Samsung Bioepis said Monday that its proposed biosimilar SB27 demonstrated comparable efficacy and safety to Keytruda, a blockbuster cancer immunotherapy drug that was the world's best-selling pharmaceutical product last year, in a global Phase 3 clinical trial. According to the company, it announced the Phase 3 clinical study results at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting 2026 held in Phoenix, Arizona, from Nov. 4 to 8. Keytruda, developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company MSD, is a cancer immunotherapy drug that binds to programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), an immune checkpoint receptor, helping the immune system attack cancer cells. It was the world's best-selling drug last year, generating approximately 46 trillion won ($31.7 billion) in global sales. The Phase 3 study, which began in 2024, involved 555 patients with metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer across 14 countries, comparing SB27 with the original drug in combination with standard chemotherapy. In the study, SB27 met its primary endpoint by demonstrating an equivalent objective response rate t

Samyang Roundsquare, the parent company behind the Buldak spicy instant noodle maker Samyang Foods, said Monday its YouTube channel samyangman has surpassed 2 million cumulative views about three months after its launch in August. The channel airs “Fire or Fired,” an original series from BURNT, the company’s spicy food content brand. The show follows Tony, a Samyang employee who struggles with spicy food, as he tries fiery local dishes in New York, Texas, Los Angeles and other parts of the United States. Tony is what Koreans jokingly call a “maepjjiri,” slang for someone with a low tolerance for spicy food. Instead of hiring celebrities or influencers, the company cast its own employee, who interacts with locals on camera. The seven episodes released so far have drawn more than 2.18 million views as of Sunday. The most-watched episode, featuring a visit to Samyang America, the company’s U.S. subsidiary, logged 770,000 views, followed by episodes filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, and New Mexico. Viewers in the United States accounted for about 45 percent of total views, while th

CJ Olive Young, Korea’s largest health and beauty store chain, will open five more stores in California by the first half of 2027, bringing its U.S. total to seven, the company said Monday. The retailer opened its first U.S. store in Pasadena in May and a second at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles in June. Four of the new stores will be in the greater Los Angeles area: Spectrum Center, a lifestyle shopping center in Irvine; Del Amo Fashion Center in the South Bay area; Bloom on 3rd, a shopping complex near the Farmers Market in central Los Angeles; and Brea Mall in Orange County. The fifth will open at Fashion Valley in San Diego, its first outside the Los Angeles area. Opening dates for each store have not been set. Three of the sites — Del Amo Fashion Center, Brea Mall and Fashion Valley — are operated by Simon Property Group, a major U.S. mall owner. The company said the expansion will help small and independent Korean cosmetics brands, collectively known as K-beauty, reach American consumers without their own distribution networks. Olive Young said its stores also introduce

Hanwha Aerospace said Monday its U.S. subsidiary plans to conduct two test-firings of missiles from its Chunmoo multiple rocket launcher system in the United States as part of its effort to adapt the land-based system for naval use. The missiles will be launched from a vessel off the southern U.S. coast later this month to assess the system's suitability for shipboard deployment. The tests follow an April agreement between Hanwha Defense USA (HDUSA) and Florida-based Magnet Defense to develop a containerized Chunmoo launcher for the H38 medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV). HDUSA has been expanding its presence in the U.S. maritime defense market. It is in talks to acquire Austal USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Australian shipbuilder Austal, with negotiations under way over key terms of the deal. Last month, HDUSA secured a $269 million contract from shipbuilding management company TOTE Services to build a medium landing ship for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The deal came two years after Hanwha acquired Philly Shipyard in 2024, marking another step in its U.S. shipbuilding expansion.

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday its hydrogen business brand HTWO will partner with French industrial gas company Air Liquide to expand hydrogen-powered mobility in China. HTWO Guangzhou, the Korean automotive group's first overseas hydrogen fuel-cell system manufacturing base, signed a cooperation agreement with Air Liquide China on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo 2026, which opened in Shanghai last week. Under the agreement, the two companies will combine HTWO Guangzhou's hydrogen fuel-cell system technology with Air Liquide's expertise in hydrogen production, storage, transportation and infrastructure development. The partnership is aimed at accelerating the adoption of hydrogen-powered vehicles in China by integrating fuel cell technology with the hydrogen supply and refueling infrastructure.

