While the pay gap between large conglomerates and small- and medium-sized firms here may have been narrowing during the pandemic years, the disparity appears to have returned to the pre-pandemic level more recently, a report showed Tuesday. According to a report released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the average wage at SMEs with less than 300 employees remained at 60.78 percent...

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won recently discussed metaverse cooperation with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon in bidding efforts to host the World Expo 2030 in Busan, according to industry sources Tuesday. Chey visited Naver’s recently-built headquarters 1784 in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, to meet the IT giant’s leader last month. The exact date of his visit was undisclosed as the visit and the meeting to...

South Korean chemical company LG Chem said Tuesday it is building its fourth carbon nanotube manufacturing plant to bolster its responsiveness to the rapidly growing demand globally, especially for electric vehicle batteries. Carbon nanotube, widely called CNT, is considered a next-generation material that offers equivalent level of electricity and thermal conductivity as copper and diamond, and...

South Korean builder Daewoo E&C is accelerating its overseas operations, gearing up to become a top global developer. To support Daewoo E&C's efforts, Jungheung Group Vice Chairman Jung Won-ju, along with a business delegation, met with newly elected Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier this month to discuss potential roles the construction company could play in developing the isla...

South Korean conglomerate LIG Group said Tuesday that it has delivered a 200 million won ($148,228) relief package to the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association to aid flood victims. South Korea recently sustained heavy damages from torrential downpours in early August, leaving over 15,600 residential and retail properties flooded and 1,774 hectares of agricultural lands damaged. Twenty p...

The industry ministry said Tuesday it has requested 10.74 trillion won ($7.95 billion) in its budget for next year to spur semiconductors, nuclear energy and other advanced industry sectors, and to strengthen supply chains. The budget for 2023 marked a 3.7 percent drop from this year's 11.16 trillion won, as the ministry has been focusing on the development of key future strategic technologies w...

South Korean Minister of Trade Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang said Monday the US Inflation Reduction Act that bans tax benefits for electric vehicles built outside of North America is highly likely to breach the US-Korea FTA and WTO rules. Asked whether the act violated the US-Korea FTA or WTO rules during a parliamentary committee meeting on trade and industry, Lee said, “It is highly likel...

Kim Dong-kwan, the eldest son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, has been tentatively promoted to the group’s vice chairman as he is expected to take on a bigger role in the group’s management, Hanwha Group said Monday. The decision came about a year after the 38-year-old became the CEO of Hanwha Solutions, the group’s company with business areas in multinational energy services, petrochem...

Data from market intelligence firm FnGuide showed Monday that 885 officials at companies listed on the Korean stock market were paid 500 million won ($370,000) or higher in the first half of this year, up 13.3 percent from 781 people in the same period last year. According to FnGuide’s data, the total amount of the officials’ remuneration logged 1.23 trillion won, a 5.2 percent increase on year....

Samsung Electronics revealed Monday a teaser which featured its new virtual alien avatar named G-Nusmas. According to Samsung’s video posted online, the small blue extraterrestrial invader, originally from a planet called Nowus-129, accidentally arrived on Earth through a crash landing. The alien’s name is Samsung spelt backwards, while the name of its home planet is a whimsical wordplay on the...

Hyundai Rotem Co., South Korea's sole tank manufacturer, said Monday it has signed a 499 billion won ($372 million) K2 tank deal in Poland. Hyundai Rotem signed the deal with Poland's state defense procurement agency to build 180 K2 tanks for the Polish military by December 2027, the company said in a statement. "The planned shipment of K2 tanks will be the first of its kind for South Korea and...

Rising costs, lack of infrastructure cited as major hurdles for businesses to adopt RE100 initiative

Climate change fears call for more attention to building resilience, safety

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong revealed that he recently went on a summer vacation with his mother for the first time in his life, local reports said Friday. The notoriously private Samsung heir told his employees that his six-day trip with his mother involved watching a lot of TV shows. The 54-year-old added that he watched dramas she recommended and once stayed in for the entir...

SEJONG -- South Korea on Friday finalized its bid to host the World Expo 2030 in its second-largest city of Busan, and announced it would send in the formal bid to the Bureau International des Expositions on Sept. 7. The bidding committee, led by the co-chairs Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Chey Tae-won, hammered out the last details of the biddin...