Nonghyup Financial Group Chairman Son Byung-hwan on Friday highlighted the group’s efforts to incorporate the metaverse into its businesses. “Many experts predict that the era of the metaverse is what will come next after this smartphone era,” Son said, urging the company’s executives to “study the possibility of commercialization with interest in the metaverse.” In accordance with Son’s vision, the group said it plans to set up a metaverse task force

Apple Inc. on Friday released its new smartwatch -- Apple Watch Series 7 -- in South Korea in the latest move to further boost its presence in the growing smartwatch market. The release came as the pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend and rising health concerns have fueled the popularity of smartwatches fitted with health care and fitness features. The latest Apple smartwatch comes with a 20 percent bigger screen and a 40 percent thinner body than the Apple Watch Series 6. Its battery runs for

South Korea’s monetary policy chief on Friday denied that the central bank’s latest rate hike was aimed at boosting the government’s real estate measures, which have failed to cool down the nation’s heated property market. In a parliamentary audit held Friday, Lee refuted rumors that the Bank of Korea’s first pandemic-era rate hike carried out in August, was a move pressured by the government. The latest rate hike by 25 basis points to 0.75 percent ended more th

A hotel in Gangwon Province that organized an event based on Netflix’s megahit “Squid Game,” on Friday started issuing refunds to more than 1,100 participants, after the games got canceled by city authorities over COVID concerns. St. John’s Hotel in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on Thursday announced they would refund those enrolled in the event, called “Saint Game,” which would have been held on Oct. 24 at the hotel’s outdoor pine tree forest. Players

South Korea’s market bellwether Samsung Electronics increased 1.3 percent to 70,300 won ($59.46) during Friday morning trade, ending a price slide that lasted four consecutive days. The benchmark Kospi climbed 0.89 percent to 3,015.14 points. Samsung Electronics, the largest company in the nation by market cap, has the biggest group of retail investors, who amassed 2.78 trillion won worth of its shares in the 10 trading days ending Wednesday. Friday’s increase followed an indust

Samsung Electronics said Friday that it has set a world record for 5G upload speed: 711 megabits per second. According to the South Korean IT giant, the feat was achieved in a recent trial conducted together with Verizon and Qualcomm in Texas. “For comparison, 700 Mbps is fast enough to download a 1 gigabit movie in 10 seconds. Multi-gigabit speeds have been recorded on downloads before, but this is the fastest speed the companies have been able to reach while uploading data to the net

Key members of an international criminal organization suspected of carrying out massive ransomware attacks on South Korean companies and universities in 2019 have been arrested in a joint investigation by South Korea and a few other countries, police here said Friday. The joint investigation, which also involved Ukraine's police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States and Interpol, busted four members of the unnamed criminal organization, including its money laundering chief,

South Korea is closely cooperating with the United States on "diverse" measures to restart talks with North Korea, the unification ministry said Friday, after the US said it had made overtures to Pyongyang. "Through close communication, South Korea and the United States have pursued a completely coordinated North Korea policy," Cha Duck-chul, the ministry's deputy spokesperson, said in a regular press briefing. "Diverse measures to engage with the North are being closel

About 1,000 food delivery workers will walk off the job next week as part of a general strike called by one of the country's two umbrella labor organizations, union officials said Friday. Delivery workers of South Korea's leading food delivery services, Baedal Minjok, Coupang Eats and Yogiyo, designated Wednesday next week as "No-delivery Day" and will take part in the general walkout called by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), official said. They plan to call for the

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook received COVID-19 booster shots Friday, 168 days after receiving their second vaccinations. Moon received the AstraZeneca vaccine March 23 and April 30, and his booster shot was from Pfizer. Starting Tuesday, the government began additional vaccinations for workers at COVID-19 treatment hospitals, who were vaccinated six months ago. They will get boosters from Pfizer through Oct. 30. Alongside medical workers, older adults and those who lea

Rainbow Bridge World, the South Korean entertainment agency behind all-female band Mamamoo, said Friday that it has filed a registration statement with the country’s financial watchdog and will go public on the nation’s secondary bourse, Kosdaq, in November. According to the statement, the agency aims to issue 1.25 million shares. It plans to offer new stocks for public subscription at a price between 18,700 won ($15.80) and 21,400 won a share. The book-building process, where an u

Posco Chemical was chosen as the “Rising Star Company” at the 2021 Global Metals Awards, hosted by S&P Global Platts, the company said Friday. It is Posco Chemical’s first overseas award. “Posco Chemical has built a large, successful business in the lithium-ion battery market and forms a crucial part of Posco Group’s value chain integration for green mobility solutions. The company has a significant presence in the secondary battery materials business, which it

South Korea and the United States held working-level diplomatic talks in Hawaii to review progress in the implementation of their latest summit agreement, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. Ko Yun-ju, the ministry's director general for North American affairs, and Mark Lambert, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Japan and South Korea, attended the third Bilateral Policy Dialogue (BPD) held on Thursday (local time), the ministry said. The two sides discussed pending diplomatic and s

South Korea's military reported nine additional COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the total caseload among its personnel to 1,960, the defense ministry said. Six Army soldiers, including five trainees at boot camps, and a Navy member tested positive for the virus, according to military data. A civilian employee of the defense ministry in Seoul was also found to have contracted the virus. Since last week, three COVID-19 cases, including the latest, have been reported from the ministry compound.