Debt-ridden Korean broadcaster JTBC plans to select a preferred bidder in January, the company said Monday, putting up its official notice for the envisioned sale. The sale will be conducted through an open competitive bidding process through the injection of external capital, EY Hanyoung, the accounting firm advising the sale, said in the notice. Potential bidders can submit their letter of intent over the next four weeks. JTBC said it will conduct the sale in a "transparent and fair" manner in accordance with relevant laws and rehabilitation court procedures. "Through the merger and acquisition, we hope to establish a sustainable base for growth and strengthen content and channel competitiveness," the broadcaster said. The sale notice came some two months after the Seoul Bankruptcy Court approved JTBC's request to begin rehabilitation proceedings in late August, allowing the company to restructure its debts under court supervision.

Woowa Brothers and Coupang have been slapped with a combined 631.9 billion won ($465 million) in fines for abusing their dominant positions in Korea’s food delivery market by forcing affiliated restaurants to offer consumers prices and promotional terms at least as favorable as those available through competing channels. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it has decided to order the companies to rectify the unfair practices and impose provisional fines of 331.1 billion won on Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baemin, and 300.8 billion won on Coupang, which operates Coupang Eats. The two platforms account for more than 90 percent of the nation’s food delivery market share. According to the regulator's investigation, both companies abused their market power to impose so-called most-favored-nation (MFN) requirements on restaurants, restricting their ability to offer different prices, discounts and other terms through competing delivery platforms. The FTC said the practices made it difficult for restaurants to establish more favorable conditions on rival platforms and weakened co

KT is opening its latest gold-number lottery to mobile phone users across Korea, giving customers of rival carriers and budget phone services a chance to secure sought-after numbers such as 1111, 1234 and 1004. KT said Monday it would hold a drawing for mobile phone numbers considered particularly desirable because they are easy to remember or carry special meanings. The company is offering 155 categories of preferred numbers, including AAAA patterns, in which all four digits are identical, such as 1111 and 2222, and ABCD patterns featuring consecutive digits, such as 1234 and 5678. Numbers with particular meanings, including 1004 and 2580, are also included in the selection. Each applicant can enter the drawing for up to three numbers, KT said. Applications can be submitted at KT stores nationwide, through KT's website or via its My KT mobile application. Participation is not limited to KT subscribers, with customers using other mobile carriers and mobile virtual network operators, commonly known as MVNOs, also eligible to enter. The expanded eligibility gives mobile phone users across dif

KT&G, Korea’s leading tobacco maker, is expanding its next-generation product footprint in Central Asia by launching its FLEX heated tobacco device and FAIIM sticks in Kazakhstan. The Korean tobacco company said it introduced the products in October, marking its direct entry into Kazakhstan's heated tobacco market. FLEX and FAIIM are locally branded versions of KT&G's lil AIBLE device and AIIM tobacco sticks, which are already sold in Korea, adapted for the local market. The products are initially available only in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, with KT&G planning to expand distribution channels gradually. The company is also operating a FLEX flagship store at Forum Mall, a major shopping center in Almaty, to strengthen its connection with local consumers. The store will offer brand information, customer consultations and other services designed to help consumers better understand the products and experience the brand. The launch forms part of KT&G's broader strategy to expand its next-generation products (NGP) business internationally after establishing an independent commercializat

Cho Young-soo, chair emeritus of the Hansae Yes24 Foundation, has received a commendation from the Seoul mayor for her charitable donations and humanitarian work, the foundation said on Monday. The Korean Red Cross recommended Cho for the honor, citing her sustained support for humanitarian causes, including a donation of 100 million won ($73,000) in July, according to the foundation. The donation also brought her into the Red Cross Honors Club, a group of major donors to the organization. Beyond her work through the foundation, Cho has used personal funds to support organizations including the Community Chest of Korea, Seoul National University and the Korean Red Cross, the foundation said. Her contributions also include support for students and younger generations as a senior figure in education. The foundation said those activities, alongside her donations, formed part of the basis for the commendation. Cho served as chairwoman of the foundation for five years beginning in 2018. During her tenure, she led programs supporting academic research, scholarships for international students,

Preorders for new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered glasses developed in partnership between Samsung Electronics and Google will begin later this week, industry officials said Monday. The Intelligent Eyewear, developed in collaboration with Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster and U.S. brand Warby Parker, will be available for preorder starting Thursday, with an official launch expected in December, they said. Built on Google's Android XR platform, the glasses combine Samsung's hardware technology with Google's Gemini generative AI system to provide hands-free assistance through voice commands and visual recognition. Equipped with a built-in camera, the glasses can recognize objects and surroundings in the user's field of view and provide relevant information. They also support real-time translation, navigation and information searches, allowing users to access the features without taking out their smartphones. The collaboration is expected to help Samsung and Google expand their presence in the emerging AI-powered eyewear market that is dominated by Meta Platforms. Meta currently accoun

