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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Amazon, Ulta Beauty fuel strong Medicube sales in US

Amazon and Ulta Beauty are fueling APR’s sales growth in the United States with Medicube, the signature cosmetics and beauty device brand of the major Korean beauty company. Amazon has been driving Medicube’s growth in local market share through its e-commerce platform, while Ulta Beauty, has been promoting the brand through its extensive nationwide network of offline stores, offering customers opportunities to experience the products in person. APR said Thursday that its sales in Amazon’s beauty category surged 432 percent last year from a year earlier. Among the most popular items were the Zero Pore Pad, Collagen Wrapping Mask and PDRN Gel Mask. Ulta Beauty began selling Medicube products last August at its 1,500 brick-and-mortar stores across the country, as well as on its online platform. The brand now offers 18 types of cosmetics and beauty devices, up from 12 at launch. By the end of last year, Medicube’s sales at Ulta Beauty stores had jumped 312 percent. According to APR, Ulta Beauty’s physical stores cater to local consumers in ways e-commerce platforms cannot. In addi

Feb 12, 2026By Ko Dong-hwan
Amazon, Ulta Beauty fuel strong Medicube sales in US

Hyundai Glovis introduces AI system for vehicle carrier loading

Hyundai Glovis said Wednesday it will introduce its in-house artificial intelligence (AI)-based stowage planning system for its pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) to improve efficiency and safety in maritime vehicle transport. Stowage planning involves designing how cargo is arranged on a vessel to ensure smooth operations and safe delivery. The new system uses a data model that divides a car carrier’s interior into detailed decks and zones, mapping structural features and vehicle movement paths. Based on this model, the AI determines optimal loading routes and positions for each vehicle. By inputting vehicle types, volumes and ports of loading and discharge, the algorithm automatically generates the most efficient loading plan. It checks for movement bottlenecks, height and weight limits, and ensures the loading sequence matches unloading schedules at each port before finalizing the plan. Car carriers, which transport more than 6,000 vehicles per voyage, pose unique challenges because each vessel has a different internal structure and cargo composition varies by trip, making standard

Feb 12, 2026By Lee Min-hyung
Hyundai Glovis introduces AI system for vehicle carrier loading

KT&G sees record sales on overseas growth

Major Korean tobacco company KT&G posted record sales last year, driven by the growth of its overseas markets supplied directly by its global manufacturing plants. The company recorded 6.5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in sales and 1.35 trillion won in operating profit. Sales reached a record high last year after six consecutive years of growth. Operating profit also jumped 13.5 percent from the previous year. A key contributor to the strong performance was KT&G’s 16 marketing and manufacturing bases outside Korea. The company’s overseas subsidiaries are located in Russia, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Taiwan and Turkey. It also operates local branches in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, China and Europe. Five global manufacturing plants are currently operating in Indonesia, Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan. Another plant is set to be completed in Indonesia in the first half of this year. Altogether, the plants produce 65 billion cigarette sticks annually. KT&G’s tobacco products have gained noticeable popularity in local markets. The company has maintained market dominance in Mon

Feb 12, 2026By Ko Dong-hwan
KT&G sees record sales on overseas growth

MBK, Young Poong propose codifying fiduciary duty, stock split at Korea Zinc

The alliance of MBK Partners and Young Poong, the largest shareholder of Korea Zinc, has officially submitted shareholder proposals calling for the codification of directors’ fiduciary duty to shareholders in the company’s articles of incorporation and for a stock split of its outstanding shares, the alliance said Thursday. The proposals are intended to restore shareholder value that the alliance claims has been undermined by flawed corporate governance. It added that the measures are aimed at reinstating proper checks and balances within the company by ensuring that both the board of directors and the shareholders’ meeting operate as intended. The alliance has been challenging Chairman Choi Yun-beom’s control of the company since launching a tender offer on Sept. 13, 2024. “To begin with, MBK Partners and Young Poong have called for the explicit inclusion of directors’ fiduciary duty to shareholders in Korea Zinc’s articles of incorporation,” an MBK official said. “The proposal carries considerable market significance, as it represents the first known case of a contro

Feb 12, 2026By Jun Ji-hye
MBK, Young Poong propose codifying fiduciary duty, stock split at Korea Zinc

3 sugar makers fined $282 mil. for price-fixing

Korea’s three major sugar producers — CJ CheilJedang, Samyang and TS — have been fined a combined 408.2 billion won ($282 million) for colluding to fix sugar prices, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Thursday. CJ CheilJedang was fined 150 billion won, while Samyang and TS were slapped with penalties of 130 billion won and 127 billion won, respectively. According to the FTC, the companies conspired to fix prices on eight occasions over roughly four years, from February 2021 to April 2025. The fine marks the second-largest ever imposed by the regulator in a collusion case. The sugar industry is heavily regulated worldwide to protect domestic makers from volatile global prices. However, the firms engaged in the illegal practice at a time when consumers were suffering from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FTC said. The hefty penalties come as the Lee Jae Myung administration steps up efforts to tighten oversight of price-fixing practices. Earlier this month, Lee praised prosecutors for indicting 52 executives on charges of price-fixing involving daily necessities such as flo

