South Korea has approved the emergency use of AstraZeneca’s adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccine for all adults, including those aged 65 and older, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday. The efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine for seniors had been a matter of contention, given the dearth of clinical data presented by AstraZeneca in regards to the aged cohort. Authorities here have decided to proceed with vaccination for all, on the condition that AstraZeneca follows up with fu

GC Pharma has once again risen as a potential contract manufacturer to a foreign vaccine, this time for Russia’s Sputnik V. Company officials, however, refrained from commenting, citing the sensitivity of the issue. The interest for Sputnik V in South Korea was ignited after Jeong Eun-kyung, head of Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said Monday that the country was open to considering the Russian vaccine, citing uncertainties over virus variants and the supply of vaccines. &l

E-commerce platform Cafe24 will host a webinar on global sales strategy for Facebook and Instagram next week, the company said on Wednesday. The platform said the event will provide viewers with strategic help in reaching over three billion online users on Facebook-owned apps using Facebook Shops. Dubbed “Facebook‘s Global Commerce Success Strategies Using Shops,” the occasion is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. on Feb. 17, and will be offered for free to those who sign up

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Wednesday that it will demonstrate whether its remote autonomous navigation system can autonomously steer a large ship in August. A 9,200-ton ship will be used to demonstrate the shipbuilder's remote autonomous navigation system known as Samsung Autonomous Ship, or SAS, the company said. Mokpo National Maritime University will assess whether the system helps the ship navigate autonomously under remote control, Samsung Heavy said. If Samsung Heavy succeeds in

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products shot up a whopping 21.7 percent on-year in January on the back of strong overseas demands for chips, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of ICT goods came to $16.3 billion in January, which marked the second-largest amount ever for any January, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The country posted record high ICT exports of $17.6 billion in 2018 for January. Imports came to $1

Reflecting the increased demand for telecommunications amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple remained the world’s largest buyer of semiconductor chips in 2020 for the second year straight, industry data showed Wednesday. According to global research and consulting firm Gartner, Apple spent $53.6 billion on chips, up 24 percent from a year earlier, and thus accounted for 11.9 percent of the worldwide market. Next was South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, which spent $36.4 billion, up 20.4

Hyundai Motor Group on Wednesday unveiled its first "uncrewed" mobility vehicle concept as it strives to morph into a future mobility solutions provider. The TIGER robot, which stands for Transforming Intelligent Ground Excursion Robot, is designed to operate as a four-wheel drive vehicle or a four-legged walking machine to conduct scientific exploration activities, carry emergency medical kits and deliver products to inaccessible areas, Hyundai said in a statement. The vehicle with

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday its latest smartphone line, the Galaxy S21 series, posted 30 percent higher sales than its predecessor in South Korea as the tech giant strives to boost its handset sales. Samsung said sales of the Galaxy S21 family between Jan. 29 and Monday were 30 percent higher than those of the Galaxy S20 series. By model, the entry-level S21 accounted for 40 percent of the total sales, followed by high-end S21 Ultra with 36 percent. The S21 was launched with a pric

  Emart Inc., South Korea's largest discount store chain by sales, on Tuesday reported a 62 percent on-year jump in net profit last year due to increased one-off revenues. Net profit for the whole of 2020 came to 362.5 billion won ($324.8 million), up from 223.8 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Emart said its sale of a 39,050-square-meter plot of land in western Seoul last year buoyed the bottom line. Emart sold the plot of land for 800 billion won in

GC Pharma and its affiliated companies GCMS and GC LabCell posted record earnings in 2020, they announced Tuesday. GC Pharma’s consolidated earnings report showed that it made 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion) in revenue in 2020, up 10.8 percent on-year. It was the best figure in the company’s history since 1967. In the same period, operating profit marked 50.3 billion won, up 20.6 percent on-year, while net profit came to 89.3 billion won. GC Pharma accounted the robust gro

LG Hausys will unveil new high-end interior materials at North America’s largest kitchen and bath design trade show, in a move to add fuel to its overseas expansion in the region, officials said Tuesday. The industrial materials affiliate of LG Group will have an online showroom at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show 2021, a virtual event to run from Tuesday to Friday this week. The new products comprise of five types of engineered stone materials under the Viatera quartz line and s

S. Korea’s online giants could be first targets of state-led profit sharing scheme

SK, LG, Hanwha purchase electricity generated by renewables to achieve RE100

BMW senior designer Lim Seung-mo says settling for familiarity more dangerous for the brand

COVID-19 diagnostics firm’s padded financial report reignites bio companies’ age-old fiscal conundrum