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Jhoo Dong-chan

Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter

Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.

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Companies

INSPIRE rallies industry leaders to drive inbound tourism boom

INSPIRE Entertainment Resort said it hosted "Inbound Business Connect 2026" Wednesday, an event for inbound travel agencies and tourism industry stakeholders aimed at expanding international visitor numbers to Korea. The event, organized with the Korea Association of Travel Agents, drew about 250 participants, including agency member companies and other tourism industry representatives, INSPIRE said. The company used the gathering to showcase its tourism offerings, discuss strategies for attracting international guests and outline partnership programs, including casino incentive programs developed with its Casino Mass team. INSPIRE said the event was meant to build partnerships with the inbound travel sector as a channel for drawing international tourists and to develop new tourism products that combine its entertainment, hospitality and gaming facilities rather than focusing solely on accommodations. Participants also toured the resort and its Le Space venue. "Close collaboration with the inbound travel industry is essential to expanding international tourist visitation," said Kim Yu-na

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
INSPIRE rallies industry leaders to drive inbound tourism boom
Companies

CU convenience store chain opens 600th store in Mongolia

BGF Retail, operator of the CU convenience store chain, said it opened its 600th store in Mongolia, becoming the first Korean retailer to reach that milestone in a single overseas market, about eight years after opening its first store in the country in 2018. The store in the Bulgan Aimag region — about 600 kilometers west of the capital Ulaanbaatar — opened with a ceremony on June 26, which was attended by BGF Retail merchandising and overseas business head Jin Young-ho and Adilbish, chairman of Premium Nexus Group, CU's master franchise partner in Mongolia. The roughly 281-square-meter store sits along a highway route to Lake Khuvsgul, a popular tourist destination, and serves tourists and long-haul truckers. It includes shower facilities, solar power equipment and an electric vehicle charging station — Mongolia's first to be located at a convenience store — along with a section for locally-sourced food. Mongolian Prime Minister Uchral Nyam-Osor said the store's "Green Station" environmental model, developed through Premium Nexus Group's sustainability efforts, would serve as

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
CU convenience store chain opens 600th store in Mongolia
Companies

Hyundai Department Store opens 1st overseas flagship store in Tokyo

Hyundai Department Store is set to make a historic entry into Japan's retail landscape this Friday with the opening of its first overseas flagship store in Tokyo’s prestigious Omotesando shopping district. Operating under The Hyundai Global — the retail conglomerate’s specialized platform dedicated to exporting Korean fashion, beauty and entertainment brands — the launch marks the first time a Korean department store operator has established a large-scale flagship presence within a core Japanese shopping hub. Spanning approximately 620 square meters, the new venue, branded simply as The Hyundai, will occupy the third floor of the high-profile Tokyu Plaza Omokado shopping complex. The retail space is strategically organized into nine distinct sections, featuring seven permanent brand showcases and two dedicated pop-up spaces. The curated lineup covers fashion, beauty, food and beverage, and licensed entertainment content. To anchor its cultural appeal to regional consumers, the company has tapped K-pop boy group TWS to serve as the official brand ambassador. This flagship represe

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Hyundai Department Store opens 1st overseas flagship store in Tokyo
Companies

SK bioscience secures WHO GMP approval via streamlined remote audit

SK bioscience completed on Thursday a periodic World Health Organization Good Manufacturing Practice (WHO GMP) review through a documentary assessment alone, without an on-site inspection, at its Andong L HOUSE manufacturing facility, the company said. According to the company, the three-year GMP review covered four WHO prequalification-approved vaccines: influenza vaccines SKYCellflu and SKYCellflu Quadrivalent, varicella vaccine SKYVaricella and typhoid vaccine SKYTyphoid. WHO GMP inspections typically require visits to production sites to verify manufacturing and quality management systems in person. For the Andong facility, the review was completed solely through submitted documentation, which SK bioscience said reflects WHO's confidence in the site's operations and quality systems. The company said the outcome is also linked to the growing international credibility of Korea's pharmaceutical regulatory system following the designation of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as a WHO-Listed Authority. Under WHO's Regulatory Reliance policy, the organization can draw on the inspection r

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
SK bioscience secures WHO GMP approval via streamlined remote audit
Companies

LG Display study links higher refresh rates to better gaming performance

LG Display said it has completed an experiment and published a paper showing that higher refresh rates on gaming monitors improve players' real-time performance in first-person shooter games. The paper, "A Study on the Impact of Refresh Rate on Real-Time FPS Gaming Performance," found that players using monitors with higher refresh rates were better able to identify moving targets, improving both reaction speed and accuracy, the company said. The blind test involved 31 adult gamers who played a first-person shooter at four refresh rates — 60Hz, 240Hz, 360Hz and 480Hz — presented in random order. Researchers measured quantitative metrics including hit score and event interval time, as well as qualitative ratings on screen smoothness, ease of target tracking and overall preference on a five-point scale. Hit scores, a measure of shooting accuracy, improved 38 percent at 480Hz compared with 60Hz. The gain from 240Hz to 480Hz alone accounted for a 10 percent improvement, which LG Display said shows performance continues to rise as refresh rates increase, even from an already high baselin

