Economy

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  LF's online store to offer NFT-based luxury goods authentication service SEOUL -- South Korea's major fashion retailer LF has adopted a non-fungible token-based product authentication service for customers who buy luxury goods through the retailer's online shopping mall. A non-fungible token (NFT) is a blockchain-based digital token containing the necessary information to verify and authenticate an object or a non-fungible asset in the real world. Each token is given unique identification hash values so that they can be used as an unhackable 2022-05-02
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  KT commercializes AI control tower solution for automated communication network management SEOUL -- South Korea's top telecom company KT commercialized an artificial intelligence-based control tower solution that can help business and infrastructure operators easily manage their communication networks in real-time. The solution can monitor various communication data and preemptively detect network malfunctions in real-time and provide solutions to solve problems without the need for a human communication network specialist. KT's AI-based control tower solution & 2022-05-02
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  KT partners with Shinhan to upgrade AI-based financial fraud prevention system SEOUL -- KT, a top telecom company in South Korea, has partnered with a major domestic financial group to upgrade an artificial intelligence-based financial fraud prevention system. The anti-fraud system will help the financial service operator preemptively detect and cut off fraud attempts in real-time. Phishing is the most common financial fraud method used to lure people to unveil their personal information including their personal identification numbers, bank accounts and pas 2022-05-02
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  SK ecoplant joins hands with power generation company to invest in green hydrogen facilities abroad SEOUL -- SK ecoplant joined hands with a public power generation company to invest in green hydrogen facilities abroad, focusing on Australia and the Middle East. Green hydrogen is a type of hydrogen fuel that does not use any fossil fuel during its manufacturing process. Korea East West Power will purchase green hydrogen made overseas, along with the operation and maintenance of related facilities. SK ecoplant is in charge of hydrogen production solutions including electrolysis te 2022-04-29
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  GI-Cell partners with Helixmith and Cartexell to develop cell therapy technology SEOUL -- GI-Cell, a South Korean developer of immune cell therapy products, has partnered with DNA and protein-based therapeutics companies to jointly develop cell therapy technologies involving immune cells to enhance disease-fighting abilities of target patients. GI-Cell has signed a memorandum of understanding with Helixmith and Cartexell to develop cell therapy medicine based on an immune cell expander platform. GI-Cell hopes to target the global immune cell therapy market thro 2022-04-29
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  Shinsegae's online fashion platform to promote lifestyle goods using short-form video content SEOUL -- W Concept, the online fashion platform wing of South Korea's retail giant Shinsegae, will promote various lifestyle products including rugs using short-form video content targeting young consumers who enjoy watching short video clips using their smartphones. Short-form videos that are about 15 to 1 minute long are used to grab the attention of students and workers living busy lives. Using various visual and sound effects, short-form content mesmerizes viewers who watch 2022-04-29
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  French company Air Liquide sets up hydrogen joint venture with Lotte Chemical SEOUL -- Air Liquide, a French supplier of industrial gases and services, set up a joint venture with Lotte Chemical, a major chemical company based in South Korea, to establish a supply chain by utilizing by-product hydrogen for hydrogen vehicles. It is the first step of cooperation following an agreement on their strategic alliance in May 2021. Lotte Chemical said that a ceremony took place in Seoul on April 29 to set up the joint venture with Air Liquide Korea. The French compa 2022-04-29
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  Norway's Equinor selects marine survey company for floating wind farm zone in S. Korea SEOUL -- Equinor, a Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company, has selected GeoView, a marine survey company in South Korea, for the undersea geophysical exploration and mapping of a venue for the installation of a major floating wind farm off the southeastern port city of Ulsan. Equinor has been involved in the construction of two floating wind farms off Ulsan. An environmental impact assessment is underway at the company's independent "Firefly" zone where 2022-04-28
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  S. Korea eases concern about urea solution shortage with independent production SEOUL -- South Korea will be able to escape fears of a crippling shortage in an essential industrial material that could paralyze traffic by achieving a domestic supply network of ammonium carbonate, a chemical compound that can replace an aqueous urea solution being used to cut pollution created by diesel engines. The achievement was the result of fast technology development with full government support. Capro, a chemical company that produces raw materials for nylon in South Korea 2022-04-28
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  OCI's Malaysian subsidiary secures long-term polysilicon supply with Hanwha Solutions SEOUL -- OCI, a green energy and chemical product maker in South Korea, will ship polysilicon for solar energy to Hanwha Solutions, a chemical and energy unit of Hanwha Group, under a long-term contract worth $1.2 billion through its subsidiary in Malaysia that uses hydroelectric power to produce low-carbon products. OCI said its Malaysian subsidiary, OCIM Sdn. Bhd. (OCIMSB) would ship polysilicon for 10 years from July 2024 to Hanwha Solutions, which controls Hanwha Q Cells, 2022-04-28
