Beauty retailer Sephora, owned by French luxury group LVMH, will open its first store in Korea on Oct. 24, the group said Monday.Sephora said it has decided to enter Korea amid growing interest here in multi-brand health and beauty stores. “It is exciting for us to introduce Sephora to the Korean market, which leads the global beauty trend. Korea is one of the most dynamic markets in Asia. I expect Sephora will serve as a place to exchange domestic and global beauty trends,” said Benjamin Vuchot

Korea’s tallest skyscraper is a double-edged sword for its owner, as the building could either become a landmark that adds value or end up being a costly, low-liquidity asset.South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group has bet on its building becoming a landmark. Lotte World Tower, which came about from a long-held dream of Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, was completed in December 2016, after yearslong disputes over its height, safety and profitability, just to name a few.The tower wa

Key corporate and political figures pay tribute to late Chairman Cho Yang-ho

The world’s largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries said Sunday it has signed contracts to build vessels, including liquefied natural gas carriers, valued at $600 million over the past two weeks. The Korean shipbuilder said it has signed a contract with a Greek company to build a 174,000 square-meter LNG vessel -- its latest deal in two weeks. HHI said it has signed contracts to make a total of five carriers, including LNG vessels, with Greek, Japanese and Korean firms. The names of the com

LG Electronics launched its latest premium smartphone, the LG G8 ThinQ, in North America on Friday via major mobile carriers including Verizon Communications, AT&T, Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile, the tech firm said Sunday. (LG Electronics)The new model features a biometric unlock system that recognizes the pattern of veins on a user’s palm. It also has a fingerprint sensor and a rear camera assembly that is flush with the glass. In addition, the call-receiver speaker has been removed to allow the or

Harman International, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, has maintained its top position in the global wireless speaker market for the last four consecutive years, Samsung announced Sunday. According to data by Futuresource Consulting, Harman’s premium audio brand JBL and Harman Kardon claimed 35.7 percent of the global market last year, retaining the market leader’s position since 2015.  (Samsung Electronics)US firm Harman was acquired by Samsung in 2016 with an aim to apply its

The South Korean government on Friday pledged state-led efforts to prevent widespread smartphone addition, as nearly 1 in 5 Koreans surveyed have become “too dependent” on smartphones.During a meeting with government agencies, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced plans to prevent smartphone addition, including launching a government-led task force with the participation of 11 ministries and 14 agencies. The project will focus on four areas: education, counseling, communication and social in

The funeral for Hanjin Group and Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho began Friday. Cho’s body was transported to a funeral hall at Yonsei Severance Hospital in Seoul after arriving at Incheon Airport from the US at around 5 a.m. Friday. Korean Air CEO Cho Won-tae enters a funeral hall at Yonsei Severance Hospital in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)Cho’s first son, Korean Air CEO Cho Won-tae, and second daughter, former Korean Air Executive Director Cho Hyun-min, were seen leaving the airport on Friday morn

With ongoing market speculation on Hanjin Group’s ownership following its chairman’s death on Monday, head of the country’s Fair Trade Commission said Friday it might delay the designation of the owner of the group. During a radio interview, FTC chief Kim Sang-jo said that considering the current situation, schedule of the designation may be delayed by two weeks to May 15.On May 1 each year, the Fair Trade Commission designates an individual or a legal entity as the business group’s de-facto chi

The South Korean government on Friday welcomed a ruling by the World Trade Organization that upheld the government’s import ban on Japanese seafood in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.“The government has been making all-out efforts to follow the principle of making the health and safety of the people a priority, and the government highly appraises the WTO’s decision,” the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Energy said in a statement, adding that it would continue the import ban on Japanese

Hyundai Motor and local partner Thanh Cong Group in Vietnam have presented a Santa Fe to Park Hang-seo, the South Korean coach currently leading the Southeast Asian nation’s national football team. The SUV given to Park was assembled at a complete knock-down plant the two companies completed in a joint venture early this year. “We offer Santa Fe to Park Hang-seo who has given pride to Vietnamese people, so that he could do better,” a Hyundai official said. 

Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Thursday that its plant in the southern port city of Busan will stop operations for four days starting later this month.Unionized workers at the factory will go on a so-called premium vacation for two days starting on April 29 and for another two days from May 2, officials said. This Yonhap file photo shows unionized workers of Renault Samsung Motors Corp. holding a press conference in the southern port city of Busan, demanding higher pay. (Yonhap)The vacation i

Under its fourth-generation leader Koo Kwang-mo, LG Group is expanding investments in startups in the fields of latest technologies such as mobility and virtual reality in Silicon Valley, according to the group on Thursday. Chairman and CEO Koo visited Silicon Valley last week and toured the group’s venture capital arm, LG Technology Ventures, as part of the group’s efforts to increase investments in new future technologies. The group said the investment unit has invested a total of $19 million

Hyundai Motor said Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea East-West Power Co. and Deokyang, a local hydrogen producer, to test run a 1-megawatt fuel cell generator in the nation’s southeastern city Ulsan.Under their partnership, Hyundai will set up fuel cell power generation system, while EWP, an affiliate of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., will maintain the hydrogen-powered system and sell electricity generated from the plant. The hydrogen gas will be supplied by

　South Korea’s biggest mobile carrier, SK Telecom, has acquired a controlling stake in Seoul-based digital advertisement company Incross, with the aim of expanding into the media and commerce market. 　In a statement released Thursday, SKT said it had purchased a 34.6 percent stake in Incross for 53.5 billion won ($47.2 million) from NHN. Incross has provided online marketing services through internet and mobile advertisements since its establishment in 2017. 　The acquisition is expected to boost