SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Lotte Cultureworks, the retail giant Lotte Group’s cinema affiliate, has made inroads into Indonesia, with a goal to open 20 movie theaters in the Southeast Asian country by 2020, the company said Tuesday. As the initial step, the operator of Lotte Cinema, one of the biggest South Korea movie [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Poolus, a new carpool startup, has announced a plan to share its profits with its customers. According to the plan, Poolus will distribute “pool points” to users of its service, which can either be cashed in or exchanged for shares in the company. In addition, AI technology will be [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Owners of ‘noraebang’, karaoke venues where customers can rent private room to sing, took to the streets on Friday urging the government to allow them to sell beer and calling for stronger punishment against customers asking for illegal hostesses. The Seoul Karaoke Association staged a rally in the Yeouido [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Shinsegae TV Shopping, the home shopping arm of retail giant Shinsegae, showed outstanding performance in movie ticket sales as it adopted a new strategy by inviting a popular movie star to host a home shopping program that sells movie tickets. Shinsegae TV Shopping attracted more than 500,000 people to [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Officials from the government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) agreed Monday to cut card commission rates for smaller business owners to help them tide over economic difficulties. The move came as small businesses are feeling the pinch the most amid the economic downturn and the government’s hikes in [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s 7-Eleven said Sunday that it has started offering unmanned locker space services to users as part of its effort to diversify operations and generate more profits for its convenience stores. The Seven Locker trial operations started at two stores in Seoul’s Hongdae and Jongno districts, with the [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Japanese software giant Softbank Group Corp.’s chairman, Masayoshi Son, a third-generation Korean-Japanese most widely known by his Korean name “Son Jeong-ui” here, has reportedly decided to invest US$2 billion in Coupang, leaving experts seeking an explanation as to Son’s great interest in the Korean e-commerce website. Meanwhile, other competing [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — A bill banning all carpool activities currently allowed during commuting hours was submitted to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee at the National Assembly on Thursday, a move that could deepen the divide between IT companies and the taxi industry over the carpooling issue. The bill specifically seeks the [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Tens of thousands of taxi drivers staged a protest rally near the National Assembly on Thursday against the planned launch of Kakao Corp.’s commercial carpool service, calling for the swift passage of a revised bill that would ban its entry onto the market. Members affiliated with four taxi industry [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will push to lower regulations to allow use of a mobile taxi meter application for easier metering and billing, the industry ministry said Wednesday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy unveiled the plan as part of its deregulatory push aimed at facilitating development of new technologies [...]