Burberry unveils “Art of the Trench in Seoul” project　Burberry, a British luxury clothing and accessories brand, has launched its “Art of the Trench in Seoul” project here. 　The project, which commemorates Burberry’s signature trench coat, captured various people wearing the brand’s trench coat in different parts of the city.　Around 30 celebrities including actors Lee Jong-suk, Cha Seung-won and Ko Su, as well as actresses Choi Ji-woo and Han Hyo-joo participated in the making of the project.　Th

Industry March 3, 2016

Qurient, a biotech venture firm engaged in developing new treatments, is attracting interest from investors since debuting on Korea’s tech-driven KOSDAQ stock market on Monday.　　On the day of its stock market debut, Qurient’s stock price surged by 15.04 percent from its starting price to close at 33,900 won on Monday. It again rose by 15 percent to close at 39,000 won on Tuesday and by 19 percent to reach a closing price of 46,600 won on Wednesday.　The company’s stock price is continuing to trea

Industry March 2, 2016

Bodyfriend, a South Korean health care company specializing in building premium automated massage chairs, has retaken the No. 1 spot as the country’s leading massage chair maker.　The company was ranked as the top player in the segment locally in terms of market share, brand preference and brand awareness for 2015, by local market analyst Hankook Research on Wednesday.　Bodyfriend took up 66.1 percent of Korea’s total massage chair industry, according to the research firm’s survey of 500 local con

Industry March 2, 2016

South Korea’s top e-commerce operator Coupang is expected to have logged a record-high loss in 2015, according to Coupang and industry analysts, fueling partial concerns over its aggressive spending.A recent report by Hana Investment Securities forecast that Coupang would log an operating loss of about 400 billion won ($320 million) for 2015, up by 299 percent from a loss of 121.5 billion in 2014.Though its sales are expected to have hiked by more than 400 percent last year from 348.5 billion wo

Industry March 1, 2016

This is the third in a series of articles analyzing the top 10 companies by market capitalization traded on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market. --Ed.For a company holding the No. 3 spot on the Kosdaq stock exchange, Dongsuh Companies Inc. has surprisingly little presence in the Korean media. This family-run company is known for not being accessible to journalists, with no interviews, press conferences or other typical media-relations activities that companies here often do to promote themselves.  For

Feb. 29, 2016

Lotte Shopping and E-Mart, two of Korea’s major retail giants, on Monday denied making a bid for smaller hypermarket chain Kim’s Club. “We hereby officially deny media reports that our company is among the bidders shortlisted for the takeover of Kim’s Club,” E-Mart said in a regulatory filing. In a separate filing on the day, Lotte Shopping also denied any bid. (Yonhap)Rumors have been brewing as to which of the country’s retailers is among the three bidders shortlisted for the acquisition of th

Feb. 29, 2016

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. said Monday it will hand out a record high of some 2 trillion won ($1.66 billion) in cash dividends to its shareholders for the year 2015, in its largest allotment to date.　“We plan to pay 1.99 trillion won for dividends out of a net profit of 13.41 trillion won posted in 2015,” the nation’s largest utility firm said in a regulatory filing. KEPCO`s new headquarters in Naju, South Jeolla Province (Yonhap)　“The decision is scheduled for discussion at the bo

Industry Feb. 29, 2016

South Korea’s inbound shipments in the pharmaceutical sector, which had been increasing annually until 2014, declined by around 5 percent last year due in part to a rise in the use of domestic generic drugs, according to recent data by the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association.　　Imports of raw materials used in pharmaceutical production and of finished pharmaceutical products together declined by 5.37 percent on-year to $4.8 billion in 2015, according to the KPTA.　By category, imports of star

Industry Feb. 29, 2016

BEIRUT (AP) — A cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia went into effect across Syria on Saturday, marking the biggest international push to reduce violence in the country‘s devastating conflict, but the Islamic State group and al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, were excluded.The cease-fire aims to bring representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition back to the negotiating table in Geneva for talks on a political transition. The U.N.‘s envoy, Staffan de Mistur

World News Feb. 27, 2016

A U.S. appeals court on Friday handed Samsung a win over Apple in a long-running patent fight, overriding a jury verdict ordering it to pay $119.6 million to the iPhone maker.The court ruled that two Apple patents at issue were not valid, according to a copy of the decision posted online.Samsung Electronics' booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain (Yonhap)“We are delighted with the resounding victory from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which found that two of App

Technology Feb. 27, 2016

SK Holdings, the parent company of South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, said Friday it has acquired a 100 percent stake in SK Biotek, a contract manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) used to produce chemical drugs.　At the same time, SK Biotek will issue new shares worth 40 billion won ($32.38 million) to expand its production facilities. The decisions were made during a company board meeting on Thursday.　SK’s holding company, at the apex of the group’s governance

Industry Feb. 26, 2016

Porsche Korea unveiled the newly upgraded 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S in Seoul on Thursday, with plans to launch other models based on the iconic Porsche 911 sports car in South Korea this year. 　The two models are the first among Porsche’s redesigned 911 lineup to debut in Korea, according to Porsche Korea. New variations of the 911 will be released locally in the coming months, company officials said. Porsche unveils the new 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera S in a launch ceremony at Dongdaemun De

Mobility Feb. 25, 2016