S-Oil said Monday it donated 100 million won ($73,000) to the Mapo Scholarship Foundation and the Mapo Welfare Foundation to support students from low-income families and promote community welfare. The donation ceremony was held at the Mapo District Office in Seoul, attended by S-Oil President Ryu Yeol, Mapo Scholarship Foundation Chair Kwon Oh-beom and Mapo Welfare Foundation Chair Kim Eun-young. The funds will be used to provide scholarships to students from low-income families in Mapo District and finance social welfare programs run by local institutions. “We hope our scholarships and donations will provide meaningful help to students facing difficulties and the local community,” Ryu said. “We will continue to grow alongside the community and uphold our commitment to environmental, social and governance management.” S-Oil has provided annual scholarships and welfare donations to low-income families in Mapo District, where its headquarters is located, since 2012 as part of its efforts to support the local community. Other community outreach programs include sharing rice cake sou

LG AI Research, the artificial intelligence (AI) research arm of LG Group, opened the application programming interface (API) for its upgraded EXAONE 2.5 foundation model free of charge, reporting a performance boost of over 70 percent in just eight weeks. The company announced the move at NVIDIA AI Day Seoul 2026, held at Coex in southern Seoul on Monday. Starting the same day, developers, startups, companies and research institutes can use the model in their services and research at no cost by obtaining an API key through the company’s platform, docs.exaone.ai. K-EXAONE 2.5 is a technology verification model built by applying additional training to K-EXAONE 2.0, the second model LG AI Research developed under the government’s sovereign AI foundation model project, which aims to build homegrown AI models that reduce Korea’s reliance on foreign systems. According to the company’s own tests on open datasets, K-EXAONE 2.5 performed on par with leading Chinese open-weight models DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GLM 5.3 (max) in agentic AI, in which AI plans tasks and uses tools on its own t

Nvidia, SK Telecom and domestic artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup Rebellions agreed Monday to combine their respective strengths to establish a heterogeneous computing system. Under the trilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU), the companies will cooperate in the establishment of a heterogeneous AI computing system connecting Nvidia's graphic processing units (GPUs) with neural processing units (NPUs) designed by Rebellions that will be used in the building of SK Telecom AI data centers. The tie-up will be based on the U.S. chipmaker's NVLink Fusion program, the ministry added. The NVLink Fusion program allows hyperscalers and custom chip designers to integrate their own AI processors directly into Nvidia's rack-scale infrastructure. The MOU was signed on the margins of AI Day Seoul, a tech event hosted by Nvidia that kicked off its two-day run in southern Seoul. "Korea is a technology leader, and with AI being one of the fastest growing technologies that has ever happened ... this collaboration we are working on together, we believe, can help accelerate innovation in Korea,"

Shinsegae Department Store will run pop-up stores in Taiwan and Malaysia for the first time under its Shinsegae Hyper Ground platform, expanding its overseas push after events in New York and Tokyo this year. Hyper Ground is a platform through which the Korean department store chain selects promising Korean fashion and beauty brands and introduces them in major cities abroad. Earlier this year, it held pop-ups at Hudson Yards in New York and in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. In Taipei, the pop-up will open in the ground-floor luxury section of Breeze Center, a shopping mall that opened in 2001 in the city’s East District, a busy area known for trendy shops and cafes. Through February, it will feature six women’s contemporary fashion brands on rotation over about four months, starting with Recto, followed by Marie Claire and Insilence. The brand lineup and store design will change with each round. In Kuala Lumpur, the pop-up has opened on the ground floor of the Seibu department store at The Exchange TRX, a mall that opened in 2023 in the Tun Razak Exchange financial district. The area

Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Ted Chung has been named an honorary trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the card issuer said Monday. The honorary title recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the museum through their expertise and international influence. In the role, trustees offer strategic counsel on MoMA’s major decisions, long-term vision and institutional priorities. Since 2006, the partnership between Hyundai Card and MoMA has taken many forms, from exhibition sponsorships to curatorial exchanges and research initiatives, which have helped bring Korean art into view for the museum’s 2.8 million annual visitors. The collaboration has brought solo presentations by leading contemporary Korean artists to the New York museum, including Haegue Yang and Kim Sung-hwan, whose exhibitions were part of a programming initiative known as the Hyundai Card Performance Series. Last year, genre-defying media artist Ayoung Kim made her U.S. solo debut with her celebrated “Delivery Dancer” series at MoMA PS1, a space dedicated to championing experime

