As expected, the spending patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed drastically, according to a report by Hana Institute of Finance under Hana Bank. Credit card use at travel agencies, airlines and duty-free shops dropped most significantly while overall online shopping spending surged during the first three months of the year. Among offline markets, less were spent at large retail stores and department stores, while spending at convenience stores and supermarkets increased. Purchas

To help search for missing children, the Korea Post said Sunday that some of the parcel tape it provides for mail packages will bear information about missing children and QR codes linked to the National Police Agency. The agency will start with tapes printed with photos and descriptions of 28 children. QR codes printed alongside the information will be useful if anyone wishes to make a report. It also links to a service where one can register fingerprints of their children in case of emergenc

South Korean telecom firm KT said Sunday it has rolled out a warehouse automation solution that utilizes 5G networks and self-driving vehicles. The company has been running the solution at its warehouse located in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. It comprises of two types of self-driving warehouse carts, designed to carry large amounts of materials on their own, or to follow staff who maintain the inventory, and also comes with a computerized system that collects real-time data, through which worke

Korea Western Power (Kowepo) said Friday that it is recycling oyster shells to create a material that can transform sulfur dioxide emitted from fossil fuel plants into ashes. When released, sulfur dioxide can react with other pollutants in the air and generate fine dust. According to the state-run utility, it began operating an oyster recycling facility in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, as oyster shells -- which are made of calcium carbonate -- can react with sulfur dioxide and turn it

Solgent’s COVID-19 test kit has received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration, becoming the 10th South Korean kit to receive the green light from the agency. According to industry sources Sunday, the DiaPlexQ kit is a real-time polymerase chain reaction test kit that can produce a diagnosis in under two hours. Solgent was already exporting the test kits to the US, with the first batch of 150,000 test kits going out last month. Last month, the company a

South Korea’s instant coffee giant Dongsuh Foods Corporation is continuing to back aspiring female writers and is donating books to libraries as part of its efforts to support the local literary scene, the firm said Sunday. The coffee and tea manufacturer also hosts an annual go competition, one of its major corporate responsibility projects for the past 21 years. Launched in 1989, Dongsuh’s biennial Dongsuh Literary Award has been at the forefront of cultivating new female writer

Samsung, SK, Lotte chiefs increase internal communication to encourage ‘new-normal’ business operations

Lotte Shopping Co., the operator of South Korea's biggest department store chain, said Sunday it will sell 121 brick-and-mortar stores within this year amid the new coronavirus impact on the retail industry. Lotte Shopping runs about 700 department stores, large discount stores, supermarkets and LOHB's online shopping mall's offline stores, and was originally planning to sell 200 of them over the next three to five years to strengthen the e-commerce business. "The company has decided t

South Korean telecommunication firms said Saturday they have released various services and content related to the country‘s professional baseball league as they try to attract baseball fans at home amid the coronavirus pandemic. The new Korea Baseball Organization season started May 5 after South Korea managed to flatten the curve of new virus cases, but games have been played without spectators due to infection risks. As fans are not allowed to see games from the stands, the country&

South Korean carriers are moving to relaunch their long-waited international routes as well as expand domestic flights, slowly recovering from the impact of COVID-19 outbreak, industry sources said Friday. According to the country’s largest LCC by sales Jeju Air, it will resume operation of Incheon-Manila route once a week from June 6.  The airliner said it was due to the demand from Korean residents living in the Philippines.  Jeju Air currently runs service to three oversea

Celltrion Pharm, a chemical drugs unit under the wing of Celltrion Group, has vowed to push harder to advance its human immunodeficiency virus drug pipeline, to move ahead of competitors that face a slowdown in pharmaceutical supply due to COVID-19. Celltrion Pharm said Friday that it will increase its workforce by 15 percent for its plant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to run the facility around the clock for an expanded attention to its HIV treatment pipeline, CT-G7. This is a stra

Samsung Electronics has sent around 300 semiconductor engineers to Xian, China, to accelerate the work to expand the second NAND flash line there, the company said Friday. The workforce departed from Incheon International Airport Friday morning through the fast-track corridor allowed for businesses under an agreement between the South Korean and Chinese governments. Samsung has sent the engineers just five days after its de facto leader Lee Jae-yong visited the plant in addition to some 20

South Korean food company Pulmuone said Friday it has completed the construction of Pulmuone Institute of Technology, the first research and development center that has received certification from the US-based Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. According to the company, its new institute received a “Gold” level in LEED, which is one of the widely used green building rating system. Built in the designated biotechnology zone, in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, the R&a

Tmon, an e-commerce platform in South Korea, promised Friday to turn profit this year as it marks its 10th anniversary. With the goal of going public, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer Lee Jin-won revealed his ambition to lead the e-commerce market. “Tmon is a company that has been labeled the most as ‘the industry’s first,’ in Korea’s e-commerce market. We started as the country’s first social-commerce (provider), and now created the title ‘

The Korean CMO to manufacture commercial batches of GSK’s lupus treatment Benlysta