South Korea's exports of instant noodles surpassed the $100 million mark for the first time last month on the growing popularity of Korean culture and food, data showed Sunday. Exports of instant noodles, or "ramyeon" in Korean, reached $108.6 million in April, up 46.8 percent from a year earlier, growing at the fastest pace since May 2022, according to the Korea Customs Service. It marks the first time the monthly figure has exceeded $100 million, the agency said. Ramyeon exports have

South Korean builder Daewoo Engineering & Construction Chairman Jung Won-ju met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, who was visiting South Korea for a bilateral summit, to seek support for the builder's expansion plans in Cambodia, the company said Friday. During the meeting, Jung requested support for Korean companies making inroads investments into the Cambodian market and discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation between the two nations, the firm said. "Daewoo E&C, as o

Samsung Electronics is expected to introduce its new flagship Exynos 2500 mobile processor made with its cutting-edge 3-nanometer process, in the upcoming Galaxy S25 smartphone lineup, according to industry sources on Friday. The envisioned chipset, which will be produced on Samsung Foundry’s second-generation 3nm process node using the advanced Gate-all-around technology, will be designed with the main focus on improving power efficiency. Samsung, the world's top memory chipmaker, ha

CJ Group's health and beauty drugstore CJ Olive Young showed stronger year-on-year performance in the first quarter, largely driven by robust sales in foreign markets and an increasing number of foreign visitors to Korea. According to its regulatory filing Thursday, the company reported 1.08 trillion won ($797 billion) in sales for the first quarter of the year, up 30 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The profit figures were not immediately disclosed. The company first

SK, LG and Lotte make push for multi-billion dollar market

The price of five out of eight major dishes at local eateries in Seoul increased again in April, as the cost of eating out continues to rise in the nation's capital. The Korea Consumer Agency, an affiliate of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, compiles the monthly average prices for eight major dining options in South Korea, in a bid to provide the public with an understanding of the changing costs of dining out. Of the eight, the prices of gimbap, jajangmyeon, kalguksu, naengmyeon and kimchi

Metanation and Memetoon inked a deal Tuesday for a global content market-focused partnership, which will involve projects incorporating blockchain Web3 technology across different industries such as webtoons, movies and dramas. Webtoon service Memetoon, which has an international publisher, plans a range of services involving secondary copyright, NFTs, AI, tournaments, donations, sponsorships, support, and gaming, utilizing its token and point systems. "We aim to provide a decentralized mod

By Lee Seok-woo In recent years, the rapid decline of biodiversity worldwide due to deteriorating global environmental conditions, including climate change, has become a pressing concern. The need for urgent measures to conserve biodiversity has never been more critical. Arboretums play a crucial role in preserving plant species diversity, especially in the conservation of indigenous plant species. Additionally, the diverse forms of gardens being established in urban areas are increasingly recog

Woori Financial Group on Thursday announced a new partnership with Indian auto giant Tata Motors as part of its strategy to expand its presence in the global auto finance market. Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong and Tata Motors Executive Director Girish Wagh held an agreement signing ceremony for business cooperation at Woori’s headquarters in Seoul on Thursday. Tata Motors is a flagship subsidiary of India's top conglomerate Tata Group, accounting for around a third of th

Starbucks Korea announced Thursday that the company has introduced a faster hiring process that will halve the time to recruit baristas and workers at its branches. “The existing hiring process takes around 50 days to recruit new employees, but the new hiring process will take roughly three weeks,” an official from Starbucks Korea said. According to Starbucks Korea, the new hiring process will be tested at 50 of its branches across the country. The company could extend the adoption o

Despite self-rescue efforts, a hike in electricity prices is inevitable, the Korea Electric Power Corp. Chief Executive Officer Kim Dong-cheol said Thursday. Explaining how the company was able to reduce its snowballing debt through all-out efforts, including a massive personnel restructuring, Kim noted that Korea's electricity prices are far lower than other countries. "The cost of purchasing electricity surged from 2021, but we could not shift the burden into electricity prices, and

Motional, Hyundai Motor Group’s robotaxi service joint venture in the United States, has hit a rough patch recently, facing major investor pullouts, a delayed service launch and a drastic 40 percent workforce reduction. This turbulence comes as Elon Musk recently announced Tesla’s plans to launch its robotaxi service in August, which experts say has a simpler AI architecture that is less costly to train and run than rivals. Experts say they still expect industry-wide investments in f

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed the world’s first technology to extend the lifespan of electric vehicle batteries by 10 to 20 percent, KAIST said Thursday. The study, which was supported by Hyundai Motor Group, came up with a triazole-motivated electrolyte additive that can significantly increase the duration of lithium-ion batteries. According to the researchers, the new electrolyte additive succeeded in protecting lithium iron phosphat

Over 300 employees of GS Caltex and their families planted 10,000 East Asian seepweeds, which enhance mudflats' carbon capture capacity and carbon absorption rates, in the Ramsar site at the Julpo Bay Tidal Flat Ecological Park in North Jeolla Province on Sunday, the South Korean oil refiner said Thursday. The eco-friendly project began in April when the company launched the campaign to encourage employees to buy 3.3 square meters of the mudflat to prevent reckless development of the natura

Kyobo Life Insurance CEO and Chair Shin Chang-jae (center) poses for photos with insurance consultants at the 2024 Kyobo MDRT Day, held at the insurer’s training institute in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Tuesday. The MDRT, which stands for Million Dollar Round Table, brings leading life insurance professionals together. Around 490 Kyobo MDRT insurance consultants were in attendance. At the event, Shin said, "Insurance consultants are more than just sellers of insurance product