Korean chipmaker SK hynix Inc. is preparing to expand its U.S. workforce, its parent company said Monday, in what appears to be a move to strengthen ties with major U.S. clients, including Nvidia Corp. SK hynix plans to make additional executive appointments and reorganize its U.S. operations around Dec. 3, according to SK Group. The planned changes follow a recent executive reshuffle at SK Group, a Korean conglomerate with businesses spanning semiconductors, construction and other sectors. SK hynix had created a new executive-level post overseeing its U.S. operations and appointed Ahn Hyun, its president in charge of development, to the position. Ahn has led the development of artificial intelligence (AI) memory products, including high bandwidth memory (HBM) at SK hynix. The appointment marks a shift in the company's approach to managing its U.S. operations, which have traditionally been headed by executives with sales and marketing backgrounds. Industry sources said the move reflects changes in how HBM contracts are secured as memory chipmakers increasingly work with customers from the

LG Uplus is joining forces with three leading Korean universities to develop artificial intelligence (AI) that can understand not only what people say but also their tone, emotions and conversational context, in a push to make interactions between humans and machines more natural. The telecommunications company said Monday it had launched the K-Voice AI Alliance with Seoul National University (SNU), the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Yonsei University. The partnership aims to combine LG Uplus' experience in voice AI services with the universities' research capabilities to develop technology specifically tailored to Korean speakers. The project will focus on voice-to-voice (V2V) technology, which allows AI to understand spoken language directly and respond with speech, without first converting conversations into text. Traditional voice AI systems process speech recognition, response generation and voice output in separate stages, a process that can cause delays and produce unnatural-sounding responses. The alliance plans to establish performance evaluation s

Top executives from Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) held a rare joint gathering, Monday, to strengthen cooperation in physical artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation mobility technologies, signaling closer ties between two of Korea’s largest industrial groups. The meeting comes as the two conglomerates are seeking to expand cooperation beyond existing business ties in areas, such as automotive electronics, batteries and components, with a particular focus on electric vehicles (EVs), autonomous driving, software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and robotics. Samsung hosted senior Hyundai Motor Group executives at its training center in Seocheon, South Chungcheong Province, for an event dubbed HMG Appreciation Day, the first large-scale event of its kind that Samsung has held for a major Korean business group. The gathering brought together 177 executives and their spouses from the two groups under the theme “One Harmony,” highlighting their growing strategic partnership. Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jun Young-hyun said the two groups have been “reliable par

Late Hyosung Group Honorary Chairman Cho Suck-rai has been posthumously awarded the Korea-America Friendship Award in recognition of his decades-long efforts to strengthen economic ties between Korea and the United States. The group said that the late chairman received the 24th annual award from the Korea-America Association (KAA) at its ceremony on Monday in Seoul, with his son, Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon, accepting the award on his behalf. The association recognized Cho Suck-rai for his efforts to strengthen bilateral economic ties, particularly his role in rallying business support for the free trade agreement between Korea and the U.S. and helping secure Korea's entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Accepting the award, Cho Hyun-joon expressed gratitude on behalf of his family, noting that his grandfather, former KAA Chairman Song In-sang, had received the same honor in 2004. "It is deeply meaningful to see that my father's lifelong wish for a Korea-U.S. alliance in which the two countries understand each other and grow together is becoming a reality today," He said. "I will ke

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's admission of a romantic relationship with a suspected Chinese spy is raising concerns among Korean industry officials that the controversy could eventually affect the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) giant's partnerships with Korean companies, particularly if investigations expand into potential security breaches or questions over Huang's leadership. Huang acknowledged having an extramarital affair with businesswoman Alice Huang in a message to Nvidia employees, saying he was “unfaithful” to his wife and family. New York Times first reported that U.S. intelligence officials believed that Alice Huang was a Chinese spy. Following his admission, Nvidia's board launched an independent investigation, saying there was no evidence that confidential company information or U.S. national security had been compromised, while U.S. lawmakers requested a closed-door briefing with Huang on Nov. 18. Amid the controversy, Nvidia Senior Director of Product Marketing Madison Huang, daughter of CEO Jensen Huang, canceled her planned appearance at Nvidia AI Day Seoul 2026 on M

Korea's major banks are sharply increasing their cybersecurity budgets for next year following a series of hacking incidents, with some lenders planning to spend more than 100 billion won ($74 million) on information security, data showed Monday. According to data submitted by the country's four major banks to Rep. Lee Yang-soo of the main opposition People Power Party, Shinhan Bank plans to allocate 115 billion won to information security in 2027, nearly 2.8 times its budget of 40.6 billion won this year. Hana Bank has set its budget at 100.1 billion won, while Woori Bank plans to spend 76.3 billion won. KB Kookmin Bank is also considering raising its allocation to more than 100 billion won, although the figure has yet to be finalized. The planned increases follow a series of suspected artificial intelligence-assisted cyberattacks that have raised concerns across the financial sector. In October, a data breach at Shinhan Bank exposed the personal information of about 25,000 customers. The number of customers affected by a separate breach at KB Kookmin Bank was 2,210, significantly highe

