The number of startups in South Korea dropped 3.4 percent in the first quarter of the year due largely to a one-off factor, government data showed Thursday. A total of 348,732 startup businesses were set up in the January-March period, compared with 360,846 a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups. The ministry attributed the decline mainly to a base effect as there had been a sharp increase in the number of newly set-up re

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Wednesday the government will support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with bold infrastructure investment that will enhance their competitiveness and innovation. Yoon also vowed to make efforts to create "fair" market environments for the co-existence of large firms and SMEs, during his speech at an SMEs event organized by the Korea Federation of SMEs at the presidential complex in Seoul. "The government will help SMEs with bold infrastructure

South Korean steelmaking giant Posco said Wednesday that its high manganese steel which withstands extremely low temperatures has received technical approval from global energy firm ExxonMobil for usage in LNG storage tanks. The two firms joined in a technical partnership in 2020 to expand the use of high manganese steel which Posco succeeded in mass-producing for the first time in the world. High manganese steel is a new type of material that Posco has developed in 2013, by adding 10 to 30 p

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said it will offer a special interest rate of up to 2 percent per annum to new customers opening a checking account by May 31. Launched in July last year, the SC My Signature account has been popular for its stable interest rate amid high market volatility. For those with over 100 million won ($79,140) in SC bank transactions, an interest rate of up to 1.7 percent will be applied to the amount in deposit for 31 or more days, the bank said. For those making their

South Korean recycled leather company ATKO Planning said Wednesday that it has been selected by German carmaker BMW as a potential business partner at a startup pitching event held at the Seoul Trade Exhibition Center on April 21. The annual event, BMW Startup Garage Open Innovation Pitching Day, is co-hosted by the automaker, the Korea Venture Investment Corp., and Korea’s trade promotion agency Kotra to select local enterprises that could work with BMW to accelerate the automaker&rsquo

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Wednesday it has added three A330-300 planes to its fleet to open a new route and resume flights on international routes amid eased COVID-19 virus curbs. In February, T'way Air brought in its first A330-300 plane and has been operating it on the Gimpo-Jeju route since March 22. The second one arrived last month and the third has just been added. With the latest two A330-300s, T'way Air plans to open the Incheon-Singapore route and t

South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI Co. said Wednesday it is investing $1.29 billion in an electric vehicle battery plant to be built in the US state of Indiana under a joint venture with Stellantis N.V. Samsung SDI will own a 51 percent stake in the $2.5 billion joint venture company set up with the Chrysler parent, and its investment could increase to as much as $1.57 billion in the long term, it said in a regulatory filing. Samsung SDI and Stellantis may boost their investment in the proje

  An employee of Woori Bank and his brother were indicted on Tuesday on charges of embezzling more than 60 billion won (US$47.4 million) from one of the nation's largest commercial banks.    The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said it indicted the brothers for embezzlement and violating the law on flight of domestic property. The employee, identified only by his surname Jeon, was also charged with forgery of documents.    The employee was arrested on April

Energy-to-defense giant Hanwha Group unveiled Tuesday an investment plan of 37.6 trillion won ($29.7 billion) into the energy, carbon neutrality, defense and aerospace sectors over the next five years.  Under such investment plan, the group expects to create some 20,000 new jobs.  The group said some 20 trillion won will be injected into its business operations in Korea. This is equivalent to the group’s combined 22.6 trillion-won investment made over the past five years local

Hyundai Engineering & Construction has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the nuclear power industry leader Westinghouse Electric Company to jointly build next generation nuclear power plants. This is the first time that a Korean firm has formed a partnership with the US nuclear power company. Under the agreement, Hyundai Engineering & Construction will be participating in engineering, procurement, and construction of next-generation nuclear power plants such as the AP1000 p

SEJONG -- The government has mapped out a measure to address the mounting deficit of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., which posted an all-time high operating loss of 7.7 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in the first quarter of the year. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that it would place a cap on the “system marginal price,” the price KEPCO pays when purchasing power from private power generation companies. The cap would be placed temporarily whenev

Hyundai Motor Group and Microsoft Korea have collaborated to make a “digital twin” of the Ioniq 5 to accurately analyze performance of the battery that is critical for electric vehicles. According to the automaker, the digital twin works by making an identical product of a device on a virtual platform so it can experiment with artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analysis models by applying different settings such as climate, driving patterns and road conditions to co

Evaluation system mulled to monitor progress at individual work sites

Hyundai Steel said it signed a deal with the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) on technological cooperation to move faster towards carbon neutrality. The steelmaker said the state-funded think tank’s mineral-related technologies will be used to recycle materials and resources, and analyze raw materials as part of efforts to run low-carbon steel mills in the long run. Through cooperation with KIGAM, Hyundai Steel said it will be able to add value to waste materia

South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Tuesday it has successfully constructed a 3D-printed plastic model vessel that could help cut costs and improve productivity. Daewoo Shipbuilding said it has joined hands with U.S. 3D printer maker Ingersoll in building the 10-meter-class, twin-skeg ship made of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), which will be tested in its research lab in Siheung, about 26 kilometers southwest of Seoul. It represents the first 3D-printe