Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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Baemin sales surge 70-fold from 2014 on pandemic delivery demand
Korea’s food delivery app Baemin logged 2.3 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in sales last year, a 70-fold surge from 2014 when it started filing financial reports to authorities, its operator Woowa Brothers said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. “The stellar performance in recent years was largely driven by COVID-19, with many restaurant partners joining our app,” said an official from Woowa Brothers. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the company surpassed 1 trillion won i
April 12, 2022
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Food firms flustered over resurgent kimchi feud
Korean companies exporting kimchi or food containing the Korean spicy cabbage are on high alert after a decades-long cultural feud over its origin has resurfaced online. Seo Kyung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul and a cultural heritage activist, blasted a local bakery chain on Monday for using Chinese word “pao cai,” in the Chinese translation of the name of one of its breads. Starting in March, the bakery has written the Chinese translation of its k
April 11, 2022
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Online luxury sellers strengthen counterfeit inspection amid Musinsa scandal
Korea’s online luxury sellers who have enjoyed the recent resell market boom are strengthening the counterfeit inspection process amid a scandal involving fashion commercial platform Musinsa, industry sources said Friday. On April 1, Naver’s online reselling platform Kream announced that the Essentials T-shirts sold through Musinsa by the brand operator Fear of God were proven to be fake. Musinsa, which has strongly objected to the counterfeit claims raised by Kream and has warned
April 8, 2022
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SSG.com to launch cross-border shopping service
SSG.com, the digital shopping platform of retail giant Shinsegae Group, said Monday it will launch a cross-border shopping service for international shoppers. The company will sell over 9.6 million fashion and beauty items, as well as processed food on Gmarket Global’s English and Chinese online malls, as part of the first collaborative project following Shinsegae’s acquisition of eBay Korea, since renamed Gmarket Global, last year. International shoppers from over 80 countries in
April 4, 2022
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Pulmuone completes 2nd tofu plant in China
Korea’s food giant Pulmuone said Sunday it has completed the construction of its second tofu factory in China, as it looks to accelerate its expansion in the growing market there. Located in the eastern Beijing of Pinggu, the new factory can produce 1,800 kilograms of tofu annually, increasing the productivity by 400 percent compared to the old factory. The second factory will produce a variety of tofu for soup, salad and steamed dish, tofu noodle, and soybean milk, according to the com
April 3, 2022
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Kimchi with new packaging method on way to captivate the world
Forget about concerns of kimchi keeping its freshness and leaking its “unique smell” when shipped overseas. Korean companies are seeking ways to expand their kimchi exports by adopting new packaging methods, increasing overseas production and obtaining scientific proof that the traditional side dish is beneficial to one’s health. The state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. announced Thursday it has launched a new kimchi product that can improve bowel movement an
March 31, 2022
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Nongshim launches bakery snack brand Petit Paris
Nongshim Co. said it launched a “bakery snack” brand named Petit Paris, starting with a bread roll snack that tastes like French toast. The largest instant noodle and snack company in South Korea said it will introduce more products under the new brand as it pioneers the market for snacks with a soft texture and taste similar to that of bakery products. “As there is high consumer demand for bread, cakes and cookies, we expect Petit Paris bakery snacks to be popular as well. T
March 30, 2022
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With first kimchi factory in US, Daesang gears up for global expansion
South Korean food giant Daesang Group has completed construction of the first kimchi factory in the US, setting up an overseas base not only to penetrate the local market but also to expand exports to Europe and Oceania. Located in the City of Industry in LA, home to industrial facilities from overseas with business links to Asian countries, the factory can produce 2,000 metric tons of kimchi annually. The company has invested 20 billion won ($16.4 million) for building production lines and w
March 29, 2022
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[From the Scene] Has frenzy for Chanel died down? Shoppers say rarity factor has faded
Until just a couple of months ago, long lines in front of department store entries connected to Chanel were crowded with shoppers eager to grab bags priced at some 10 million won ($8,200). Some brought their own chairs for a more comfortable wait, while others set up tents to stay warm the night before. But the desire to get hold of luxury fashion items accentuated with the signature Chanel mark, however, appears to be losing steam. It seems an “open run,” a local shopping term refe
March 24, 2022
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‘Retro’ Pokemon Bread craze shows no sign of stopping soon
The craze over Pokemon Bread shows no signs of abating, as the popular pastry series that has recently been revived has induced scenes of people waiting in line at supermarkets and adults posting their search to social media. According to manufacturer SPC Samlip, the supermarket pastry that comes with a sticker of one of the characters from the global hit anime and video game series Pokemon had sold 6.1 million rolls as of Monday. That means some 234,000 rolls were sold each day on average
