NHN Corp., a South Korean information technology and game company, said Tuesday its second-quarter operating profit increased 36.3 percent from a year earlier, driven by higher sales. The operating profit for the April-June period reached 28.5 billion won (US$20.8 million), compared with 20.9 billion won a year ago, and sales rose 8.7 percent on-year to 599.4 billion won, the company said in a regulatory filing. Net profit, however, dropped 70 percent on-year to 4.6 billion won, mainly due to an increase in non-operating costs. The company said its sales from the payment and advertisement unit jumped 14.7 percent to 295.8 billion won, and its revenue from the commerce unit climbed 10.7 percent to 57.4 billion won. Its technology and content sales also gained 4.7 percent and 5.8 percent to 98 billion won and 53.4 billion won, respectively. But revenue from the games unit edged down 0.7 percent to 106.4 billion won. NHN CEO Chung U-jin said his company will focus on strengthening its competitiveness in t he games industry and other key businesses. NHN plans to release Pebble City, a social casino game, in North America later this year and Wooparoo Odyssey, a collection game, in Japan and Taiwan later this week. It will also launch new game titles next year, including the zombie apocalypse shooting role-playing game Darkest Days. Source: Yonhap News Agency