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
LG Display study links higher refresh rates to better gaming performance
Companies

Nexen Group chairman donates $6.6 mil. in stocks to Pusan Nat'l University

Kang Byung-joong, chairman of Nexen Group, is donating 10 billion won ($6.6 million) of his personal Nexen Tire shares to Pusan National University, the tire maker said. Nexen Tire said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that Kang will donate 1,445,087 shares of the company, worth about 10 billion won ($6.6 million) at current market value, to the university's development foundation. "I'm pleased to be able to help Pusan National University at a time when universities are playing an important role in balanced national development alongside local communities and businesses," Kang said. "I hope more young people can dream and take on challenges in their own regions." Kang, who took charge of the foundation at Ibanseong Middle School in his hometown of Jinju in the mid-1970s, has supported education and cultural programs for five decades. Through personal donations and three foundations — the KNN Culture Foundation, the Nexen Wolseok Culture Foundation and the Wolseok Seondo Scholarship Foundation — he has given about 50 billion won and supported roughly 10,000 scholarship recipients, accord

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Nexen Group chairman donates $6.6 mil. in stocks to Pusan Nat'l University
Companies

LS Electric targets growing ASEAN power market at Vietnam trade show

LS Electric is showcasing its integrated power and automation technology at ELECS Vietnam 2026, a trade show running from Wednesday through Friday at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in Ho Chi Minh City, as the company looks to expand in Southeast Asia's fast-growing electricity market. Occupying 16 booths across 144 square meters, the company secured the largest footprint among exhibitors. The expansive showcase is divided into four dedicated zones: artificial intelligence data centers, digital transformation, smart power management and smart factories. In the data center zone, LS Electric is presenting power infrastructure solutions designed for uninterrupted operation, including high-capacity remote power panels and closed transition transfer switches that allow seamless switching between utility and backup power. The digital transformation zone features K-EMS 2.0, a nationwide power grid management platform the company says is the fifth such system independently developed worldwide, which the company says can optimize power generation control and reduce the risk of large-

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
LS Electric targets growing ASEAN power market at Vietnam trade show
Korean Heritage

Historic Korean independence flag restored to original splendor

A rare, American-manufactured Taegukgi flag that served as a silent witness to diplomatic efforts on behalf of Korean independence in New York City during World War II has been successfully restored to its original state. The Cultural Heritage Conservation Science Center, a subsidiary of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, said Thursday that it finalized extensive scientific conservation work on the flag. Manufactured in the 1930s by the Manhattan-based textile firm the Copeland Company, the banner holds profound historical value as a physical artifact of Korean diplomacy in the United States. The flag is deeply tied to the history of Korea’s liberation movement from Japanese colonial occupation (1910-45). It was used by Syngman Rhee, who later became Korea’s first president, during a high-profile Korean independence dinner gala hosted at the Waldorf Astoria in 1942. The dinner, held at the height of World War II, served as a critical venue to gather international support for the recognition of a sovereign Korean provisional government. Over the decades, however, ti

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Historic Korean independence flag restored to original splendor
Travel & Food

Korea targets 3 mil. overseas hikers in aggressive 'K-trekking' push

Korea is betting heavily on its rugged topography to drive its next major wave of international arrivals. As a burgeoning outdoor hobby colloquially known as “K-trekking” takes hold among overseas travelers, state tourism and conservation bodies are pooling their resources to convert the country’s protected peaks into primary commercial destinations. The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and the Korea National Park Service formalized an expansive strategic partnership Wednesday at KTO headquarters in Wonju. The alliance sets an aggressive benchmark: jointly attracting 3 million international visitors to Korea’s national parks annually by 2028. The initiative comes on the heels of dramatic, postpandemic shifting patterns in inbound travel. According to state data, the number of foreign nationals visiting Korean national parks surged from approximately 890,000 in 2024 to more than 2.05 million in 2025 — a striking 132 percent year-on-year increase that has elevated mountain trekking into a core pillar of the domestic tourism economy. Under the new five-year framework, the two ent

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea targets 3 mil. overseas hikers in aggressive 'K-trekking' push
Business

Korean smart farms bolster Middle East food security with $2.6 mil. UAE deal

Faced with heightened geopolitical instability and the persistent threat of maritime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf nations are moving aggressively to secure their domestic food supply chains. Now, Korea’s advanced agricultural sector is positioning itself as a key technological ally in that effort. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, alongside the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), said Thursday that AgroSolution Korea finalized a $2.6 million contract with United Arab Emirates buyer Alfafa to export a factory-style vertical smart farm. The agreement represents a major breakthrough for Korea's agricultural export ambitions in the Middle East. Under the UAE’s "National Food Security Strategy 2051," the country currently relies on imports for more than 90 percent of its food requirements. While Abu Dhabi had prioritized smart agriculture as a strategic state industry long before the latest regional unrest, commercial experts note that recent geopolitical friction has significantly accelerated the pace of localization. The newly minted

Jul 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korean smart farms bolster Middle East food security with $2.6 mil. UAE deal
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