(Baedal Minjok)

Baedal Minjok, or Baemin, a delivery app, said Wednesday it will begin delivering Starbucks coffee and food in South Korea from later this month as it strives to strengthen its services.

Starbucks has delivered its coffee, variation beverages and food products to customers through its own app. Baemin will be the first outside app that will deliver them from April 18, Baemin said in a statement.

Baemin, under food delivery app owner Woowa Brothers, accounts for more than 60 percent of the country's food delivery app market, with the remainder shared by GS Retail's Yogiyo app and Coupang Eats, the food delivery arm of e-commerce leader Coupang.

South Korea is one of the world's biggest food delivery markets, backed by its high smartphone penetration and dense population.

In December 2019, German online food delivery service Delivery Hero acquired Woowa Brothers for $4 billion. The German company currently owns a 99.07 percent stake in Woowa Brothers. (Yonhap)