SK Biopharmaceuticals, the new drug development unit of South Korea’s telecom-to-energy conglomerate SK Group, said Monday it had finished developing an artificially intelligent drug development and design platform that is expected to speed up its new drug discovery efforts.　The AI platform was built by studying the vast amount of research on central nervous system disorders and developing optimized algorithms in partnership with SK Holdings C&C and its AI platform Aibril. AI-supported drug deve

In line with South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s state visit to France, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on Monday released a report highlighting Europe as the place to be for Korean startups.According to the report, Europe has concentrated efforts on creating an ecosystem for startups as its strategy for survival in the “fourth industrial revolution.” London, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, and Amsterdam ranked among the world’s leading 20 startup ecosystems, according to a 2017 report by

Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of Renault SA, on Monday launched the Master van in Korea as part of its effort to diversify its lineup. The Renault Master comes with a three-year power train and auto components' warranty for 100,000 kilometers, the company said in a statement.   (Renault Samsung Motors Corp. - Yonhap)The Master S version is priced at 29 million won ($26,000) and the Master L version carries a price tag of 31 million won, the statement said.The van is equippe

South Korean President Moon Jae-in test rode the Hyundai Motor Nexo fuel cell electric vehicle during his state visit to France on Sunday afternoon and observed the charging process of a Tucson FCEV taxi.This marked Moon’s second test ride on the Nexo SUV, following his firsthand experience of the SUV’s driverless technology in Seoul this February.South Korea’s No.1 carmaker Hyundai Motor is slated to sign a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday with French industrial gas supplier Air Liquide a

South Korea’s media regulator said Sunday that around 35,000 Korean Facebook accounts had been compromised in the latest security breach at the social networking site, pledging to continue investigating the matter and to take action as needed.The Korea Communications Commission said Facebook had informed the regulator that an estimated 34,891 accounts had been compromised Sept. 14-25, exposing sensitive information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers and other information visible on us

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's biggest conglomerate by sales, came in 64th place in corporate responsibility this year, which falls far short of its No. 6 ranking in brand value, a US market survey showed Sunday. In the 2018 Global Corporate Responsibility Trak 100 rankings released by the Reputation Institute, the world's biggest chip giant scored 64.9 points to rank 64th, up from 89th with 64.5 points a year earlier.  (Yonhap)Samsung's ranking has improved this year compared with a yea

Mini car sales in South Korea fell to a 10-year low last month due to lower demand and reduced tax benefits, local carmakers' sales data showed Sunday. In September, sales of mini cars plunged to 8,627 units, the lowest figure since the 8,172 units in January 2009, according to sales data offered by the country's three carmakers.  (Yonhap)Mini car models, mostly with a 1.0-liter gasoline engine, sold in Korea include Kia Motors Corp.'s Morning and Ray, GM Korea Co.'s Chevrolet Spark and Renault

Getting a glimpse of the real world and experience in their field of interest is important for all students, especially for young artists who aspire to portray different aspects of life through their work.Han Sung Motor, the largest official dealer of Mercedes-Benz here, which initiated the CSR art project Dream Gream in 2012, participated in the 17th Korea International Art Fair earlier this month to broaden the horizons of young artists by enabling them to take part in one of Asia’s biggest ar

A network-aggregation technology standard that grants users simultaneous access to today’s Long Term Evolution network and the next-generation 5G network has gained official approval from the telecommunications standardization body 3GPP.South Korean mobile carrier SK Telecom said Thursday that its dual-connectivity technology, which allows data to be sent over the 5G and LTE networks at the same time, was accepted as an official standard at last week’s 3GPP conference in Chengdu, China.As a resu

The chiefs of South Korea’s Hanwha Group and the US-based Heritage Foundation called for efforts to strengthen the US-Korea alliance during a meeting in Seoul on Friday, the conglomerate said Sunday.　Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-youn and Heritage Foundation founder and former president Edwin J. Feulner Jr. exchanged ideas on various topics, including cooperation on strengthening US-South Korea relations, forging peace on the Korean Peninsula and the US-China trade war. The two have met regularly si

LG Electronics Inc. said Sunday that its latest V40 ThinQ flagship smartphone will come with a price tag of 1.04 million won ($917) in the domestic market.　The company said it will take preorders from Wednesday through Oct. 23 with the device to reach customers starting Oct. 24.　The company said to get people to order their phones in advance, it will offer to replace both the 6.4-inch display and rear panel free of charge within a year of the purchase. It said in the case of the back panel, user

NEW YORK (AP) -- Could hackers have been able to see the last person you cyberstalked, or that party photo you were tagged in? According to Facebook, the unfortunate answer is “yes.”On Friday, the social network said fewer users were affected in a security breach it disclosed two weeks ago than originally estimated -- nearly 30 million, down from 50 million. In additional good news, the company said hackers weren‘t able to access more sensitive information like your password or financial informa

The government is considering an injection of 800 billion won ($706 million) into Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., the nation's leading oceangoing shipping company, within this year to help it tide over mounting losses, industry sources said Saturday.The company's largest-shareholder Korea Development Bank and the state-run maritime business promotion agency Korea Ocean Business Corp. (KOBC) said they are reviewing a plan in which Hyundai Merchant issues bonds and the two purchase 400 billion won wo

KT Corp., South Korea's leading wireless and fixed-line services provider, said Friday it will provide a special offer for foreigners purchasing its new top-up SIM card, which can be recharged for calls and texts.The telecom giant released South Korea's first top-up SIM card last month. Compared with other products in the local market, users can add more messages and calls on the original plan. Models pose with KT Corp.`s top-up SIM card in this photo provided by the company on Oct. 12, 2018. (Y

Philip Morris Korea Inc. said Thursday that it will begin selling its tobacco sticks, called Heets, produced at its factory in South Korea later this month.To this point, Philip Morris Korea imported Heets for sale in South Korea. Heets (Yonhap)Philip Morris Korea has expanded its production facility in Yangsan, the first facility in Asia to manufacture heated tobacco units for its tobacco heating device IQOS. Yangsan is a city located about 420 kilometers southeast of Seoul.The share of Heets,