SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will prohibit direct overseas purchases of products without safety certifications for 80 items that could potentially affect public health and safety, the government announced on May 16. At a meeting of ministers handling state affairs at the Incheon Airport Customs headquarters, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo unveiled measures to [...]
SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Shinsegae Live Shopping, a leading home shopping platform in South Korea, has introduced an industry-first ‘AI Broadcast Summary’ service that leverages artificial intelligence to directly analyze and summarize live broadcasts, the company announced on May 16. This innovative service employs AI technology to identify key product features and points of [...]
SEOUL, May 14 (Korea Bizwire) – As the South Korean government accelerates research into the potential hazards of synthetic nicotine to determine regulatory measures, attention is turning to whether these products could be subject to tobacco taxes. If synthetic nicotine is included under the Tobacco Business Act’s regulatory purview, liquid-based synthetic nicotine products, which have so [...]
SEOUL, May 13 (Korea Bizwire) – On the first floor of Lotte World Mall last month, queues snaked up to the third floor as crowds of students and foreign visitors flocked to a pop-up store event featuring the K-pop group Tomorrow X Together. At a Kiwoom Heroes baseball team pop-up that ran until May 5 at [...]
SEOUL, May 13 (Korea Bizwire) – The National Tax Service of South Korea has initiated a special tax investigation into Coupang, the nation’s top e-commerce company. Authorities are examining the flow of funds between Coupang’s Korean entity, wholly owned by the U.S.-based Coupang Inc. in Delaware, and its overseas affiliates. This probe coincides with looming scrutiny [...]
SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — CJ Olive Young Corp., the distribution unit of South Korean food-to-cosmetics conglomerate CJ Group, said Friday it will set up a business entity in Japan by June to supply its cosmetics products to local distribution channels. CJ Olive Young plans to open an office in Japan within the first [...]
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Emart24, a South Korean convenience store chain, said Thursday it has partnered with local cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb to sell the “bitcoin meal box” by the end of this month. Under a partnership with Bithumb, Emart24 plans to sell 30,000 such meal boxes at 5,900 won (US$4.3) per product by [...]
SEJONG, May 8 (Korea Bizwire) – Sam’s Club, the membership-only retail warehouse chain owned by Walmart, is eager to purchase Korean products across several categories, presenting a significant opportunity for small and medium-sized Korean companies looking to penetrate China’s consumer market. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) revealed on May 7 a list of items that [...]
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The relentless surge of Chinese e-commerce platforms like AliExpress, Temu, and Shein into the South Korean market, posing threats to domestic platforms, small businesses, and small manufacturers, appears to be losing momentum due to consumer dissatisfaction with shipping and returns, as well as repeated discoveries of hazardous substances including carcinogens [...]
SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Companies will be fined for reducing packet contents while maintaining retail prices without notice in South Korea as the government seeks to eradicate “shrinkflation” practices to better ensure consumer rights, the antitrust regulator said Friday. Under the envisioned revision of relevant regulations, manufacturers of daily necessities, including milk, coffee, [...]