business
What Does Samsung Make?
After Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007, Samsung responded with a drive to create world-leading smartphones of its own. It succeeded, with the result that its Galaxy smartphones are now pretty much neck-and-neck with Apple’s iPhones in terms of performance and popularity. But Samsung does so much more
Non-Korean White-Collar Jobs Still Limited to Language Skills
Before entering the Job Fair for Foreign Residents in 2017, each foreigner filled out a form and was outfitted with a lanyard that displayed a version of their name written in the Korean Hangeul script, with their country of origin in a smaller font below. Few events can rival job
Do Convenience Stores With No Staff Signal a Future with Fewer Jobs?
Inside, the convenience store looks like any of the countless shops one finds on almost every street in South Korea. Under bright fluorescent lights there are shelves of instant noodles and snacks, refrigerators stocked with iced coffee and soft drinks, racks of mobile phone chargers and cables. But unlike other
Naver Goes 'Water Demon' in Escalating Beef with Google
If you looked up “Naver” on Naver, South Korea’s main web portal, on Friday afternoon, the top news result was a headline about the company receiving an innovation award. If you typed the same terms into Google, you’d get an op-ed from the Kyunghyang newspaper titled, “Naver and
Love It or Hate It, S. Korea’s Anti-Corruption Law Here to Stay
One year after a landmark anti-corruption law went into effect, big corporations are celebrating the legislation’s effects while small businesses say they’re taking a hit. The law, called the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (but usually referred to as the Kim Young-ran law, after the former judge who
Amid North Korean Threat, Free Trade Agreement Bedevils Moon Jae-in Presidency
Just before the National Assembly was set to vote, a middle-aged man stood at the podium, eyes closed in an apparent meditative state, his navy blue suit covered in fine off-white dust. The man was leftist lawmaker Kim Seon-dong, and a few moments earlier he had set off a tear
Can South Korea Survive Without Samsung Electronics?
On October 11, Samsung Electronics announced that it was halting its production of Galaxy Note 7. The Note 7 had seemed like a jackpot for the company. After its very first launch on August 2 in New York City, the smartphone had been lauded for its technological advancements. But a