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  KT partners with O2O platform operator Manna Planet to develop remote-ordering system SEOUL -- South Korea's top telecom company KT partnered with Manna Planet, a domestic IT company specializing in online-to-offline platforms, to accelerate digital transformation that would help small business owners save costs and improve work efficiency through automation. Various remote-ordering systems will be created. Digital transformation (DX) incorporates various technologies such as internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence and big data. Business operators can 2022-04-28
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  POSCO to increase oxygen and nitrogen storage tanks to secure foothold in industrial gas market SEOUL -- South Korea's steel group POSCO will secure its foothold in the domestic industrial gas market by increasing the total capacity of oxygen and nitrogen storage tanks. The two chemical elements are crucial in the semiconductor and shipbuilding sector which have been rapidly growing during the last few years. Oxygen and nitrogen are vital elements used in the steelmaking process to initiate exothermic reactions to remove impurities such as carbon, silicon, phosphorous, an 2022-04-27
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  Seoul uses digital twin technology to create virtual autonomous vehicle testing zone SEOUL -- Seoul will use digital twin technology to create a virtual autonomous vehicle testing zone that is identical to the real-world testing environment located in western Seoul. The virtual clone of the test drive zone will be open to the public so that any researchers, students, or institutes can freely test and demonstrate self-driving technologies. Sangam, a western district of Seoul, is a relatively tranquil residential area netted with low traffic roads compared to other 2022-04-27
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  Kakao Enterprise partners with video tech solution company to beef up live commerce services SEOUL -- Kakao Enterprise, the artificial intelligence-based business solution developer wing of South Korea's web service giant Kakao, has partnered with a domestic video technology solution company to beef up the company's live commerce broadcasting platform. A live commerce service offers online and mobile entertainment shopping shows in formats that are similar to that of TV home shopping channels. However, unlike the original TV shopping show format, the online versi 2022-04-27
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  Lotte Chemical partners with US battery startup SOELECT to set up joint venture SEOUL -- Lotte Chemical, a major chemical company in South Korea, has partnered with SOELECT, a North Carolina-based electric vehicle battery startup specializing in lithium metal batteries, to set up a joint venture. They have yet to make a decision on whether to build a lithium metal anode production plant in the United States. Founded in 2018, SOELECT focuses on the development and production of lithium metal anodes which are considered the next-generation battery parts that wil 2022-04-27
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  SK Inc. makes additional investment to acquires domestic SiC power semiconductor producer SEOUL -- As part of a group-wide campaign to strengthen its battery-related business, SK Inc., an investment-oriented holding company of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate SK Group, will acquire Yes Powertechnix, the only domestic producer of power semiconductors based on a component of silicon and carbide (SiC), which are emerging as a key component of electric vehicles. Through the additional injection of about 120 billion won ($95 million), SK Inc. said it would acqui 2022-04-27
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  LG and Seoul National University open joint research center for core hyperscale AI multimodal technologies SEOUL -- The research center operated by South Korea's LG Group and Seoul National University has opened a joint artificial intelligence research center to accelerate their study on hyperscale multimodal AI systems. A multimodal AI system uses special processing algorithms to learn and understand connections between various types of data including texts, voices, images, and other numerical data. The AI system can also mimic the way humans think to understand surroundings us 2022-04-26
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  Doosan Bobcat joins hand with Plug-SK E&C joint venture to develop fuel cell forklifts SEOUL -- Doosan Bobcat, a construction equipment maker affiliated with South Korea's Doosan Group, joined hands with a joint venture created by SK E&C, the engineering and construction wing of SK Group, and PLUG, an American hydrogen energy company, to develop and commercialize hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklifts. In January 2022, Doosan Bobcat showcased an all-electric compact track loader at CES 2022, the world's largest consumer electronics exhibition. The loader wa 2022-04-26
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  U.S. SMR company NuScale secures new partners in S. Korea to tap global market SEOUL -- NuScale Power and its South Korean partner, Doosan Enerbility, have secured two new copemates for their push to trailblaze a fledgling global power generation market for small modular reactors, which have been studied to address the limitations of traditional light-water reactors. NuScale, a small modular reactor (SMR) company in the United States, signed a memorandum of understanding with Doosan Enerbility, GS Energy and Samsung C&T, a construction and engineering com 2022-04-26
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  LG Chem and state institute to open joint laboratory for carbon-neutral technologies SEOUL -- LG Chem, the chemical unit of South Korea's LG Group, and a state science institute have opened a joint laboratory to research and develop carbon-neutral technologies that can tackle global warming due to the excessive use of fossil fuels. Green ethylene and organic acid production technologies will be researched and commercialized Many global companies, organizations, and institutes are locked in a race to develop techniques used to produce ethylene, a hydrocarbon reg 2022-04-26