The 2018 Global Bio Conference kicked off in Seoul on Wednesday, bringing together biotech regulators and industry experts from around the world to support the growth and overseas expansion of South Korea’s biopharmaceuticals businesses.　　In its fourth edition, the GBC has invited 126 speakers from 32 countries and has drawn more than 3,000 participants including government officials, pharma industry experts and academics. This year’s GBC, which continues through Friday, featured renowned speake

PINKFONG ON FLIGHT -- Korean children’s content producer SmartStudy unveils a Jeju Air plane decorated with its character Pinkfong on Wednesday. The project was launched as part of a joint marketing agreement signed between Korean low-cost carrier Jeju Air and SmartStudy in April. (SmartStudy)

German chemical and life sciences giant Merck KGaA has restructured its performance materials business with aims to strengthen its growth this year — a move that hints at Merck’s renewed attention to its key customers in the space including South Korean display makers Samsung and LG. 　Merck recently initiated a major restructuring of its performance materials business division. Previously broken down into smaller sub-units by material type, Merck’s materials business is now divided into three ar

South Korea’s biopharmaceutical industry is seeking leniency in implementing the country’s revised labor law that mandates companies with 300 or more employees to reduce maximum weekly work hours to 52 hours per week, from the current 68 hours.As the law is set to take effect from July 1, with a six-month grace period, Korea’s big biopharma companies are hoping to work around the new limit by asking the government to permit wider leniency in introducing flexible work hours for the industry, whos

South Korea ranks No. 1 worldwide in terms of smartphone ownership and internet usage, as nine in 10 Korean adults use the internet and own a smartphone, according to a new report released this month by the US-based Pew Research Center.　The research center conducted a survey on 40,448 respondents in 37 countries from Feb. 16 to May 8, 2017, on their internet and social media usage patterns as well as smartphone ownership. And in the survey, South Korea recorded the highest smartphone ownership r

SK Holdings, the parent company of South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, is moving to expand the scope of its global mobility business as it explores new potential partnerships and areas for cooperation with leading future mobility startups worldwide.SK Holdings said Sunday that it hosted a workshop with Southeast Asia’s top ride-hailing giant Grab, US-based car-sharing service leader Turo and SoCar, Korea’s leading car-sharing firm, to discuss ways to forge synergies and partner fo

South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco announced Saturday that it has named Choi Jeong-woo, CEO of Posco Chemtech, as its new chairman.　The company’s board of directors voted to nominate Choi for the chairman post at next month’s extraordinary shareholder’s meeting, during a meeting held Saturday, according to Posco.As a result, Choi is set to assume his new post after a special shareholder meeting and board approval on July 27. 　The Posco Chemtech CEO had been one of five final candidates nomin

Kim Jong-pil, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 92, was a seemingly ever-present figure in Korean politics, whose influence has been felt since the early 1960s. Kim was a two-time former Prime Minister, the founder of the country’s spy agency and widely-known as the “perennial No. 2 man” in modern Korean politics. He was 92. Kim was transferred from his home to Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul and was declared dead upon arrival at 8:15 a.m., according to the hospital. He is bel

South Korea’s top carpooling startup Poolus has laid off around 70 percent of its employees as part of business restructuring initiated by growing financial difficulties and regulatory hurdles that have weighed down on the app’s growth.　　Poolus confirmed Thursday that its CEO Kim Tae-ho had resigned as of June 7 during a board meeting. The startup said it has been seeing “stagnant earnings and operational difficulties due to regulatory issues” and will “re-examine the viability of its business a

South Korean contract drug manufacturer Samsung BioLogics said Thursday that it has obtained its first-ever manufacturing approval from Canada’s drug regulators for a biologic product produced at its first plant in Songdo, Incheon.With the addition, the company has now earned 14 manufacturing approvals from the world’s top drug regulators -- the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency and now Health Canada.Eleven of the a

South Korea was the world’s third-largest market for online video games and the fourth-largest for mobile games last year, according to data provided by market research firm Euromonitor International on Wednesday.Korea’s online video game market was valued at $1.69 billion in 2017, marking an on-year growth of 23.2 percent. The country’s mobile game market was valued at $2.34 billion in the same year, up 36 percent from the previous year.China ($11.9 billion) and the US ($2.24 billion) were the

KAIST, South Korea’s leading science and technology research university, will host a forum in Seoul on Thursday to discuss the ethics of artificial intelligence technology development as well as policymaking around the world. Titled “Taming Artificial Intelligence: Engineering, Ethics and Policy,” the forum will invite some of the world’s leading AI researchers, including those who recently made headlines for announcing a boycott of KAIST over its alleged contribution to developing autonomous “k

DISCUSSING GAME EXPORTS -- Business meetings are held at the “2018 ITS GAME” game industry trade show, which kicked off at Coex in Seoul on Tuesday. In its ninth edition, the event has the participation of 110 game publishers and buyers from 14 countries including the US and China. Yonhap

The World Health Organization has recognized game addiction as a mental disorder in its latest version of the revised 11th International Classification of Diseases released Monday, drawing backlash from the gaming industry and medical professionals worldwide, including Korea’s.Though technically a draft, the ICD-11 in its present state is the final copy that will be considered for official endorsement upon discussion by the WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, in May 2019.The I

South Koreans appear to be spending more time on Instagram and less on Facebook compared to a year ago, according to new data tracking the amount of time locals spend on social networking sites, released Tuesday.Data from local app analytics firm WiseApp showed that Koreans spent 1.5 billion minutes on Instagram in May this year, marking a 36 percent increase from 1.1 billion minutes recorded in May 2017.Instagram’s jump in popularity was led mainly by women in their 20s and 30s, with those in t