In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, traffic for the world’s busiest air route between Seoul and Jeju fell by nearly 30 percent during the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year. Nearly 5.59 million passengers made trips on the route between January and June – a 31 percent drop from last year’s figure of 8.18 million, according to data from Korea Airports Corporation, a public enterprise behind Gimpo Airport. In a report from aviation analys

Hanwha Energy and Korea Midland Power (Komipo) said Wednesday they signed a deal in Nevada to supply electricity generated by solar power to 36,000 households. According to the energy affiliate of Hanwha Group and the state-run utility, they signed a solar power purchase agreement with a local public utility NV Energy. Under the deal, Hanwha Energy and Komipo will generate electricity from solar power plants of 128-megawatt capacity linked to an energy storage systems of 233-megawatt-hour

Due to coronavirus setback, a game festival kicked off Wednesday in virtual space for the first time in South Korea. According to industry sources, “2020 Indie Craft K-Game Festival” will be held for five days until Sunday in a virtual space created by a game engine as holding the event offline was unviable due to concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak. Visitors can enter the virtual festival after creating their own 3D avatars. Then, they can visit booths, have conversations with

LG International said Wednesday it has been selected as a “decent company” by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to support small and medium-sized companies advancing into global markets. The commodity trading and mining affiliate of LG Group signed an agreement with the Startups Ministry and the Korea International Trade Association in Seoul at a ceremony attended by CEO Yoon Chun-sung, Minister Park Young-sun and KITA Chairman Kim Young-ju. The “decent company” pr

South Korean tech firm Kakao will relocate Kakao IX Corp.’s character merchandising business to its e-commerce unit Kakao Commerce, according to industry sources on Wednesday. Kakao IX, the current operator of character business, will finalize the restructuring during an upcoming board meeting early next month, the sources added. The latest corporate reshuffle is likely to give a boost to Kakao’s growing e-commerce business unit. Kakao Commerce last year marked 296.1 billion won

Artificial intelligence solution startup MakinaRocks said Wednesday the company has completed the Series A round, winning a total of 12 billion won ($10 million) worth of funding from large South Korean businesses including LG and Hyundai Motor. MakinaRocks develops and provides solutions that can detect and prevent errors and defects during manufacturing processes based on deep learning and enhanced learning algorithms for companies that operate complex and large-scale manufacturing facilit

LG Electronics’ design-focused Velvet smartphone has become available in the United States, providing US consumers a new 5G device choice, according to the company on Wednesday. The 6.8-inch organic light-emitting diode screen phone with a triple rear camera module in its signature water drop design will retail for $599 via US mobile carrier AT&T first and through T-Mobile and Verizon later this summer. The retail price is viewed as lower than expected compared to 5G phones avail

The National Pension Service was found to have expanded their investment in bio and pharmaceuticals in the first half of this year in the wake of the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. Local corporate tracker CEOScore recently surveyed 302 listed companies that the NPS holds more than five percent stake in -- with the total value of their shares standing at 127 trillion won ($106 billion). The survey showed the NPS increased investment in non-face-to-face services, pharmaceuticals, bio techno

Samsung Electronics Co. will stage its own event to introduce the company's new products in the upcoming months after it decided to skip the largest consumer electronics show in Europe. Samsung said it will host an online event, titled "Life Unstoppable," on Sept. 2, to unveil its latest innovations in mobile phones, wearables, TV, audio and home appliance products. "The brand will take guests through an interactive virtual world, unveiling new products and demonstrating how th

Incheon International Airport was hit hard due to the prolonged outbreak of COVID-19, data showed Tuesday. The number of passengers at the airport from Jan. 1 to July 16 is about 10.89 million, according to the Incheon International Airport Corp. -- a sharp decline from 38.67 million in the same period last year. By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)

South Korea's spending on chipmaking equipment is likely to be the third largest of any country this year, industry data showed Wednesday, amid solid global chip demand sparked by the pandemic-driven stay-at-home economy. South Korea, home to major memory chip producers Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., is estimated to invest $12.3 billion in chipmaking equipment this year, according to a report from SEMI, a global industry association representing companies in the electronics design

The South Korean unit of Amazon Web Services paid 150 billion won ($125.42 million) in a back corporate tax to a local tax office, sources said Tuesday. The National Tax Service slapped the corporate tax on the company last year after carrying out a tax probe. Amazon made the payment in November without taking any legal steps against the decision, according to industry sources. Google Korea has filed a complaint with the Tax Tribunal over the 600 billion won the NTS levied in a back corporat

SK Bioscience, the vaccines business unit of SK Group, signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding with Korea’s Health Ministry and global biopharma AstraZeneca, to contract manufacture the latter’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. AstraZeneca Global CEO Pascal Soriot said that the company considers it vital to establish a global distribution channel that can quickly deliver vaccines across the world, for widespread and fair access. “SK’s cutting-edge expertise and abil

South Korea’s flag carrier Korean Air said Tuesday it has closed its regional headquarters in Europe and Southeast Asia in an effort to “streamline” business operations as the coronavirus pandemic continues. A company official said the move was made to respond to the “changing business environment more quickly and effectively.” The work that had been undertaken by the regional headquarters will be handled by other regional branches. “We will create a globa

Samsung Biologics reached a milestone in the first half of the year by clocking the biggest revenue and operating profit in the January-June period since it was founded in 2011. The contract development and manufacturing organization posted its second quarter earnings report Tuesday showing a revenue of 307.7 billion won ($256.8 million) and operating profit of 81.1 billion won. Combined with the first-quarter earnings, Samsung Biologics posted revenue of 514.9 billion won and operating prof