President Lee Jae Myung ordered the authorities Monday to respond sternly to allegations that a car battery manufacturer duped its workers into getting shots to discharge heavy metals from their bodies in order to cover up dangerous levels of lead in its production line, his spokesperson said. According to a news report, DN Automotive, a major local car battery manufacturer, tricked workers at its plant in the southeastern city of Ulsan into getting the shots multiple times by disguising them as "vitamin injections" ahead of their medical exams. Lee was briefed on the labor ministry's recent decision to refer the company to the police for investigation, and strongly rebuked the government over the fact that the company had passed a work environment assessment even after five times the allowed level of lead was found in its production process, according to his spokesperson Kang Yu-jung. "President Lee said it was an unacceptable and grave human rights violation that a company, which should protect workers' lives and health, made its workers get injections while hiding potential side effe

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Korea's tax authority, effectively upholding a lower court's ruling in favor of Google Korea in a corporate tax cancellation case involving about 154 billion won ($115.3 million), judicial officials said Monday. The top court left intact the Seoul High Court's ruling siding with Google Korea in its corporate tax cancellation lawsuit against the head of Seoul's Yeoksam Tax Office by dismissing the defendant's appeal without substantive review Thursday, the officials said. The tax office imposed corporate and local income taxes totaling around 154 billion won on Google Korea in 2020, arguing that the company's transfer of part of its income to Google Asia Pacific based in Singapore was subject to taxation. The office classified the payments as royalty income derived from the use of copyrights and knowhow. But Google Korea took the case to court, arguing that the payments constituted business income for Google Asia Pacific and were therefore not taxable in Korea. The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of Google Korea, finding that the paym

Biotech company Celltrion said Monday that its operating profit for the third quarter of 2026 is expected to surpass the 500 billion won ($374.3 million) mark for the first time, driven by robust sales in global markets. In its earnings guidance released Monday, the company forecast 1.5 trillion won in sales and 510 billion won in operating profit for the three-month period, representing year-on-year increases of 45.8 percent and 69.2 percent, respectively. Both sales and operating profit reached record quarterly highs, with operating profit surpassing 500 billion won for the first time since the company's establishment. Celltrion said its profitability has improved due to a growing share of high-margin products in its sales mix and improvements in its cost structure. Earlier this year, Celltrion set quarterly operating profit targets of more than 300 billion won for the first quarter, 400 billion won for the second and 500 billion won for the third. The company said it has exceeded its targets in each of the first three quarters, demonstrating that its profit growth has progressed as p

KakaoBank on Monday launched a range of financial services for international residents in Korea, joining local lenders in the race to attract customers from the country's growing foreign population. The new offering from the internet-only lender includes checking accounts, debit cards, overseas remittances and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered multilingual support. "Even though banking has become much more convenient for domestic customers, foreign residents still face the kind of inconvenience we experienced in the past, when we had to visit bank branches just to open an account," Bae Jung-ho, head of KakaoBank's Foreign Customer Camp, said during a press conference in Seoul. "By providing foreign residents with the same app that our 28 million customers already use, we were able to launch more than 50 services at once," he added. KakaoBank's Foreign Resident Account is available to residents aged 19 or older who have an accepted form of identification and a mobile phone registered in their name. Applicants can open an account through a mobile chatbot in about five minutes, the bank

A civic group filed a complaint against Kakao with the privacy watchdog on Monday, alleging that the tech giant's corporate advertising service uses personal data to target users without their consent. The Seoul YMCA said it urged the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) to investigate KakaoTalk’s Brand Message service and impose strict sanctions if violations are confirmed. The group said Kakao replaced its previous channel-based advertising service, which limited promotional messages to users who had added a business’s KakaoTalk channel, with Brand Message, which allows businesses to send ads without requiring users to follow their channels. It alleged that Kakao matches phone numbers provided by advertisers with its own user database to identify ad recipients, even though users had provided their numbers for basic messaging functions, not to receive third-party advertising. “The key alleged violations involve the unauthorized use of personal information and infringement of users’ rights,” the group said. “Although users agreed to provide their phone numbers for

