Latest News

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  Massive Fire at Hankook Tire factory destroys some 400,000 tires in 13 hours SEOUL -- A massive fire erupted at Hankook Tire's second plant in the central city of Daejeon destroying some 40,000 tires and leaving the factory complex inoperable. The fire that broke out at 10:09 p.m. (1309 GMT) on March 12 was brought under control after 13 hours. Ten workers and one firefighter were hospitalized for inhaling smoke but their conditions were not critical. According to the emergency headquarters, the fire is speculated to have started during the curing proce 2023-03-13
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  KT rolls out metaverse platform capable of actualizing housing structure in virtual reality SEOUL -- A new metaverse platform capable of creating a virtual clone of an actual house was released by South Korea's major telecom company KT. The virtual platform requires users to register their phone numbers so they can interact with their actual friends through avatars. KT said in a statement on March 13 that the metaverse platform called "GenieVerse" was rolled out. Anyone can create their own avatars using some 1,000 items in GenieVerse, which incorporates ar 2023-03-13
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  ​HYBE withdraws plan to acquire SM Entertainment SEOUL -- HYBE, the entertainment agency that houses various top K-pop artists such as boy band BTS and girl band NewJeans, has pulled back from a race to acquire SM Entertainment, also one of the top K-pop powerhouses, leaving South Korea's web service giant Kakao as the winner of the fierce takeover competition. The agency led by Bang Si-hyuk, the prodigy producer who created K-pop wonder BTS, said in a statement on March 12 that it will stop all acquisition processes of SM. P 2023-03-13
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  Boy band &TEAM to release soundtrack for web cartoon 'Dark Moon: The Grey City' SEOUL -- A soundtrack for "Dark Moon: The Grey City," a digital cartoon created based on concepts of &TEAM, a nine-member multinational boy band formed by the agency of BTS, will be released in Korean, English, and Japanese. Four members of the K-pop band participated in the soundtrack which portrays the story of nine werewolves with different personalities overcoming various obstacles and stereotypes. Hybe, BTS' agency, collaborated with Naver Webtoon, the web car 2023-03-10
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  N. Korea fires short-range ballistic missile prior to U.S.-S. Korea drills SEOUL -- North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile ahead of the joint military drills by the United States and South Korea, set to begin on March 13 for 11 days. The missile was fired at 6:20 p.m. (0920 GMT) on March 9, near Nampo, located some 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of Pyongyang. The South Korean military is investigating the possibility that multiple short-range ballistic missiles were fired simultaneously. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said th 2023-03-10
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  State research institute creates robot system capable of harvesting and carrying fruits SEOUL -- A state research body has developed a robot system that consists of an artificial intelligence-based robot capable of harvesting vegetables and fruits using its manipulator and a self-driving robot that carries harvested items to a loading dock. The system can significantly help South Koreans to overcome the labor shortage, especially in rural areas. According to data released by the national statistics office, the population of farming households in South Korea was about 2023-03-10
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  ​Startup minister Lee Young attends Saudi Arabia's biggest startup event SEOUL -- South Korea's Minister of SMEs and Startups attended "Biban 2023," Saudi Arabia's largest startup conference event held at the Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center, along with South Korean small and medium-sized companies and startups. Biban 2023 is an annual startup event held in Saudi Arabia. This year, some 350 speakers and about 10,500 audiences will attend the conference to share ideas about the establishment of healthy and mutually benefi 2023-03-10
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  BTS member Suga donates $75,642 for child earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria SEOUL -- BTS's main rapper Suga has donated 100 million won ($75,642) to a London-based nonprofit organization to help child earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. Suga's donation will be used to purchase emergency relief items such as blankets, mattresses, and school supplies. The 30-year-old will go on a solo world tour, starting with the first concert in Belmont Park, New York on April 26. Save the Children said in a statement that Suga made the donation on his birthda 2023-03-09
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  Opposition Democratic Party of Korea to push to expand tax deduction for semiconductor makers SEOUL -- The opposition Democratic Party of Korea will push to expand the tax deduction for semiconductor companies so that small and medium-sized semiconductor makers can receive up to 40 percent tax discount for their investment in chip production facilities. The plan was revealed to reduce the impact of the United States' CHIPS Act. The CHIPS Act restricts funding recipients from increasing semiconductor manufacturing operations in China and other countries that have been de 2023-03-09
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  ​Convenience store chain CU operator opens 300th store in Mongolia SEOUL -- South Korea's top convenience store franchise CU has opened its 300th store in Mongolia. The store located in Ulaanbaatar provides various Mongolian food such as Khuushuur, a dumpling usually made with beef, mutton, or camel. Along with Mongolian food and snacks, visitors can also enjoy South Korean snacks including Tteokbokki, a menu of finger-sized rice cakes simmered in fiery-red spicy chili sauce. BGF Retail said in a statement that the 300th convenience store was 2023-03-09
