Samsung brings Google’s Gemini AI to Bespoke refrigerator

Samsung Electronics said Sunday it would unveil a new premium refrigerator powered by Google’s artificial intelligence model Gemini in January, marking the company's first home appliance equipped with the technology. The Korean tech giant said it will showcase the new Bespoke AI refrigerator during the First Look event ahead of CES, which opens January in Las Vegas. Samsung said the integration of Google’s Gemini with its AI Vision technology improves food recognition capabilities by analyzing i

Dec. 21, 2025

Shinsegae Duty Free partners with Alibaba’s Fliggy to target Chinese tourists

Shinsegae Duty Free said Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Fliggy, Alibaba Group’s online travel platform, as the Korean retailer moves to capture resurgent Chinese tourist demand fueled by eased visa bureaucracy and a sharp travel rebound. Launched in 2016, Fliggy provides access to more than 25,000 flight routes, 1.5 million hotel partners and 8,000 tourist attractions worldwide, and counts about 500 million members. Alibaba’s 88VIP program has roughly 56 million members,

Dec. 5, 2025

Olive Young hits W1tr in sales to foreign tourists

CJ Olive Young said Wednesday its offline store purchases by foreign tourists surpassed 1 trillion won ($680 million) this year through November, propelled by growing global interest in Korean beauty. This figure represents a roughly 26-fold surge from 2022, when Korea was emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign shoppers made up just 2 percent of offline sales that year, before climbing into the double digits in 2023 and surpassing 25 percent in 2024, the retailer said. To capture rising de

Dec. 3, 2025

Why burgers became a safe bet in Korea

Hamburgers have long served as an informal gauge of inflation across countries. Now, in Korea, they have taken on a new role as a go-to budget meal. As dining costs continue to rise, an increase in the revenue of major fast food franchises here indicates that more consumers are turning to burgers. According to DART, the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system, burger chain Lotteria operator Lotte GRS recorded 995.4 billion won ($678.24 million) in revenue and 39.1 billion wo

Nov. 30, 2025

Sales bid for court-rehabilitated retailer Homeplus fails due to lack of bidders

Homeplus, a financially troubled discount store chain currently under a court-led rehabilitation program, has failed to draw any bidders in an auction to sell the company, a Seoul court said Wednesday. No companies submitted their bids by the 3 p.m. deadline for the auction, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court said, although two companies had previously submitted letters of intent. Homeplus entered the rehabilitation program in March after two local credit rating agencies downgraded its corporate bonds f

Nov. 26, 2025

Chicken emerges as world’s favorite Korean dish, as global awareness hits record high

Global awareness and demand for Korean cuisine continue to rise, with Korean fried chicken topping the list of the most preferred Korean dishes worldwide, according to a survey released Monday. According to the 2025 Overseas Korean Food Consumer Survey, among those who had eaten Korean food within the past year, Korean-style chicken ranked No. 1 in both preference and eating frequency. The survey, released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Food Promotion Instit

Nov. 24, 2025

The world is eating more Korean kimchi, but Korea is importing more of it from China

Global demand for Korean kimchi continues to grow, with exports on track to hit an all-time high this year. But at home, more Koreans are consuming Chinese-made kimchi, making it likely that Korea will post another kimchi trade deficit. According to trade data released Monday by the Korea Customs Service, Korea’s cumulative kimchi exports this year reached $137.39 million as of last month, up 2 percent from a year earlier. During the same 10-month period, imports amounted to $159.46 million, ris

Nov. 24, 2025

Kalguksu sees highest on-year price jump among Seoul's most-ordered dishes

Kalguksu, a noodle soup made with handmade knife-cut flour noodles, recorded the steepest on-year price increase among the eight most popular dining-out menu items in Seoul, according to data released Sunday by the Korea Consumer Agency. The average price of a bowl of kalguksu rose 4.91 percent from 9,385 won ($6.40) in December 2024 to 9,846 won in October 2025, outpacing the overall 3.44 percent average increase recorded across the eight dishes surveyed during the period. Compared to a decade

Nov. 23, 2025

Coupang reports data leakage affecting 4,500 customers

US-listed e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. said Thursday it has reported to the government a data leakage incident that exposed the personal information of about 4,500 customers. Coupang said a third party was confirmed to have gained unauthorized access to delivery-related personal information for the affected accounts on Tuesday. The information includes names, email addresses and saved delivery addresses with phone numbers, according to a text message sent by the company. The intruder also viewe

Nov. 20, 2025

Coway taps compact-living boom with new slim appliance range

Coway said Tuesday it is rolling out a new lineup of slimmer home appliances designed to reduce bulk while improving core functions and aesthetics across bathrooms, living rooms and kitchens. The company said demand for compact, space-efficient products is rising as more consumers prioritize interior design and optimized home layouts. “Beyond kitchen appliances, demand for slim designs is rising across home appliances categories including bidets and massage chairs,” a Coway official said. “It do

Nov. 18, 2025

Kendall Jenner spotted at Medicube's pop-up store in New York

Korean beauty tech firm APR said Thursday its flagship brand Medicube wrapped up a pop-up store on Broadway in New York, drawing more than 12,000 visitors from Oct. 24 to Nov. 2. Under the theme “Glow Mode On,” the pop-up showcased Medicube’s skin care lineup and its popular AGE-R beauty devices, which have gained global attention for their at-home skincare technology. Notably, American fashion model Kendall Jenner, well known to be a frequent user of Medicube products, made a surprise visit to

Nov. 13, 2025

Counterfeit K-beauty floods the market, most shoppers can't tell the difference

A wave of counterfeit Korean beauty products is sweeping across global markets, with knockoffs so convincing that many consumers don’t know they’ve been duped until it’s too late. This year alone, losses tied to intellectual property theft targeting South Korean beauty brands have skyrocketed to 22 billion won ($15.1 million), according to data from the Korea Customs Service released by lawmaker Cha Gyu-geun's office. That marks a staggering 24-fold increase from last year. The vast majority of

Nov. 7, 2025

Consumer prices rise 2.4% in Oct., fastest pace in 15 months

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in over a year in October, government data showed Tuesday. Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, increased 2.4 percent from a year earlier last month, according to the data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It marks the largest on-year increase since July 2024, when inflation climbed 2.6 percent. In 2025, inflation had remained above the Bank of Korea's 2 percent target for four consecutive months through April before slowing to

Nov. 4, 2025

Buldak noodle prices rise in US for first time in three years

Samyang Foods has raised the retail price of its flagship Buldak series by around 14 percent in the United States, its first price hike in three years, following the US tariff increase on instant noodle imports. According to industry sources Friday, the price of Buldak Original and Carbonara five-pack products sold on Walmart’s online store rose from $6.88 to $7.84 — up about 14 percent. Similar price adjustments have been observed across other major US retailers. Since October, Samyang Foods ha

Oct. 31, 2025

Topten Kids to recall girls' clothing over 'come inside me' design

Topten Kids, a South Korean children’s clothing brand, said Thursday it will recall all of its girls’ sweatshirt sets following criticism over sexually suggestive English designs printed on the garments. The “Cha Yoon Art Fleece Setup,” a pink sweatshirt set, was released in collaboration with a local artist and features an illustration of a rabbit peeking out from a sock alongside the phrase “Come inside me.” Criticism soon poured in that the sexual connotations of the expression made it inappr

Oct. 30, 2025