South Korean biopharma company Celltrion said Wednesday it was “undecided” on the location for its third biologics manufacturing plant, denying a local report that alleged the company had confirmed Singapore as the final location for the new facility.“Celltrion is currently wrapping up steps to add 50,000 liters of expanded capacity to its first plant based in Songdo, Incheon. At this point, we’d like to clarify that nothing has been decided on the location of the third plant,” Celltrion said in

Riot Games has opened an esports arena and culture entertainment complex for its hit online battle arena game “League of Legends” in Seoul. The US game maker said it had invested around 100 billion won ($88.9 million) in the new space, dubbed LoL Park, which is located on the third floor of the Gran Seoul building in Jongno, central Seoul. The space includes an esports arena for “League of Legends” players that can seat 400 spectators. It will host the 2018 LoL World Championship next month and

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s most popular mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has officially adopted a new feature that lets users delete sent messages within five minutes of their delivery. The update has been applied as of Tuesday.　However, once a user deletes a message, the phrase “this message has been deleted” appears in place of the removed message on both the sender’s and receiver’s chatroom, leaving a conspicuous record of the deletion.　To delete a message, users can long-press a given m

Last year, South Korean game company Bluehole made its mark in the global gaming landscape with its hit survivor shooting game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” now available on PCs, consoles and mobile devices.With aims to go beyond the success of “PUBG,” the Seoul-based game company is now out to entice gamers in the West with a mobile game in the genre of real-time strategy games: “Castle Burn.”Developed by Delusion Studio, part of the Bluehole Group, “Castle Burn” is a mobile RTS game in whic

SMILEGATE SHOWCASES ‘LOST ARK’ -- Smilegate RPG CEO Jee Won-gil introduces the company’s latest massively multiplayer online role-playing game, “Lost Ark,” during a media event in Seoul on Monday. Smilegate is accepting preorders for “Lost Ark” until Nov. 5. The game will officially be released Nov. 7. (Yonhap)

Lamda256, the blockchain research and development lab under Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has unveiled a blockchain app developer tool called “Luniverse,” designed as an easy decentralized app builder solution.　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.“With Luniverse, you can build the key structure of

The globally popular arcade shooting game “Metal Slug” will be newly released as a virtual reality game this year, brought to fruition in partnership by US-based Studio Roqovan and South Korean telecommunications provider KT.KT and Studio Roqovan, developer of VR game “World War Toons,” have agreed to co-develop “World War Toons: Metal Slug VR,” and showcased a demo of the game at last week’s MWC Americas 2018, KT said Sunday.“WWT: MSVR” will combine the gameplay of first-person shooter VR actio

Hongneung is a quaint neighborhood in northeastern Seoul, situated near several universities and research institutes. In this area stands an organization working toward an ambitious national goal that goes beyond academia — pioneering a successful biotechnology cluster in South Korea.Meet Seoul Bio Hub, established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and operated and managed by the state-run Korea Health Industry Development Institute. The body is steering the municipality’s efforts to build a

With hundreds of new cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects being released daily, it’s difficult for investors to discern which digital coins are worth backing or are potential scams with no value.　Though the decision is ultimately left to the investor, responsible cryptocurrency exchanges can help this selection process by screening for and listing coins linked to worthwhile blockchain projects, said Lee Sir-goo, CEO of Dunamu which runs Korea’s top cryptocurrency exchange Upbit.&

The Google Home and a smaller version known as the Google Home Mini have officially arrived in South Korea, ramping up the competition in the domestic market for voice-controlled speakers powered by artificial intelligence.Google Korea on Tuesday announced the launch of its AI speakers here and began accepting preorders via the Google Store, Hi-Mart, Auction and SSG.Com. The devices officially go on sale Sept. 18. The Google Home runs on the US tech giant’s AI voice assistant platform Google Ass

