SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Cheil Industries, the de facto holding company of Samsung Group, pledged Tuesday to deliver more dividends to shareholders and revamp its overall governance structure, as it seeks to convince investors ahead of a key shareholders meeting for a proposed merger with the group’s construction arm. The measures came as [...]
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean tourism industry has been hit hardest by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) over the past month, but the slump may continue into the summer season from mass cancellations for hotels and tour packages, a poll showed Tuesday. The tourism and hotel industries were pummeled [...]
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Drive-thru stores, which first appeared in the country some 20 years ago, are increasing in South Korea as more consumers are favoring the convenience of such retail channels, market watchers said Tuesday. U.S. fast food chain McDonald’s, which opened its first drive-thru store in the country in 1992, operates [...]
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) – The most inconvenient aspects of Korean traditional markets are the lack of parking spaces and narrow aisles due to products stacked in the middle of the road. Sometimes, people and vehicles get stuck together in the middle of the narrow aisles, and more and more people refrain from shopping [...]
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) – In Andong, a farming city in North Gyeongsang Province, there are several farms openly growing hemp, a high-growing variety of cannabis. Of course, they are not growing the plant to make marijuana, which is banned in Korea. The hemp grown in Andong is used to make hemp fabric, one [...]
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Convenience store franchise CU is hitting the market with a limited edition set of tumblers produced to commemorate the centenary year of the famous Coca Cola bottle. CU will be the sole provider of the three kinds of tumblers in Korea, which will be produced by Cool Gear under [...]
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — K-pop girl group Sistar ranked No. 1 on major local music charts for the eighth consecutive day Monday with its new single “Shake It.” Released a week ago, “Shake It” has since been on top of the real-time K-pop chart of Melon, an online music service that dominates 60 percent of [...]
SEJONG, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea aims to increase its outbound investment by US$15 billion annually through an overhaul of tax schemes and more overseas investment by the state pension fund that can help offset some of the fallout from the country’s ballooning current account surplus, the government said Monday. The bold measures [...]
SEOUL, June 28 (Korea Bizwire) — LG Chem, South Korea’s leading chemical and battery maker, said Sunday it has developed the world’s first hexagonal battery for smartwatches, adding its mass production will begin in the near future. The company said the hexagon-shaped model boasts 25 percent higher capacity compared to traditional rectangular versions, allowing users [...]
SEOUL, June 28 (Korea Biziwre) — A South Korean think tank downgraded the country’s economic growth forecast for 2015, citing weak exports coupled with the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which has claimed 32 lives. The Korea Economic Research Institute said it has slashed the economic growth forecast to 2.7 percent for 2015, compared [...]