to expand the availability of telemedicine services. Currently, remote clinical services via phone or video calls are offered on

Seven out of 10 retailers in Korea say they feel threatened by the rapid expansion of Chinese e-commerce platforms, especially the big three -- AliExpress, Temu and Shein -- an industry-wide survey found Monday. Of the 500 retailers surveyed by the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the nation’s largest business lobby, 69.4 percent said their businesses are under threat by the Chinese rush, while 74.4 percent expected heightened competition in the market. Almost 60 percent of online

The competition among Korea’s three largest food delivery platform operators is intensifying as each of them has recently launched free delivery services to increase their share of the market. On Friday, Yogiyo, the third-largest food delivery app provider, announced that the company would begin free delivery for users with Yogiyo membership. Yogiyo’s decision came after the other two companies, Baedal Minjok (Baemin) and Coupang Eats, rolled out membership-based free delivery servic

Samsung Bioepis, Samsung Group’s biosimilar arm, announced Friday that the company had started a phase 3 clinical study for SB27, a Keytruda biosimilar. Keytruda is an immuno-oncology drug developed by MSD, a US multinational pharmaceutical company. Indications for the drug include non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma and neck cancer. According to MSD's earnings release, global sales of Keytruda in 2022 were estimated at $20.9 billion. Samsung Bioepis will recruit 616 patients

Hur Young-in, the chairman of South Korean bakery giant SPC Group, was arrested on Friday for allegedly forcing workers to quit their labor union. The Seoul Central District Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for the 74-year-old chairman on suspicion of violating the Trade Union Act, citing concerns that Hur may try to destroy evidence. With the warrant, prosecutors will take the chairman into custody and investigate if Hur was involved in anti-labor practices for a maximum of 20 days. Hur

Business leaders in the era of growing economic uncertainty and rapid technological change must look for new opportunities and prospects for innovation, according to Lee Keum-ryong, chairman of Koglo.com, an online platform connecting US companies with their Korean partners. “If you notice a change early enough, it can become an opportunity for your business. But if you see the change late, it may jeopardize your business as well,” Lee said at the fifth edition of The Korea Herald&rs

South Korea’s exports of cosmetics jumped around 22 percent on-year to hit an all-time high in the first quarter of this year, amid the growing international popularity of Korean culture, government data showed Tuesday. According to the Korea Customs Service, the country’s exports of cosmetic products came to $2.3 billion in the January-March period, up 21.7 percent on-year from the same three-month period last year. The export figure is the highest ever for the first quarter. South

Daewoong Pharmaceutical has partnered with Chong Kun Dang for local sales of the gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) treatment Fexuclue, the country’s 34th new drug, the company said Monday. Fexuclue is a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB)-based GERD treatment that is designed to improve the shortcomings of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs, such as slow onset of action and dietary effects. P-CABs have the longest half-life of up to nine hours among GERD medicines and have a lon

Samsung Bioepis, a biosimilar developer under Samsung Group, announced Monday that the company decided to launch its Soliris biosimilar Epysqli in Korea at a price nearly 50 percent cheaper than the original drug. Epysqli is a biosimilar referencing Soliris, a high-cost drug for the treatment of rare hematological disorders, developed by Alexion Pharmaceuticals. As of 2022, the drug generated global sales of approximately 5 trillion won ($3.7 billion). The global rights to Soliris are currently

The management conflict within the founding family of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group ended, as the sons of founder Lim Sung-ki -- Lim Jong-yoon and Lim Jong-hoon -- secured a majority within Hanmi Science’s board at the general meeting of shareholders last week. However, there are still multiple hurdles for the Lim brothers to get the country’s leading pharmaceuticals company back on track. According to industry sources Sunday, the Lim brothers are likely to attempt to repair the relatio

The expected merger between OCI Group and Hanmi Group has been called off after a general meeting of shareholders at Hanmi Science, the holding company of Korea's leading drug firm Hanmi Pharmaceutical, on Thursday. The management conflict within the founding family has also temporarily ended as Lim Jong-yoon and Lim Jong-hoon, the first and second sons of founder Lim Sung-ki, secured enough seats on Hanmi Science’s board to stop the merger. "(OCI) humbly accepts shareholders

South Korea’s growing biopharmaceutical production capacity is increasingly making the country an attractive investment destination for global life science companies, industry sources said Thursday. Since 2016, global pharmaceutical and biotech firms started building their research and development centers and production facilities in Korea, especially within the Songdo Bio Cluster in Incheon, where the biopharmaceutical production capacity has reached 1.2 million liters, the world’s

KT&G's Senior Executive Vice President Bang Kyung-man has cleared the final hurdle to become the company's CEO by winning shareholders approval Thursday, marking the cigarette maker's first leadership change in nine years. The decision was made at the company’s 37th annual general meeting of shareholders, held at KT&G Human Resources Development Center in Daejeon. “I am deeply grateful to the shareholders for entrusting me with the honorable opportunity to serv

Chang In-hwa, a company veteran, officially took office as chairman of South Korean steel giant Posco Group, the nation’s fifth-largest conglomerate, on Thursday after winning unanimous approval from shareholders. It marked the group’s first change in leadership in almost six years, following the conclusion of the second term of Choi Jeong-woo. No objection was made against the appointment during the general meeting of shareholders held in Seoul earlier in the day. Right after the ge