Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. (aT) said Thursday it is rebranding its flower business center to F Square, a cultural complex focusing on flowers.F Square will not only have functions the center previously provided, including the auction and wholesale of flowers, but it will also promote a new cultural space for flowers, such as by hosting a flower-themed flea market and displaying famous florists’ works.  aT will also launch the support program “Flower Youth,&rdquo

Biopharma company Merck said Thursday it is looking for 18 startups for its accelerator program in Darmstadt, Germany, and Shanghai, China. This round of participants will focus on four fields of research: biosensing and interfaces; liquid biopsy technologies; clean meat; and artificial intelligence-enabled health solutions. Merck will have 12 startups for its global headquarters in Darmstadt and six for the China Innovation Hub in Shanghai. It has hosted 57 startups since the accelerator p

Game company ports nostalgic PC games to mobile for millennials

Despite the fanfare from international media including CNN, BTS World, a simulation game featuring the award-winning K-pop group, received disappointing reviews the day after its launch.Netmarble released the much-publicized game on Wednesday, in 176 countries and 14 languages simultaneously. Users took to social media to complain of “technical difficulties” and “server failures.” Some found it inconvenient to have to use an additional 544 megabytes to optimize the g

BMW Korea, importer and distributer of the German luxury car, on Wednesday unveiled its face-lifted 7 series, targeting customers in theirs 30s and 40s, younger than its rival Mercedes-Benz.With its attractive kidney grille -- 50 percent larger than its predecessor -- the latest 7 series has deployed an L shape LED rear lamp and state-of-the-art drive assistant features to highlight its reputation as a high luxury sedan, the company said. The predecessor, the sixth-generation 7 Series, was unvei

South Korean game company Netmarble launched a new mobile game titled BTS World on Wednesday, featuring the world-famous K-pop star group. Downloads of the game kicked off simultaneously in 176 countries in 14 languages at 4 p.m. for early sign-ups, two hours ahead of the regular launch. Netmarble will exclusively play the new BTS song “Heartbeat” via the game as its background music. Until the “BTS World OST” album releases on Friday, the game is the only platform where

　For South Korean design firm OR Crew, design is not just about creating unique drawings or idiosyncratic buildings. It is more about sending a consistent visual signal about what those things represent. As social media introduce various communication methods, that philosophy is increasingly carrying weight. 　Having started off as a five-member team located in the port city of Busan, OR Crew focuses on how to materialize brand value and deliver it to the public. That’s the case regardless

SK hynix announced Wednesday it has started mass-producing 1-terabit NAND chips using its proprietary 4D platform to offer the industry’s largest memory storage capacity. According to the South Korean memory chip maker, the world’s first 128-layer triple-level cell 4D NAND chips with 1Tb storage will be released in the market in the second half of the year.  The company highlighted that the 128-layer 4D NAND flash has become available for commercial use just eight months after

Saudi Aramco vows to invest 7 trillion won in S-Oil, signs MOU with Hyundai for hydrogen ecosystem

Head of open innovation platform finds Korean startups’ craziness, cool new way of thinking relevant to future mobility

Coupang/ Online shopping mall  South Korea’s delivery service has evolved to allow customers to expect next-day arrival of their ordered items, or even receive parcels in just a few hours. At the center of such delivery innovation stands Coupang, an e-commerce company which rolled out a Rocket Delivery service in 2014. Rocket Delivery guarantees next-day delivery of ordered goods when a customer places an order by 12 a.m. Taking the retail business and e-commerce industry by

What was once deemed to be the biggest deal in the industry -- the sale of Nexon, Korea’s biggest game company by revenue -- reportedly came to a sputter, Wednesday. Kim Jung-ju, the CEO of Nexon’s holding company, NXC, reportedly put the brakes on the sale of his and his wife’s 98.64 percent controlling stake in NXC due to unsatisfactory offers from bidders, the Korea Economic Daily reported.Nexon Korea was unable to comment on the matter. NXC owns 47.98 percent of shares

Woongjin Coway/ Clothing purifierSouth Korean water and air purifier maker Woongjin Coway unveiled a four-in-one air purifying solution in May that helps to remove fine dust residue on clothing.The Coway Four Seasons Clothing Purifier is designed to get rid of fine dust particles or bad odor left on clothing while purifying and dehumidifying the surrounding air at the same time. According to the company, the purifier has a four-part system that ensures clothes come out clean and wrinkle-free.Fir

Pantene(P&G)/ Personal care product P&G Korea’s Pantene is a hair care brand that contains provitamins that nourish and restore shine to damaged hair. The name Pantene derives from the name for a derivative of moisturizing and regenerating provitamin B5, Panthenol. Pantene boasts of its Pro-V solution as one that is developed through 70 years of work by P&G researchers. Panthenol was first developed in Switzerland in 1940 as a vitamin B5 derivative. Once absorbed into skin

South Korea’s top steelmaker Posco said Wednesday it will invest a total of 20 billion won ($17.3 million) for the next five years to help small and midsized companies construct smart factories.The funds will go toward the construction of new smart factories as well as consulting programs for SMEs. Each SME can benefit from 20 million won to 100 million won in subsidies to build their own smart factories. Through consulting, Posco will also help SMEs find ways to improve manufacturing proc