South Korean duty-free shops are struggling to cope with an industry-wide slump as flight suspensions and a subsequent fall in the number of customers have severely dented their sales amid the new coronavirus pandemic. With no imminent signs of business turnaround, duty-free operators have called for support measures from the government, including an additional cut in airport rental fee. Duty-free stores saw their combined sales fall below 1-trillion won ($812 million) mark for the first time

South Korea's cash-strapped Doosan Group is likely to finalize its self-rescue plan next month, as creditors have yet to vet the books of the group's affiliates, industry sources said Wednesday. The country's 15th-largest conglomerate last month submitted to creditors, including the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), a plan to sell shares and non-core assets in a bid to secure more than 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in liquidity. Its creditors funnel

The size of South Korea's insects industry rose 8 percent in 2019 from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday, as a growing number of companies raise or process insects for foodstuffs, pets and other purposes. The combined sales of local insect-related companies reached 40.5 billion won ($32.9 million) in 2019, up from 37.5 billion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The number of such businesses reached 2,535 in 2019, up 9

Supply of new apartments across the country will increase by about 22 percent to 148,239 in the second half of this year compared to the first, according to real estate app company Jikbang. The figure amounts to 55 percent of the total supply of new houses this year, and is 7 percent more than that of last year, the company said. By region, 80,712 houses will be available in 85 apartment complexes in the metropolitan areas of Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, up 30 percent from the first half

　US electric carmaker Tesla Motors ranked third in first-quarter sales in South Korea’s imported passenger vehicle market on strong demand for the Model 3, an industry association said. 　In the January-March period, Tesla sold a total of 4,070 vehicles in the Korean imported car market, following Mercedes-Benz (15,400) and BMW (11,331), according to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 　Tesla’s sales jumped to 2,499 units in March from 1,433 in February and 138

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it has signed a partnership with a global esports organization to boost its presence in the gaming monitor market. Samsung said it will sponsor its latest display products at T1 Entertainment & Sports (T1), a joint venture between South Korea's leading mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. and US entertainment firm Comcast Spectacor LLC. Under the partnership, T1 players will practice using Samsung's curved gaming monitors, the Odyssey G9 and G7, at their

E-commerce platform giant Coupang said Tuesday it has closed its Bucheon logistics center in Gyeonggi Province and conducted disinfection of the facility after at least 10 COVID-19 cases are confirmed to be linked with its employees there. According to the company, it will take additional fumigation measures at the center and also check on around 3,700 employees, which includes workers at the center and also those who visited the center from May 12 to Monday. “We sterilize the products

Starbucks Korea said Tuesday that it has expanded the number of Reserve stores selling Teavana drinks to 52 from 13 amid the growing popularity of tea. According to the coffee chain, sales of tea drinks have grown about 20 percent annually since it launched Teavana here in 2016. Its flagship Honey Ruby Grapefruit Black Tea, rolled out in 2016, is now its third-most-frequently ordered drink, after Americano and caffe latte, among customers in their 20s, Starbucks Korea said. Sales of green te

Since merging with Hyundai Asset Management Co. in 2014, Hyundai Engineering has grown into a global construction firm logging a stable surplus. According to the company, its accumulated overseas contracts amounted to $31.3 billion in the six years as of 2019, which is 1.5 times more than the figure over 16 years before the merger. Hyundai Engineering, originally a firm specialized in EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) overseas plant construction, merged with Hyundai Amco, which

Defense cuts amid pandemic push back payments for projects, hinder new contracts　

LG Chem Vice Chairman Shin Hak-cheol said Tuesday he would even consider quitting current businesses if the company can’t secure environmental safety in the aftermath of a recent gas leak at LG Polymers’ plant in India and a fire incident in a catalyst lab in South Korea. According to the company, Shin will launch emergency diagnostics on high-risk processes and facilities in all 17 domestic business locations and 23 overseas business locations for one month until end-June after

SK Chemicals said Tuesday it is moving to finalize the sale of its cash cow bioenergy business to make new investments in green materials. The company plans to sell its bioenergy business to private equity fund Hahn & Co. for 382.5 billion won ($309.4 million). It had suspended the operation of bioenergy business on Feb. 5, excluding the sector from its first-quarter earnings report. “To enhance its value and secure funds through mergers and acquisitions, we decided to sell off th

Hyundai Steel led by CEO Ahn Dong-il won the Carbon Management Sector Honors Award in the raw materials sector at the 2019 Best Companies for Climate Change Response hosted by the South Korean division of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in Seoul in April, the firm said Tuesday. The CDP, recognized as a global sustainability assessment index along with the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, is a global project of over 92 countries that financial and investment agencies demanding major compa

LG CNS said Tuesday it is teaming up with US-based Evernym to develop blockchain-based digital identification solution. Based in Salt Lake City, the US firm specializes in developing decentralized identifier (DID) solutions. DID technology can be used to verify identities of individuals, vehicles and other entities through an online network. DID solutions, which utilize blockchain technology, are also considered more secure than existing identification systems based on centralized registrati