Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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GM Korea needs to up operating rate to get back on track: report
Ailing automaker GM Korea Co. should raise its capacity utilization, cut fixed costs and receive a new cash injection of around 1 trillion won to get back on its feet, a report said Thursday.The report comes as the local unit of the US auto giant struggles to stay afloat amid snowballing deficits. GM Korea posted a cumulative loss of around 3 trillion won ($2.8 billion) from 2014-17, with its equity capital eroded completely.Citing low productivity, GM announced in mid-February that it would shu
March 15, 2018
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Toyota Korea releases Prius C hybrid with fuel, price efficiency
Toyota Korea has rolled out the Prius C hybrid compact car, boasting 19.4 kilometers per hour fuel economy and an affordable price tag of 24.9 million won ($23,400), with aims to bolster its hybrid vehicle portfolio, the company said Wednesday.Marking the last model of Toyota’s Prius hybrid car lineup, the Prius C was first introduced in Japan in 2011, followed by the US and other countries.Reaping popularity worldwide, the Prius C hybrid is the Japanese automaker’s second best-selling hybrid mo
March 14, 2018
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[Newsmaker] Engle in tug-of-war over fate of GM Korea
A week after General Motors announced that it would be shutting down one of its plants in South Korea, an executive in charge of the US carmaker’s overseas operations made yet another rare move. On Feb. 20, Barry Engle, the president of GM International, visited the parliament to meet lawmakers apparently uneasy over the carmaker’s restructuring plan. While shaking hands with lawmakers suspicious of the fate of GM’s remaining operations here, he said that the carmaker wants to stay and continue
March 13, 2018
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[News Focus] Why is GM demanding foreign investment zone designation?
Amid a debacle over its plant shutdown, GM Korea applied Monday to Incheon Metropolitan City and South Gyeongsang Province for a designation of its remaining three plants as foreign investment zones for tax benefits.During his fourth visit to Korea last week, GM International President Barry Engle met with Lee Dong-gull, head of the state-run Korea Development Bank, and related officials. He said the automaker would submit requests for factory sites in Bupyeong, Incheon and Changwon, South Gyeon
March 12, 2018
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Audi receives permit to test level 3 automation in Korea
Audi Volkswagen Korea, the local distributor of the two German brands, has received a temporary permit from the Seoul government to test drive its level 3 automation here, marking the first among import carmakers, the company said Thursday.Equipped with self-driving systems, the Audi A8 will run on local roads and K-City, Korea‘s test bed for automated vehicles in Gyeonggi Province, collecting data on traffic conditions here, while developing its level 3 conditionally automated driving technolog
March 8, 2018
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KDB chairman puts ball in GM’s court
The state-run Korea Development Bank will review injecting fresh investment into ailing GM Korea after examining the viability of its profit structure, its chief said Thursday.Chairman Lee Dong-gull of the KDB told reporters that he had made a “verbal commitment” to the President of GM International Barry Engle that he would consider making fresh investment into the US carmaker’s local unit on the condition of the company presenting a self-rescue plan. But regarding the carmaker’s request to han
March 8, 2018
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Hyundai denies oil leakage at Asan factory
Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s leading automaker, on Tuesday denied suspicions that its factory in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, had leaked cutting oil into a nearby lake, the company said.“We are assuming that oil on roads was carried away in the rain. The related team is working to find out details,” Hyundai Motor said.Fishermen in the region and Asan city have called for Hyundai to apologize and take action for the leakage that has caused fishes to die and become deformed. “Component analys
March 6, 2018
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GM Korea’s W2.3tr debt due next month
GM Korea is to face an aggravating financial situation over the next two months, amid escalating protest from its labor union and a tug-of-war between its headquarters and the local government. The company must come up with ways to pay a combined 2.3 trillion won ($213 million) for voluntary resignations and loans. The maturity date for the 700 billion won GM Korea borrowed from its headquarters expires later this month. The automaker’s board members agreed last month to postpone the loan’s du
March 6, 2018
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Kumho Tire’s labor union to continue protest against sale to Chinese firm
In response to the state-run Korea Development Bank’s decision to sell the struggling Kumho Tire to Chinese tiremaker Double Star, the labor union of Kumho Tire will stage a partial strike this week followed by a general strike next week, the union said Monday.Kumho Tire’s Gwangju and Gokseong plants in South Jeolla Province had stopped production Saturday due to partial strikes staged by the union, the company said.Last week’s partial strikes came after the Korea Development Bank, the main cred
March 5, 2018
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GM Korea’s labor union to stage multiple strikes this week
The labor union of GM Korea will hold multiple strikes this week with no end in sight for the US automaker’s plant closedown debacle. According to the labor union‘s website on Monday, the members will be holding a press conference in front of Korea Development Bank’s head office in Yeouido, western Seoul at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, to be followed by requests for meetings with representatives of the bank, the National Tax Service and the National Assembly.They will concurrently stage a one-man rally i
