SEOUL, Jun. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – In an unprecedented move, South Korea’s antitrust regulator, the Fair Trade Commission, has levied a record fine of 140 billion won against Coupang, the country’s largest e-commerce company, on allegations of unfairly favoring its own products over those of third-party sellers. The staggering penalty, the highest ever imposed [...]
SEOUL, June 13 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Thursday a Russian shipyard unilaterally canceled supply contracts worth billions of dollars and it plans to take the case to an international arbitration center. Russia’s Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex recently canceled a combined US$4.2 billion worth of contracts signed in 2019 and [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The antitrust regulator said Thursday it has decided to fine e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. 140 billion won (US$12.44 million) for using unfair search algorithms and uploading false product reviews to boost sales of its own private-label items. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) also referred the company, as well as [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — GS Caltex Corp., South Korea’s second-biggest refiner by sales, said Thursday it has signed an initial pact to supply a cosmetics ingredient to a Japanese company in its business diversification strategy. GS Caltex has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Summit Cosmetics Corp. to provide 2,3-Butanediol under the [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – Denmark has decided to recall three popular varieties of South Korea’s Samyang Foods “Buldak” fire chicken noodles, asserting that the products’ high levels of capsaicin, the compound that gives chili peppers their heat, pose a risk of acute intoxication for consumers, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on June 11. In [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has launched a review of chip design software giant Synopsys Inc.’s proposed acquisition of engineering software firm Ansys Inc. The U.S.-based software maker said in January that it struck a US$35 billion deal to buy Ansys, an American firm that makes software [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT has convened a special task force to bolster the flagging competitiveness of the nation’s home shopping industry, it announced on June 11. The move comes as the industry has stagnated amid the rapid growth of domestic and international e-commerce platforms and shifts [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Domestic construction companies’ combined orders from the Middle East amounted to nearly US$10 billion so far this year, recording stellar growth from 2023, industry data showed Tuesday. According to the data from the International Contractors Association of Korea, domestic builders’ project orders from the Middle East amounted to $9.98 [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The industry ministry kicked off an annual food exhibition Tuesday as part of efforts to achieve a target of US$10 billion in food exports this year. The four-day Seoul Food 2024 will run in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul, through Friday, attracting 1,605 businesses from 52 countries, according to [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Genesis BBQ, a South Korean chicken franchise, said Tuesday it has opened its third outlet in Panama. Genesis BBQ has opened a total of seven outlets in Panama and Costa Rica since October last year, the company said in a statement. “The company aims to expand into other Latin [...]