Medytox CEO Jung Hyun-ho is slated to meet with executives at Allergan to discuss the start of phase 3 clinical trials of its liquid-type botulinum toxin Innotox this week, according to local news reports Tuesday.　Medytox and Allergan struck a license partnership in 2013, when the Seoul-based company sold the global development and commercialization rights to Innotox to Allergan for $360 million.Jung’s recent visit to the US is aimed at cementing a concrete timetable for the US clinical trials o

Despite being known for cutting-edge tech hardware, South Korea has long been held back in the area of software by an outdated security requirement that almost every user loves to hate -- ActiveX plug-ins.Like the previous administration, Korea’s new President Moon Jae-in has pledged to abolish ActiveX downloads from all government websites to improve user convenience and catch up with global cybersecurity standards.But the solution proposed by the government -- EXE extensions -- is a similar sy

Despite North Korea’s persistent missile provocations and nuclear threat, South Korea should engage with the North and build trust with it to reduce the risk of an all-out war on the peninsula, a senior United Nations official said. 　Daniel Prins, chief of the United Nation’s Conventional Arms Branch, said taking confidence-building measures on the military area is “absolutely essential” to avoid misperception between the two Koreas, whose cross-border exchanges have been suspended since the Nor

　A day after North Korea launched what they claimed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead, South Korea’s military on Wednesday released a computer-animated video showing missile strikes at the heart of Pyongyang. 　The one-minute video clip included footage of destroying a command post of the North Korean People’s Armed Forces’ Ministry, with a long-range high-precision missile Taurus, a German-missile thought to be accurate enough to hit the offi

HAMBURG -- Leaders of the world's top economic powers are wrapping up their search for common ground on trade, climate change and a host of other issues at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg Saturday, a meeting overshadowed by violent clashes between anti-globalization activists and police. Saturday's agenda features discussions on partnerships between the G-20 and Africa, on migration and health. There is also a discussion on digitalization, empowering women and unemployment. A key focus is on w

 HAMBURG -- Anti-globalization activists have rioted for a second night as Hamburg hosts the Group of 20 leaders, setting up street barricades, looting supermarkets and attacking police with slingshots and petrol bombs.    Police say riots were extremely violent in the early hours of Saturday in the city's Schanzenviertel neighborhood. Hundreds of officers went into buildings to arrest rioters while being attacked with iron rods and Molotov cocktails thrown from the roofs. Thirteen activists wer

South Korea was drenched with torrential rain on Saturday, as the country has entered into its summer rainy season for this year.    The central region was hit with up to 50-60 mm of heavy rain per hour, with some areas in the northeastern province of Gangwon recording as much as 180 mm per hour from Friday to Saturday morning, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).    The authorities issued heavy rain warnings for the Gangwon region and some areas in Gyeonggi Province as of

    South Korean shares are expected to come under selling pressure next week as investors attempt to cash in recent gains to take a breather, analysts said Saturday.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,379.87 points on Friday, down from 2,391.79 points a week ago, as falling oil prices, coupled with rising geo-political tension stemming from North Korea's ICBM launch, sapped investor sentiment.   This week, the local stock market started a tad higher as investo

South Korea's nominal corporate tax rate is on par with the average for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, but its effective rate remains at the bottom, a report showed Saturday.   According to the report by Kang Byung-goo, a professor at Inha University, South Korea's maximum rate of corporate tax stood at24.2 percent in 2017, similar to an OECD average of 24.5 percent.   The figure ranked 18th among the 35 OECD member nations, while the United States ma

South Korea's deficit in the tourism balance widened to hit a record high in May due to a sharp drop in foreign visitors, central bank data showed Saturday.   The tourism balance of payment, referring to the net travel expenditure that South Koreans used on short-term overseas tours, reached a record US$1.18 billion in May, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK).   It has remained in the red since December 2014 and touched an earlier record of $1.13 billion in July 2015, when South Kor

