KakaoTalk meltdown exposes peril of ubiquitous tech

SEJONG -- Unlike carmakers in South Korea, local producers of solar energy-related items will possibly enjoy benefits from the US Inflation Reaction Act which has strengthened regulations on Chinese products, a Seoul organization representing exporters said Monday. According to a report from the Korea International Trade Association, Korean producers' share of US imports of solar cells surged to 47.8 percent in 2021, compared to 1.9 percent in 2011. Over the corresponding 10-year period, the s

Kakao says 'limited financial impact' expected from weekend outage

A recent report showed Monday that people in South Korea consume ramen 1.7 times a week on average, with Nongshim’s bestseller Shin Ramyun being the top pick. The report, published by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., is based on a survey conducted on 500 people aged between 15 and 65. By gender, men and women ate ramen 1.8 times and 1.5 times per week, respectively. Men in their 20s and 50s were the most frequent ramen consumers, eating ramen twice a week, while women in

Use of plastic bags at convenience stores will be banned from Nov. 24, two years after they were removed from hypermarkets as part of eco-friendly efforts. Like in the large supermarkets, customers will have the option of purchasing standard user-pay trash bags or paper bags at convenience stores to carry what they bought. If a store is found to have used regular plastic bags, it will be slapped with fines of up to 3 million won ($2,086). Convenience store chains such as GS25 and CU have already

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics announced Monday it has opened six shared working spaces to nurture a hybrid work environment and flexible work culture. Two of the six spaces are located outside Samsung offices, in Seoul and Daegu, and the other four in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province; Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province; Gwangju; and Seoul are within Samsung office buildings. These co-working spaces, dubbed "d'light," feature open seats, partitioned desks, adjustable standing desks,

GOESAN -- South Korea's sole international organic expo has ended successfully in the central county of Goesan with the number of visitors well exceeding the target, organizers said Monday. The 2022 IFOAM-Goesan International Organic Expo kicked off in Goesan, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sept. 30 for a 17-day run with the aim of highlighting the importance of organic farming and boosting related industries. The expo, co-hosted by the provincial government, the Goesan County gover

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Monday it will open an Incheon-Sydney route in December as pent-up travel demand is unleashed amid eased virus curbs. T'way Air will provide four flights a week between Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul, and Sydney starting Dec. 23, the company said in a statement. In February 2020, T'way Air became the country's first budget carrier to obtain the rights to offer flights on the Incheon-Sydney route dominated by the country&#

　Chinese nationals have accounted for over 60 percent of apartment purchases by foreign nationals in South Korea since 2015, a government report showed. 　According to a report from the Land Ministry submitted to Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, the number of apartment purchase deals by Chinese nationals amounted to 18,465 between January 2015 and August of this year. 　The tally accounts for 62 percent of a total of 29,792 apartment purchases by foreigners

Airlines working to extend 16-hour limit for pilots after New York-Incheon flight forced to stop to replace crew

Experts criticize tech giant for outsourcing data servers to reduce costs

The longest-ever server outage for KakaoTalk, the nation's most popular messenger app, and its affiliated services, is prompting people here to seek alternatives, according to data on Sunday. As of 3 p.m. Sunday, the top downloads on Apple's app store were alternatives for Kakao's popular apps. Naver's messaging app Line topped the list, rising six steps since Saturday, while taxi reservation app UT came in second, with GPS location service Naver Map coming in third. Other mobility apps, such a

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia are expected to see continued record-high sales and profits in the third quarter, despite a market downturn and the impact of the industry’s low season. According to market data on Sunday, Hyundai Motor is expected to announce around 36 trillion won ($25 billion) in sales in the July-September period, about a 25 percent increase on-year. Its quarterly operating profit would surpass 3 trillion won for the first time, jumping 10

  South Korean food conglomerate SPC Group said Sunday that it has opened its first Paris Baguette store in the UK, with an aim to run 20 bakery cafe franchises there by 2025 to expand the brand's presence in Europe. The UK is SPC’s ninth overseas market and the second European country it has entered. “The UK is an important market for us to expand business in Europe and launch more franchises there, ultimately making it one of four pillars for our brand growth globally after th

A fire Saturday at a Kakao data center in Pangyo, south of Seoul, has led to a server outage affecting the KakaoTalk messenger app, along with other apps such as Kakao T, Kakao Map, Kakao Metro, Kakao Webtoon, Kakao Bank, Kakao-owned portal Daum and music streaming service Melon. The internet connection for the apps has been unavailable since 3:30 p.m. "There has been a fire at SK C&C data center since 3:30 p.m. Work has begun to put down the fire, but we are uncertain when the fir