SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to expand its national heritage–based industries into a ₩100 trillion ($75 billion) market over the next five years, positioning cultural legacy as a core driver of the country’s global soft power, the Korea Heritage Service (KHS) said Wednesday in its 2026 policy blueprint. The initiative comes amid [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — As governments around the world race to build artificial intelligence systems under national control, a new analysis suggests that telecom operators may emerge as the biggest beneficiaries of the shift toward so-called “sovereign AI.” In a report published Nov. 26, credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS said telecom companies are structurally [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to ban the free distribution of disposable plastic cups and phase out large paper cups at major cafés as part of a sweeping anti-plastic initiative set to be unveiled next week. The Climate and Environment Ministry said on Wednesday that its forthcoming “Comprehensive Anti-Plastic Strategy,” to be [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean lawmakers sharply criticized Coupang on Wednesday during a National Assembly hearing on the company’s massive personal data leak, condemning the absence of founder Bom Kim and accusing the e-commerce giant of showing contempt for Korean consumers and regulators. Members of both ruling and opposition parties denounced Kim, the [...]
BUSAN, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — A 10-year-old girl in Busan was turned away by more than a dozen hospitals earlier this week as emergency responders struggled for over an hour to find a facility willing to treat her, according to ambulance logs released by opposition lawmakers on Wednesday. The incident, which unfolded on the morning [...]
JEJU, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s best-known bottled water, Jeju Samdasoo, takes an average of 31 years to form as rainwater on Hallasan mountain slowly filters through layers of volcanic rock, according to new research published this week. The Jeju Province Development Corporation, which produces and sells Samdasoo, said Wednesday that a peer-reviewed study [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Ford Motor Co. has canceled a 9.6 trillion-won (US$7.4 billion) battery supply contract with LG Energy Solution, a rare rupture in one of the world’s largest EV supply chains that is heightening alarm over the sector’s deepening slowdown. LG Energy Solution disclosed Wednesday that Ford had terminated the agreement, which [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — A long-running management dispute at Korea Zinc intensified this week as rival shareholder groups clashed over the company’s plan to build a massive smelter in Tennessee, a project estimated to be one of its largest overseas investments. On Wednesday, Youngpoong Group and private-equity firm MBK Partners—major shareholders aligned against [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The United Nations Command (UNC) on Wednesday sharply reiterated that it holds exclusive authority over civilian and military access to the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), citing the terms of the 1953 armistice. The unusually direct statement came as South Korea’s National Assembly advances legislation that would allow [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Most South Korean parents say the trait they most hope to cultivate in their young children is simply becoming “a healthy person,” with honesty ranking as the top core value, according to new research released Wednesday. The survey, conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education and [...]