South Korea's per capita annual rice consumption fell to a record low in 2019 amid changes in diet and eating habits, data showed Thursday. Per capita average annual rice consumption hit a fresh low of 59.2 kilograms last year, down 3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the first time for the amount to fall below the 60-kilogram threshold. Rice is a key staple food for Koreans, but its consumption has been on a steady decline since 1980,

Hanjin Group Chairman and Korean Air CEO Cho Won-tae will be onboard the chartered flight that the government has arranged to bring back South Korean citizens from Wuhan, China, industry sources said Thursday. The government plans to send chartered flights of Korean Air’s A330 and B747 which can seat around 300 and 400 people, respectively, on Thursday and Friday, to bring back some 700 Koreans from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. The first of the four flights was set

Rapid growth of 5G market likely to help improve tech giant’s earnings in 2020, leading to recovery in memory demand

The Mobile World Congress 2020 will proceed as planned, according to a statement released by London-based GSMA on Tuesday local time. The event will kick off in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 24-27. The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with almost 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem. It organizes MWC events annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai. The announcement comes amid mounting concerns over the novel coronavirus

SK Group is fast catching up with South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group, even as Samsung Group continued to maintain the top spot last year with a sizable lead over them, according to a report on Wednesday. Samsung Group has remained the largest conglomerate in terms of fair value, revenue, operating profit and operating margin for the past five years, local corporate research center Korea CXO Institute said. Fair value represents the estimated worth of various

Lotte Chilsung Beverage said Wednesday it has rolled out bottled mineral water without plastic labels. The new product, 1.5-liter Icis 8.0 Eco, has its brand name engraved on the plastic bottle, taking away the hassle of having to remove the label before recycling it. The exclusion of the label will save about 4.3 tons of packing materials, the company said. The product will be released on Lotte Chilsung’s official shopping site and other online channels, in two bundles, each consist

KT&G partners with Phillip Morris International to distribute heat-not-burn lil cigarettes worldwide

South Korea had the largest trade surplus with Hong Kong last year, data from the Korea Customs Service showed. Its trade deficit with Japan remained the largest, although the size was the lowest in 16 years due to Tokyo’s restrictions on exports of high-tech materials and the consequent boycott of Japanese products. While China was the country with Korea’s largest trade surplus for 10 years, Hong Kong topped the list last year. Poland joined the list of 10 countries with which K

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Home Mini will likely be launched soon as the company plans to link the voice-activated AI speaker with most of its upcoming home appliances, according to its head of digital appliances on Wednesday. Lee Jae-seung, executive vice president and head of the digital appliances business at Samsung, highlighted the role of the artificial intelligence speaker that will connect almost all Samsung products this year during a press conference to unveil the company&rsqu

A senior executive from Renault Group visited the South Korean unit’s manufacturing plant in Busan on Wednesday, amid deepening labor and management conflict and falling productivity at Renault Samsung Motors. According to the South Korean unit of the French automotive group, Renault Group’s Deputy Alliance Executive Vice President Jose Vicente de los Mozos visited the Busan plant and held a meeting with manager-level employees. The company said the trip was part of his tour of Ren

Hyundai Wia said Wednesday that it has clinched a 702 billion won ($596 million) deal with European and US automakers to supply constant-velocity joints (CV joints).  Hyundai Motor Group’s automotive parts manufacturing arm did not disclose the names of the companies, but said that under the deal 55 percent of the parts will be supplied to eco-friendly vehicles. This is its first major deal with overseas carmakers.  CV joints enable a drive shaft to transmit power from the eng

Local maritime police took emergency action Wednesday after crude oil spilled from a buoy -- an offshore crude oil loading facility -- installed off the coast of Ulsan, according to police and news reports. Police said oil bands were found at around 8 a.m. about 3.6 kilometers south of Ganjeolgot, Ulju County. A local merchant ship passing through the point reported it to police, saying brown oil was floating on the sea. The oil bands were reportedly distributed hundreds of meters long and 1

As the outbreak of China’s new coronavirus rapidly spreads, concerns have been raised about the Korean economy that heavily depends on China, the nation’s top export destination by volume. On Wednesday, China confirmed the number of deaths from the coronavirus epidemic at 132 and the number of confirmed cases at around 6,000. If the coronavirus turns into a prolonged outbreak, “the biggest concern is the impact on the Chinese economy,” said Park Sang-hyun, an analyst

McDonald’s Korea announced Wednesday the appointment of Antoni Martinez as the new managing director. He replaces Melanie Joh who resigned last month. Martinez has been market director for the southern region of Australia since January 2016. He joined McDonald’s in Victoria, Australia, in 2000 as a crew member.  “McDonald’s has a strong track record in Korea thanks to the team’s innovative approach over the years.” Martinez said in a statement. &ldquo

South Korea's air passenger traffic rose 5 percent last year from a year earlier on higher travel demand, the transport ministry said Wednesday. For the whole of 2019, 123 million passengers, including 90 million on international routes, flew with full-service and low-cost carriers, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The number of passengers on international routes jumped 5.2 percent on-year last year, mainly helped by increased numbers of flights by low-cost c