March 5, 2018
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GM Korea's Changwon plant suffers tumbling sales over 4 years
Sales of vehicles made at GM Korea's plant in the southern city of Changwon have plunged 40 percent over the last four years, industry data showed Monday, casting doubt on its future viability.GM Korea's Changwon plant produces the Spark city car, and Damas and Labo small commercial vehicles. It is one of GM Korea's three plants in South Korea. The two others are in Gunsan on the west coast and Bupyeong south of Seoul.According to the data, domestic sales and exports of the three models came to
March 5, 2018
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[Behind the Wheel] All new K3 flaunts top notch fuel economy
YANGPYEONG, Gyeonggi Province – For drivers looking to purchase a new car, fuel economy is a crucial factor to consider, and Kia Motors has rolled out a compact sedan that boasts top level efficiency. Kia Motors’ fully revamped second-generation K3 compact sedan is back in the market in six years as an “upscale dynamic sedan,” the company said.After the four-hour test drive from Mayfield Hotel in western Seoul to Yangpyeong rest area in Gyeonggi Province, which expressways made up over 90 percen
March 4, 2018
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Voluntary resignations fail to resolve GM Korea’s deficit
As GM Korea continues looking for ways to tighten its belt to restructure the struggling company, some 2,500 employees have signed up for voluntary redundancy. But the automaker has to take more measures, such as reducing labor expenses and lowering the cost-to-sales ratio, to complete a turnaround, industry experts said Sunday.From the voluntary redundancies applications made as of Friday, GM Korea is expected to save up to 400 billion won ($370 million) in labor and overhead costs.Given that t
March 4, 2018
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Kumho Tire's unionists vow to do whatever it takes to block sale of embattled company
Unionized workers of Kumho Tire Co., the country's second-largest tiremaker, said Saturday they will do whatever it takes to block its creditors' plan to sell the embattled company to a foreign company.On Friday, Kumho Tire's creditors, including the state-run Korea Development Bank, announced they will plan to sell the financially troubled company to Qingdao Doublestar Co."We will do whoever it takes to block the push for the overseas sale," union representatives told reporters at a plant in Gw
March 3, 2018
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GM Korea suffers record operating loss last year
GM Korea suffered a record operating loss of 800 billion won ($736 million) last year, further aggravating its high number of debts largely due to a strategy shift by its head office, according to provisional data submitted by the carmaker.The local unit of the US carmaker suggested the estimated figures to the government while asking for cash last month. Data showed that the company posted annual losses for four straight years. In 2014, GM Korea saw 148.6 billion won in operating loss, followed
March 1, 2018
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Hyundai hires ex-BMW executive for newly launched performance car unit
Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s leading automobile manufacturer, has launched a new division for high performance cars and motorsports, and appointed a former BMW M executive as vice chief, the company said Thursday.The new division will focus on expanding Hyundai’s presence in the global performance car arena by adding new performance models and releasing Veloster N, a high performance version of its hatchback, this year, the company said. Hyundai’s performance car lineup i30 N (Hyundai Motor)Thom
March 1, 2018
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Wage talks at GM Korea end without progress
Resumed wage talks between union representatives and management of GM Korea ended without progress on Wednesday, while unionized workers held a sit-in protest in the heart of Seoul, demanding the carmaker withdraw its decision to shutdown a plant in Gunsan.Both parties were resuming the talks for the first time since GM‘s surprise announcement to close one of its three plants last month. The management reportedly came with an intensive restructuring plan to freeze all wages and skip bonuses, as
Feb. 28, 2018
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Mahindra partners LG Chem for India’s EV push
Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian conglomerate and the owner of South Korean carmaker SsangYong Motor, will jointly develop rechargeable batteries to accelerate its electric vehicle business, the company said Monday evening.“LG Chem will develop a unique cell exclusively for India application and also supply lithium-ion based on nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry with high energy density,” Mahindra said in a statement.The battery cells will be deployed in electric vehicles to be manufactured by Mahi
Feb. 28, 2018
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Korea to scrutinize GM’s transfer pricing, cost to selling price ratio
With an investigation into GM’s financial records slated to begin this week, the Seoul government appears to be upping the pressure against the US automaker by suggesting a tax audit. Kim Sang-jo, chairman of the country’s corporate watchdog Fair Trade Commission, said Tuesday he would discuss with the National Tax Service a tax audit over the US automaker’s transfer pricing and high rate of cost to selling price. Demands to comb through the US firm’s tax status have also been rising from the
Feb. 28, 2018
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GM Korea freezes wages of 500 workers ahead of plant shutdown
GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., froze the base wages for 500 executives and team leaders early this year in a drive to cut costs ahead of a local plant shutdown, the company said Wednesday. As the 500 workforce does not belong to GM Korea's 13,000-member union, the company didn't need to seek an agreement for its actions. The company also asked them to reduce the use of corporate cards, according to GM Korea. The move came before GM announced on Feb. 13 it would shut o
Feb. 28, 2018