Hana Bank said on Wednesday it has begun offering its facial verification service round the clock, allowing customers to open accounts any time day or night. Using artificial intelligence and big data, the facial recognition solution verifies users by comparing their faces to their ID photos within one second. It was chosen as an innovative financial service by the Financial Services Commission in April last year. Previously, customers opening their first accounts at Hana Bank online were req

LG Innotek Co. signed an agreement with some 100 partner firms on financial, technological, management and educational cooperation on Thursday in its annual event for shared growth which it has held since 2010. This year, the IT components maker said it will start providing partner firms with expert consultations on environmental, social and corporate governance, and increase financial support for partners’ factory automation. LG Innotek said it will also offer partner firms knowhow on i

LIG Nex1 showcased its robots, unmanned surface vehicles and surveillance drones at an international exhibit in the United Arab Emirates, hoping to expand exports to and technological cooperation in the Middle East. The South Korean defense company took part in the Unmanned Systems Exhibition and Conference, which was held in Abu Dhabi from Feb. 21 through 23. Among LIG Nex1’s products on display were nonpowered muscle assistance robots called LEXO, short for lower extremity skeleton, un

While keeping its overall look intact, the 2022 Renault Samsung SM6 has upgraded safety and convenience features such as LED matrix vision headlamps in all of its trims. Like most European cars, the SM6, which is sold as the Renault Talisman in Europe, has kept its unique design, despite having had minor facelifts over the six years since its launch. The LED matrix vision headlamps are smart headlamps that can automatically adjust their brightness using 18 LEDs on each side depending on traffi

LG Energy Solution was listed on the main Kospi bourse in January, 30 years after the company took its first step as a pioneer in the rechargeable battery business in 1992. Its next goal is to become “a company that is trusted and loved by customers.” LG Energy Solution’s initial public offering set several records, raising capital of more than 10 trillion won ($8.3 billion) and attracting 114.1 trillion won in deposits from some 4.4 million retail investors. As the first K

A North Korean defector sponsored by a South Korean company received a doctoral degree in international relations from a US university. Kim Seong-ryeol, a 37-year-old from Chongjin, North Korea, made three failed attempts to flee North Korea with his family by crossing the Tumen River to China since 1997, and was subsequently jailed. Kim finally fled the North in 2004, and settled in South Korea with his family. Having dropped out of middle school in North Korea, Kim completed the South Korean

The Korea Forest Service is taking steps to help restore forests in Central and South America as it seeks to expand its global outreach. A team of Korea Forest Service officials led by Minister Choi Byeong-am visited El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru in late January, and agreed to cooperate more closely to restore forests in those countries, the KFS said. The KFS delegation’s visit comes as a follow-up to the summit talks between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden i

An organization of some 5,000 people in the digital asset and blockchain industry and academia has been launched. The idea is to present the government with industrial roadmaps in a systematic manner, as it has been difficult to do so with a number of blockchain-related groups springing up. The Korea Blockchain Enterprise Promotion Association (KBEPA) and the Korea Blockchain Association Organization Federation held a ceremony to launch a “blockchain (digital asset) industry committee&r

The number of mergers and acquisitions by Korean companies that took place over the past 10 years was less than half of the average number of M&A cases in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan in the same period. A total of 1,063 M&A cases by Korean companies took place from January 2012 through January this year, which is about 41 percent of the five countries’ average figure of 2,598 cases, according to the Federation of Korean Industries. The US topped the list with 3,350 case

Blockchain company AMAXG said it is focusing on the metaverse, artificial intelligence and digital personal safe businesses this year. Having laid the groundwork for the BizAuto platform last year, this year the company expects to boost the AMAXG Metaverse World where metaverse meets nonfungible tokens, big data and AI. AMAXG Group said on Thursday it will establish a metaverse-AI convergence research center, and expand and reorganize its business structure to make progress on new businesses.&

French luxury brand Chanel has decided to pull out of duty free shops in Busan and Jeju in late March, signaling another blow to local duty free retailers who have also lost Louis Vuitton and Rolex. Chanel has informed the retailers that they will close boutiques at the Lotte duty free store in Busan and the Shilla duty free store in Jeju, the only downtown duty free shops outside Seoul that had Chanel. Louis Vuitton stopped running its store at the Lotte duty free shop in Jeju from Jan. 1, a

Having spent mostly on furniture, home appliances and cars in the first year of the pandemic, consumers bought more bags and clothes last year, apparently getting ready to go out, statistics showed. Business has been good for furniture and home appliance companies for the past two years as COVID-19 persisted, keeping people at home. Meanwhile, shoe shops continued to see sluggish sales. The retail sales index rose 5.5 percent last year, compared to 2020, meaning that the amount of goods sold

The South Korean government said on Wednesday it will invest 402.7 billion won ($337.4 million) in the development of processing-in-memory (PIM) chips, in addition to the 1 trillion won it pledged earlier to spend on artificial intelligence semiconductors over nine years to 2029. PIM semiconductors are known as next-generation AI chips with higher processing efficiency. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it discussed ways to advance the AI industry with AI experts from Samsung Electronics, L

South Korea posted $46.47 billion in car exports last year, up 24.2 percent from the previous year which was hit hard by COVID-19, government data showed on Tuesday. Export volume surged 8.6 percent to 2.05 million units, marking the first time in nine years to see exports rise in both volume and value. The country’s car production and sales volume at home, on the other hand, dropped 1.3 percent on-year to 3.46 million units and 8.5 percent to 1.73 million units, respectively. The Minis

French luxury brand Louis Vuitton is closing shops at all downtown duty-free stores in South Korea by March 2023. Having stopped running its store at Lotte Duty Free Jeju in December, Louis Vuitton will close three more -- at the Shilla Duty Free in Jeju, Lotte Duty Free in Busan and Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul -- in March, according to UK travel retail media outlet Moodie Davitt Report. Louis Vuitton also plans to pull out from the three remaining downtown duty-free stores -- Lotte Du