Developing industrial artificial intelligence (AI) requires "world AI" capable of understanding the physical world, and Korea has an increasingly important role to play in this field, according to Yann LeCun, widely regarded as one of the four leading figures in the global AI academia. LeCun and a number of other leading experts shared their views during the Global AI Leaders Seoul Dialogue, an event organized ahead of the fifth International Industrial AI Conference, scheduled for Tuesday in Tokyo. LeCun is a leading AI scientist, a recipient of the 2018 Turing Award, founder of AMI Labs and former chief AI scientist and vice president at Meta. He is known for pioneering convolutional neural networks, which revolutionized image recognition. He also serves as chief science adviser to Project Tapestry, an AI Alliance-led initiative to develop a large-scale AI model through federated learning, which allows AI models to learn from data stored across different countries or companies without requiring the data to be transferred to a central server. Christopher Nguyen, CEO of Aitomatic and chi

Korean budget airline Air Premia has captured more than 20 percent of passenger traffic carried by domestic carriers on the Incheon–Los Angeles route, marking four years of service on its flagship transpacific corridor. The airline said Monday that it transported 759,277 passengers on the route from its launch on Oct. 29, 2022, through September, recording an average share of 15.8 percent among Korean carriers over the period. Its share rose steadily from 12.9 percent in its first year to 14 percent in its second and 15.3 percent in its third, before reaching 20.8 percent in its fourth year. International demand has also grown, with passengers holding foreign nationalities accounting for 44.8 percent of total travelers over the four-year period. Their share climbed from 40.2 percent in the first year to 41.1 percent in the second and 47.2 percent in the third, reaching 49.6 percent in the fourth year. To mark the anniversary, Air Premia is offering promotional fares across five U.S. routes: Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Honolulu. Round-trip fares on the Los

Hyosung Chemical, a major Korean producer of advanced industrial polymers, is pushing its high-performance plastics into the European market. The company is targeting automakers and robotics manufacturers with specialized materials engineered for exceptional chemical resistance and durability under friction. The Korean chemical maker is participating in Fakuma 2026, an international plastics processing trade fair running from Monday through Oct. 16 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where it is presenting its POKETONE material and applications across several industries. POKETONE is engineered to resist impact, abrasion and chemical exposure while absorbing little moisture, helping components maintain their shape and dimensions, the company said. Its strength, wear resistance and flame-retardant properties can also be tailored to specific applications, making it suitable for a range of industrial uses. Hyosung Chemical is highlighting automotive connectors, gears, drive components and medical parts under the exhibition theme “Automotive, Robotics, Medical.” The material is also finding poten

Korean drugmaker HLB has resubmitted its application for U.S. approval of a combination therapy for advanced liver cancer, renewing its push to bring the target treatment to market after addressing regulatory concerns raised earlier this year. The Korean biopharmaceutical company said Monday that its U.S. subsidiary, Elevar Therapeutics, and Chinese partner Hengrui Pharma submitted the application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday, seeking approval of rivoceranib in combination with camrelizumab as a first-line treatment for liver cancer. The resubmission follows an FDA complete response letter issued in July regarding an application Elevar filed in January, prompting the companies to work with regulators to address the agency’s concerns. HLB said inspections of the manufacturing facilities have recently been completed, allowing the companies to submit the application again. The filing is based on CARES-310, a global Phase 3 clinical trial involving patients with unresectable or metastatic liver cancer. In the trial’s final analysis, the combination treatment ac

Korean employers are no longer just asking job candidates if they understand artificial intelligence (AI). Instead, they are requiring hands-on expertise with specific platforms — and Claude is leading the surge in recruitment demand. According to data released Monday by JobKorea, a human resources technology platform operated by Worksphere, recruitment postings mentioning generative AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini jumped 170 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. Among individual tools, Claude recorded the sharpest increase, with mentions climbing 770 percent, followed by Google’s Gemini at 500 percent, ChatGPT at 165 percent, Microsoft Copilot at 96 percent and Midjourney at 46 percent. Claude’s share of postings that named specific AI tools jumped from 17 percent last year to 55 percent this year, narrowing the gap with ChatGPT, whose share remained around 70 percent over the same period, according to JobKorea. Demand also grew for skills related to how AI is applied, with mentions of generative AI, prompt engineering, AI agents and vibe cod

Naver Map, Korea’s most widely used online map service, will offer real-time, step-by-step voice navigation through artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses, becoming the first Korean map service to do so, its operator, Naver, said Monday. The feature is available first on Meta’s Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta glasses, according to the internet portal operator. It will also support “intelligent eyewear” being jointly developed by Google and Samsung Electronics, which is set for release later this year. Users can receive voice directions to their destination without repeatedly checking their smartphone screens. The glasses also tell them which way to turn and whether stairs or escalators lie ahead. The service will first be available on Android phones, with iPhone support to follow. Naver Map has also introduced voice commands designed for the glasses. Users can ask questions such as “When will I arrive?” or “Find a convenience store nearby” while walking and get answers right away. On the Google-Samsung glasses, users will also be able to launch Naver Map and star

