Musinsa Standard global sales jump 162% on overseas demand

Korean fashion platform Musinsa said Wednesday its casualwear brand Musinsa Standard is rapidly expanding its overseas customer base, driven by surging global sales. According to the company’s analysis of online and offline transactions last year, sales on Musinsa’s global platforms operating across 13 regions rose 162 percent in 2025 from a year earlier, highlighting strong international demand for the brand. Foreign customers also drove significant spending at the brand’s offline stores in Kor

March 11, 2026

Posco Future M to mass-produce LFP cathodes this year to challenge China

Posco Future M President and CEO Eom Gi-chen said the company plans to begin mass production of cathode materials for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, aiming to challenge Chinese dominance in the low-cost battery segment. “The three major Korean battery companies — LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On — are all planning to release LFP products within this year,” Eom said during a press briefing at InterBattery 2026 in Seoul, which opened Wednesday. Eom was recently appointed chairman

March 11, 2026

Samsung Electronics to cancel W16tr in treasury shares

Samsung Electronics will cancel about 87 million treasury shares worth roughly 16 trillion won ($10.9 billion) in the first half of this year as part of its efforts to enhance shareholder value, according to its 2025 business report released Tuesday. The cancellation represents a large portion of the 105.43 million treasury shares the company held at the end of last year. Based on Tuesday’s closing price of about 190,000 won per share, the shares slated for retirement are valued at roughly 16 tr

March 11, 2026

Samsung Electronics average pay surges to record level

Samsung Electronics employees earned an average salary of 158 million won ($107,300) last year, the highest level on record, according to the company’s 2025 business report released Tuesday. The average compensation per employee in 2025 rose 21.5 percent from 130 million won a year earlier, the filing showed. The report also detailed Samsung’s performance stock unit program, introduced in October to strengthen employees’ accountability for long-term business performance. Under the plan, the comp

March 11, 2026

Samsung Electronics spends record W37.7tr on R&D

Samsung Electronics spent a record 37.7 trillion won ($25.7 billion) on research and development last year despite heightened global economic uncertainty, according to its 2025 business report Tuesday. The figure is a 7.8 percent increase from 35 trillion won a year earlier, equivalent to more than 100 billion won spent each day on technology development. Industry observers say a significant portion of the investment likely went toward next-generation memory technologies, particularly high-bandw

March 11, 2026

Medicube to sponsor Coachella in first for Korean beauty

Korean beauty company APR said Tuesday its flagship brand Medicube will participate as an official sponsor of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, aiming to strengthen its global presence and promote K-beauty to international audiences. Medicube will operate a brand booth at the festival, which runs in California from April 10 to 19. APR will sponsor the skincare and beauty device category, marking the first time a Korean beauty company has joined the globally renowned music festival in

March 11, 2026

Innocean makes Ad Age A-List as first Korean agency in US top 10

Innocean, the advertising arm of Hyundai Motor Group, said Wednesday it has been named on Ad Age's 2026 A-List, becoming the first Korean agency to be selected among the Top 10 Most Outstanding Marketing Firms in the US. Ad Age evaluates agencies in the US — the world’s largest advertising market, accounting for 35.3 percent of global ad spending — based on criteria including creative excellence, business performance and industry influence. Innocean became the first Korean advertising firm to pr

March 11, 2026

NCSoft to acquire German mobile game company JustPlay

NCSoft said Wednesday it is investing $202 million in JustPlay, a German-based mobile game platform company, to acquire a 70 percent stake, looking to speed up its plan to expand the global mobile casual game business. According to NCSoft, the board of directors approved the acquisition on the previous day. The Korean game company expects to complete the acquisition by the end of next month. JustPlay, an advertisement technology-based mobile casual game developer and reward platform company, was

March 11, 2026

Samsung Biologics, Eli Lilly to build biotech innovation hub in Korea

Samsung Biologics has teamed up with Eli Lilly to set up an open innovation hub for emerging biotechnology companies in Korea, marking the first time for Eli Lilly to establish such a site outside the United States and China. According to Samsung Biologics on Tuesday, the two companies agreed to build a Lilly Gateway Labs site within the Korean contract development and manufacturing organization, or CDMO, leader’s second bio campus in Songdo, Incheon. The LGL facility will consist of five storie

March 11, 2026

Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong is richest Korean on Forbes billionaires list. No. 2 may surprise you

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is the sole Korean on Forbes' world's 100 richest people list this year, with an estimated net worth of $27 billion, according to the US magazine. But the country’s second-richest person may be unfamiliar to many Koreans. Chung Yong-ji, chief executive of biotech firm Caregen, ranked 268th on the global list with a net worth of $11.7 billion. Chung founded Caregen, a South Korean biotechnology company known for peptide-based products, including antiwrink

March 11, 2026

Exports up 55.6% during first 10 days of March on robust chip demand

South Korea's exports jumped 55.6 percent from a year earlier in the first 10 days of March, driven by strong overseas demand for semiconductors, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments reached $21.5 billion in the March 1-10 period, compared with $13.8 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. It marked the country's largest exports recorded for the cited period. Imports went up 21.7 percent on-year to $19.4 billion during the period, resulting in a

March 11, 2026

Govt. to mobilize all policy tools in dealing with Middle East-related economic uncertainties

South Korea will mobilize all available economic policy tools, including a possible supplementary budget, and activate an emergency economic response system to respond to economic uncertainties stemming from an ongoing Middle East crisis, Seoul's finance chief said Wednesday. Financial markets showed heightened volatility, with the Korean won falling sharply against the US dollar and domestic fuel prices spiking following US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran's retaliatory attacks in the region.

March 11, 2026

Seoul shares open higher amid oil price swings

South Korean stocks started higher Wednesday as investors continued to hunt for bargains despite volatility in global oil prices in the wake of the Middle East crisis. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 126.13 points, or 2.28 percent, to 5,658.72 at the opening bell. The index rebounded 5.35 percent Tuesday. US President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Iran will face "military consequences" at a level "never seen before" if it has laid any mines in the Strait of H

March 11, 2026

Train service between Beijing, Pyongyang to resume this week for first time in 6 years

Train service linking Pyongyang and Beijing will resume this week for the first time since it was suspended six years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sources said Tuesday. The Beijing-Pyongyang train route will resume operations Thursday, running four times a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, an official at China State Railway Group told Yonhap News Agency. The train will depart from Beijing at 5:26 p.m. and arrive in Pyongyang at 6 p.m. the following day, stopping once at the

March 10, 2026

Samsung Biologics, Eli Lilly to establish biotech incubator in Incheon

Samsung Biologics, the biotech arm of Samsung Group, said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. to set up a biotech incubator in the western city of Incheon. Under the partnership, the two companies will establish a new site for Eli Lilly's Lilly Gateway Labs in Songdo, an international business district in the port city, according to Samsung Biologics. The US company launched Lilly Gateway Labs in 2019 to support emerging biotech companies by offering

March 10, 2026