SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – Earlier this week, CJ CGV, South Korea’s largest multiplex operator, celebrated its 1 billionth moviegoer since it opened its first multiplex in Seoul in 1998. Multiplex cinemas currently dominate South Korea’s film market. As of 2016, CGV, Lotte Cinema, and Megabox – the big three cinema operators – boasted [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – The Ministry of Environment said Wednesday that the upcoming revision to the Resource Circulation Act will include imposing a 10 to 30 won ($0.01 – 0.03) levy per kilogram of landfill (and incineration) for household waste. Affecting all local governments and private businesses that operate waste disposal facilities, the [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korea launched a salvo of anti-ship cruise missiles from its east coast Thursday, South Korea’s military said, adding they flew some 200 kilometers before dropping in the East Sea. “North Korea fired several unidentified projectiles, assumed to be short-range surface-to-ship cruise missiles, this morning in the direction of [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – Kia Motors Corp.’s Stinger sports sedan has generated a strong response in South Korea since its launch last month, with initial orders exceeding 2,700 units. Kia, the country’s second-biggest carmaker by sales after Hyundai Motor Co., has added the Stinger to its lineup to enhance its brand image and [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a midsized shipbuilder here, said Thursday that it has attracted 400 billion won (US$355 million) in investment from a local private equity firm via pre-initial public offering. The investment is higher than the originally planned 300 billion won, Hyundai Samho said, signaling that investors [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s defense ministry said Thursday it has requested a record budget of 43.7 trillion won (US$38.7 billion) for next year, citing growing threats from North Korea and the need for reforming the South’s military under President Moon Jae-in’s campaign pledge. It represents an 8.4 percent increase from 2017. [...]
SEOUL, June 8 (Korea Bizwire) – Contrary to his stage name T.O.P, Choi Seung-hyun, member of the popular K-pop boy band BIGBANG, hit the rock bottom of his successful 10-year-plus career this week. He has been indicted on charges of smoking marijuana and his military service that began in February was put on hold pending [...]
SEOUL, June 7 (Korea Bizwire) – President Moon Jae-in promised Wednesday to hire 1,500 new firefighters before the year’s end and a total of 19,000 before his five-year term ends. The 19,000 new firefighters and rescue workers will be included in 810,000 new jobs the president has pledged to create, but he said they will [...]
SEOUL, June 7 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean retail giant Lotte will not be abandoning its businesses in China, which have been reeling from apparent retaliation after the company provided the South Korean government with land for a new THAAD anti-missile system. A Lotte official in China said Wednesday that “there is no change in [...]
SEOUL, June 7 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday the ongoing deployment of the U.S. missile defense system THAAD here should be suspended at least for now, also confirming the U.S. defense system should be subject to a full-blown environmental impact assessment. “We are not saying the two launchers [...]