K Auction, South Korea’s second-largest auction house by revenue, said Thursday that it plans to go public on Jan. 24, in what its chief said will be the first step to take on its bigger rival Seoul Auction. “A transparent platform that will maximize the positive impact of art and outcompete our rival, that’s what we have in mind,” K Auction CEO Do Hyun-soon said at an online conference. Seoul A...

South Korea has bought an additional 400,000 courses of Paxlovid, the COVID-19 antiviral pills developed by Pfizer, health officials said Wednesday evening. With the latest purchase, the country has secured enough oral treatments for 1 million people in total -- Pfizer’s for 762,000 people, and the rest from Merck. “Adding pills to our treatment protocol will help stabilize and expand the at-hom...

Momoland unveiled teaser images for “Yummy Yummy Love” on Thursday. The six members took a sharp turn from their cute and charming image and showed a powerful and bold side for their new album. Posing alongside the band is the collaborating artist Natti Natasha. The Dominican singer-songwriter is a Latin pop superstar and her 2017 hit song “Criminal” generated over 2.3 billion views on YouTube. ...

Procter & Gamble has released a detergent with degerming power for customers concerned with laundry that still smells after washing. Humidity is the typical culprit behind musty clothes, but in the winter it could be the machine itself that is to blame, according to the company. The inner tub of the washing machine, which holds the clothes, could be teeming with bacteria that cause a lingering ...

A Harvard professor whose earlier claim that victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery were voluntary prostitutes stirred great fury is expected to draw further criticism with his renewed assertion that denies contemporary evidence to back the existence of the euphemistically labeled “comfort women.” The South Korean government, as well as experts here, rebuffed his argument, saying Japan’s sexu...

Individual investors are seeking legal action for damages caused by an employee at Osstem Implant who was arrested Wednesday for having allegedly stolen 188 billion won ($156 million) from the Kosdaq-listed company. The stolen money accounted for 91 percent of the company’s equity as of last year. The shares of the implant maker, worth a little over 2 trillion won in market value, were suspended...

Advantages? Speed, maneuverability North Korea’s series of testing hypersonic boost-glide vehicles matters in light of their accuracy, speed, maneuverability and unpredictable trajectory. The tests appear to aim to seek ways to penetrate the US, South Korean, and regional missile defenses. The speed is not the key difference between HGVs and ballistic reentry vehicles. But missile-launched HGVs...

SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang and Samsung Electronics’ mobile business chief Roh Tae-moon discussed their potential partnership on a slew of tech areas, including 5G network, artificial intelligence and the metaverse, the company said Thursday. “Samsung has been creating comprehensive services by converging different areas of business into one,” Ryu said at CES 2022 held in Las Vegas. “SK Teleco...

Hongsam, Korean red ginseng, has become a popular choice for Lunar New Year gift in overseas markets, stretching from Asia to the United States, Australia, Russia and the Middle East, the company said Wednesday. Korea Ginseng Corp. (KGC), Korea’s leading Red Ginseng manufacturer, unveiled a map of Korean red ginseng markets around the world, showing its best-selling product by country. According...

The main opposition People Power Party’s internal conflict is intensifying, with some lawmakers demanding party leader Lee Jun-seok’s resignation despite presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of a “new start” for his campaign team. At the general meeting of lawmakers Thursday, Yoon and the members were discussing a resolution to recommend that party leader Lee Jun-seok resign. The r...

A 32-year-old man was sentenced to seven years behind bars Thursday for beating his girlfriend to death. The man, surnamed Lee, was indicted on charges of battering his girlfriend, Hwang Ye-jin, to death in the lobby of a studio apartment building in western Seoul in late July during a fight between the two. Repeatedly beaten on the head, Hwang lost consciousness and was moved to a hospital wit...

Enhypen was created by two of the nation‘s entertainment giants – CJ ENM and what was then called Big Hit Entertainment – with the ambition to find the next generation of K-pop. The band entered the field on Nov. 23, 2020, with their debut album, “Border: Day One,” and has released four albums ever since, including their Japanese print. Since their debut, the band has gone global with their musi...

SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in stressed corporate sustainability during a New Year meeting held Monday, urging executives to carry out the company’s vision of building its legacy as a global enterprise with more than 100 years of history. At the virtual meeting, he suggested three objectives: ensuring unrivaled product quality, innovating corporate culture and integrating environmental, social ...

LAS VEGAS -- After unveiling its new vision of expanding a human reach to robotics and metaverse, Hyundai Motor opened its CES booth filled with robots, not cars, to present the future of mobility. The exhibition taking place at the tech show featured three Spots, a quadruped robot, dancing in sync to a BTS song titled “Ioniq: I’m on it.” L7, a micro-mobility concept based on a platform that co...

The South Korean government is preparing to launch a new team to step up support for North Korean defectors suffering from economic and psychological difficulties after resettlement here, officials said Thursday. The team -- which will comprise of officials from different government agencies, including the unification ministry and the police -- is expected to be set up by next month to provide d...