K-beauty’s 2nd wave extends to wellness, lifestyle services: VIG Partners

No longer confined to skincare and makeup, the K-beauty has evolved into a multi-layered ecosystem spanning fashion items, wellness and lifestyle se...

Hana Financial to expand US presence with $100 mn injection into US banking arm

Hana Financial Group is moving to strengthen its presence in the US with a fresh capital injection into its local banking unit, as South Korean comp...

South Korean won weakens past 1,480 per dollar, lowest in 8 months

South Korea’s won weakened past the 1,480 per dollar in intraday trade on Wednesday, reaching its weakest point in about eight months as forei...

LG to supply AI infrastructure solutions to Microsoft worth billions of dollars annually

LG Group’s key units, including LG Electronics Inc. and LG Energy Solution Ltd., signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Microsoft Cor...

Sino-Japanese tensions: Boon for Korean retailers; Musinsa, Daiso, CU welcome Chinese tourists

When 28-year-old Mao Xin arrived in Seoul late last month, Japan – once her preferred holiday destination – was no longer on the itinera...

Korean eyewear shops: Foreign tourists’ new pilgrimage as K-glasses catch on

When foreign travelers touch down in Seoul these days, many still make the well-trodden pilgrimages to Daiso, Korea’s largest discount store c...

GM Korea to close company-run service centers amid US tariff pressure

GM Korea will shut down its company-operated service centers in South Korea by February 2026, according to people close to the matter on Friday. The...

AWS, 6 other global giants pledge $9 bn Korean investment as Trump, Lee address APEC CEO Summit

GYEONGJU – Seven global tech giants, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), on Wednesday unveiled a combined $9 billion investment plan in South...

ChatGPT now available on KakaoTalk, S.Korea’s top messaging app

ChatGPT, the world’s most famous generative artificial intelligence service by OpenAI Inc., is now available on KakaoTalk, South Korea’s...

BTS Movie Weeks heats up global box office, draws 940,000 viewers worldwide

BTS has once again proved their global power at the box office, drawing nearly one million fans to theaters around the world through BTS Movie Weeks...

K-wave tourist shopping spree fuels South Korean retailers

South Korean retailers are pinning their hopes on a wave of foreign tourists lured by booming Korean pop culture — from KPop Demon Hunters to ...

S.Korea’s beauty devices on a roll on record foreign medical spending

Shares of South Korea’s beauty device makers are soaring as foreign visitors flock to Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district, where luxury ski...

Seoul hotel prices soar to record highs as tourist boom overwhelms supply

In Seoul, even a hotel room costing 1 million won ($705) a night is hard to come by. From five-star towers in the affluent Gangnam district to budge...

Korea Investment & Securities, Man Group seek to launch Asia equity fund

Korea Investment & Securities Co. (KIS) and Man Group are preparing to roll out an Asia-focused equity fund, marking their second joint investme...

South Korea: foreigners’ hot destination for skincare, aesthetic surgery, beauty products

Foreign tourists are flocking to South Korea not just for shopping and K-pop but increasingly for beauty treatments, with the latest industry data s...

Seoul bustles with Chinese group tourists on first day of visa-free entry

The chatter of Mandarin-speaking voices filled the air in central Seoul on Monday as retailers welcomed the first wave of Chinese group tourists all...

Lotte Duty Free resumes trade with Chinese resellers as K-beauty sales rise

Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s largest duty-free business operator, has resumed sales to Chinese bulk resellers, known as daigou traders, reve...

Samsung chairman’s son gives up US citizenship to enlist as naval officer in Korea

Lee Jee-ho, the eldest son of Lee Jae-yong, chairman of South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung, is set to begin military service as a nava...

Google to blur South Korean security sites on mapping services

Google Inc. will remove geographic coordinates of South Korea’s security locations and blur sensitive sites on its maps and Google Earth to ad...

KPop Demon Hunters puts traditional Korean body scrub on tourist to-do list

The global success of the animated film KPop Demon Hunters has spilled over into traditional Korean spa culture: exfoliation treatments offered in p...

Overseas equity boom lifts foreign currency deposits to record levels in South Korea

South Korea’s securities firms are sitting on record levels of foreign currency deposits as retail investors pile into overseas securities, pr...

Korean stock surge drives 4.08% return for National Pension Service in H1

The National Pension Service (NPS), the world's third-largest pension scheme, posted a 4.08% return on investment in the first half of this year, wi...

BTS’ FAKE LOVE tops 1 billion streams on Spotify; Jungkook’s 3D joins the club

BTS’ FAKE LOVE has surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, becoming the group’s fifth track to hit the milestone on the world’s la...

BOK unlikely to get ahead of the curve to cut rates before US Fed: KED economists

The Bank of Korea will likely leave its policy rate unchanged at 2.5% at Thursday’s rate review meeting due to concerns over financial stabili...

GS E&C offloads Spanish water treatment arm GS Inima for $1.2 bn

GS Engineering & Construction Corp. (GS E&C) said on Friday it has agreed to sell its Spanish water treatment arm GS Inima Environment SA fo...

Harman sells system integration unit to Wipro to sharpen audio focus

Harman International Industries Inc., wholly owned by Samsung Electronics Co., has sold its digital transformation solutions (DTS) unit to India&rsq...

KHNP in joint venture talks with Westinghouse to target US nuclear market

South Korea's state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) is in talks with Westinghouse Electric Co. to form a joint venture (JV) with an a...

AWS, Upstage deepen ties in AI drive across Asia-Pacific, US

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has reinforced its partnership with South Korean artificial intelligence startup Upstage, backing the company with a minor...

Hana Bank, Vietnam’s BIDV to expand cross-border QR payment services under strategic partnership

Hana Bank, one of South Korea’s leading lenders, said on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with Vietnam's largest state-owned commerci...

LG expands appliance subscription service to Singapore

LG Electronics Inc. has introduced a subscription service in Singapore for home appliances ranging from water purifiers to air conditioners, refrige...