Latest News

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  KAI partners with state space agency to carry out demonstration environment suitability test for urban air mobility SEOUL -- Korea Aerospace Industries, the sole aircraft maker in South Korea, partnered with a state-run space agency to inspect test environments for urban air mobility, an ecosystem involving flying passenger vehicles in urban areas. A helicopter will be deployed to collect and analyze various data. Through UAM Team Korea, a public-private consultative body, South Korea aims to commercialize manned drone taxis in 2025. Remote-controlled vehicles will be adopted in 2030 and a fully 2022-12-28
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  Pulmuone releases plant-based canned ham using vegetable material extracted from soybeans SEOUL -- Pulmuone, a food company based in Seoul, released an alternative meat-based canned ham using textured vegetable protein extracted from soybeans. Unlike regular canned ham products that contain sodium nitrite to prevent animal ingredients from being oxidized, the new plant-based meat did not use the chemical compound. South Korea's vegan meat market has been rapidly growing to meet demands from some 2 million vegans. According to data released by the Korea Agro-Fisheri 2022-12-28
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  Researchers develop photocatalyst-based peroxide production technique SEOUL -- South Korean researchers developed a low-carbon, highly efficient photocatalyst-based peroxide production technique that does not need expensive metals such as palladium. The researchers were able to achieve an unprecedented concentration of peroxide using the photocatalyst-based method. Peroxide, the core chemical material used for the production of various important products such as semiconductors, disinfectants, and pulp, is mainly generated through a complex thermoch 2022-12-28
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  SK Energy forms alliance to commercialize one-stop hydrogen fuel-powered EV charging station SEOUL -- South Korea's oil company SK Energy has partnered with three other companies to develop and commercialize an electric vehicle charging station that is powered by hydrogen fuel. The so-called urban-type hydrogen fuel power plants are designed to generate electricity using hydrogen and provide power to EV charging stations and nearby power grids. SK Energy is one of the largest oil companies in South Korea, but the petroleum product distributor had been diversifying its 2022-12-28
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  Girl band Le Sserafim's dance song Antifragile garners explosive popularity on Spotify SEOUL -- Le Sserafim, a five-member girl group formed by Hybe's music label Source Music, is gaining explosive popularity on Spotify, the world's most popular music streaming service, through "Antifragile," the title song of the band's second mini album. The dance song released on October 17 was streamed more than 100 million times. According to data released by Source Music, the title track was played more than 100 million times as of December 26. It was stre 2022-12-28
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  Number of wild boars captured in Seoul increases by 70 percent on-year SEOUL -- The number of wild boars captured or hunted in South Korea's capital city was 155, up 70.3 percent from a year ago. Wild pigs have become a major threat to South Koreans since the 1980s as there are no natural predators that could reduce the number of wild boars. Wild pigs are indigenous to the Korean peninsula. Along with other top-tier predators like tigers, leopards, and black bears, wild pigs almost became extinct during the Korean War which crippled the mountains 2022-12-27
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  LG Electronics builds ESS infrastructure in smart home appliance plant to store off-peak electricity SEOUL -- LG Electronics has built an energy storage system (ESS) at a smart factory to store cheap off-peak electricity late in the evening to use power during peak hours to cut down electricity costs. During the night, the electricity cost is relatively lower than it is in the daytime. LG Electronics hopes to save 77.4 billion won ($61 million) for the next fifteen years through the ESS. An energy storage system (ESS) is an integrated system of secondary battery 2022-12-27
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  Defense development agency localizes multi-beamforming AESA antenna technology for first time SEOUL -- South Korea's defense development agency has localized multi-beamforming active electronically scanned array antenna technology for the first time in the country. The antenna array will help aerial vehicles establish a communication link and multiple weapon systems using a single antenna unit. The antenna can dramatically increase the operational area of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles. An active electronically scanned array (AESA) antenna is top-notch equipment th 2022-12-27
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  ​S. Korea to demonstrate two autonomous intercity buses for first time SEOUL -- Two self-driving buses will carry commuters from the central city of Sejong to Cheongju some 22.4 kilometers (13.9 miles) north of Sejong, and back. The level 3 autonomous vehicles that can travel at up to 80 kilometers per hour will become the first self-driving buses to run on a bus rapid transit route designed to quickly transport large numbers of passengers. Level 3 autonomous cars can detect their environment and make decisions such as slowing down or evading an obsta 2022-12-27
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  CU convenience store develops on-site value-added tax refund system for foreign tourists SEOUL -- South Korea's top convenience store franchise CU has developed an on-site tax refund system for foreign tourists. Using the system, tourists can receive tax refunds for purchases of more than 30,000 won ($23.6) and less than 500,000 won without having to carry their receipts to an international airport. Just about every product or service that is provided in South Korea includes a value-added tax (VAT) of 10 percent. Foreign tourists who paid more than 30,000 won at a 2022-12-27