March 21, 2022
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Market jitters dampen appetite for e-commerce IPOs
After the blockbuster stock debut of Coupang last year, expectations had been growing for upcoming listings of the nation’s popular e-commerce platforms like SSG.com and Market Kurly until early this year. But uncertainties surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its economic impact are prompting the firms to put their plans to go public on ice. SSG.com, the digital shopping platform owned by retail giant Shinsegae Group, is one of the hottest market debuts planned this year
March 20, 2022
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GS Retail latest to adopt chicken-frying robots
GS Retail, the operator of Korea’s convenience store chain GS25, said Wednesday it will deploy chicken-frying robots, joining the recent race to automate food manufacturing. The company forged a partnership with Roboarte, the food tech startup behind Robert Chicken that uses robot arms to fry chicken. GS25 plans to use the startup’s robots to fry frozen chicken from its own brand Chicken 25. “The robot arms will automatically put the bucket full of frozen chicken in a frying
Feb. 23, 2022
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British fashion brand unveils bags inspired by South Korean anime series ‘Run Hany’
British fashion label JW Anderson has unveiled new bags inspired by South Korean anime series “Run Hany.” The accessories, which appear to be a collaboration project as part of the brand’s new season collection, come in at least three colors -- blue, orange and white -- according to a recent post on Instagram. In another photo, one bag has a picture of the face of the series’ main character Hany, along with the JW logo in orange. “Not long till the show,” t
Feb. 21, 2022
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South Korean medalists to get chicken ‘pension’
South Korean medalists have shown excitement at not only winning medals, but also free chicken for the rest of their lives. The so-called “chicken pension” is backed by Yoon Hong-geun, CEO of Korea’s fried chicken franchise Genesis BBQ, and also the chief of South Korea’s athletic mission at the Beijing Olympic Games. Yoon promised to give free chicken for the country’s short track speedskating medalists Hwang Dae-heon and Choi Min-jeong at their requests. &ldquo
Feb. 21, 2022
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[Newsmaker] aT CEO at vanguard of global green food campaign
Going green is not just about having more electric vehicles or shutting down old factories powered by fossil fuels, says the head of South Korea’s food distribution and export promotion agency, but also extending that eco-friendly thinking to the table. Not just reducing food waste but also choosing to eat more local production would make a greater impact on the Earth, said Kim Choon-jin, president of Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. Kim and his agency have been taking an ini
Feb. 20, 2022
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Shinsegae acquires Napa Valley winery for W299.6b
Shinsegae Property, the property development arm of Korea’s retail giant Shinsegae, said Wednesday it has acquired US winery Shafer Vineyards for 299.6 billion won ($250.3 million) to boost the group’s wine business. “With the acquisition, we plan to further expand the group’s wine business by creating synergy with its Shinsegae L&B that is in charge of the wholesale distribution of wine and liquor,” a Shinsegae Property official said. Industry sources say si
Feb. 16, 2022
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Pandemic raises importance of restaurant hygiene, survey finds
Cleanliness has risen as a key factor in choosing where to eat out since the pandemic started, a survey showed Sunday. According to data from Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp, 92.1 percent of 1,341 respondents aged between 20 and 69 said they thought restaurants cleanliness was important when choosing where to eat, compared to just 22.7 percent in 2019. The figure was the second most-important factor, behind taste and food quality on 94.3 percent. In 2019, cleanliness ranked fourth, wh
Feb. 13, 2022
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Korean retailers expand delivery service with robots, drones
Retail companies in South Korea are taking the plunge into last-mile mobility technology by launching service robots and drones to provide contactless services sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. To meet the high demand for delivery and dining services, Mesh Korea, the operator of tech-based logistics startup Vroong, said Wednesday it has partnered up with Bear Robotics Korea, the Korean branch of a US-based robot manufacturing company, to introduce unmanned automated transport service to the
Feb. 9, 2022
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Chanel joins Louis Vuitton in leaving duty free shops in Korea
French luxury brand Chanel has decided to pull out of duty free shops in Busan and Jeju in late March, signaling another blow to local duty free retailers who have also lost Louis Vuitton and Rolex. Chanel has informed the retailers that they will close boutiques at the Lotte duty free store in Busan and the Shilla duty free store in Jeju, the only downtown duty free shops outside Seoul that had Chanel. Louis Vuitton stopped running its store at the Lotte duty free shop in Jeju from Jan. 1, a
Feb. 8, 2022
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Coffee drinkers get less buzz for their buck as chains up prices
From Seoul to Seattle, the soaring cost of coffee beans is trickling into the cups of consumers. Some of the world’s biggest roasters and sellers of coffee are upping menu prices, having flagged that customers would be paying more as beans began to surge last year. Higher wages and other costs have also added to the rising charge for a daily cup, which is in turn increasing the inflationary pressures coursing through the global economy. Futures for arabica coffee jumped 76% in 2021, hitt
Feb. 3, 2022