Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday delivered market forecast-beating second-quarter earnings as strong demand for server chips apparently offset a slump in smartphone sales amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. In its earnings guidance, the South Korean tech giant expected its operating profit at 8.1 trillion won ($6.7 billion) for the April-June period, up 22.7 percent from 6.6 trillion won a year ago. The second-quarter operating income is far higher than the market consensus of 6.8 trillion

The leaders of South Korea’s leading IT firms have called on lawmakers to change regulations for fair competition with foreign tech companies at the National Assembly on Monday. Kakao CEO Yeo Min-so, Naver CEO Han Seong-sook, Woowa Brothers CEO Kim Beom-joon and other tech leaders joined the forum held by lawmakers. “Local and foreign companies are offering their services here, but the regulations and penalties that bind them are seemingly different,” Kakao CEO Yeo said. W

South Korea and Uzbekistan held ministerial talks in Seoul on Monday, where they agreed to accelerate discussions on business projects and push forward a bilateral free trade agreement. Korea’s Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo and Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Foreign Economic Affairs Sardor Umurzakov attended the meeting. It was the first ministerial meeting held face-to-face since the viral outbreak, according to officials explained. On the occasion, a fron

A professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology is currently being investigated by the prosecution for allegedly handing over technology related to autonomous driving to China for financial gain, according to news reports and the ICT Ministry on Monday. The Daejeon Prosecutors‘ Office is currently investingating the professor, who reportedly received around 300 million won from a China-based college where he was dispatched for academic programs. The prosecutors ar

Hollywood loves sequels because they guarantee success. In this sense, when South Korean game publisher Netmarble said it would launch a mobile version of StoneAge, expectations were running high. StoneAge was a popular PC game that was serviced between 2003 and 2015 in Korea where users could collect and tame dinosaur pets. However, not all sequels succeed, as witnessed by X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Men in Black: International. Unfortunately, StoneAge World is one of them. More often than not

LG Chem will neutralize its net carbon emissions increase to make it zero by 2050, according to its “Carbon-neutral Growth 2050” initiative unveiled Monday.　 Carbon-neutral growth refers to reducing net emissions by the amount caused by business growth, making the total sum zero. According to the South Korean chemical company, it will cut 30 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2050 from the projected 40 million tons, offsetting carbon emissions to the current level of 10 m

Korea Electric Power Corp. said Monday it has launched a non-face-to-face export exhibition to introduce electrical equipment and materials manufactured by small and medium-sized enterprises hit by the coronavirus outbreak. According to the state-run utility, the online exhibition “Electric Power Equipment” showcases 190 electrical equipment and materials made by 61 SMEs who are members of Kepco Trusted Partners or investors of Kepco’s Energy Valley project. The exhibition

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong stressed the spirit of challenge toward the future at a meeting with employees in the startup program C Lab at the firm’s Suwon office in Gyeonggi Province on Monday. C-Lab is the South Korean tech firm’s in-house incubation program introduced in 2012 aimed at spreading creative organizational culture. Participating executives and employees will be given the opportunity to implement creative ideas they have come up with for one year.

When demand for facial masks surged, prescient investors immediately set their eyes on nonwoven fabric suppliers who manufacture the ingredients. Now, as remdesivir has been anointed as the only drug to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as an emergency COVID-19 treatment, investors are paying attention to what constitutes the riboneucleic acid drug. Remdesivir is a nucleoside analogue, or a nucleoside RNA polymerase inhibitor. If that sounds like alien talk, the FDA explains

Oriental Brewery’s flagship beer brand Cass unveiled the lineup for “Cass Blue Playground Connect 2.0,” its annual music festival, on social media Monday. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the concert will be livestreamed on its official YouTube channel and Facebook, on July 18 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., the company said. The lineup includes Sehun & Chanyeol of K-pop boy group EXO (EXO-SC), who were recently selected as Cass summer campaign models, K-pop girl group Red Velvet

Pernod Ricard Korea President and CEO Jean Touboul (center) draws on a bottle that has been prepainted with Airlite, an eco-friendly paint, during the Absolut Eco Street Art Project held by the company in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, on Monday. The liquor maker built a structure using container boxes, on which a graffiti artist Xeva depicted “The Breathing City,” using special eco-friendly paint Airlite. The Absolut Eco Street Art Project is Pernod Ricard Korea’s first attem

Baedal Minjok, a South Korean food delivery app, said Monday it is making progress in expanding business in Vietnam with its shared kitchen service, helping Korean food franchises tap into the market there. The food delivery service, operated by Woowa Brothers, said it plans to open second and third Baemin Kitchen branches in Ho Chi Minh in the second half of this year, following the first store that opened in November 2019. The company presented its food delivery app Baemin in Ho Chi Minh in

First batch of XCIENT fuel cell trucks exported to Switzerland

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Monday vowed support for startups in another on-site visit amid global uncertainties. Lee, the de facto leader of South Korea's top conglomerate, Samsung Group, visited the tech giant's startup incubation center in Suwon, south of Seoul, and encouraged workers at its in-house startup incubation program named C-Lab. C-Lab has offered opportunities for the company's employees to launch startups with their creative ideas since 2012. So far, more

The Korea Automobile Journalists Association said Monday that it has selected German carmaker Audi’s luxury sedan the New Audi A4 as its car of the month. Every month, the association selects its best model among new vehicles and face-lifted versions that were launched within the past month, based on five criteria including exterior, interior design, practicality, safety and comfort features, product marketability and purchasing intent.  For July, the Lexus UX F Sport, which was la