Feb 12, 2026By Lee Min-hyung
3 sugar makers fined $282 mil. for price-fixing

Korean units of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany fined $24.9 mil. over customer data leaks

Korea's privacy watchdog said Thursday it has fined the Korean units of luxury brands Louis Vuitton, Dior and Tiffany a combined 36 billion won ($24.9 million) over leaks of customer information. The Personal Information Protection Commission made the decision in a plenary meeting the previous day, imposing on Louis Vuitton Korea a fine of 21.4 billion won — the heaviest among the three companies — over a data breach of about 3.6 million customers. The watchdog said an outside actor stole personal information, such as user names, phone numbers and birth dates, over three occasions by hacking into an employee device. It noted the company had poor security practices for remote logins. Meanwhile, the regulator fined Christian Dior Couture Korea and Tiffany Korea 12.2 billion won and 2.4 billion won, respectively, for data breaches after employees were tricked into granting internal system access to malicious actors. Dior suffered a data breach of about 1.95 million users and was unaware of the incident for three months, while the leak at Tiffany involved the personal information of arou

Feb 12, 2026By Yonhap
Korean units of Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany fined $24.9 mil. over customer data leaks

Hancom’s AI assistant earns TTA’s AX certification

Hancom announced Thursday that its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) agent, Hancom Assistant, has become the first Korean AI solution to obtain the “AX (AI Transformation) Usability Certification” from the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA). The service understands and executes users’ natural language commands, interpreting conversational instructions and carrying out tasks step by step. Beyond simple question-and-answer functions, it can draft reports, summarize documents and correct grammar, autonomously managing workflows from writing and editing to analysis based on contextual understanding. Starting this year, Hancom will position the service as a full-fledged agent platform and rapidly integrate specialized “micro-agent” functions tailored to specific work processes, enabling customers to experience tangible AI transformation benefits. Micro-agents are compact AI modules optimized for specific roles or tasks, designed to deliver immediate workflow automation without complex setup. They are part of Hancom’s next-generation AI lineup. The certification fr

Feb 12, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee
Hancom’s AI assistant earns TTA’s AX certification

Samsung Bioepis cleared for eye treatment biosimilar sales in US

Samsung Bioepis has reached a settlement with Regeneron over the commercialization of Opuviz, a biosimilar to the latter’s eye treatment Eylea, allowing the Korean drug developer to launch the treatment in the United States. According to Samsung Bioepis, Thursday, it has signed a settlement and license agreement with Regeneron on launching Opuviz 2 milligram in the U.S. in January next year. The company said the other terms of the agreement remain confidential. This follows an earlier agreement between the two side over the commercialization of SB15, whose product name in the U.S. is Opuviz, in Europe and the rest of the world. This allowed the company to launch SB15 in the U.K. as of January, in the rest of Europe starting in April and in the remaining countries in the settlement, excluding Korea, starting in May. Eylea, jointly developed by Bayer and Regeneron, recorded global sales of $9.74 billion in 2024. While the treatment lost patent protection in the United States and Korea in 2024 and in Europe last year, the two pharmaceutical companies have been defending their market posi

Feb 12, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Bioepis cleared for eye treatment biosimilar sales in US

Samsung supplies cutting-edge displays for short track events at Winter Olympics

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has provided cutting-edge monitors at the short track speed skating venue at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics to enhance visual accuracy for competition judges. The Korean tech giant said it has supplied the 37-inch ViewFinity S8 monitors at the officiating areas of the venue to help officials "clearly assess critical moments and confidently make rulings." "Short track speed skating is one of the fastest and most technically demanding sports in the Olympic Winter Games. Races are often decided by razor-thin margins, sometimes as little as 0.001 second," the company said in a release. "To support this process across short track speed skating disciplines, professional Samsung monitors are used to enable real-time video review and competition monitoring," it added. Samsung Electronics said it has also supplied the 55-inch Odyssey Ark monitors to video rooms operated by Olympic Broadcasting Services, the official Olympic broadcaster for the International Olympic Committee.

Feb 12, 2026By Yonhap
Samsung supplies cutting-edge displays for short track events at Winter Olympics

Kakao's board approves reappointment of CEO Chung for another 2-year term

Korean internet service giant Kakao said Wednesday its board has approved a plan to reappoint CEO Chung Shin-a as the company's leader for another two-year term. In a regulatory filing, the company said the board passed the proposal earlier in the day. It will be put to a vote at the company's annual general shareholders meeting scheduled for March 26. The CEO term of Chung, who took office in March 2024, is set to end next month. The reappointment is widely expected to gain approval, as Kakao is forecast to report record earnings for last year on Thursday, according to industry watchers.

Feb 11, 2026By Yonhap
Kakao's board approves reappointment of CEO Chung for another 2-year term
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