South Korean drugmaker SK Bioscience announced Wednesday the company has updated its capacity reservation contract with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Under the new agreement, CEPI can use part of SK Bioscience’s Andong production facility until 2022 for manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines. 　 SK Bioscience’s factory in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, currently has a total of nine production lines that can produce drug substances for COVID-19 vaccines. Of the to

Around a quarter of South Korea's mobile subscriptions were on 5G networks in August, data showed Wednesday, as new smartphone launches boosted user growth in the latest generation networks. As of end-August, there were 17.8 million 5G network users, accounting for 24.8 percent of the country's total 71.9 million mobile network subscriptions, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. South Korea has a population of 51 million, and some people have multiple mobile phones. The

Despite recent releases from Samsung Electronics and Apple featuring the most advanced technologies so far, the global smartphone market is forecast to grow slowly as phone vendors struggle to secure components, including semiconductors, amid ongoing shortages worldwide. According to a recent report from market researcher Counterpoint Research, the total shipment volume of smartphones for 2021 is expected to grow 6 percent to 1.41 billion units. The growth forecast was lowered from the resea

Samsung Electronics and its unions held their first wage talks Tuesday at the company’s plant in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, industry sources said. Samsung‘s management and the unions will continue their negotiations in the following weeks to decide changes to union members’ terms of employment. Unionized workers have demanded a uniform raise in salary by 10 million won ($8,400), plus cash and stock bonuses worth 4.5 million won in total. The union also requests managemen

Algorithms tasked to flag the best fit for jobs, but can it really judge humans accurately and fairly?

The country‘s largest food delivery firm Baedal Minjok has been selected as the least accessible and friendly application for older people and those with disabilities, a local lawmaker said Monday. According to lawmaker Yang Jeong-suk, who quoted the Ministry of Science and ICT’s report, Baemin ranked at the bottom among the top 300 most-downloaded apps that the ministry reviewed. The 300 apps were evenly split -- with a half available for Apple and the other half for Android. The

Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology announced Thursday that a domestically developed HIV medicine has recently received regulatory approval for commercialization in China. This new medicine was first developed by a local research team as part of a project started in 1995, supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT. In 2006, US pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences joined the project and co-developed a treatment candidate in 2008. The technology was sold to local biotech firm Kain

LG Electronics said Thursday that it has been supporting a Russian museum’s project to conserve Vincent Van Gogh‘s masterpiece “The Red Vineyard in Arles.” The company has been providing financial support, as well as equipment, to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow for the project which began in August. “The Red Vineyard in Arles” is a work from Van Gogh’s stay in Arles in 1888 and 1889, one of the painter’s most prolific periods.

Drugmaker Chong Kun Dang said Thursday that it has received an approval from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to conduct a phase 3 clinical trial of their COVID-19 treatment candidate, Nafabeltan. Ukraine is the first foreign country to authorize the final-stage trial of the South Korean pharmaceutical company’s self-developed COVID-19 treatment. In Korea, Chong Kun Dang received an approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in April. Ukraine is one of the seven foreign count

SK Broadband said Thursday that it had countersued Netflix for network usage fees based on a June verdict that favored the South Korean company. The SK Telecom subsidiary, one of the country’s leading broadband internet access providers, said the suit, filed with the Seoul High Court, was a follow-up measure after Netflix failed to respond to SK’s proposals. “Despite the fact that massive investments are made in maintaining the internet network every year and the fact that

Korea’s mobile carriers to accept preorders for the iPhone 13 from Friday, with the official release date slated for Oct. 8

US-based content streaming giant Netflix has generated economic effects in South Korea worth 5.6 trillion won ($4.73 billion) and created 16,000 local jobs since its 2016 entry here, the company said Wednesday. At its first event for its Korean partners, the firm released a report written by Deloitte on the effects of its presence and investment in the country. Netflix commissioned the study. Since it launched here in 2016, the company has invested about 770 billion won in domestic content

The South Korean government has confirmed Wednesday that it will launch the country’s first fully domestically developed satellite launch vehicle Nuri on Oct. 21 as scheduled. The Ministry of Science and ICT said the rocket, also known as Korean Space Launch Vehicle II, will blast off at 4 p.m. from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province. The time, however, could be slightly changed in accordance with weather conditions, an official from the ministry said. The official

South Korean biopharmaceutical firm GC Pharma is in talks with Janssen  to sign a contract manufacturing deal for Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to industry sources Wednesday. The sources said Janssen conducted a site inspection of GC Pharma’s drug manufacturing facility in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, this month. The inspection was said to have gone without any particular issues. GC Pharma, however, has remained silent on rumors of a potential deal with the ph

Amid growing calls for regulating thriving digital platform businesses, South Korea’s top policymaker on technology and science called for a shift in perspective, saying they should be seen as innovators rather than a target for regulation. Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hye-sook made the remarks while meeting executives of Korea’s leading platform companies, including Naver, Kakao, Woowa Brothers and Yanolja. It was the first time that the ministry organized such a meeting with