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Shinsegae chief says he had ‘in-depth’ talk with Trump
Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin said Saturday he had a conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump at Trump's Florida resort last week, but kept the details of the discussion private. He is the first Korean business leader known to have spoken with Trump since his election victory. On his way back to Korea at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the US on Saturday, Chung shared with Yonhap News Agency that he had "a 10-to-15-minute in-depth discussion on various topi
Dec. 22, 2024 -
EcoPro honors young scientists for energy innovation
EcoPro, a South Korean battery materials holding company, announced Sunday that it recognized two young professors for their outstanding energy and environmental science research at its annual awards ceremony. The company’s second Ecopro Young Scientist Awards, held Wednesday, honored Professor Lee Hong-kyung of Yonsei University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the energy category and Professor Sim Kyo-seung of UNIST’s Department of Chemistry in the environment category. Eac
Dec. 22, 2024 -
Record high 5.12m cars voluntarily recalled in 2024
The number of vehicles voluntarily recalled by automakers in South Korea reached an all-time high this year, with nearly 80 percent attributed to domestic giant Hyundai Motor Group, traffic authorities said Sunday. A total of 5.12 million units across 1,684 different models were subject to recalls due to defects, according to the Korea Road Traffic Authority. Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. accounted for a combined 4.07 million units, representing 79.2 percent of the total. The figure surpasses
Dec. 22, 2024 -
S. Korea holds largest share of US battery material import market in 2023
South Korea held the largest share of the US import market for battery materials last year, a trade association said Sunday, outranking rivals China and Japan. The United States imported $9.7 billion worth of key battery materials -- anode and cathode materials and separators -- from South Korea in 2023, up 93.1 percent from $5.02 billion in 2020, according to the Korea International Trade Association, which analyzed UN trade data. Last year, South Korea held a 33.7 percent share of the US batte
Dec. 22, 2024 -
Lotte hosts forum to share the value of inclusion
South Korean retail giant Lotte Group said Friday that it hosted an annual forum focused on inclusion at its human resources education center in Osan, Gyeonggi Province. Under the theme “Be in Harmony; Inclusion,” the forum highlighted the importance of fostering inclusion as a cornerstone for sustainable growth. Following the will of its chairman Shin Dong-bin, Lotte has adopted an inclusion charter and incorporated this into its management practices across the group. The event was attended by
Dec. 20, 2024 -
ICC rules against Kyobo Life in put option dispute with Affinity consortium
The International Chamber of Commerce ruled against Kyobo Life Insurance Chairman Shin Chang-jae in a protracted legal battle with the company’s financial investors over a contentious put option. A consortium of investors, represented by Affinity Equity Partners, announced Thursday that the ICC arbitration court sided with them, ordering Shin to repurchase their shares based on a valuation set by an external agency. Under the ruling, Shin is required to appoint an independent valuator within 30
Dec. 20, 2024 -
LG Energy Solution wins 7.5 gigawatt-hour ESS deal in US
Leading Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution said Friday its US subsidiary signed a deal to provide electric storage systems to a private equity firm there, in a move to accelerate its presence in the US market. Under the deal, LG Energy Solution Vertech will produce the 7.5 gigawatt-hour capacity energy storage system, or ESS, for Excelsior Energy Capital from 2026. The 7.5 GWh capacity ESS is enough to power 750,000 four-person households for a day. The company did not specify the scale of
Dec. 20, 2024 -
GS E&C unveils Korea’s first land-based smart salmon farm in Busan
GS Engineering ＆ Construction announced Friday that it has completed the construction of Korea‘s first land-based smart salmon farm, the Busan Smart Aquaculture Cluster, marking the start of full-scale operations to provide domestically farmed salmon. The completion ceremony, held in Busan’s Gijang-gun, was attended by GS E＆C CEO Huh Yoon-hong and public officials from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Busan Metropolitan Government. Some 150 attendees toured around the state-of-the-ar
Dec. 20, 2024 -
SK hynix secures $458m subsidy for US advanced chip packaging facility
SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker, has finalized a deal with the US government to secure direct funding of up to $458 million for building its advanced chip packaging plant in the US, safeguarding the grant ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's second term. As the US Commerce Department finalizes chip grants for all four major chip manufacturers, including SK hynix, attention now shifts to when the crosstown rival Samsung Electronics will also complete the deal
Dec. 20, 2024 -
Taipei Fubon Bank to launch first office in Seoul
Taipei Fubon Bank, the banking arm of Taiwan's Fubon Financial Holding, is waiting to receive the final nod from the local authorities to launch its first office in Seoul. South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service recently completed its review of the Taiwanese commercial bank’s office establishment application and forwarded its opinion to the Financial Services Commission, an FSS official confirmed Thursday. “Foreign banks can establish new offices through a reporting sy
Dec. 20, 2024 -
KB Kookmin Card obtains merger nod for Cambodian subsidiaries
KB Kookmin Card said Friday that it has received approval from Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce to merge its two local subsidiaries -- auto finance firm KB Daehan Specialized Bank and leasing company i-Finance Leasing. Under the merger, iFL will be integrated into KDSB, with the new entity retaining the name KB Daehan Specialized Bank to leverage its brand recognition. “By merging our Cambodian subsidiaries, we have established a foundation for sustainable growth in the global market,
Dec. 20, 2024 -
Hyundai Motor Group donates W35b to help people in need
Hyundai Motor Group announced Friday that it contributed 35 billion won ($24 million) to the Community Chest of Korea for the charity organization’s annual fundraising campaign. “Hyundai Motor Group made the donation as supporting neighbors and solving diverse social problems by sharing is one of the important roles that companies should play,” Hyundai Motor Group President Chang Jae-hoon said in a statement. Along with Chang, Executive Vice President Hahn Suk-won and CCK Chair
Dec. 20, 2024 -
KDI School professor ranked world's top 2% of social scientists
The KDI School of Public Policy and Management said Thursday that its public administration professor, Kim Soon-hee, has been ranked among the world’s top 2 percent of social scientists in the Elsevier-Stanford University list for the second consecutive year. Affiliated with the Korea Development Institute, the KDI School is a government-run graduate school based in Sejong. Kim joined the School in 2014 after serving as a professor at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syrac
Dec. 19, 2024 -
Lotte Chemical bondholders agree to remove clause causing liquidity concerns
The holders of corporate bonds issued by loss-making Lotte Chemical Corp. agreed Thursday to remove a clause in the company's bond covenants that the company and others believe has been the cause of recent concerns over a potential liquidity crisis at Lotte Group. Under the clause in the covenants for 14 bonds issued between September 2013 and March 2023, investors are able to declare an event of default and demand an early redemption of the bonds if Lotte Chemical fails to maintain a certa
Dec. 19, 2024 -
Global consortium with KHNP wins nuclear reactor refurbishment project in Romania
A global consortium that includes South Korea's state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. has won a project to refurbish an aging nuclear reactor at Romania's Cernavoda power plant, Seoul's industry ministry said Thursday. Under the project, worth around 2.8 trillion won ($1.93 billion), KHNP will jointly refurbish Cernavoda's unit 1 reactor with Canada's Candu Energy Inc. and Italy's Ansaldo Nucleare S.p.A., according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Ener
Dec. 19, 2024