CJ Bioscience, a biotechnology subsidiary of CJ CheilJedang, has been officially launched with its eyes set on becoming a global leader in the microbiome sector, the Korean food giant said Wednesday. The establishment of the biotechnology firm is part of CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun’s earlier pledge to strengthen the group’s wellness business, one of the four growth engines he had vowed to cul...

South Korea’s financial institutions -- including banks, brokerages and credit card companies -- launched an all-in-one banking service Wednesday for customers to manage their financial data spread across financial firms in one place. Called “MyData,” the service was put on a trial run in December before 33 financial institutions officially started offering it this week to help customers make mo...

South Korean rapper-songwriter B.I showcased his song “Nineteen” on Grammy’s digital performance series “Global Spin,” featuring on the show as the first South Korean artist. Known for its music awards Grammy kicked off “Global Spin” in September to celebrate the diversity of music around the world. Each episode of the biweekly series has featured performances by aspiring artists and groups to c...

Jaehan, Hangeyom and Yechan embarked on their musical journey by making the tune and writing the words for “Liar.” The album also includes “Please,” produced by Hangyeom. Talking about “Liar,” Yechan said it’s a piece of music that talks about saving and protecting your lover and is the first song he wrote with his bandmates. Most importantly, the composer said he was able to learn in-depth abou...

Toward the end of the interview, Choi talked about the new movie “Special Cargo” starring Park So-dam, a fellow “Parasite” star. “The ‘Parasite’ cast still have a group chat together. In there, we encourage and cheer on each other. I am glad that we keep in touch. There, we talked about our two movies both being released at the beginning of the year,” Choi said. “I hope both our movies do well.”...

South Korea's chief financial regulator said Wednesday that he is looking into loan and interest rates set by financial institutions amid complaints that their spread is widening, deepening the financial burden on many consumers. Jeong Eun-bo, head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks as criticism has grown that banks and other financial firms are quicker to increase thei...

South Korean sci-fi horror "The Silent Sea" was the most-viewed non-English TV show over a recent one-week period among those on Netflix, the global video streaming service said Wednesday. The drama topped Netflix's official weekly chart for non-English TV programs with 47.8 million hours of viewing for the week from Dec. 27-Jan. 2, far outnumbering "The Queen of Flow: Season 2" with 29.5 millio...

A KTX bullet train en route to Busan from Seoul derailed in central South Korea on Wednesday, injuring some passengers, the operator said. The Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) and firefighters said the derailment occurred at 12:58 p.m., when the KTX-Sancheon train was entering a tunnel in Yeongdong of North Chungcheong Province, 214 kilometers south of Seoul. One passenger car from the train went ...

Presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party has seemingly lost support from young voters in their 20s and 30s, with just over 60 days left until the March election. A Realmeter survey commissioned by YTN with 1,024 voters between the ages of 18 and 39 conducted on Monday and Tuesday showed that Yoon had 18.4 percent support from respondents, trailing Lee Jae-myun...

South Korea should join the democratic coalitions designed to keep China in check, instead of hedging between the US and China, which could result in Seoul having to deal with Beijing alone, says Victor Cha, a former top adviser on North Korea in the George W. Bush administration. “Hedging is not a long-term strategy for South Korea between the US and China. It does not help relations with eithe...

South Korea's military on Wednesday reported 28 additional COVID-19 cases, including 25 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,360. Of the new cases, 14 are from the Army, nine from units under the direct control of the defense ministry, two from the Air Force, two from the Marine Corps and one from the Navy. Currently, 233 military personnel are under trea...

At No. 26, Im Sung-jae is the top South Korean in the men's world golf rankings. And the two-time PGA Tour winner wants to move even higher in the new year. "I will try to take it step by step and stay inside the top 20," Im said Wednesday in an online interview with South Korean media. He is in Hawaii to prepare for the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which starts Thursday, as the first event o...

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday called for North Korea to make efforts for dialogue in a more earnest manner, after Pyongyang launched a suspected ballistic missile into the sea in this year's first show of force. "This morning, North Korea test-fired an unidentified short-range projectile," Moon told a groundbreaking ceremony for a railway at an inter-Korean border town. "Because of this, th...

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday reiterated his willingness to build an integrated railway network for the peace on the Korean Peninsula during a visit to a groundbreaking ceremony for railroad construction in the Jejin railway project. On the same day, the North fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea. “It could symbolically show our trust and willingness to connect the Donghae Line ...

The chief of South Korean dental implant maker Osstem Implant Co. on Wednesday apologized for its own employee allegedly embezzling a large amount of corporate funds. The employee in charge of managing corporate funds, only identified by his surname Lee, has allegedly embezzled 188 billion won ($157.7 million). Osstem Implant on Friday sued the employee in question on charges of embezzlement. ...