Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group donated two eco-friendly trash skimmer boats to Vietnam, the group announced Thursday.On the occasion of World Environment Day on Wednesday, Hanwha Group hosted a donation ceremony of trash skimmer boats at Vinh Long in southern Vietnam. Some 80 officials representing Hanwha Group, Vietnam and the Global Green Growth Institute attended the event.The donated boats are to be used to collect trash floating on the Mekong River, Hanwha explained.According to the compa

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South Korea is behind advanced countries in terms of its efforts to seek environmentally sustainable energy development, a report released by the World Economic Forum showed Thursday.South Korea placed 48th spot among 115 countries surveyed in terms of the Energy Transition Index (ETI) in 2019. Among 32 nations categorized as advanced economies, South Korea ranked 30th, the report showed.The index evaluates a country's efforts to "transition to a secure, sustainable, affordable and inclusiv

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Government approval for wrinkle-smoothening botulinum toxin Medytoxin is proceeding as planned in China under the name Neuronox, Korean BTX maker Medytox said Wednesday in a regulatory filing.It came in response to a local media report that claimed the China Food and Drug Administration has ceased its review of Neuronox. On Wednesday, shares of Medytox shares closed at 435,000 won ($370), down 7.76 percent from a day earlier. Medytox said the Neuronox is in the final stage of the approval proces

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday joined a test drive of the nation’s first city bus powered by hydrogen and developed for commercial use, demonstrating his administration’s drive to nurture the development of fuel-cell electric vehicles. The president took the nation’s first hydrogen bus planned for regular intracity bus service at an event held on the sidelines of World Environment Day in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. It was the third test drive of hydrogen cars for M

South Korea has decided to change its liquor tax system for the first time in 50 years, shifting from a price-based to volume-based system, starting with domestically brewed beer and rice wine, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Wednesday. The tax revision bill for 2020 will state that liquor tax will be levied based on the amount of alcohol sold, rather than adopting ad valorem calculations, which is based on the retail base price. The government plans to submit the bill to the National A

The Minister for Food and Drug Safety on Wednesday apologized for authorizing the use of the gene therapy drug Invossa to treat arthritis. It has since revoked that approval. “I apologize for failing to thoroughly monitor the approval of Invossa and after-care (for patients),” Drug Safety Minister Lee Eui-kyung said at a press conference, adding that the ministry would do its best to prevent any recurrence and pass measures to keep patients safe.Earlier the same day, 10 South Korean

Samsung Electronics will further downsize its ailing smartphone business in China while seeking to expand growth in India, according to the industry on Wednesday. The world’s top smartphone vendor is reducing the workforce of its only mobile device factory in Huizhou, Guangdong province, reported Chinese English-language media outlet Caixin.The size of the reduction has not been confirmed, though the Chinese report said layoffs are being carried out on a voluntary basis, with employee

South Korea will toughen sanctions on habitual tax delinquents who owe huge sums, amid growing public criticism over the problem. “The government plans to toughen sanctions on taxpayers who habitually owe taxes despite being (financially) capable of paying, as public anger grows over the individuals who conceal their assets and live in luxury,” said a joint statement issued Wednesday by the ministries of finance, safety, health, law, justice, tax and customs. Beginning next year

Korea’s second-biggest game company Netmarble will release its new mobile game “BTS World” globally on June 26, the company announced Wednesday. The worldwide release excludes China, where governmental approval is a prerequisite for foreign games to launch. China has been reluctant to grant approval for Korean game companies since a 2017 political rift involving the deployment of US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in Korea.Netmarble explained that “BTS World&rd

Sinclair CEO says joint venture with SKT will launch in “couple of days” in Washington

A new technology partnership has been formed between South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and the United States’ AMD on low-power and high-performance mobile graphics, according to the companies Tuesday. Under the multiyear partnership, Samsung Electronics will license AMD’s graphics intellectual property, based on the recently announced, highly-scalable Radeon graphics architecture, for use in its mobile devices including smartphones. Samsung will pay AMD license fees and royalti

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it has embarked on initial research on the sixth-generation telecommunications network by launching a new research center. Samsung recently formed the Advanced Communications Research Center under Samsung Research, the company’s main R&D organization, based in southern Seoul. The tech giant has expanded the existing telecommunications research team to the level of a center after the launch of fifth-generation technologies.  “The current team