A group of lawmakers have set out to strengthen the regulation of foreign internet companies operating here, responding to complaints that they are not bound by the same laws that apply to competing South Korean firms in the sector.Led by Rep Byun Jae-il of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, 10 lawmakers recently proposed four bills aimed at “creating a level playing ground” and resolving the “reverse discrimination” problem in Korea’s information and communication technology sector.Among the

South Korea’s pharmaceutical export volume for 2017 soared 30 percent to reach $4.07 billion, riding on strong sales of biologic drug products, including biosimilars and botulinum toxin drugs, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Friday.　Exports of biologic drugs in 2017 stood at $1.37 billion, up 28.6 percent on-year, and accounted for 33.6 percent of the country’s total pharmaceutical exports.Biologic drugs are made with living cells using recombinant DNA technology. They differ from chem

South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical said Thursday that its global partner Spectrum Pharmaceuticals will be announcing the results of phase 2 clinical trials for poziotinib, a lung cancer treatment currently under development, at the IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer.Spectrum Pharmaceuticals plans to present the results of phase 2 non-small cell lung cancer study using poziotinib, which includes, for the first time, data on the drug’s efficacy for patients with EGFR and HER2 exon 20 mutat

South Korean co-working space company FastFive is making a foray into the apartment rental service business in Seoul next year, with aims to broaden the scope of its business beyond co-working space rentals to small firms and startups with accommodation needs.FastFive on Wednesday announced the launch of Life, a residential service brand targeting single-person households in the 20s and 30s demographic. It plans to open the first Life apartment building near Seonjeongneung Station in Gangnam Dis

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s most popular mobile messenger service, KakaoTalk, said Wednesday that it would soon roll out a new feature that would allow users to delete sent messages, making them disappear from both the sender’s chat room and the receiver’s. 　The company expects to debut the new function possibly as soon as the end of the year, a company spokesperson said, adding that the change will not be included in the next version 8.0 update scheduled this week. Right now, it’s poss

Philips Korea, the local unit of Dutch health care giant Philips, has appointed Kim Dong-hee as its new chief executive. The incoming CEO, whose career has focused on the health care industry, will also simultaneously serve as the general manager of Philips Korea’s health systems division, the company said. Philips Korea`s new CEO Kim Dong-hee (Philips Korea)Kim is a seasoned expert in the medical device business, having spent 14 years managing health care businesses in the Asia-Pacific region i

A worker died of carbon dioxide poisoning Tuesday at the Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province, during an inspection of fire-safety equipment, the company confirmed. Two other workers involved in the accident were in critical condition as of Tuesday evening, it said. According to a Samsung Electronics spokesperson, the accident occurred at 1:55 p.m. Tuesday in an area within the basement used to store firefighting equipment, located below the 6-3 production line a

　Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s most-used mobile messenger KakaoTalk, on Tuesday pledged to focus its artificial intelligence capabilities on homes and cars.　Kakao has been heavily investing in AI over the past two years. It launched its proprietary AI platform Kakao I, equipped with features such as voice recognition, natural language processing, image search, recommendations and translation, as well as a smart speaker running on the platform, Kakao Mini.　The company plans to continue ram

WeWork, the world’s largest provider of co-working spaces, opened its 10th location in Seoul on Monday, further expanding its presence in South Korea, while marking the company’s second anniversary in the country. 　The 10th WeWork office in Korea is located at Jongno Tower in central Seoul and is the fourth of its kind to open in the Gangbuk region north of the Han River, after WeWork’s offices in Euljiro, Gwanghwamun and Seoul Square near Seoul Station. WeWork Jongno Tower can accommodate more

DNA testing -- a way for individuals to learn about their genes and related health markers -- is increasingly being used today to help people improve their lifestyles and devise diets suited to their physiological makeup.Taking this concept into the realm of physical fitness, Korea’s top gene-sequencing service provider, Macrogen, has launched a personalized home-training service designed on the basis of the client’s genetic makeup, the company said Monday.Macrogen, which launched the service in