GC Pharma on Monday said that it completed the sales of its American subsidiaries to Spanish firm Grifols three months after they initiated talks. “The proceeds from the transaction will be used to streamline management and for new business investments,” said Huh Yong-jun, CEO of GC. At $460 million, the sales of Green Cross BioTherapeutics in Montreal, Canada, and GCAM in the US, amount to the biggest cross border transaction of business units for a Korean pharmaceuticals firm.

Area sees foot traffic of 200,000 people each day

South Korea's major duty-free operators partially reopened their stores on the southern resort island of Jeju on Monday after suspending operations for months over the new coronavirus outbreak. Industry leader Lotte Duty Free and its rival Shinsegae Duty Free said they will resume the operations of the cosmetics and other sections of their shops in Jeju from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. during weekdays. The two major duty-free companies have suspended their in-city shops in Jeju since June due to falterin

McDonald’s Korea announced Monday a new action plan aimed to promote sustainable growth for society and the environment. Through a video on its YouTube channel, the burger chain introduced the slogan, “Small but Great Changes for a Better Community,” and presented its action plans in four sectors that include the earth, keeping quality ingredients and supply, society, and employment. For the earth and the environment, McDonald’s Korea pledged to reduce its usage of pl

South Korea's mobile subscriptions topped 70 million in August thanks to a pickup in 5G users, data showed Monday. As of August, the country had 70 million mobile accounts, up 201,119 from the previous month, according to data from the ICT ministry. South Korea has a population of 51.8 million. The overall figure was boosted by a jump in 5G users, which reached 8.7 million, up 801,017 over the same period and accounting for 12.4 percent of total subscriptions. The monthly gain in 5G users mar

Korea Power Corp. on Monday held a board meeting and decided to proceed with the Vung Ang 2 coal power plant project in Vietnam, according to the company.　 The South Korean state-run utility will build two 600-megawatt coal power plants in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. The total cost is $2.2 billion and Kepco will invest 220 billion won ($189 million) to acquire a 40 percent stake in the project from China Light & Power. Samsung C&T and Doosan Heavy Industries will be in charge of engin

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will hold his first face-to-face meeting with group management since the pandemic this month. According to industry sources, Chey and CEOs of SK Group’s major affiliates will gather on Jeju Island to hold its annual meeting CEO seminar and to discuss next year’s management strategies. SK Group said it has not yet finalized a schedule for the annual event. Every year, the meeting has been attended by Chey and his family members, including Senior Vice

Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday the budget model of its Galaxy S20 smartphone will go on sale in South Korea next week as the tech giant aims to boost its handset sales amid the pandemic. The Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (FE) will hit local shelves on Oct. 16 with a price tag of 899,800 won ($770), according to Samsung, the world's largest smartphone vendor. Pre-orders for the S20 FE opened Monday for local consumers, and they can receive the device starting Oct. 13. The S20 FE, which was un

Data released by the Bank of Korea on Sunday showed that South Korea performed better than other major countries in the second quarter in terms of gross domestic product growth. According to the BOK, Korea’s economy receded 3.2 percent on-year in the April-June period, but leaped to second place from the previous quarter’s 12th place. The list comprised the GDP growth rates of 36 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, plus China and

Samsung Electronics said Sunday that a South Korean research team it funded has developed sensors that can detect microwaves with the highest degree of sensitivity that is theoretically possible. The research was led by professor Lee Gil-ho of Pohang University of Science and Technology and jointly conducted with Raytheon BBN Technologies, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology in Spain and the National Inst

Business leaders around the world expect remote working and automation will continue after the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end, a recent survey has found. According to the survey conducted by global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers with 699 chief executive officers of firms in multiple countries, remote collaboration and automation were chosen as the most likely long-term trends in the post-pandemic world, with 78 and 76 percent of the respondents respectively saying so. Having fewer p

South Korea’s business community expects to see the imminent relaxation of entry restrictions for travelers to Japan amid hopes of improving economic relations between the two countries, according to industry sources on Sunday. Regarding the possibility of the two governments pounding out an agreement easing the seven-month-long restrictions on entry to Japan amid the COVID-19 pandemic, industry officials are optimistic about maintaining better business relations with their Japanese pa

The number of international visitors to South Korea plummeted by more than 70 percent during the first half of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a lawmaker Sunday. The number of inbound foreign travelers during the January-June period reached 2.14 million, marking a 74.7 percent plunge compared to the 8.44 million tally from a year ago, according to Rep. Lim O-kyeong of the ruling Democratic Party. Lim cited data submitted by the culture ministry ahead of the annual parliamentary

SK hynix Inc., South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker, is expected to report mediocre third-quarter earnings in the face of memory price decline, analysts here said Sunday. SK hynix was projected to log 7.9 trillion won ($6.7 billion) in sales in the July-September period, up 15.5 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit was estimated to surge 183 percent on-year to 1.3 trillion won over the period, according to Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, which compiled dat

Samsung Electronics Co.'s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, topped the list of handsets with the best-performing cameras available in the market, a report showed Sunday. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, a high-end version of Samsung's phablet series, posted the highest marks among the latest smartphones, according to the report by US Consumer Reports. The high-end Note 20 Ultra has a 108MP wide-angle lens as well as 12MP telephoto and ultrawide cameras on the back. It features a m