Competitive parts suppliers to receive funding for up to three years South Korea is poised to offer funding for research and development at a total of 50 prospective small-sized local parts and materials makers in order to bolster the nation’s industrial competitiveness, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Thursday. The ministry will provide selected firms that are posting average annual sal...

Yet another industrial giant has decided to join the growing number of companies to create a smoke-free working environment. On Wednesday, SK Group, a local energy and telecom giant, said it informed workers that it is to completely ban smoking from its headquarters starting next week. The ban will be effective from Monday in all 35 stories of the SK building in downtown Seoul, which serves as ...

South Korea’s smallest mobile carrier, LG Uplus Corp., said Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings tumbled 90 percent from a year ago, hit by higher costs and lower revenues from subscribers. Net income reached 57 billion won ($54 million) in the January-March period, compared with 543 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales fell 13 percent from one year ago ...

New orders won by South Korean major builders dropped 10 percent in the first quarter from a year ago mainly due to a slump in the domestic market, a trade association said Tuesday. According to the Korea Federation of Construction Contractors, 31 builders won new orders worth 18.8 trillion won ($17.6 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 20.9 trillion won a year ago. The builders...

SK Telecom said Tuesday that it will invest an additional 300 billion won ($280.12 million) in network establishment this year, raising the total sum to 2.3 trillion won, up from 1.8 trillion won last year. This year’s investment portfolio, which amounts to 17.3 percent of expected sales for this year, is the largest amount ever chipped in by the country’s biggest mobile carrier. The company inv...