BANGKOK -- The startup scene in Thailand is far from thriving, but industry watchers believe the next five to 10 years will bring pivotal changes to the Southeast Asian nation. Digital Econom Promotion Agency headquarters in Bangkok, ThailandThe Investor“Thailand is literally a gold mine for new opportunities,” Jayden Kang, executive director of Line’s startup investment program ScaleUp, told The Investor during a recent interview in Bangkok, just a week after the king’s coronation. Line has a h

Daewoong vows to prove Medytox‘s accusation groundless through ITC investigation

The construction of Incheon's new ferry passenger terminal, linking the western South Korean port to 10 Chinese cities, will be completed next month, officials said Monday.The Incheon Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries and the Incheon Port Authority said they will begin a pre-delivery inspection of New Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal Tuesday ahead of its completion slated for June 15.The construction of the new passenger terminal began in December 2016 with an investment of 15

Jeju Air Co., South Korea's biggest low-cost carrier by sales, said Monday it will open a Jeju-Fukuoka route in July to better serve its customers. Jeju Air plans to provide three flights a week from Jeju International Airport to Fukuoka starting from July 2, the company said in a statement.(Yonhap)"Jeju Air is the country's only carrier that will operate the Jeju-Fukuoka route to absorb growing travel demand to the resort location in the southern part of Japan," a company spokesman said. Curren

LG Electronics’ first 5G-powered smartphones have been fueling competition in a new network market where the nation’s three mobile carriers are in a fierce battle for subscribers since the commercial rollout of 5G network services last month. SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus have been scrambling to woo subscribers since LG’s V50 ThinQ hit the market Saturday, offering substantial subsidies and trying out other marketing gimmicks. Mobile carriers appear to be taking the launch of the V50 thinQ as an o

South Korea’s export-reliant economy is likely to suffer a setback as a trade battle between the world’s two largest economies is escalating, according to a local trade organization on Sunday. According to a report released by the Korea International Trade Association, the country is predicted to see a drop of over 0.14 percent in annual exports following the US’ recent move to increase tariffs on Chinese goods. On Friday, the US increased tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent

A battery supply deal with German automaker Volkwagen is at the center of a lawsuit initiated by LG Chemical against SK Innovation in the US, court documents indicated Sunday. In a complaint filed by LG Chem with the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, the South Korean battery maker claimed that its smaller rival SK Innovation had undermined its business by unfairly pursuing the deal to supply Volkswagen with EV batteries in the US.In the document, LG Chem accused SK Innov

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews with up-and-coming startups in the biotech sector in cooperation with the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization. -- Ed. The development process for a novel drug -- from the discovery of a drug candidate through the preclinical trial phase, on to clinical trial phases 1, 2 and 3 and finally commercialization -- normally requires 10 years and at least 1 trillion won ($858 million).What innovative biotech startups do to sustain their busines

South Korea’s largest gas industry conference to discuss the future of the industry was held in Daegu last week, with around 200 theses presented and exhibitions organized by public and private gas-related firms. The three-day symposium, called 2019 APGC & KIGAS Spring Conference, took place from Wednesday at Daegu Exhibition and Convention Center, sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Attendants take a photo at 2019 APGC & KIGAS Spring Conf

Lotte Chemical said Friday that its ethylene cracker complex in the US will start commercial operations this month, expressing hopes of expanding its global presence and diversifying its ingredients for petrochemical products. The $3.1 billion ECC project is a joint venture with Axiall Corp., which the Westlake Chemical Corp. acquired in 2016. Lotte owns 88 percent of the plant, while Westlake holds the remainder.  Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin (center right) and South Korean Prime Minister

Philip Morris Korea is opening its first Iqos pop-up shop in the city of Busan starting this month for a two-month run, the company said Friday. The store will open until June 29, in the Seomyeon district of downtown Busan.The pop-up shop will feature Iqos vape, Iqos 3 devices and accessories. Philip Morris Korea opens its first pop-up shop in Seomyeon, Busan. (Philip Morris Korea)“We have opened the first pop-up store in the international city of Busan. We hope that this serves as an opportunit

South Korea’s tech giant Samsung is making additional investments in India with the goal of making the 1.3 billion-population market its mobile business hub, according to industry and news reports Thursday. Samsung Electronics battery affiliate Samsung SDI and display panel maker Samsung Display recently invested around 25 billion rupees ($357.83 million) to build additional battery pack and mobile display assembly plants, according to local news outlets. The detailed amount of their respective

Leading fabless chipmaker says government needs to ensure domestic firms benefit for their R&D achievements, while companies try to create a culture of failures

With advanced manufacturing and export capacities, Renault Samsung Motors in South Korea stands out as strategically important for the global auto giant, with Renault Group’s head for the AMI and Asia-Pacific region, excluding China, coming to the country for a visit soon, according to the firm Thursday. AMI refers to Africa, the Middle East and India. In a video message, Fabrice Cambolive, chairman of Renault’s AMI-APAC headquarters, described Korea as one of the carmaker’s major manufacturing

SK hynix has delivered samples of its new 1-terabit quadruple-level cell product to major solid-state drive controller companies, according to the firm on Thursday. The product is applied with the firm’s own quadruple-level cell technology based on four-dimensional NAND flash.The Korean chipmaker intends to expand its NAND portfolio to 96-layer-based 1-terabit QLC products in response to the growing next-generation high-density memory market.QLC stores 4 bits of data in one NAND cell, allowing h