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  S. Korea's benchmark interest rate likely to reach 4% after Fed hints at continuing rate hikes SEOUL -- South Korea is likely to increase its base interest rate to up to four percent, after the United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated during his speech on March 7 that "the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated," on Capitol Hill. According to South Korean monetary authorities on March 8, Chairman Powell strongly suggested the need for additional tightening when he addressed the Senate Banking, Housin 2023-03-09
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  Number of S. Korean Facebook monthly active users drop below 10 mln for first time in 2 yrs SEOUL -- According to an online big data analysis, the number of South Korean monthly active users of the Facebook smartphone app has dropped below 10 million for the first time in two years since South Korean big data analysis solution company Mobile Index started monitoring. South Korea currently has some 54 million registered smartphones and an average of about 65 percent of people access social media using their phones. According to a survey of 10,154 South Korean people, con 2023-03-09
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  Singaporean medical imaging service provider 'Radlink' to adopt Lunit's AI chest x-ray solution SEOUL -- "Lunit INSIGHT CXR," a chest x-ray analysis solution developed by South Korea's medical artificial intelligence company Lunit, will be provided to a Singaporean medical imaging service provider. The solution can detect various types of chest diseases such as lung cancer and tuberculosis. Using software robots, Lunit's AI solution compares and analyzes x-rays and medical images of chest disease patients and healthy people. After detecting an irregularity, 2023-03-09
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  Chicken price hits all-time high due to increased costs of poultry farm operation SEOUL -- The price of chicken has reached its all-time-high as the cost of livestock farming has skyrocketed due to the increase in farm operating costs including the prices of fertilizers, animal feed, electricity, and fuel that were accelerated by the sluggish global economic growth sparked by the fuel price increase, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Concerns that the era of expensive "30,000-won ($22.7) fried chicken" is not far off are growing among South Ko 2023-03-08
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  Launch of S. Korean private test rocket delayed for one day due to extended pre-launch examination SEOUL --The launch of Hanvit-TLV, a test launch vehicle developed by South Korean startup Innospace, was delayed for a day due to extended pre-launch examinations and preparations, the tech startup said. In October 2021, South Korea successfully launched a homemade three-stage rocket called the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV-2) known as "Nuri" into space. The rocket equipped with a 300-ton-class propulsion system was developed solely using domestically-developed t 2023-03-08
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  ​S. Korea to establish drone operations command headquarters in 2023 SEOUL -- South Korea will establish a drone operations command headquarters that will manage the operation of unmanned aerial vehicles that play the role of compact-sized attack aircraft and reconnaissance airplanes, the Ministry of Defense said. The blueprint for the drone-specialized division was originally revealed in January. The defense ministry's announcement was made about three months after the airspace of Seoul and its northern satellite cities were breached by a handf 2023-03-08
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  [INTERVIEW] ​Vietnamese envoy calls for South Korea's wider market opening, technology transfer SEOUL -- Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea Nguyen Vu Tung has suggested Asia's fourth-largest economy open its market wider to Vietnamese goods and promote technology transfer to help address the trade imbalance between the two countries. “The two sides attach greater importance to tackling the trade deficit issue. This involves greater access to the Korean market for Vietnamese goods,&rdqu 2023-03-08
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  Tuna maker Dongwon F&B releases plant-based dumpling and canned tuna SEOUL -- South Korea's largest canned tuna maker Dongwon F&B rolled out plant-based cholesterol-free canned tuna to meet growing demands from some 2 million vegans in South Korea. South Korea's vegan meat market has been rapidly growing to meet demands from some 2 million vegans. Data released by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation showed that the country's vegan meat market which stood at 22.7 billion won ($17.4 million) in 2020 will reach 29.4 bi 2023-03-07
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  [SUMMARY] Daily News Selection by Aju Daily on March 7, 2023 The following stories are the daily summary of news in South Korea on March 7. SEOUL -- Spending on private education rise by 10.8% in 2022 According to data released on March 7, private school spending for South Korean students increased 10.8 percent year over year in 2022, demonstrating the nation's unwavering passion for learning. According to statistics gathered by Statistics Korea, total spending on private education for elementary, middle, and high school pupils reache 2023-03-07
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  ​S. Korea's banking sector embroiled in controversy for inflating recruiting capacity SEOUL -- According to an exclusive report by Economic Daily, South Korea's banking industry inflated its recruiting capacity while carrying out the government's order to hire more employees. Unlike the original plan to recruit 2,288 new employees, the actual number turned out to be only 953. The country's finance industry has earlier announced its massive recruitment plan, followed by President Yoon Suk-yeol's 2023-03-07