Samsung SDI wins top tech award for ESS safety innovation

Samsung SDI said Wednesday it has received the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Resources Award at the 2025 Korea Tech Festival, recognized for breakthrough technologies enhancing the safety and cost-efficiency of energy storage systems. The honor, presented at Coex in southern Seoul, makes Samsung SDI the only Korean battery-maker recognized this year with a Republic of Korea Technology Award, the nation’s highest technical distinction. The awarded technology powers the Samsung Battery Box, an

Dec. 3, 2025

How ex-employee exposed 33.7 million users: Coupang's security gaps explained

Fear is mounting over large-scale personal data breaches in Korea, with the latest incident at Coupang exposing information from 33.7 million users. The leak — believed to have been carried out by a former insider — has raised broader questions about how vulnerable major platforms remain despite heavy spending on cybersecurity. This explainer breaks down what happened, why insider attacks are uniquely hard to prevent, and what experts say needs to change. The leak affected nearly every Coupang u

Dec. 2, 2025

CJ, CP Group partner to expand K-food in Southeast Asia

CJ CheilJedang said Tuesday it has signed a strategic partnership with CP Axtra, the retail arm of Thailand’s largest conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group), to accelerate the distribution of K-food products across Southeast Asia. The memorandum of understanding, signed Monday at CJ’s Seoul headquarters, commits the two companies to combining CJ’s product development capabilities with CP Axtra’s extensive retail network. CP Group dominates Thailand’s retail sector. Its subsidiary CP Axtr

Dec. 2, 2025

Is Coupang too deeply embedded? Users conflicted over next steps

The fate of South Korea’s largest e-commerce platform, Coupang, hangs in the balance after a devastating data breach that exposed nearly all of its 33.7 million user accounts, a crisis of exceptional weight given how embedded the platform is in the daily lives of millions. There is outrage among the nearly three-quarters of the population affected by the cybersecurity lapse that led to the leakage of consumer data, including names, phone numbers, email addresses and shipping addresses. But many

Dec. 2, 2025

Celltrion, Galux partner on multispecific antibody drugs

Korean biopharma giant Celltrion has teamed up with artificial intelligence drug design startup Galux to co-develop next-generation autoimmune disease therapies using multispecific antibodies, the companies said Tuesday. Under the collaboration, Galux will handle AI-based antibody design and early-stage validation, while Celltrion will lead preclinical and clinical development and commercialization. The companies aim to establish a faster, more efficient model that shortens the path from candida

Dec. 2, 2025

K-defense climbs global rankings on Europe export boom

Korea’s four major defense companies — Hanwha Group, Hyundai Rotem, LIG Nex1 and Korea Aerospace Industries — boosted their combined arms revenues by 31 percent to $14.1 billion last year, cementing their positions on the world’s top 100 arms producers. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s 2024 Top 100 report released Tuesday, all four Korean firms made the list for the second consecutive year, reflecting the country’s rapid ascent as a global defense exporter. Han

Dec. 2, 2025

Woori unveils four-person shortlist for group chair

Woori Financial Group on Tuesday unveiled its shortlist for its next chair, naming current Chair and CEO Yim Jong-yong and banking chief Jung Jin-wan among the four candidates. The list also includes two external contenders whose names were withheld for privacy reasons. The nominations follow the launch of the group’s succession process in late October, during which the executive nomination committee reviewed candidates’ management performance through internal and external evaluations, results f

Dec. 2, 2025

Paris Baguette opens 700th overseas outlet

Paris Baguette, the bakery brand operated by South Korean food conglomerate SPC Group, said Tuesday it has opened a new store at Westfield London — marking its 700th overseas outlet and underscoring the brand’s accelerating global expansion. The milestone comes just a year after Paris Baguette surpassed 600 international stores in October 2024, reflecting the pace of its overseas growth. The Westfield location is the brand’s fourth UK store, following openings at Battersea Power Station, Kensing

Dec. 2, 2025

[Photo News] Kakao Bank wins top anti–money laundering award

Dec. 2, 2025

Most-in-demand skill? New report points to facility safety managers with electrical licenses

Electrical certifications are the most sought-after qualifications among Korean companies, a report showed Tuesday. According to the study of 138,353 job postings analyzed by the Korea Employment Information Service, over over 22,000 sought candidates with electrical-related licenses -- 12,082 for qualified industrial electrical engineers and another 10,323 for qualified electrical engineers. These certifications are essential for roles involving power facilities in manufacturing, construction a

Dec. 2, 2025

Netmarble accelerates global push with 2026 lineup

South Korean gaming giant Netmarble is accelerating its global push with a lineup of new titles slated for release through 2026. The company plans to roll out a wide range of games, including StoneAge: Idle Adventure, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin, SOL: enchant, Mongil: Star Dive, Solo Leveling: Karma, Project Octopus, Evilbane and Shangri-La Frontier. The lineup spans genres gaining traction in the global market, such as the rogue-lite RPG Solo Leveling: Karma and co-op action title Evilbane. I

Dec. 1, 2025

Coupang received threat emails ahead of massive data leak reveal

E-commerce giant Coupang received anonymous emails threatening to disclose a major data breach that compromised the personal information of 33.7 million users, police said Monday. Police confirmed that they have identified two separate email accounts used to send the messages, one to Coupang customers on Nov. 16 and another to the company’s customer service center last Tuesday. The emails reportedly claimed to possess customer data and warned that the breach would be made public unless Coupang i

Dec. 1, 2025

Ex-Coupang employee linked to breach handled access controls

A former employee who had worked in Coupang's authentication and access management systems reportedly leaked personal data by using internal access rights from outside the system after leaving the company. According to internal documents released Monday by Rep. Choi Min-hee, chair of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, Coupang failed to revoke the access keys issued to the former employee, who allegedly used them to authenticate access tokens — digita

Dec. 1, 2025

Hyundai Steel to unveil US hydrogen steel mill model at hydrogen expo

Hyundai Steel said Monday it would unveil a model of its planned hydrogen steel mill in Louisiana this week, demonstrating its push toward net-zero production. The plans will be introduced at the World Hydrogen Expo, held from Thursday to Sunday at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Hyundai Steel will showcase the details of the US plant — set to begin commercial operations in 2029 — along with its mid- to long-term technology road map toward carbon-free steelmaking. The model will give visito

Dec. 1, 2025

HD Hyundai launches unified shipbuilder to power $150b 'MASGA' push

The newly integrated HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was launched Monday, after South Korea’s biggest shipbuilder absorbed its smaller affiliate HD Hyundai Mipo, in a move aimed at strengthening competitiveness against Chinese and Japanese rivals and expanding its US business under the $150 billion “MASGA” initiative. HD Hyundai, the parent company of both shipbuilders, said all merger procedures between HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo were finalized. The merged entity aims to achiev

Dec. 1, 2025