More than 300 cases of Invossa side effects have been reported, the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee said Friday. Invossa is the first-ever gene therapy drug from Korea that treats joint inflammation. Kolon Life Science acquired the sales approval of the drug in July 2017, only to have it revoked this May after the company admitted mislabeling the drug’s main ingredient.When applying for Invossa’s commercialization with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety here,

Over the past five years, Lotte Group was the South Korean conglomerate that received the highest number of sanctions from the nation’s antitrust watchdog, data showed Friday. According to the data supplied by Rep. Chun Hae-chul of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the Fair Trade Commission sanctioned Lotte on 81 occasions between 2014 and 2018. The group that received the next-greatest number of sanctions was Hyundai Motor Group with 76, followed by Kolon Group with 63, SK Group with

SK Telecom Co. will supply its fifth-generation network solutions to Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc., industry sources said Friday, as South Korea's top mobile carrier expands its presence in the sector.SK Telecom will export its 5G network designs, optimized communication quality solutions for 5G, 5G antennas, and radio frequency transmission technologies, according to the sources. SK Telecom did not reveal the value of the deal, but industry insiders speculate Rakuten will invest more t

Public institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have not recovered financially from past failures of overseas resource development projects, data showed Thursday.According to data supplied by Rep. Wi Seong-gon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the combined debt of 41 ministry-affiliated public institutions stood at 182 trillion won ($150 billion) last year, up 8 trillion won from the previous year.  “The debt of the public organizations has grown

　South Korea’s trade surplus in beauty products hit an all-time high of 5.47 trillion won ($4.56 billion) last year on the back of strong demand from China and other Asian countries, government data showed.　Outbound shipments of cosmetics stood at 6.89 trillion won last year, up 23.3 percent on-year, while imports grew 6.8 percent to 1.42 trillion won, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. (Yonhap)

South Korean steelmaker Posco said Thursday it has hit the 1-billion ton milestone of crude steel production since 1973, amid intensifying oversupply globally. The volume is equivalent to the material needed to produce 1 billion midsized cars or 20,000 units of Lotte Tower, the nation’s tallest skyscraper in Seoul.Posco began producing the first molten metal at its blast furnace in 1973. It produced 1 million tons of crude steel, supplied steel for 25,000 cars and provided 12,000 compensat

Samsung Electronics’ third-quarter earnings are in the limelight amid emerging signs of a recovery in demand for memory chips, according to industry sources Thursday. The South Korean tech giant is scheduled to announce its preliminary earnings guidance next week. Market analysts forecast it has posted an operating profit of over 7 trillion won ($5.8 billion) in the July-September period. Shinhan Financial Investment predicted in a report that the tech giant will post 60.64 trillion won in

LG Electronics said Thursday the company has expanded its lineup of high-definition projectors by launching an LED 4K projector in addition to the laser versions. The LG 4K CineBeam meets the need of consumers who enjoy watching movies at home. It offers a large-size projected display of up to 140 inches.  The latest model uses four LED light sources unlike existing LED projectors by adding one more blue light, which enhances brightness and definition. Google Assistant and LG’s smart

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety inspected six gene therapy companies as a follow-up measure to the Invossa issue, a wire report said Thursday.Invossa, a gene therapy for joint inflammation treatment by Kolon Life Science, was stripped of its sales approval in May this year after the company belatedly reported a mislabeling of the key cell used in the drug. Invossa obtained the MFDS approval in July 2017 and started commercial sale in November of the same year.While attempting to make inroad

South Korea's top two electronics brands, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., took up four of the top-five recommended small flat-screen TVs in the United States, industry sources said Thursday.Among 32-inch flat-screen TVs available in the market, Samsung took up the top two seats, followed by LG in the third and fourth spots, according to Consumer Reports. Samsung's QLED 4K TV took the top position for its top-notch resolution and connectivity with other smart devices, the US indu

Han Sung Motor's Dream Gream project fosters young artists through diverse opportunities

Average prices for DRAM widely used for PCs and solid-state drives have stabilized for a second straight month, raising expectations for a rebound in the coming months, according to the industry on Wednesday. Market researcher DRAM eXchange said the price of 8-gigabit DDR4 mainly used for PCs stood at $2.94 on Sept. 30, unchanged from the end of August. The 128-Gb multiple-level cells going into SSDs and USB drives was $4.11 last month, at the same level from the previous month.  It marked

Samsung Next has invested in a quantum computing startup spun off from a Harvard institution, in a move seen as the conglomerate’s preparations for next-generation computing, according to the industry on Wednesday. The startup investment arm of Samsung Electronics said on its blog that it has invested $2.7 million in Aliro Technologies with a group of investors including Flybridge Capital Partners. The latest investment was financed by its Q Fund, created last year to invest in innova

　　South Korea’s blockchain fund Hashed said Wednesday it has invested in a project to boost the Ethereum blockchain system’s scalability to accelerate the development of decentralized applications across industries. 　Called Skale Network, the project has raised $17.1 million so far to launch its mainnet by the fourth quarter of this year. Various accelerators worldwide have participated in the project, including ConsenSys Labs, Multicoin Capital, Recruit Holdings and Winklevoss Capit

Instead of carrying a driver’s license, residents of South Korea will be able to prove their driving qualification via a smartphone app next year. Korean National Policy Agency said Wednesday it had agreed with the country’s three major mobile carriers to develop a driver license verification system. SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus will introduce the platform as early the first quarter of next year.  People will be able to store their driver license on the app after registering it t