South Korea’s leading game company Nexon has rolled up its sleeves to foster better education on coding for students. Since 2016, the firm has been running the “Nexon Youth Programming Challenge,” an annual coding competition that has attracted more than 17,000 eager students. To help familiarize students with coding, Nexon has used what it knows best: games. Instead of solving textbook coding problems, students are given practical problems that are more relatable. Last y

In a world first, beauty and cosmetics conglomerate Amorepacific has developed a clinical evaluation method for blue light, the company said Thursday. The study by the firm’s research body, the Anti-Pollution Research Center, discovered that blue light -- high-energy light in the blue band with a wavelength between 380 and 500 nanometers in the visible spectrum -- can cause skin pigmentation at the point of 456 nanometers. After developing a clinical device that emits blue light, resear

DC Hyundai Development Co. said Thursday it has begun presales of its new serviced apartments at Sokcho Ipark Suite. With popular holiday spots such as Seoraksan National Park and Sokcho Beach close to the apartments, the company said it plans to build a new KTX station in Sokcho by 2027 to bring Seoul closer, as traveling to Yongsan Station will take some 70 minutes.  Located in Joyang-dong in Sokcho-gu, the model house is currently open for the 27-story residential building with tw

In the first six months of this year, 142,663 babies were born in South Korea, marking the lowest since the Statistics Korea started compiling related data in 1981. The number of newborns in June dropped to 22,193, down by 7.5 percent from 23,992 in the same month of 2019. The nation’s fertility rate -- average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- came to 0.92 last year, down from 0.98 in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of people who died during the first quarter reached

Netflix’s regional office in South Korea is being investigated for alleged tax avoidance, according to industry sources on Thursday. The National Tax Service made its first visit to the Netflix‘s office in Seoul and launched a probe on Wednesday. The NTS suspects the global streaming giant might have intentionally avoided paying tax by reporting fiscal deficits after sending large-sized management consultation fees to the company‘s US-based headquarters. Netflix’s o

Hardened heels, or plantar callus, can turn out to be a fungal infection known as athlete’s foot. Athlete’s foot in the heels is difficult to distinguish from callus, as it does not itch. To the eye, it may appear like any ordinary hardened heel. Dong-A Pharmaceutical said Thursday it released over-the-counter drug Terbinew Gel in time for summer, when such conditions tend to spike. Terbinew Gel is a percolative cream that forms a film on the applied skin surface. By creating thi

Not all that is big is good -- and this is especially true of tablets that have to be swallowed to deliver medicine. Chong Kun Dang’s newly launched Itun Q Plus is everything the original Itun Q was -- but it’s been enhanced through downsizing. Itun Q is an over-the-counter herbal medicine for periodontal discomfort that helps keep teeth sturdy and fights gum inflammation. Its active ingredient is titrated extract of the unsaponifiable fraction of corn. According to Chong Kun Da

Wholesale, retail and technology startups increase, lodging and restaurants decline

The employment rate in South Korea dropped in the first half of this year, due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Statistics Korea’s data Wednesday. The employment rate for cities went down by 2 percent at 58.3 percent, compared to last year, according to the data. The employment rate for counties also decreased by 0.9 percentage point to 65.9 percent. The jobless rate in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, and Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province reached 5.4 percen

The South Korean office of the global streaming giant Netflix is under investigation for possible tax avoidance, industry sources said Wednesday. The sources said the National Tax Service (NTS) sent officials to Netflix Services Korea's headquarters in Seoul earlier in the day to launch their probe. According to the sources, the NTS suspects Netflix Services Korea paid its US headquarters a large sum of phantom management consulting fees, so that the Seoul office would report a deficit and av

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's biggest auto parts maker, said Wednesday it will invest 36 billion won ($30 million) in expanding its output capacity of electric vehicle components. Hyundai Mobis has already invested more than 300 billion won in EV parts plants in the central city of Chungju -- where it mainly produces core parts for Hyundai Motor Co.'s hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles -- and the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan, home to the main plants of its captive buyer Hyundai M

The main creditor bank of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Wednesday it has discussed with HDC Hyundai Development Co. all possible options to wrap up the acquisition of the carrier by the builder. Lee Dong-gull, chairman of the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), and HDC Chairman Chung Mong-gyu met for a third time to find ways to push forward the stalled deal amid the coronavirus outbreak. "In today's meeting, the KDB and HDC discussed all possible options involving acquisition terms wit

The Korea Development Bank, Asiana Airlines’ main creditor, said it will await HDC Hyundai Development Company’s answer on acquiring the airline after a fresh round of talks between their chiefs in Seoul on Wednesday. In a statement, KDB said the high-profile discussion between KDB Chairman Lee Jong-gull and HDC Chairman Chung Mong-gyu took place with “all options on the table.” It said further plans will be decided in consultation with Kumho, the airline’s majo

PUBG Corp.’s eponymous game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will be made into a movie and TV series, Krafton said Wednesday. According to PUBG’s parent company, it has made a strategic investment in a domestic production firm “Hidden Sequence” to expand its business to entertainment business. “The investment is aimed at expanding (the application) of Krafton’s intellectual property. We will utilize our IP including PUBG to make TV series, movies and v

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Wednesday that it will look into Google and Apple‘s in-app payment systems over claims that they apply excessive commssions to app developers using their platforms. Local app developers and businesses earlier this month asked the government to look into their in-app payment systems and see if the US tech giants are violating local laws that prohibit telecommunications service operators from obstructing users in choosing services. Local developers argu