Hyundai Capital Services Inc., South Korea's leading auto finance company, said Tuesday it has launched a joint venture with CGI Finance, a subsidiary of France's Societe Generale Group. Hyundai Capital France will provide auto finance, including lease, loan and insurance, for customers of Hyundai Motor Group -- Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. -- and financing services for dealers in France, the...

Messenger giant's image as innovative, friendly company questioned over a series of mishaps involving CEOs

Korea’s two leading carriers, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, plan to expand mileage services to encourage customers to spend their points that would otherwise be left unused over travel restrictions. The plan is to cut down liabilities on their balance sheets by incentivizing customers to use up mileage points which is counted as “debt.“ Reducing debts on their balance sheets is a must for the ...

For example, KT‘s capability in data analysis and natural language processing will be integrated with Shinhan Bank’s financial database to better serve financial consumers. Also, Shinhan‘s Digilog, a brick-and-mortar branch with digital banking features, will add KT’s AI solutions, robots and media walls under the collaboration project. Moreover, KT and Shinhan will work to jointly launch a set...

South Korea’s exports of kimchi recorded an all-time high last year, reaching a trade surplus for the first time in 12 years, data showed Monday. Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish made of spicy sauce and fermented cabbage. According to the Korea Customs Service, exports of kimchi surged by 10.7 percent on-year to $159.9 million last year. The figure surpassed the record-high exports of $...

Hyundai Development Company Chairman Chung Mong-gyu stepped down Monday, apologizing for two fatal accidents at the builder‘s construction sites in Gwangju. “I apologize deeply to the family members of the victims in the accident in Gwangju and to the public,” he said during a press conference at its headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul. “I promise to give all effort and support to amend the situatio...

French luxury brand Louis Vuitton is closing shops at all downtown duty-free stores in South Korea by March 2023. Having stopped running its store at Lotte Duty Free Jeju in December, Louis Vuitton will close three more -- at the Shilla Duty Free in Jeju, Lotte Duty Free in Busan and Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul -- in March, according to UK travel retail media outlet Moodie Davitt Report. ...

Lotte Hotel, the hotel chain owned by Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group, said Monday that it will open a new hotel in Chicago next year, the first overseas launch under its lifestyle boutique hotel brand L7. Lotte said it completed an acquisition of Kimpton Hotel Monaco Chicago for 42.8 billion won ($35.9 million) on Friday (US time) in a joint investment with the state-run Korea Overseas Infrast...

The goal of Samsung Electronics becoming the No. 1 foundry player by 2030 is facing a major hurdle as its rival TSMC prepares a whopping $44 billion investment in 2022 to consolidate its lead, according to industry sources Monday. “Last year, Samsung Electronics spent roughly 40 trillion won ($33.5 billion) in memory, foundry and infrastructure investments. This year, TSMC plans to spend more th...

South Korean telecommunication company LG Uplus has named Gabe Hwang, former executive at AT&T and WarnerMedia, as its inaugural chief digital officer in its push for an innovation to enhance consumer experience and boost productivity, the company said Monday. Hwang will lead data-related businesses of LG Uplus from delivering data capabilities for client to the company’s artificial intelligence...

Your date looks dramatically different with the mask off? He or she may be ‘magikkun’

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Monday it has decided to impose a combined 233 million won ($195,800) in fines on three companies for colluding to fix bidding prices over the transport of steel plates. Dongbang and two other firms colluded to fix their quotations between 2016 and 2018 for bids on thick plates by the country's largest steelmaker POSCO, according to the Fair Trade Commissio...

Former exec’s involvement shows patent trolls even willing to invite insiders to legal battle

LG Electronics’ large capacity washing machines topped in a rating by Consumer Reports released a week prior, beating US rival Whirlpool‘s products in performance of washing more clothes at once, according to the industry Sunday. LG’s front-load washer WM9000HWA, one of the models under its LG Tromm brand, was ranked the highest in Consumer Reports‘ best large-capacity front-loaders rating for 2...

Amid pressure building over a series of safety accidents at Hyundai Development Co.’s large-scale construction sites in Gwangju, the builder’s chief is likely to make a public address this week, according to insiders Sunday. A week has passed since an accident at HDC’s 39-story apartment building site in Hwajung-dong in Gwangju, with five people still missing. But HDC Chairman Chung Mong-gyu has...