G-Star 2019, the biggest annual game convention in Korea, is to see attendance from a slew of notable players in the game industry, but several will be missing from the picture. Biggest local game companies Nexon and NCSoft are not participating in this year’s event, with the former citing a desire to focus on its games in development and the latter citing the need to direct all its time and manpower to the imminent launch of its new mobile game Lineage2M. Smilegate and Kakao Games have al

The port city of Busan is expected to see a splurge of footfalls in November, with Korea’s biggest annual game convention G-Star slated to return Nov. 14-17 at Bexco.On the eve of the game trade show, the yearly Korea Game Award ceremony will reward the best games of the year at the Cultural Hall at Centum City, the city’s largest department store complex. Last year’s winners were Pearl Abyss’ Black Desert Mobile and Nexon’s Durango: Wild Lands. Visitors are given p

SK hynix is considering revising its dividend policy for shareholders due to depleting cash flow, the company said Thursday, amid a downturn in the memory chip market.“As the cash flow has worsened this year, it may be difficult to maintain the current dividend policy,” said Sk Hynix CFO Cha Jin-seok. “The company is currently reviewing the plan.” The plan was announced during a conference call with investors on its third-quarter earnings.  The world’s second-l

ULSAN -- In a dark chamber with thick concrete walls at Samsung SDI’s battery manufacturing site in Ulsan on Wednesday, two officials confidently demonstrated the safety of its new energy storage system in the event of a fire. They deliberately made a hole in two ESS modules -- an older version and a new model equipped with fire blockers and insulators -- by banging a nail into them to induce spontaneous combustion. After about three minutes, there was a bang and a sizable flame in the old

Korean steel giant Posco saw its operating profit drop 32 percent in the third quarter from a year prior over rising raw material costs, the company said Thursday.Its operating profit marked 1.04 trillion won ($887 million), with sales falling 2.6 percent to 15.9 trillion won, it said. Its net profit halved to 496.8 billion won in the July-September period, from a net profit of 1.05 trillion won a year earlier. The earnings reflected rising material costs, dragging operating profit down 8.5 perc

South Korean video game developer NCSoft expects rosy fourth-quarter earnings following the launch of its new high-end mobile game Lineage2M. Lineage2M’s advance sign-ups have surpassed 5 million in 32 days, setting a record as the fastest rate among every other games in the domestic market. The previous title was held by Lineage M, at 53 days. Lineage M, also by NCSoft, had recorded 5.5 million early sign-ups, the biggest volume on record.  NCSoft predicts Lineage2M will renew this r

LG Household & Health Care has reported a record-high third quarter performance on Thursday, which the firm attributed to the continued trend of premium beauty products. LG H&H posted an operating profit of 311.8 billion won ($266 million) in Q3, up by 12.4 percent on-year. Its sales came at 1.96 trillion won, increased 13.1 percent from last year.  The company said despite deepening concerns in the overall Asian economy, the consumer demand for luxury cosmetics has continued,

Beauty and fashion powerhouse LVMH’s cosmetics retailer Sephora opened its first store in Korea in the capital’s posh Gangnam on Thursday. The brick-and-mortar Sephora store is located inside Parnas Mall in Samseong-dong, showcasing some 100 different cosmetics and perfume brands including its own Sephora collection. “Korean market has the most vibrant, dynamic and trend-savvy customers who have high understanding of beauty products,” said Benjamin Vuchot, president

Hyundai Motor Group said Thursday its operating profit in the third quarter fell 69.4 percent on-quarter, after having injected some 600 billion won ($511 million) to settle US lawsuits regarding faulty engines.According to Hyundai, its third-quarter operating profit is estimated at 378.5 billion won, while sales came in at 26.9 trillion won. Earlier this month, Hyundai announced a lifetime warranty for its 4.69 million faulty Theta 2 GDi engines in its vehicles, following massive recalls a

The Korea International Trade Association held the first Korea-Turkmenistan business council with the Turkmenistan Chamber of Commerce on Thursday in Seoul as a follow-up to the summit between the two nations held in April. The council was held to discuss how Korean companies can enter into promising fields in Turkmenistan such as energy, transportation, water environment and industries, including textiles, information and communications technology and shipbuilding, KITA said. The plenary s

E-commerce retailer eBay Korea, which operates Gmarket, Auction and G9, shared Thursday that the key reason for its dominance in the industry is its Smile service that creates a convenient online experience.Its online payment system SmilePay, at the forefront of the Smile service, was introduced in 2014. The system allows users to store credit card information online, drastically reducing purchasing time. According to the company, the system accounted for more than 53 percent of all payments mad

Hyundai Motor Group has unveiled the new design and specifications of its premium flagship sedan Grandeur’s sixth-generation model.The drastic design changes of the New Grandeur model were highly anticipated as Hyundai recently adopted the concept of “sensuous sportiness,” focusing on making the car body longer and sleeker, aiming for futuristic automotive designs.  For the first time, Hyundai has applied an integrated-type front grill and head lamp design, decorating the

South Korea will launch a nationwide shopping festival next month in conjunction with major shopping malls and retailers to attract overseas tourists and boost domestic consumption, the event's organizers said Thursday. The annual Korea Sale FESTA will kick off for a 22-day run on Nov. 1, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. As of Thursday, around 600 companies have expressed an intention to participate in the event, up 150 from a year earlier.South Korea will promote closer

Asiana Airlines said Wednesday that it will offer job experience opportunities to teenagers at the education donation exhibition taking place from Wednesday to Saturday at Kintex in Ilsan. The eighth annual event hosted by the Education Ministry invites some 150,000 teenagers to experience different job and career opportunities, with some 120 companies participating.  Asiana has been taking part in the exhibition for eight consecutive years, hoping to nurture talent in the aviation ind

Samsung BioLogics has turned to black in the third quarter as per its latest earnings report Wednesday.The company officially posted revenue of 184.8 billion won ($157.6 million), 23.6 billion won operating profit and 44.1 billion won net profit in the third quarter. The revenue was a 136.6 percent increase from the second quarter. BioLogics cited the performance was due to a slowdown in its first and second plants and newly recognized profits from the third plant. A slowdown is a necessary bien