Gaon Cable, an affiliate of LS Group, will build production lines for nuclear power plant cables at its U.S. plant in North Carolina, aiming to get ahead in a market expected to grow as the country expands nuclear power, the company said Monday. The Korean cable maker said its U.S. unit, LS Cable & System U.S.A., will install the equipment at its plant in Tarboro, North Carolina. The move is intended to build a local supply system ahead of the expected expansion of the U.S. market for large nuclear plants and small modular reactors (SMRs), smaller reactors that can be factory-built and installed in modules. The plant already produces overhead power lines for the U.S. grid. Adding nuclear cables will widen the range of products it makes locally. The company said the U.S. supply chain for nuclear plant equipment, including cables, remains thin because few new reactors have been built in the country for decades. Interest in new reactors has returned as electricity demand rises with the growing number of artificial intelligence data centers and as energy security becomes a priority. A single

SK Group will launch a two-year, full-time, non-degree program for aspiring developers and early-career innovators focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) to solve real-world problems, the conglomerate said Monday. Participants in the initiative will receive a monthly stipend of 3 million won (approximately $2,200) to support their intensive training and practical application projects. The program, SK AIGEN, combines “AI” and “generation.” It is open to people aged 19 to 34 and will start in March 2027 with about 50 participants. Participants will receive the monthly stipend for two years, along with training, mentoring and workspace. The program does not guarantee a job at SK or grant a degree, and participants have no obligations after completing it. In the first year, participants will plan and carry out individual or team projects that use AI to tackle problems faced by individuals, companies and society. In the second year, they will gain hands-on experience in fields tied to their own career or project plans, with SK connecting them to mentors and experts. SK said this

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on Monday is said to be challenging the court's property division in his ongoing suit with his former wife, which set the wife's share at 33 percent of their shared property subject to division. The SK chairman raised the issue in a document submitted to the Supreme Court earlier in the day, as part of his appeal filed in August against the Seoul High Court's decision ordering him to pay 944 billion won ($707.8 million) in property division to his former wife Roh Soh-yeong, the daughter of late former President Roh Tae-woo. The appellate court issued the ruling in its second trial after the Supreme Court sent its previous ruling back for retrial a year earlier, determining that the former president's alleged 30 billion-won slush fund given to SK Group should not be recognized as the daughter's contribution to the marriage because it would have been illegal funds, even if it existed. In the document Chey's side submitted to the Supreme Court as part of his appeal, the SK Group chairman reportedly disputed the legality of the appellate court's latest decisio

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The esports industry continues to expand, drawing large audiences across game titles and appealing to an increasingly diverse range of people. The Business Research Company expects the global market to grow at an average annual rate of about 20 percent, from $3.02 billion in 2025 to $7.71 billion in 2030. However, few esports team operators have managed to turn that popularity into profits, as player salaries continue to rise while revenues from competition, such as prize money and league revenue sharing, remain volatile. DRX has remained profitable since 2024, helped by a diversified portfolio across multiple esports titles and a stable revenue base built through its advertising agency subsidiary. During an interview with The Korea Times, CEO Yang “Can” Sun-il said he is seeking to transform DRX into a broader digital entertainment company, expanding beyond esports through intellectual property (IP) and its esports academy, particularly in Southeast Asia. “K-culture has certainly become much more sophisticated and valuable than it was 10 years ago,” Yang said. “If you go to co

With the country’s ban on the dog meat trade slated to take effect on Feb. 7 next year, 87 percent of dog farms have been shut down, a pace faster than the government had anticipated, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Sunday. A total of 1,537 dog meat farms were registered nationwide when the government announced the ban in February 2024 and began accepting closure notices from farm owners. As of Sept. 21, 198 farms remained in operation. The number of farms that had closed was 30 percent higher than the government had expected by that point. The number of dogs kept in cages stood at 468,000 in August 2024, the final month of a six-month period during which the government encouraged farm owners to submit closure notices and plans. As of last month, an estimated 7,600 dogs remained at farms still operating. The ministry is encouraging the remaining farm owners to close their businesses before the ban takes effect next year. In collaboration with local governments, it will conduct a special inspection campaign from November to December to check whether closed farm

