VISIT TO BIOTECH PRODUCTION SITE -- South Korea’s Deputy Finance Minister Ko Hyung-kwon (center) looks around a research lab at Celltrion’s headquarters in Songdo, Incheon, Wednesday. His visit to the biopharma company came as part of the ministry’s efforts to meet with on-site biotech industry employees and listen to their opinions, it said. (Yonhap)

South Korea’s largest internet companies Naver and Kakao together invested nearly 1 trillion won ($878 million) in overseas businesses this year, a ninefold growth in foreign investments from the previous year, government-tracked data showed Tuesday.According to data provided by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Rep. Byun Jae-il of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, Naver and Kakao’s overseas investments this year reached 979.7 billion won. This is around 8.8 times bigger than last year’s 11

LG CNS, the information technology services unit of South Korea’s LG Group, has launched a next-generation enterprise resource planning solution with aims to take over the local ERP market currently dominated by foreign software firms like SAP and Oracle.　The LG unit on Tuesday announced the launch of an upgraded ERP solution, promising higher cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency through design changes and integration with new technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud computin

In South Korea, it is fairly easy to fetch a taxi in the daytime. You can flag down an empty cab on the side of the road, or summon a taxi to your current location via the Kakao Taxi mobile app on a smartphone.　However, the situation changes drastically at certain times of the day, including the morning and evening rush hour as well as late at night. Gangnam and Hongdae are notorious areas in Seoul where catching a cab after midnight seems almost impossible, with demand outweighing the supply of

Ground X, the blockchain subsidiary of South Korean mobile messaging giant Kakao, on Monday unveiled plans to launch a testnet version of its proprietary blockchain platform Klaytn.The firm introduced a position paper highlighting Klaytn’s technical architecture and direction on its official homepage for the first time, inviting interested players to join the platform.According to Ground X, Klaytn has prioritized user experience and developer experience in its design, under an aim to allow end u

Samsung Electronics’ operating profit in the third quarter rose 20.44 percent on-year to a record 17.5 trillion won ($15.4 billion), the company said in an earnings guidance report released Friday. Revenue during the July-September period was estimated to have increased by 4.75 percent on-year to 65 trillion won, according to the South Korean tech giant.The July-September performance marked the highest quarterly achievement for the company to date. The previous record was 15.6 trillion won set i

South Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceutical said Thursday that it had voluntarily terminated its clinical trial application for its type A botulinum toxin drug Nabota that was approved by China’s drug regulator in January, citing the need for a production site change. The firm plans to submit a revised CTA by the year’s end, it added.　After submitting the CTA and successfully obtaining approval, Daewoong expects that it can initiate phase 3 trials for Nabota, to prove the drug’s efficacy in treating f

K-POP IN MEXICO -- Dancers perform at the “K-pop Party” festival organized by South Korea’s Daewoo Electronics in Mexico City on Sept. 30. The company said Thursday that the event featured a “Gangnam Style” dance contest, traditional Korean music performances and activities related to traditional culture, alongside booths introducing home appliances under the Daewoo Electronics and Dayou Winia brands. (Daewoo Electronics)

South Korea’s National Assembly is slated to summon the heads of domestic and foreign information and communication technology companies during this year’s parliamentary audit that is scheduled to kick off on Oct. 10.　The National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on Tuesday confirmed a list of 26 figures to be summoned to testify at the committee’s audit this month.Included in the list are chiefs of Korea’s top internet companies, including Naver founder and Glo

South Korea’s media regulator said it would impose penalties on Facebook if it finds that Korean users were among those whose personal data were compromised in the latest massive security breach affecting 50 million users worldwide.The Korea Communications Commission said Monday that it had requested Facebook to provide comprehensive information on the latest hacking attack’s motives and its potential impact on Korean users.“If found to have compromised the personal data of Korean users, Faceboo

South Korea’s Incheon Airport has adopted an employee identification system using iris scanning technology, with aims to expand the biometrics ID system to all general airport users by as early as 2020, according to local news reports Sunday. 　If applied to the airport’s passenger check-in system, the system would allow people to pass customs and board airplanes via iris scanning, removing the need to present a physical passport. As of this month, Incheon Airport has reportedly installed an iris

Line, the Japan-based mobile messenger under South Korean internet giant Naver, has announced plans to launch five new decentralized apps, or DApps, running on its proprietary blockchain network, Link Chain. The company said Friday that DApps focusing on various service categories including prediction, question-and-answer, product review, food review and location review will be introduced in the coming weeks, kicking off Line’s efforts to build up a token economy system.As part of the move, Line

Four out of 10 South Korean users of YouTube spend an hour or more watching videos on the platform on a daily basis, according to survey results recently released by local pollster Embrain.Of 1,000 Korean YouTube users aged 19-59 surveyed, 42.58 percent responded that they spend at least one hour on the video platform each day. The proportion of those who were spending more than three hours on YouTube was 5.2 percent.By demographic, the majority of those who responded they were watching more tha

South Korean cybersecurity service provider Raonsecure said Thursday that its FIDO biometrics authentication solution has received FIDO2 certification from the FIDO Alliance, an organization that standardizes and promotes interoperability among authentication devices.　Raonsecure obtained the FIDO2 certification in two categories. The company’s TouchEn OnePass system was certified for the server section while the Raon FIDO Dongle was certified in the authentication device area.TouchEn OnePass is

South Korean biopharma company GC Pharma said Friday that the US Food and Drug Administration has delayed the approval of the firm’s immunodeficiency drug IVIG-SN, demanding additional data related to the drug’s manufacturing procedures.The company had initially expected the US FDA to grant final approval for IVIG-SN, short for human normal immunoglobulin G for intravenous administration, this month.The company noted that the drug’s safety and efficacy are solid, as the product is already being

Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, said Friday its blockchain tech research lab Lambda256 has released a beta version of its decentralized app, or dApp, builder solution “Luniverse.”Luniverse is the Dunamu-owned research unit’s proprietary blockchain service development platform that lets developers build various dApps and run token economy systems in an easier and faster manner. Using Luniverse, developers can immediately launch their planned blockchain

The National Assembly on Thursday passed a bill that grants a regulatory sandbox for new businesses in the information and communication technology sector, a development that is expected to speed up the adoption and commercialization of next-generation technologies in Korea. The bill to amend the Special Act on Promotion and Vitalization of Convergence of Information and Communications Technology was passed into law on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.The changes include th

Celltrion said Thursday that it had signed an “incubation” agreement with US-based Emory University to jointly research and develop new drug candidates for atherosclerosis.　An incubation agreement is an open innovation arrangement in which a firm provides its resources and business capabilities, such as research facilities, workforce and operations consulting, to an external research institute.The arrangement aims to ensure the autonomy of the research while obtaining preferential rights to disc

Global pharmaceutical companies operating in South Korea locally invested a combined 271 billion won ($242 million) in clinical research and development in 2017, marking a 5.9 percent increase in R&D funding from the previous year, according to the Korea Research-based Pharma Industry Association.　KRPIA is a business association consisting of the Korean units of 28 foreign pharma companies, including Allergan, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Pfize

Kakao Pay, the mobile pay solutions unit of South Korean mobile messaging giant Kakao, said Wednesday that its QR code payment option is now available at more than 100,000 partner stores nationwide.　The feat was achieved within just three months of launching its QR pay service, Kakao Pay said. QR code pay is a mobile payment and acceptance method through which customers can make payments by scanning a QR code, instead of paying with cash or a credit or debit card. Of the merchants that have adop