Local golf courses and ranges are booming here as overseas travels remain restricted while outdoor activities are considered relatively safer amid the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Sunday. Golf tour reservations rose 300 percent on-year in June, according to Korea’s travel agency Very Good Tour. “The actual demand must be a lot higher considering how Koreans do not tend to hire travel agencies to play golf here. It is very difficult to book a golf course even on week

LG Chem Ltd. is considering shutting down its production line in the southeastern tip of the country due to oversupply, industry and company sources said Sunday. South Korea's No. 1 electric vehicle battery maker said it has informed its workers of the plan to close down the line in Yeosu, 455 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which produces 50,000 tons of phthalic anhydride annually. Phthalic anhydride is used in the manufacturing of polyesters. Industry watchers believe that LG Chem's plan

Liquor, which once lost ground to beer, soju and wine, is recently gaining popularity as people are enjoying drinking at home amid the pandemic, according to industry sources Sunday. E-mart said liquor sales increased 23 percent year-on-year after analyzing alcoholic beverages sold between March and May this year. Sales, in particular, rose 36.4 percent and 36.5 percent in April and May, respectively. Lotte Mart also saw its spirits sales grow 30.8 percent from May 1 to June 17 on-year. B

  If used face masks could be disinfected, and then possibly reused, that would be a good thing for people suffering shortages of masks. South Korea's two largest electronics firms -- Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. -- are saying that their clothes refreshers can disinfect face masks using sanitization features amid the coronavirus pandemic.  LG claims that its Tromm Styler, a clothes care appliance, can kill over 99.9 percent of the virus found in face masks whe

    Major South Korean tech firms are supporting the country's virus fight with their own smartphone applications for QR code-based registration, a scheme meant to stem further spread of the new coronavirus and trace potential cases, industry sources said Saturday. Starting on June 10, the country has enforced QR code-based entry logs at facilities with high risks of infections in the greater Seoul area and selected cities in its latest efforts to track and contain the COVID

Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is in the process of selling its South Korean unit SsangYong Motor Co. by picking a lead manager for a potential exit from the loss-making affiliate, industry sources said Friday. In 2011, Mahindra acquired a 70 percent stake in SsangYong Motor for 523 billion won ($438 million). Mahindra currently owns a 74.65 percent stake in the SUV-focused carmaker.  Mahindra and SsangYong didn't confirm whether they have named an unidentified adviser for

　SK Biopharmaceuticals, a novel drug research and development company specializing in the diseases pertaining to the central nervous system, has set its initial public offering price at 49,000 won ($40) per share, it said Friday. 　The company announced that this is the top end of its indicative price range, which had suggested the share price would be between 36,000 won and 49,000 won. 　This puts the total public offering value of SK Biopharmaceuticals at 959.3 billion won, with the market c

BMW Korea said Friday it will introduce an electronic contract system, called the Digital Sales Platform, becoming the first foreign carmaker to do so here. According to the BMW Korea, the new system, which would entirely replace the traditional face-to-face contract services, will be implemented in all of its seven dealerships and 52 showrooms across the country, starting July 1. The Digital Sales Platform will replace all paperwork necessary in purchasing a car, including registering for a

South Korea’s second-largest telecom firm KT said Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with an artificial intelligence solutions company Wonderful Platform to develop AI care services for seniors and children. The two companies have agreed to cooperate in developing and commercializing artificial intelligence-powered care robots and services by equipping the robots with KT’s GiGA Genie Inside -- the software of its AI speaker GiGa Genie. Wonderful Platform is an AI

Duty-free stores are planning to offer huge discounts, including on luxury items, next week to clear out their inventory, following lackluster sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shilla Duty Free said Friday it will start selling duty-free products next week on its platform Shilla Trip, which was launched last year. While duty-free products are usually banned from domestic sales, Korea Customs Service has temporarily allowed sales of the goods that have been in stock for more than six months

Medical artificial intelligence solution provider Vuno said Friday it plans to tap the Japanese market through Sony’s subsidiary M3. M3 is 33.9 percent owned by Sony and is Japan’s biggest medical data platform company with 280,000 medical professionals enrolled as members. It has accumulated knowledge in the conservative Japanese medical field, and provides a wide range of services including clinical test designing, marketing support for pharmaceutical firms and remote medicine.

“I purple you,” Samsung Galaxy S20+ BTS Edition, is selling like hot cakes. Preorders for Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S20+ 5G phone and wireless earphones Buds+ BTS Editions, garbed in the K-pop group’s iconic purple and accentuated with tiny purple hearts and BTS logo, closed in an hour since opening in South Korea, Friday. The set is priced at 1.6 million won ($1,320), not a far-off figure from the combined price of a regular S20+ and Buds+, which cost about 1.5 milli

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the company’s semiconductor headquarters in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to check on its operations, the tech giant said Friday. The heir apparent discussed Samsung’s road map for next-generation semiconductor development, including memory and system-on-chips, strategies for manufacturing facilities and materials and long-term measures to respond to the COVID-19 impact. Lee also visited the chipmaker’s research and de

US-based Psomagen and Korean probiotics company Cell Biotech said Friday they will jointly strive for big data-based microbiome research and commercialization. According to the memorandum of understanding, Psomagen and Cell Biotech will research microbial organisms that will show clinical efficacy in health care, as well as develop new probiotics products. Using Psomagen’s big data analysis technology, they will identify potential novel drug materials and develop probiotics products sp

SsangYong Motor Co. said Friday it has signed an initial agreement with Chinese carmaker Songuo Motors Co. to export its Tivoli sport utility vehicle. Under the basic agreement, SsangYong Motor will deliver the Tivoli SUV in the form of knockdown units to Songuo Motors' plants in China to be assembled into complete vehicles for exports to the Middle East and Africa from late this year, the company said in a statement. Songuo Motors plans to develop its own vehicle based on the Tivoli platfo