South Korea remains committed to its policy of phasing out nuclear power plants as part of efforts to achieve carbon neutrality, the country‘s energy minister said Tuesday. 　Moon Sung-wook, minister of trade, industry and energy, reaffirmed there will be no change in the Moon Jae-in government’s nuclear phaseout policy hours after main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said he will scrap the plan if elected and seek to increase nuclear power generation. 　“The

Hyosung said Wednesday it will invest 1 trillion won ($834.5 million) to invest in green hydrogen in South Jeolla Province. According to the South Korean conglomerate, the investments will produce 200,000 metric tons of green hydrogen per year in the region, which will create 300,000 jobs. To accomplish the goal, Hyosung will this year break ground on a 10-megawatt facility that splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. Once completed, it will be the biggest one in Korea, according to the comp

SK Group said Tuesday it will establish a giant research and development center dedicated to green technologies. According to the third-largest South Korean conglomerate, the R&D facility, tentatively named “SK Green Techno Campus,” will break ground in 2025 in Bucheon, adjacent to Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, and reach completion in 2027. The facility, on a 198,000-square-meter site, will house some 3,000 R&D personnel from the group’s seven affiliates -- SK Energy, S

South Korean distiller HiteJinro said Tuesday it has launched its 2022 Lunar New Year gift packages consisting of 67 bundles of import wine collections. The gift set comes at a time when more people are opting to drink alone at home amid the protracted coronavirus pandemic. HiteJinro said it is targeting both beginners and devotees, and those in between. The holiday lineup includes Gernard Bertrand’s Art de Vivre red and white wine, released last year. The company noted that it feature

LG innotek will pay a combined 144.5 billion won ($120.5 million) of payments to its suppliers weeks earlier than scheduled to support small- and mid-size businesses reeling from the pandemic, the company said Tuesday. The materials arm of LG aims to improve cash flow for partner companies struggling to operate their businesses, invest in facilities, and develop material components in the grip of an economic downturn. By the end of last year, LG innotek already moved up the payment timeline f

Recycled materials are no longer expensive products for a niche market as major South Korean chemical firms roll up their sleeves to introduce them into the daily lives of average consumers. According to LG Chem Tuesday, it has completed the first shipment of a coating material made of bio raw materials such as waste cooking oil and palm residues. The material, named neopentyl glycol, or NPG, is used to coat cars, consumer electronics and drink cans. LG Chem’s eco-friendly NPG, manufac

SK Broadband Co., a major South Korean internet service provider (ISP), on Tuesday launched a new all-in-one platform that offers content from five streaming services, including Apple TV+. The company's latest PlayZ platform allows users to search and watch media content from five over-the-top services, including homegrown players Wavve, Tving and Watcha, as well as Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video. Users must be subscribed to each streaming service to get access to the content. Streaming gia

South Korea’s manufacturing industry saw a huge drop in the number of employed in recent years mainly due to the companies’ contracted local investment and restructuring among shipbuilding and auto making companies, data showed Monday.  According to the Federation of Korean Industries, the number of employed in the manufacturing industry dropped by 180,000 in 2019 from the corresponding figure in 2015. Such figures are tantamount to the combined number of employees at Samsung

Hanwha Q Cells said Monday that its CEO Lee Ku-hyung has been appointed the 14th chairman of the Korea New and Renewable Energy Association, a business lobby with some 420 member companies. Lee, who joined Hanwha Group in 1990, has served key positions at the group’s solar solutions unit Hanwha Q Cells, formerly Hanwha SolarOne, since 2011 and was promoted to the top position in September last year. Lee, whose term is three years, is expected to lead the association based on years of

GS Engineering and Construction said Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with California-based SG H2 to supply modules that will be used to construct green hydrogen plants. 　 The renewables project, led by SG H2 Energy’s special purpose company SG H2 Lancaster LLC, is expected to produce 11 tons of green hydrogen in Lancaster, California, an amount that can fuel 1,700 mid-size hydrogen-powered cars. The deal will mark the first time for a Korean firm to export hydrogen pl

LG Electronics Inc. said Monday it will show off the real-life version of its futuristic self-driving vehicle next month. The LG Omnipod, a mobility concept solution that can serve as "a home office, an entertainment center or even a lounge," will be on display at a mobility fair at the COEX convention center in southern Seoul on Feb. 10. The self-driving home on wheels is fitted with LG home appliances retooled for in-vehicle use and provided with artificial intelligence concierge s

Jeju Air Co., South Korea's biggest low-cost carrier, said Monday it will adopt a cargo plane for the first time among local LCCs to ride out the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Jeju Air plans to begin operating a cargo plane in the first half of this year to offset a sharply declined passenger travel demand amid the pandemic, the company said in a statement. Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., the country's two biggest and full-service carriers, have focused on winning cargo deals to

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., a South Korean plant builder, said Monday its German subsidiary has received a 160 billion-won ($134 million) order for a waste processing plant in Germany. Doosan Lentjes obtained the order from MHKW Wiesbaden GmbH to build a waste-to-energy plant in Wiesbaden, Germany, by 2024, the company said in a statement. Doosan Heavy said it aims to win more waste-to-energy plant deals in Europe as European countries are expected to place about 80 waste-t

Air Busan Co., a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Monday it has opened the Busan-Saipan route following a travel bubble agreement. On Sunday, Air Busan began to offer one flight per week on the Saipan route to preemptively respond to pent-up travel demand amid rising vaccinations and eased virus curbs, the company said in a statement. A travel bubble refers to a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases. O

For SsangYong, Rexton is not simply a flagship SUV model that has significantly pulled up its sales among its complete lineup of SUVs ranging from those in the small segment to pickup trucks. Following an unprecedented bumper year in 2015 for the small SUV model Tivoli, SsangYong needed to continue the momentum to keep the nickname “leader of SUV.” The fourth generation Rexton, launched in 2017, recorded a 200 percent growth rate that year. A year later, SsangYong took its well-se