This photo provided by Posco on Thursday shows inside of a submerged steelmaking plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on Sept. 6, when up to 110 millimeters of rain per hour was recorded in the region. Repair work is underway, the company said, targeting a full recovery in three months, after it resumed operations of three furnaces earlier this week. Flooded electricity connections dealt a heavy blow to the steelmaker, as power utilities are mostly located underneath the plants. Only 37 p

Patented 'Activa' helps grow saponin-rich red jinseng, balloon flower roots

LG Uplus, South Korea’s third-largest telecom operator by market share, has pledged to increase the sales proportion of non-telecommunication services to 40 percent of the total by 2027 with a focus on developing platform businesses. “Now moving beyond the area of traditional telecom businesses, we are looking to open up the era of ‘U+3.0’ that creates data- and technology-based platforms and services centered around customers to discover future growth engines,” sa

Operator of S. Korea's main air gateway becomes world's first to be granted with level 5 accreditation

In its first debut outside of Europe, Volkswagen Korea launched its pure electric sports utility vehicle, ID.4, in Seoul on Thursday, stressing that the local market is "essential" for the German carmaker's e-mobility business. "Korea is one of the fastest pioneering EV countries. We decided to make sure we have our first ID.4 outside of Europe (in South Korea), as South Korea is essential for Volkswagen's e-mobility business," said Dr. Silke Bagschik, head of product line e

Hyundai Motor Group said Thursday that it has won $3.5 million in funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to participate in an air pollution reduction project. Under the project, the Korean carmaker will replace five diesel trucks with its hydrogen-powered Xcient Fuel Cell trucks, in California, by the third quarter of 2023. Under EPA’s Targeted Airshed Grant funding program, which began in 2015, the US aims to fund experiments for emissions reduction in cities with the

Digital art platform ArtToken said Thursday it has partnered with Samsung Electronics to provide non-fungible token art contents on Samsung’s smart televisions. Customers will now be able to purchase, store and view NFT artworks from home through Samsung’s smart televisions. ArtToken’s NFT platform will be connected to Samsung’s smart hub through a smart TV application, the company said. The app was showcased at Europe’s largest home appliances tech show IFA 2022, h

Volvo's popular compact SUV XC40 has finally made its South Korean debut -- four years since its official global launch. The model comes with a digital connectivity package the automaker co-developed exclusively for the Korean market with local mobility service firm T Map Mobility. The package, which took two years and 30 billion won ($21.5 million) to develop, includes an information and entertainment platform, a digital key mobile application, and a roadside assistant for troubleshooting

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has joined the RE100 initiative to set net-zero targets by 2050 and ensure the full use of renewable energy, making a major shift in the IT devices manufacturing giant that consumed the largest amount of electricity in the world. By pledging to use less electricity and reuse and recycle resources like plastic and water, the chips-to-consumer electronics giant aims to transition to 100 percent renewables for its operation, and at the same time become carbon ne

Korean cosmetics brands have been churning out “vegan” makeup and skincare products, driven by rising consumer awareness. However, different sets of accreditation standards from certification agencies are causing consumer confusion. Han Sung-hee, a 32-year-old office worker, recently started her own research on vegan cosmetics products to discover what she could do to lessen her impact on the environment and animals. “It freaks me out when I think of rabbits being kept in a lab

The South Korean government has imposed a total of 100 billion won ($72 million) in fines against Google and Meta for illegally collecting and using personal information for customized advertisements, officials said Wednesday. The Personal Information Protection Commission under the Prime Minister's Office decided to impose fines of 69.2 billion won and 30.8 billion won against Google and Meta, respectively, after it held a plenary session earlier in the day. According to the PIPC’s inve

Ikea Korea saw its sales falling this fiscal year for the first time since its entry in 2014, the company said Wednesday, citing the lift of social regulations as a key reason for Koreans' reduced spending on home furnishing products. During a media conference, the South Korean branch of the Swedish furniture giant said it had recorded sales of 618 billion won ($444 million) between September 2021 and August 2022, marking a 10 percent decrease from the previous fiscal year. Ikea Korea has shown

SK Group on Wednesday announced new plans to invest 67 trillion won ($48 billion) in provincial areas, including a cutting-edge semiconductor plant, for the next five years as part of efforts to expand production facilities at home and facilitate local economies. Earlier this year, the nation’s second-largest conglomerate had pledged to invest a combined 247 trillion won by 2026, with 179 trillion won of them being poured at home. The new announcement is part of the domestic investment pla

Naver Z, the metaverse affiliate of South Korean IT giant Naver, has joined the Tech Coalition to fight online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, the company said Wednesday. Established as a voluntary working group in 2006, the Tech Coalition is a global alliance of technology companies that have come together to better detect, report, remove and prevent online child sexual abuse. With Naver Z becoming the newest member of the alliance, there are now 28 companies including Amazon, Appl

  By 2025, tourists visiting Jeju Island will be able to hop on Urban Air Mobility or air taxis to head to major tourism spots, a consortium comprising Hanwha Systems, SK Telecom and Korea Airports Corp. said Wednesday. At an agreement signing ceremony with Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Wednesday, the firms announced that they would work together to make the resort island the country’s first municipality to have commercial routes for flying cars. The news confirms a report by&n