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  ICT-based children's rehabilitation device demonstration center to be built in southeastern city SEOUL -- To help young children quickly recover from various types of disorders and traumatic memories, an information and communication technology-based children's rehabilitation device demonstration center will be established in the southeastern city of Gyeongsan. The 1,600-square-meter-wide facility, which is about the size of eight tennis courts, will be used for clinical tests, development, and verification of rehabilitation products, and provide educational programs for paren 2022-12-26
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  KT establishes data lake for S. Korea's super-fast internet backbone test network SEOUL -- South Korea's biggest telecom company KT has developed a data lake portal system for the Korea Advanced Research Network (KOREN), a super-fast nationwide internet backbone network specially designed to test future network technologies. The data lake portal will provide information about network malfunctions, abnormal internet data traffic, and irregular optical signals. A data lake is a centralized data storage area that collects structured and unstructured data genera 2022-12-26
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  ​Hospital in Seoul treats 16-month-old leukemia patient with self-produced CAR-T treatment SEOUL -- Using chimeric antigen receptor T-cells, autologous white blood cells genetically modified after being obtained from the patient's blood, pediatricians saved a 16-month-old leukemia patient. The child treated at one of the largest hospitals in Seoul became the youngest patient who recovered through CAR-T therapy in South Korea. Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells attack tumors' antigens by genetically manipulating and culturing T cells, white blood cells 2022-12-26
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  ​State wildlife disease control body finds African Swine Fever vaccine stock candidate effective SEOUL -- To prevent the mass culling of pigs and protect farmers from the African Swine Fever disease with a 100 percent case fatality rate, a wildlife disease control body operated by the environment ministry has found a possible vaccine stock candidate that can be applied to wild pigs through bait-type medicines. African Swine Fever (ASF) virus causes hemorrhagic fever with about a 100 percent fatality rate in domestic pigs. The disease is spread by wild pigs that come down to pi 2022-12-26
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  Researchers develop four-legged robots capable of climbing steel plate walls SEOUL -- Researchers developed a four-legged robot capable of traveling on rough and uneven surfaces made of steel. The robot with magnetic feet can climb up walls and freely move around on ceilings to help human workers who inspect large facilities such as vessels, bridges, and storage tanks. Existing climbing robots that move on wheels and caterpillar tracks are limited to travel on rugged surfaces, while legged robots that can climb over such surfaces are extremely slow or unabl 2022-12-26
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  S. Korean rehabilitation device wins FDA approval for medical device SEOUL -- A South Korean-made rehabilitation device designed to help degenerative knee arthritis patients manage and improve their lower body muscle strength was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a medical device. The FDA approval will help the device's maker accelerate overseas sales. Degenerative arthritis in knee joints sometimes causes muscle atrophy in patients due to pain that hinders patients from walking and stimulate the lower muscles i 2022-12-26
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  ​CKD Bio opens microbiome research center at university hospital to develop treatments for dementia SEOUL -- To develop various treatments using microorganisms living in human bodies, CKD Bio, a pharmaceutical company in South Korea, has opened a microbiome research center at a university hospital in Seoul. The company will create a consortium to work on drugs for dementia, liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease. The microbiome is a cluster of all types of microscopic organisms that co-exist with humans such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses. Many of them live insid 2022-12-23
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  ​Convenience store chain CU to build metaverse-based ecommerce platform SEOUL -- BGF Retail, the operator of South Korea's top convenience store chain CU, will establish a metaverse-based ecommerce platform to enable users to receive actual products after purchasing items using avatars in the virtual space. Some 30 stores will be created on Jeff World, a metaverse platform where users can engage in shopping and many other leisure activities. "Consumers can receive items purchased through Jeff World through delivery or by visiting nearby offlin 2022-12-23
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  Web novel 'Dating My Best Friend's Sister' to be recreated into digital cartoon in S. Korea SEOUL -- "Dating My Best Friends Sister," a romance web novel written in English will be recreated into a web cartoon in Korean. The web novel that depicts a secret love story between a young lady named "Kaitlyn" and her boyfriend "Cole" has gained some 400,000 subscribers since it was released in 2019 on Radish Media, a United States-based web novel platform. Cole is a friend of Kaitlyn's brother in the novel. Kaitlyn had a crush on Cole during he 2022-12-22
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  Farm Hannong's biodegradable fertilizer approved by state as new technology SEOUL -- Farm Hannong's photodecomposition fertilizer that slowly releases its composition during the breakdown was approved by the state as new technology. Farm Hannong is an agricultural technology subsidiary of LG Chem, South Korea's top chemical company. Slow-acting or slow-releasing fertilizers are coated with polymers to deliberately increase the time at which fertilizers are released into paddocks. However, the polymer coating makes fertilizers' lifespan more tha 2022-12-22