The organizing committee of international art fair Kiaf Seoul has appointed Koo Ja-yeol, also known as Christopher Koo, as its new chairman. He succeeds Bahk Byong-won, who has led the committee since 2013. Koo, who is also chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, will oversee the direction of the committee and take charge of public activities, including building relationships with enterprises, according to Kiaf Seoul. Koo was appointed chairman of KITA in February 2021 for a th

N. Korean hackers stole $400 million worth of cryptocurrency last year alone

Under the South Korean government’s plan to commercialize flying cars, or Urban Air Mobility, in central cities by 2025, the Transport Ministry on Thursday kicked off the K-UAM Grand Challenge program to coordinate all of South Korea’s UAM-related activities as part of its focus to enable emerging aviation markets. This Ministry-led program will bring together industry players including aircraft developers, airspace designers, and air traffic management operators with the goal of d

Filmmaker Hong Sang-soo’s 27th feature “The Novelist’s Film” on Thursday won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlin International Film Festival. The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival is being held from Feb. 10 to 20 as an in-person event. “I really didn’t expect this big prize. I’m very surprised. Thank you all the jury members for your appreciation,” Hong said in an acceptance speech in English. “I feel like I should say somethin

Samsung Electronics said Thursday a wine cooler will be part of its new home appliance package under its Bespoke brand to target wine lovers in South Korea, coupled with its Internet of Things features for wine pairing recommendation. Its new premium built-in side-by-side refrigerator, under its brand-new Bespoke Infinite lineup, has a dual-zone vertical wine cooler that can hold up to 101 bottles of wine. The temperature for each zone can be set at between 4-18 degrees Celsius, enabling user

Manufacturing-driven economy prone to cyclical challenges key cause of uncertainty, experts say

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Thursday it signed an environmental, social and governance-related supply chain financing deal worth a combined $180 million with local electric-vehicle battery material suppliers. The lender’s new partnership with Posco Chemical and L&F will provide the EV battery material suppliers with financing in the form of trade receivable discounting. Trade receivable discounting or TRD is a type of factoring in which a supplier provides its products to the

South Korean IT solutions provider Samsung SDS said Thursday it has signed a new partnership with cloud giant Amazon Web Services to bolster bilateral ties and strengthen their corporate cloud business. Under the renewed partnership, Samsung SDS is also joining AWS’ “exclusive” global business network, along with other global partners like Verizon and NEC. The two firms have already carried out diverse corporate projects since January last year, in which they support business

The K-pop music industry has extended its growth momentum this year with a surge in physical album sales in January, according to data compiled by South Korean music chart tracker Gaon Chart. The top 400 albums sold more than 4.05 million copies in and out of the country last month, up 66.9 percent from the same period previous year. The figure, however, dropped by 5.4 percentage points from December, the data showed. Of the top 400 albums, boy band Enhypen topped the list by selling 723,478

The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the suspended prison sentence for a former opposition lawmaker, convicting him of illegally asking a former chief of South Korean telecom giant KT Corp. to hire his daughter as a regular worker in exchange for favors. Kim Sung-tae, a former floor leader of what is now the main opposition People Power Party, was indicted on charges of intervening in parliamentary affairs to help prevent former KT chief Lee Suk-chae from being selected as a witness for a par

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday it has decided to impose a combined 135 billion won ($112.9 million) in fines on Lotte Confectionery Co. and four other snack manufacturers for fixing sales prices of ice creams. The five snack makers, also including Binggrae Co. and Haitai Confectionery & Foods Co., colluded between February 2016 and October 2019 to fix supply and sales prices of ice creams and divide retail channels for distribution, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FT

South Korea's money supply rose 0.7 percent on-month in December due mainly to an increase in savings boosted by rising interest rates and brisk exports, central bank data showed Thursday. The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 3,613 trillion won ($3.02 trillion) on average in December, up 23.8 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The growth rate slowed down in December compared with the previous month. From a yea

North Korea appears to have focused on boosting internal unity on the occasion of the 80th birth anniversary of the country's late leader Kim Jong-il, instead of using it as a chance to send a new major message to the outside world, a Seoul official said Thursday. North Korea has been holding various events to mark the anniversary, which falls on Feb. 16, with leader Kim Jong-un attending a national meeting held in the northwestern city of Samjiyon on Tuesday to pay tribute to his late father, a

South Korea's Navy said Thursday a local air patrol unit has reached a milestone of mishap-free flights over the past 40 years since its establishment. The Patrol Squadron 615, based on the southern resort island of Jeju, achieved the record, having logged a total flight distance of 15.3 million kilometers, equivalent to traveling around the Earth 380 times, according to the Navy. Launched in February 1982, the squadron currently operates 16 P-3 maritime patrol planes to cover the southwestern p