Four cases of cheating using artificial intelligence (AI) glasses have been reported at middle and high schools this year, the education ministry said Monday. According to data collected from all 5,679 middle and high schools nationwide between Oct. 27 and last Tuesday, one middle school and three high school students were caught using AI glasses during their midterm or final exams. The middle school and one high school are in Seoul while the two other high schools are in North Jeolla Province and the southern island of Jeju. Three of the four were caught while constantly touching their glasses, while the other was caught switching to AI glasses after the exam got under way. In the latter case, the proctor had been keeping a close eye on the student following a tip-off from another student, officials said. All four students received zero scores on the affected exams in accordance with relevant regulations. In addition, separate disciplinary measures were taken against the three high school students, such as three days of special education, four hours of community service and a five-day s

Ninety-two cases of safety and labor standard violations have been found at food service company Ourhome, the labor ministry said Monday following an inspection prompted by the deaths of two workers at one of the firm's plants. Of the total violations, 53 cases concerned industrial safety, while 39 were related to labor standards, the ministry said after inspecting nine Ourhome plants nationwide. In response, the ministry said it plans to send 13 cases to the prosecution for potential indictment and slap a fine of 86.3 million won ($63,800) over 37 cases. Corrective action has been ordered for the remaining 42 incidents. The violations included continuing the use of conveyor belts that had not undergone safety checks, not holding or belatedly holding special training classes for conveyor belt workers at six of the nine plants, and failing to install covers or protective fences as part of tofu-making or food mixing processes. There were also cases of illegal worker dispatches between Ourhome's plants and partner companies, and workers being not paid or underpaid for overtime or holiday wo

SK shieldus aims to source all of its electricity from renewable energy this year as the security company expands its emission-reduction efforts across its operations and supply chain. The plan follows the approval of its near-term emissions targets by the Science Based Targets initiative in 2025. SK shieldus said it was the first Korean security company to have its targets validated by the initiative, which assesses corporate emissions targets against climate science. Using 2023 as its base year, the company aims to cut its direct greenhouse gas emissions, known as Scope 1, by 99 percent by 2029. It also plans to maintain 100 percent renewable electricity use from 2026 through 2030 and reduce other indirect emissions across its value chain, or Scope 3, by 55 percent by 2033. Its longer-term goal is to achieve net-zero emissions across Scope 1 and Scope 2, which covers emissions associated with purchased energy, by 2040. The targets address energy demand from operations including round-the-clock monitoring centers, a nationwide dispatch network and security equipment installed at custome

DeepSeek’s Harness artificial intelligence agent framework has reached 1.54 million daily active users less than three months after launch, the Chinese AI champion said on Sunday, marking rapid growth in a new battleground between leading Chinese and American AI giants. Users of Harness through the company’s official application programming interface were consuming around 92 trillion tokens a day as of November 4, the Hangzhou-based start-up said. That is equivalent to about 1.1 billion tokens...

A section aimed at keeping children from porn could reach Gmail, the tech giant has told senators.

The 24-inch all-in-one keeps its familiar design but gains faster graphics, Wi-Fi 7 and a new version of Siri.

The board of US AI chip giant Nvidia has announced an independent investigation as chief executive Jensen Huang said in a memo to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. Huang admitted to an extramarital affair and apologised to his family and colleagues in the memo, which the company published on its website on Sunday. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry,” Huang wrote. He apologised and pledged to...

The new Audi A6 flagship sedan makes its strongest impression through a firm, planted ride that balances sharp handling with long-distance comfort. After a seven-year wait for a full redesign, the German automaker’s flagship combustion-engine sedan returns with a clearer sense of purpose, positioning itself between BMW’s agility and Mercedes-Benz’s emphasis on ride comfort. Driving the A6 45 TFSI quattro S-line across Seoul’s urban streets and surrounding highways over three days, covering about 300 kilometers, the sedan felt more than composed and reassuring at speed without sacrificing everyday usability. The first thing that stood out was how firmly the car held the road. Its suspension absorbed bumps without allowing the body to feel loose or unsettled, while steering inputs translated into predictable movements. The ride was noticeably taut, giving the sedan a sporting character without making it excessively harsh. Rather than chasing the razor-sharp responsiveness associated with BMW or the softer isolation favored by Mercedes-Benz, Audi has found a middle ground that shoul