The amount of allowances paid out to those seeking jobs surpassed 1 trillion won for the first time in May, data from the Employment and Labor Ministry showed. The job seeking allowance system first began in 1995. It takes up most of the unemployment allowance. The figure reached 1.162 trillion won, up 33.9 percent from the same month last year, driven by a rise in the number of jobless amid the coronavirus pandemic. There were 111,000 new applicants to receive the allowance last month, up 32

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Wednesday it has started boarding passengers from back to front to help stem the potential spread of the new coronavirus. On Wednesday, Korean Air began to apply the back-to-front boarding system on all of its domestic and international routes to minimize contact among passengers, the company said in a statement. Airlines usually have priority boarding for first class and business class passengers instead of having passengers in the la

South Korea said Wednesday it will remove unnecessary regulations to help local retail companies to utilize more high-end technologies and keep up with soaring demand for delivery services amid the new coronavirus pandemic. "Online sales platforms have emerged as the backbone of the so-called non-contact economy (amid the COVID-19 pandemic)," Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo said during his visit to a logistics center of SSG.COM, the online shopping unit of retail conglomerate Shinsega

Samsung Biologics shares were upbeat Tuesday, following the court’s rejection of an arrest warrant for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. In early morning trading, shares rose nearly 3 percent than the previous day, although the price eased down to 1.8 percent range at close. The chaebol scion is being probed by the prosecution for alleged accounting fraud intended to buoy Samsung Biologics’ performance, which the prosecutors suspect was directed to leverage Lee&rsqu

SK Innovation’s wholly owned subsidiary SK IE Technology, which makes separators for electric vehicle batteries, said Tuesday it will seek an initial public offering. The separator is one of the four key components of a lithium-ion battery, along with the cathode, anode and electrolyte. According to SKIET, it sent letter of inquiry proposals to domestic and foreign stock firms to underwrite its IPO. “A specific timeline for the IPO hasn’t been decided yet. An underwriter

Korea Water Resources Corp., also known as K-water, said Tuesday it is joining hands with UNESCO to raise awareness on water management and its relationship to climate change. According to K-water, it will collaborate with the UNESCO International Centre for Water Security and Sustainable Management to run a summer program on water management for international students and water-related professionals from developing countries receiving official development assistance from the Organization for

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., the shipbuilding holding company of South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, said Tuesday it has won a 90 billion-won ($75 million) order to build two petrochemical carriers. The two 50,000-ton vessels will be built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., a subsidiary of Korea Shipbuilding, starting October this year, and they will be delivered to a European company by the second half of 2021, Korea Shipbuilding said in an emailed statement. The d

Oriental Brewery said Tuesday its flagship beer Cass Fresh and Cass Light have received the 2020 Superior Taste Award held by International Taste Institute. According to South Korea’s largest beer maker by revenue, Cass Fresh received the award with one-star rating, which is granted to participants scoring above 70 percent. Cass Light received two stars, scoring between 80-90 percent. ITQI was established in Brussels, Belgium, in 2005, serving as an evaluation body for food and bevera

JTI Korea said Tuesday it is the first global tobacco firm to launch e-cigarettes on Coupang’s platform. The company’s flagship hybrid e-cigarette Ploom Tech will now be available on the South Korean e-commerce giant’s Rocket Delivery service. To celebrate the launch, JTI said it will offer a 50 percent discount for all users buying the bundle set -- Ploom Tech Starter Kit, which contains a battery, a USB charger and an adapter, a mouth piece and a carrying case -- at 17,500

South Korean excavator makers, led by Doosan Infracore Co., racked up brisk sales in China in May compared to a year earlier on the back of a rebound in the Chinese property market, industry data showed Tuesday. Doosan Infracore, the country's biggest construction equipment maker, saw its sales of excavators in China nearly double to 2,166 excavators in May from a year earlier, while No. 2 player Hyundai Construction Equipment Co. sold 923 excavators, up 44 percent over the cited period, acco

HDC Hyundai Development on Tuesday said it hopes to renegotiate its deal for acquiring South Korean flag carrier Asiana Airlines given the business turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The midsized South Korean builder has requested Asiana’s creditors and its largest shareholder Kumho Industrial to modify the conditions of the takeover. The company said it has not received “sufficient and trustworthy data” about Asiana’s financial status or an explanation for the c

Mark Lippert, former US ambassador to South Korea, was appointed last month as YouTube Asia-Pacific’s public policy chief, Google said Tuesday. Google said Lippert would represent YouTube in the Asia-Pacific region, curate public policy strategy and coordinate communications with local governments, based on his knowledge of the region and years of experience in public policy. Lippert served as ambassador from 2014 to 2017. After surviving a knife attack in Seoul in 2015, he drew praise

LS Cable & System is promoting activities with the local community near its workplace, focusing on areas such as recovery from COVID-19, “talent donations” from executives and employees and support for welfare organizations. The cable maker recently provided 100 million won ($83,451) to the food pack business in Sejong City. It is a project to provide food and household goods to the elderly living alone, children without parents and people on low-incomes, all groups that are ha

Samsung Electronics is highly likely to hold its annual “Unpacked” event for the Galaxy Note lineup online for the first time on Aug. 5 due to the prolonging COVID-19 impact, according to news reports Tuesday. The Galaxy Note Unpacked event is usually held in New York every August. At this year’s event, Samsung is expected to unveil four new gadgets: Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Fold 2, Galaxy Z Flip 5G and Galaxy Watch 3. The Galaxy Note 20 is forecast to be released in two ve

South Korea was a distant second player after China in terms of new shipbuilding orders in the first five months of the year, data showed Tuesday. In the January-May period, Chinese shipbuilders won new orders totaling 2.88 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) to build a total of 121 ships, accounting for 62 percent of the new orders in total, followed by South Korean shipbuilders with 900,000 CGTs, or 32 ships, according to data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service