SK Engineering and Construction said Thursday it has inked a financial agreement with Kazakhstan and will start the construction of a beltway in the country, marking the first public-private partnership infrastructure project there. According to the company, it signed the agreement to furnish the construction fund for Almaty Ring Road with a group of creditors consisting of multilateral development banks, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in Kazakhstan’s ca

Health authorities insist the transmission of the novel coronavirus through food is unlikely, but fears concerning Chinese food and imported ingredients are spreading fast, and hitting the industry hard. Almost a month has passed since the first novel coronavirus patient was confirmed in Korea, and Chinese restaurant owners are struggling to make ends meet, as rumors backed by anxiety are quickly circulating that the epidemic could be spread via food. “I suggested having skewered meat

Ikea Korea said Tuesday it will open its fourth store in South Korea in Busan on Thursday, marking the first store outside Seoul and the surrounding region. According to the company, Ikea DongBusan, located at Gijang-gun, will feature showrooms, the Ikea Restaurant and Bistro, and Smaland, a play area for kids, across 42,316 square meters, with one basement floor and four floors above ground. Under the vision of creating a “better everyday life,” Ikea DongBusan aims to reach peopl

In light of Korean filmmaker Bong joon-ho’s historical victory at the Oscars with his film “Parasite,” the Korean manufacturer of instant noodles featured in the film is riding high on the bandwagon. Jjapaguri -- translated as “ram-don” in the English subtitles -- is a mixture of Chapaghetti black bean instant noodles and soup-based Neoguri ramen. Having aroused the curiosity of cinemagoers around the world, the recipe quickly spread via social media, with Bong&rs

Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, more and more South Koreans are shopping online for protective items from overseas sites. According to the Korean branch of the international shopping support site Malltail, orders for sanitary products from overseas sites jumped 1,236 percent in the period between Jan. 20 to Thursday, compared with the same period last year. The most popular item was hand sanitizer, with sales surging 6,243 percent during the cited period. Face masks and hand soap

In the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak, operations at ports and the shipping industry have been severely disrupted, with sea ports and manufacturers shutting down in China, South Korea’s major trade partner, according to the industry on Thursday. Shipyards here are clogged with containers that should have been either delivered or stopped over at Chinese ports. Meanwhile, vessels bringing in imported goods to Korea from China have slowed, leaving customs inspection storage units ne

Hyosung Corp. said Thursday the company and its four major affiliates saw their combined operating profit surpass 1 trillion won ($848 million) in 2019. The five companies – Hyosung Corp., Hyosung TNC, Hyosung Heavy Industries, Hyosung Advanced Materials, Hyosung Chemical -- recorded combined revenue of 18.11 trillion won and operating profit of 1.1 trillion won. It is the second time the Hyosung Group has seen the operating profit go above 1 trillion won since 2016, when it saw revenue

Korean confectionary firm Orion said Wednesday it recorded operating profit of 327.3 billion won ($275.9 million) in 2019, marking the highest figure in company history. According to the company, it saw its net profit increase 54.1 percent on-year to post 220.3 billion won, and its annual revenue hit 2.02 trillion won, up 5 percent from the year before. The company’s operating profit in the fourth quarter last year was 97.8 billion won, up 39.2 percent in the same period on-year, and t

Ben Verhaert, CEO of the South Korea-based Oriental Brewery, has chosen a new Korean name to foster friendly communication with his Korean employees and customers, the company said Wednesday. The Belgian national now goes by Bae Ha-jun. The CEO took up his current post in November last year. Belgian brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired OB in 2014. The name Ha-jun consists of the Chinese characters “ha,” referring to water, and “jun,” meaning height, the company

As the power struggle between two siblings of Hanjin Group’s controlling family continues ahead of the upcoming shareholders meeting, their mother and sister, who are major stakeholders, said they backed the brother of the two. In a statement Tuesday, Lee Myung-hee, the mother of the siblings and their youngest sister Hyun-min expressed support for Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae over his sister Cho Hyun-ah, the former vice president of the airline. “Lee Myung-hee and Cho Hyun-m

CJ Logistics, a major South Korean logistics firm, said Tuesday it had launched CJ Logistics America -- a joint operating company of its subsidiaries in the United States and Canada -- and DSC Logistics, to expand the company’s presence in North America. Under the new corporate body, CJ Logistics will operate warehouses of a combined 280,000 square meters in size in the US and Canada, to extend its operating network across North America, the company said. CJ Logistics USA, a subsidiar

The outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus has led to controversy about whether it is right for face mask manufacturers to raise the prices of their highly sought-after products. While overall prices of such masks appear to be on the rise, the CEO of Coupang said the South Korean e-commerce firm will freeze the prices of face masks being sold on its platform. “Although the market price of masks rose as demand increased, we have frozen our prices for retail masks,” Coupang CEO Kim Bom-

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Monday it has agreed with South Korean financial institutions to jointly invest in the construction of a new town project in the center of Hanoi, Vietnam. According to Daewoo E&C, it signed an investment development contract worth $388 million with the Korea Development Bank and other Korean financial institutions on Jan. 20, to construct buildings, including a hotel, and residential and commercial buildings, inside Starlake City in Hanoi. This i

Korea’s top cosmetics maker Amorepacific Group said Monday it confirmed a business partnership with PT Mitra Adiperkasa (MAP), a leading retailer in Indonesia, strengthening its position as global beauty brand in the region. According to the company, Amorepacific President Bae Dong-hyun and MAP Group CEO Virendra Sharma inked the agreement at the MAP headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Under the partnership, Amorepacific will present its cosmetics brands, Sulwhasoo, Lanei

Private brands -- exclusively manufactured for a retailer -- have for long been making strides, although they are still concentrated in the developed markets of Europe, North America and Australia. While still in a nascent stage in South Korea, the private brand market has shown exponential growth in recent years, with brand loyalty for large retailers reigning the landscape. How well a retailer builds trust with its consumers is the key to success, and a lot of that comes from the quality of