Two US long-range strategic bombers flew over the peninsula for a joint drill with the South Korean Air Force, in a stern warning message against North Korea's latest missile launch, defense officials said Saturday.    The B-1B Lancers were sent from the Anderson Air Base in Guam earlier to fly over the sky of the Korean Peninsula for precision-strike training, according to the South Korean Air Force.It was to "sternly respond to the series of ballistic missile launches by North Korea," it said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a memorial hall to pay tribute to the regime's late founder upon the 23rd anniversary of his death, its state-run media said Saturday.   Kim Jong-un was at the Kumsusan Memorial Hall, where the body of Kim Il-sung, his grandfather, is enshrined, to pay respects and mark the anniversary of his passing in 1994, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. Yonhap   He was also accompanied by key party and military offici

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that freezing North Korea's nuclear program is unacceptable because Pyongyang's capabilities have already progressed too much and must be rolled back.   Tillerson made the remark during a briefing on the talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, reiterating his rejection of a proposal from China and Russia that the U.S. suspend joint military exercises with South Korea if the North suspends missile t

South Korean mobile messaging giant Kakao and global automaker Volkswagen have partnered to move forward their smart mobility businesses centered on technologies for autonomous vehicles and connected cars. 　Kakao, the operator of Korea’s most popular mobile messenger KakaoTalk, confirmed Friday that its CEO Rim Ji-hoon held private meetings with high-level Volkswagen executives earlier this week to discuss the partnership.News of the private meetings were publicized via a Twitter post from Volks

Hanwha Engineering & Construction, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, is offering a series of business benefits to its top-rated partner companies as part of efforts to promote shared growth. 　Hanwha E&C on Wednesday awarded 30 partner companies in the categories of construction, civil engineering, plant operations, machinery, electricity and purchasing, for contributing to quality enhancement and technology innovation in their respective fields. Hanwha E&C CEO Choi Kwang-ho (center, fr

Samsung BioLogics, the contract drug manufacturing arm of Samsung Group, said Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit in South Korea to nullify Switzerland-based Lonza’s patents involving its cell line development technology. The Korean drugmaker said the lawsuit comes as part of efforts to remove hurdles to its expanded business direction -- providing contract-based biologic drug development services to drugmakers in need, on top of producing biologics for clients that place orders.　Lonza’s patent

South Korean game company NCSoft has received the green light from local regulators to introduce an in-game item trading system to its recently-launched hit mobile role-playing game “Lineage M,” boosting its profitability outlook.Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee on Wednesday granted NCSoft official approval to introduce a new version of the game with an in-game item trading system.With the change, the Seoul-based game firm will now offer “Lineage M” in two versions -- the “Lineag

South Korea’s Celltrion and Samsung Bioepis are strengthening their foothold in the fast-forming market of biosimilars — cheaper, near-replicas of live cell-based biologic drugs whose patents have expired.　The two Songdo-based drugmakers have emerged as forerunners in the race for the development and commercialization of biosimilars, set to form a lucrative industry as the patents to some of the world’s most profitable biologic medications developed by big pharma expire.Celltrion inched closer t

Samsung BioLogics, the contract drug manufacturing arm of South Korea’s Samsung Group, announced Tuesday that it has signed a long-term manufacturing deal valued at $55.5 million with Indian pharmaceutical giant Sun Pharma.　The two companies sealed the partnership during a ceremony at the Samsung BioLogics headquarters in Incheon on Tuesday.Under the deal, Samsung BioLogics will manufacture Sun Pharma’s investigational drug tildrakizumab, an IL-23p19 inhibitor currently under review by US and Eu

South Korean mobile game publisher Gamevil and its subsidiary Com2uS said Tuesday that they have established joint venture companies in Europe and Southeast Asia to better buttress their growth in the region.　The two companies have formed Gamevil Com2uS Europe in Germany and Gamevil Com2uS Southeast Asia in Singapore by transforming Gamevil’s existing offices in the region into jointly invested and operated ventures.　According to a Gamevil representative, the move is aimed at improving the two c