Nexon said Monday it would disclose the draw probabilities of its “random” cash items to regain trust from users, as it is engrossed in scandal over the company’s alleged manipulation of game odds. In the second apology posted on the official website of its fantasy adventure PC game MapleStory, Nexon director Kang Won-ki said the company is preparing to disclose data and records that would dispel suspicions surrounding the game’s random item draw system by Friday at th

South Korea’s Hanmi Pharmaceutical announced Tuesday that the US Food and Drug Administration has postponed its commercialization approval of Oraxol. Oraxol is an oral formulation of paclitaxel, a drug used to kill dividing tumor cells. The novel treatment for metastatic breast cancer currently outlicensed to the company’s US partner Athenex. In a statement released Tuesday, Hanmi said its US partner Athenex received a complete response letter, in which the FDA included a review

S. Korea’s No. 2 and No. 3 conglomerates aim to add speed to ‘hydrogen economy’

SK Innovation has asked the US president to intervene in its battery patent fight with LG Energy Solution, saying it might have to “abandon” a $2.6 billion production base in Georgia after its defeat last month in the top US trade court. Making a case for a presidential veto of the court decision, the South Korean firm gave a presentation to US government officials, which the Wall Street Journal reported underscored that the Georgia plant will create 2,600 new jobs and contained

South Korea’s share in global research and development spending in technology has waned as China’s is rapidly rising, a comparative report by the Federation of Korean Industries showed on Tuesday. The number of Korean companies that made it to the list of leading 2,500 corporate investors in R&D plunged from 80 in 2014 to 56 in 2019, the report revealed. The Korean firms’ share in the total value of R&D investments also shrunk from 3.9 percent to 3.6 percent during

SsangYong Motor Co. said Tuesday its sales plunged 61 percent last month from a year earlier on lower demand for its vehicles amid the COVID-19 pandemic. SsangYong Motor sold 2,789 vehicles in February, down from 7,141 units a year ago due to a sharp decline in domestic sales and exports, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales fell 48 percent to 2,673 units last month from 5,100 the previous year, and exports plummeted 94 percent to 116 from 2,041, it said. SsangYong Motor's lineup c

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. was the No. 2 supplier of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in the world in January after China's CATL, a market research firm said Tuesday. LG Energy Solution, which spun off from LG Chem Ltd. in December last year, shipped 2.5 gigawatt-hour (GWh) equivalents of EV batteries in January, up 50.6 percent from a year earlier, according to SNE Research. But its global market share shrank to 18.5 percent from 23.9 percent in the same month last ye

Financially troubled carmaker SsangYong Motor Co. said Tuesday it has resumed the operation of its local plant after a weekslong suspension due to a glitch in its parts supply. SsangYong Motor halted its plant in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, for two days in December and 16 days last month as its subcontractors refused to supply parts due to outstanding payments. The SUV-focused carmaker filed for court receivership on Dec. 21 after it failed to obtain approval for the rollover of

LG Electronics Inc., a major home appliance maker in South Korea, said Tuesday that the cumulative production of its steam closet has surpassed 1 million units. Domestic models of LG Tromm Styler, a clothing care appliance that made its debut in 2011, surpassed 1 million units in cumulative production as of end-February, the company said. All of LG's steam closet models are manufactured in the company's plant in Changwon, some 400 kilometers south of Seoul. LG currently sells the Styler in m

LG Innotek Co., a major electronics parts maker in South Korea, said Tuesday it has developed an automotive Wi-Fi module with advanced wireless communication technology as the company eyes to expand its presence in the future mobility market. LG Innotek claimed its latest automotive Wi-Fi module is the industry's first to be based on the next-generation Wi-Fi 6E (6th Generation Extended) technology using 6 GHz bandwidth. The company said it expects to commercialize the Wi-Fi 6E module in 2022

South Korea's online food delivery service market spiked nearly 80 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday. The value of online food service transactions came to 17.4 trillion won ($15.5 billion) last year, up 78.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It was nearly 6.4 times the 2.7 trillion won recorded in 2017, when the statistical agency started tracking related data. Of the total transactions

Global health care company pursues energy efficiency, sustainability as key business goals

This year’s March proxy season is to herald unprecedented scenes, including virtual meetings, e-voting systems and the rising presence of environmentally friendly corporate policy frames -- reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic situation. While top-tier conglomerates swiftly moved to adjust the date and format of their upcoming shareholders meetings, smaller businesses were observed struggling with epidemic-caused new market norms. Of the 2,350 listed companies on South Korea’s bench

Statistics Korea’s data on Monday showed the male ratio at birth in South Korea fell to the lowest level last year, implicating the end of the country’s long-held tradition of boy preference. The gender ratio at birth, or the number of baby boys per every 100 baby girls born, stood at 104.9 in 2020 -- the lowest since the institution started to collect related data in 1990. The figure is close to a natural level observed worldwide of about 105 boys to every 100 girls. This repres

While the COVID-19 pandemic has impeded the transfer of goods via ship, with stricter rules to limit the number of crew members boarding and coming ashore, a small South Korean venture company is offering a new kind of delivery service using drones. Marine Drone Tech, a drone logistics company based in Busan, is the first company in Korea to officially register a maritime drone delivery service. It received its business registration certificate from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tr