Hyundai Motor's cumulative vehicle sales in India are expected to top 10 million this year, nearly three decades after the South Korean automaker began local sales, industry data showed Sunday. The company had sold 9.88 million vehicles in India through the third quarter of this year, having begun local production with the Santro minicar at its Chennai plant in 1998, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). At the current pace, Hyundai's cumulative sales in India are expected to surpass the 10 million mark by the end of this year. Over the past three decades, Hyundai has introduced a range of models in India, including the i10 and i20 hatchbacks, the Verna subcompact, the Creta SUV, the all-electric Creta EV, the Exter SUV and the Alcazar SUV. Hyundai's annual sales in India surpassed 500,000 units in 2016 and reached 605,433 units in 2024, according to SIAM data. Last year, the company sold 398,937 SUVs in India, accounting for about 70 percent of its total sales in the country. At its 2026 CEO Investor Day in August, Hyundai Motor Chief Executive Officer Jose M

As a venture capitalist based in Silicon Valley, I work with frontier technologies and the teams building them around the world. On a recent trip to Korea, I saw a surge in the number of companies and investors looking to engage with the U.S. technology ecosystem. The conversations were distinctly different from the ones I had five years ago. The question was no longer whether to engage, but how. That shift is promising, but Korea needs to move faster. The country has spent decades building world-class capabilities in semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, defense technology and data center infrastructure. It has the technical talent, industrial expertise and resources to become a leader in this technology cycle. What it does not yet have is influence within the U.S. innovation ecosystem that matches those capabilities. That matters more now than ever. Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping nearly every major industry, and no one knows exactly where the technology will create the greatest value. The companies, investors and institutions closest to the people building it will have an

The government has been working to develop a national artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model, while planning to launch a separate effort to develop frontier models. This two-track strategy is raising questions: Why is the government pushing the new project and how will it draw the line between the two programs? The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed that the ongoing AI foundation model project will proceed with a third-stage evaluation, with two finalists expected to be selected in February. Separately, the government plans to allocate 4.7 trillion won ($3.5 billion) for a frontier AI program set to begin in March 2027. The split reflects the government's growing concern that the rapid advances in global AI have made the foundation model project's original goals harder to achieve, while abandoning the project could undermine the ecosystem and capabilities built up over the past year. Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon has repeatedly rejected speculations that the foundation model project is being scrapped. “The national AI foundation model project has b

Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said Sunday it will host the 2026 Incheon Airport Sky Festival on Nov. 7 and 8 at Inspire Arena near the airport, featuring K-pop performances and hands-on cultural activities. Marking its 21st edition, the event is billed as the world's only airport-based cultural festival. Under the theme “K-Vibe Starts at Incheon Airport,” it will offer visitors a chance to experience Korean culture through music, fashion, beauty, food and tourism. The Korea Tourism Organization, Incheon Tourism Organization and Korea Heritage Agency will offer hands-on programs showcasing Korean culture and tourism. The two-day concert will feature popular K-pop acts spanning various genres and generations. Epik High, BIBI, TNX, KickFlip and H//PE Princess will perform on Nov. 7, followed by PSY, Zion.T, Kim Na-young, Forestella, xikers, hrtz.wav and OURBIRTHDAY on Nov. 8. A 300-seat viewing area will also be set up near Inspire Arena, allowing visitors to watch live broadcasts of the concerts outside the main venue. Inspire Ballroom will host about 20 booths offering hand

Starbucks Korea reclaimed its lead among coffee chains in September, five months after a marketing controversy sparked consumer backlash. According to data from market tracker IGAWorks on Sunday, the coffee chain recorded 121.08 billion won ($90.1 million) in estimated credit and debit card spending last month, up 4.3 percent from August, overtaking rival Twosome Place to reclaim the top spot. Starbucks trailed its rival for four consecutive months as its estimated card spending dropped by 13.13 billion won to 121.19 billion won from April to May, before bottoming out at 100.39 billion won in June. The coffee chain's estimated card spending then rose for three consecutive months, reaching 110.06 billion won in July, 116.12 billion won in August and climbing back above 120 billion won in September for the first time since the downturn. Twosome's estimated card spending fell 6.4 percent from August to 110.5 billion won in September, about 10.58 billion won below Starbucks. The recovery follows nationwide backlash over a Starbucks promotion that dubbed May 18, the anniversary of the 1980 Gwa