Air Busan Co., a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Monday it will enhance its operating system to prevent employees from working under the influence of alcohol this year. Pilots, flight attendants, aircraft maintenance managers and mechanics will be checked for alcohol levels before they report to work, the company said in a statement. (Yonhap)"If an employee's alcohol measurement exceeds the standard value, it is immediately reported to their managers via a short message service. The employee

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has conducted onsite investigations at the offices of the country’s two major flag carriers to secure evidence for its ongoing probe into management of their controversial mileage point policy, a source said Sunday.　The Fair Trade Commission recently sent investigators to the headquarters of Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. in Seoul, according to the source. They are said to have collected relevant accounting and marketing data.(Yonhap)　The probe com

GM’s new Camaro SS is a rough diamond to Mercedes-Benz’s refined CLS 400 d 4Matic

SEJONG -- South Korea’s agro-fishery products are gaining popularity in China and Southeast Asia on the back of their reputation for quality, freshness and safety.According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, exports of fishery products hit an all-time high of $2.386 billion in 2018, surpassing the former record of $2.383 billion set in 2012.While the largest and second-largest export destinations for marine products were Japan with $760 million and China with $390 million, exports to Japan

On the Bar is a regular column written by attorneys at Yoon & Yang LLC on various laws and regulations that affect running a business in Korea. The content provided here is general legal information. -- Ed.Last year for the first time, the Korean Supreme Court recognized a cryptocurrency as an “asset with measurable value.” In its landmark ruling on May 30, 2018, the Supreme Court held that cryptocurrency has a property value and is subject to confiscation as criminal proceeds if obtained illega

JW Pharmaceutical said Sunday that it had gained the South Korean drug regulator’s nod to begin domestic sales of the hemophilia treatment Hemlibra, developed by Chugai, a Roche-owned company.JW Pharmaceutical obtained an exclusive license to sell Hemlibra on the Korean market in 2017.The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has now approved the antibody for the treatment of patients with hemophilia A, with or without factor VIII inhibitors. (flickr @zhouxuan12345678)Hemlibra is the first, and so fa

HIGH TECH CLOSET -- A model poses next to LG Electornics’ latest refurbished steam closet that hits the local market, Monday. The second product to LG’s high-end “Black Edition” smart closet line, the Tromm Styler Black Edition Slim has reduced in size from the previous capacity to hang six items to four, the company said. Its full mirror facade aspires to add to interior-design. Tromm Styler was globally acknowledged at the CES 2019 with “CES 2019 Innovation Awards.” (LG Electronics)

Samsung Bioepis’ Ontruzant, a breast cancer treatment biosimilar referencing Roche’s Herceptin, won US Food and Drug Administration approval Saturday, expanding the list of Herceptin successors in the US market to three.Ontruzant is the third FDA-approved biosimilar of Switzerland firm Roche’s blockbuster breast cancer antibody. Its FDA approval is preceded by Mylan’s Ogivri in December 2017, and Celltrion’s Herzuma in December 2018.The three firms’ biosimilars are expected to simultaneously hit

Amid rumors about whether LG Electronics intends to join the upcoming foldable smartphone competition, a source confirmed to The Korea Herald on Sunday that the company will showcase a foldable smartphone exclusively to its business-to-business customers at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona next month. “LG will showcase the foldable smartphone under development to its VIP customers at a private booth to be set up the MWC,” said the source, who is familiar with the company’s mobile communic

Exports of small and medium-sized South Korean firms hit a record high of $114.6 billion last year, government data showed Sunday, due to a robust global manufacturing sector.The figures represent an 8 percent increase from 2017, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It was the second straight year that the export volume of small and medium-sized firms surpassed $100 billion.By product, plastic goods remained the top export item for the second consecutive year with

South Korea will spend 7.3 billion won ($6.51 million) this year to develop innovative technologies for aerial, marine and ground-based unmanned vehicles, the government said Sunday.　The Ministry of Science and ICT said it has finalized the scale of various projects to secure core technologies that can allow autonomous vehicles to operate in the air, on land and at sea.  Google`s self-driving vehicle (Google)　“(The government) will make efforts to overcome the limits of commercialization of unma

Hyundai Heavy, DSME log lump sum orders this week

Biosimilar maker wins patent nullity suit against Samsung Biogen

South Korea's automobile exports shot up 22.6 percent on-year in December on the back of the release of new models from local carmakers, government data showed Friday.According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, automakers here shipped 219,313 cars overseas last month, rising sharply from a year earlier, with the value estimated at $3.78 billion. (Yonhap)For the whole of 2018, the number of cars shipped abroad edged down 3.2 percent to 2.44 million units, or $40.9 billion due to the

North European and classic American styles have prevailed among interior design fanatics in South Korea in recent years.But before the invasion of Western culture, it was mostly wooden furniture -- made from either maple or paulownia -- that was favored by aristocrats in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Korea Furniture Museum in Seongbuk-dong, northern Seoul, invites visitors to take a break -- and perhaps, travel back in time -- inside hanok, or traditional Korean houses, where more than 2,500