LG Electronics hit a new high in quarterly sales in the third quarter, owing to the continued consumption in the consumer electronics sector under the pandemic, the company announced Thursday. The tech giant, the largest home appliance provider in South Korea, posted 18.78 trillion won ($16.1 billion) in sales, the highest-ever in the firm’s history. Compared to the same quarter last year, sales soared 22 percent. But the Q3 operating profit stood at 540.7 billion won, a 49.6 perce

Kakao Games Corp. said Thursday its two co-CEOs will assume regional responsibilities as it pushes to expand its foothold in major markets overseas. Namkoong Whon, who currently oversees the company’s management and development as well as new business projects, will now also be representing Kakao Games’ North America and Europe studio, the firm said. Fellow CEO Cho Kye-hyun will be directing business in Asia on top of his existing responsibilities on the company’s publishin

Amid supply chain issues and pandemic, Korea‘s top conglomerate continues to rewrite sales record this year

South Korea's dominant internet portal operator Naver Corp. on Thursday introduced a new personalized search service dubbed AiR Search. The service, powered by Naver's artificial intelligence (AI) technology, will provide results in block units that reflect current trends and individual interests. "AiR Search will be the beginning of a big change representing Naver's new search, as much as the 'integrated search' which has so far been the most differentiated feature," Kim Sang-Bum, d

Kolmar Korea, a cosmetics and health care company based in Seoul, has made a strategic investment in a beauty platform operator in a bid to target Millennial and Generation Z consumers in the local beauty market. According to its announcement on Wednesday, the company purchased an 11 percent stake in Pawcompany. Established in 2003, Pawcompany operates online beauty community Powder Room. The platform currently has 3.7 million members and has held marketing projects with 5,400 beauty firms t

South Korean biotech firm Genencell said Wednesday that the company received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for mid- and late-stage trials of its COVID-19 treatment candidate ES16001. ES16001 is an oral COVID-19 drug candidate made with natural ingredients extracted from the leaves of Elaeocarpus sylvestris native to Korea. Genencell has developed the treatment candidate in collaboration with the College of Life Sciences at Kyung Hee University. Genencell currently plans

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was behind Moderna’s decision to supply the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured here to the Korean government, industry sources claimed Wednesday. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced Tuesday it had authorized the domestic supply of 2.4 million doses to be finished at Samsung Biologics’ factory in Songdo, Incheon, from next month. The biopharmaceutical affiliate of Samsung has a deal with the US vaccine firm to &ldqu

The government said Wednesday that it plans to introduce 5G-equipped buses across the country by 2023, giving citizens access to free wireless internet that is up to four times faster. The Ministry of Science and ICT said 29,100 out of 35,000 city buses across the country will be upgraded with fifth-generation (5G) network service by 2023. The upcoming service will offer an internet speed of 400 megabits per second (Mbps), which is up to four times faster than the LTE Wi-Fi connection currently

South Korean telecommunications provider KT apologized for Monday’s massive network outage, and for mistakenly citing a cyberattack as its cause. “We sincerely apologize for the massive internet disruptions on Monday. While we initially assumed it was from an outside DDoS attack, it appears to have been caused by a network routing error that occurred during our recent equipment update process,” said KT CEO Koo Hyeon-mo in a statement released Tuesday. Pledging to actively

CJ OliveNetworks CEO Cha shares ‘small, but meaningful’ success stories

Database replication solution companies DataStreams and Arkdata announced Monday they agreed to cooperate on big data. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding on exchanging technologies to enhance data replication and create a joint business model to expand into the market. DataStreams has a change data capture, or CDC, solution, which can merge data real-time through its transaction system and sends changes recorded in the source database to the target database. Arkdata was t

Netflix’s global success with “Squid Game” is providing the perfect ground for South Korea to push for legal measures that would make foreign streaming giants stop “free riding” on internet networks here. During the recently concluded National Assembly audit, parliamentarians from both sides of the aisle forged a united front on the issue, pressuring ranking government officials to do something to make Netflix pay. Science Minister Lim Hye-sook said foreign plat

South Korean telecom firm KT is introducing an interactive call assistant service backed by its artificial intelligence technology, the firm said Monday. During an online press conference, KT showcased how the AI assistant can help businesses respond to consumers’ calls past their business hours to receive orders or handle other requests. “The aim is to make the AI response system part of our life 24/7 by spreading it to business customers and public institutions,” said Ku Hy

The family of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee marked the first anniversary of the tycoon’s passing in a small family gathering on Monday. Family members attended a memorial ceremony held at the family’s graveyard in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, including the deceased’s son and current group chief Lee Jae-yong. After the ceremony, the junior Lee, who is the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, headed to Samsung’s employee training center in nearby Yongin to o

With new chief Lee Jae-yong bogged down with legal woes, direction for new Samsung seems unclear