South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter operating loss narrowed sharply from a year earlier thanks to record sales. Its operating loss stood at $205.7 million in the January-March period, down 23 percent from a year earlier, the New York-listed e-commerce behemoth said in a regulatory filing. The drastic improvement came as its sales reached a quarterly high in the three-month period amid a global economic recovery from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mercedes-Benz and six other carmakers will voluntarily recall nearly 12,000 vehicles to fix software errors and part defects, Seoul's transport ministry said Thursday. Mercedes-Benz Korea will recall 7,598 cars from eight models, including the S 580 4MATIC, as software flaws in their rear signal acquisition and actuation module could cause the malfunction of blinkers, hazard lights and reversing lights, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Toyota Motor Korea will reca

South Korea’s homegrown mobile app store operator One Store has dropped its plan to go public amid poor stock market conditions, the company said Wednesday. One Store’s decision comes a day after a book building of institutional investors wrapped up, in which the offering price of a common share was below its suggested price band, at between 34,300 won ($26.9) and 41,700 won apiece. The figures have estimated One Store’s equity value at between 910 billion won and 1.1 trilli

South Korean food company CJ CheilJedang said Tuesday that it will launch 20 products this year that “vibe” with millennials and Generation Z. From high-fiber cookies that look like virtual asset coins to porridge packed in Marvel and Toy Story characters, a team of young CJ employees came up with products made for health-conscious and design-sensitive young adults, according to the company. For its new marketing strategy directly targeting customers in their 20s and 30s, the food

By 2025, flying taxis, or urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, in South Korea could be accessed at gas stations located near major cities. Oil refiner GS Caltex, along with five leading companies in telecom, mobility and airline businesses, have formed a consortium to jump into the future mobility market together on Tuesday. The five other firms are telecom company LG Uplus, taxi-hailing app Kakao Mobility, domestic drone solutions company Pablo Air, low-cost carrier Jeju Air, and British UAM man

South Korean researchers have developed a diagnosis platform using blood testing to detect early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology said Wednesday. To date, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, a type of senile dementia leading to memory loss and cognitive impairment. The KRIBB said the key to treatment is to slow the progression of the disease through accurate early diagnosis. The researchers confirmed that the level of m

Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Chey Tae-won on Wednesday stressed his desire to help mend the frayed ties between Seoul and Tokyo, saying their partnership will play a role in tackling ongoing geopolitical uncertainties. “Amid ever-changing global situations, hit by supply chain disruptions and the Russia-Ukraine war, the bilateral partnership between South Korea and Japan has become more crucial than ever,” Chey said at a luncheon with a group of Japanese lawmaker

Local health product and cosmetics retailer DAV International said Tuesday that it has launched a collagen powder product that contains eight different vitamins and minerals. The product, All-in-one Daily Small-molecule Marine Collagen, not only supplies collagen to the skin, but contains vitamins essential to rejuvenate one‘s health. The company added more vitamin ingredients than are seen in other products, which usually have four, said a company official. The product is made up of t

LG Energy Solution Ltd. and the Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (RIST) said on Wednesday they agreed to conduct a joint research project to develop smart factory technologies. Among the technologies the country’s top battery maker and the Posco-founded think tank plan to develop together is a “digital twin,” a virtual representation that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical space to predict possible problems through various simulati

Jeju Air Co., South Korea's biggest budget carrier, said Wednesday it has joined a consortium to provide urban air mobility (UAM) services in efforts to find a new growth driver. Jeju Air and five others formed the consortium to participate in the transport ministry-led K-UAM Grand Challenge project in the next two years to commercialize the UAM services by 2025, Jeju Air said in a statement. The five other firms are local refiner GS Caltex Corp., No. 3 telecom company LG Uplus, taxi-hailin

This photo unveiled Tuesday shows an 8-inch, 360-degree folding organic light-emitting diode screen for mobile devices by South Korean panel maker LG Display. It was showcased during Display Week 2022 hosted by the Society for Information Display from Sunday to Friday in San Jose, California. According to LG Display, the screen can be folded over 200,000 times without affecting its performance.

Honeymoon period in full bloom to fuel momentum to new president’s tech push

Samsung Electronics has reclaimed the No.1 spot by monthly sales in India, buoyed by the return of its Galaxy Note successor Galaxy S22 Ultra, a phablet with built-in stylus S Pen support, data showed Tuesday. Samsung emerged as the leader in overall smartphone sales and shipments for the first time in six months in the world’s second-largest smartphone market, showed data by market intelligence Counterpoint Research. In March, Samsung accounted for 22 percent by volume market share and

Chinese carmaker secures production footholds in Gunsan, Busan for hybrids, EVs, but entry to local consumer market remains uncertain, experts say

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it has developed the industry’s first 512-gigabyte Compute Express Link (CXL) DRAM module for servers that enables a higher memory capacity and lower latency suitable for artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The CXL-standard DRAM memory expander will allow a server platform in data centers and enterprise servers to add new layers of short-term memory capacity compatible with a processor chip without unnecessary costs and complexities, as oppo