Hyundai Motor has developed a third-generation platform and used it for the all-new Sonata, set to be launched later this month here, the company said Wednesday. By using ultra-strength and hot-stamped steel, the platform is 10 percent stronger and 55 kilograms lighter than before, it added. The new platform will help the carmaker design and manufacture safer, energy-efficient and more powerful...

South Korean auto part maker Hyundai Mobis will invest 5.5 billion won ($4.86 million) in DeepGlint, a Chinese startup developing 3D image analysis and pattern recognition technologies. The company is a leader in the fields of security monitoring and business analysis, and has developed facial recognition technology that can identify a single person out of 1 billion people from a distance of 50 ...

Institutional Shareholder Service, a global proxy advisory firm, has supported Hyundai Motor against its conflict with Elliott over special dividend payouts to shareholders. ISS said in a statement that it doesn’t support Elliott’s demand to return almost 7 trillion won in excess cash to shareholders through special dividends. It, however, supported two of Elliott’s three nominees for the board....

On early Monday morning last week, an unthinkable scene unfolded in the lobby of Hyundai Motor’s headquarters in Yangjae, southern Seoul. Employees wearing sweat shirts, sneakers and blue jeans marched into the office, with some seniors in hiking tops and pants receiving morning greetings from younger ones, awkwardly, as if they came to realize at that instant that they were a bit off from what ...

US e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. is likely to enter the South Korean market within the first half of the year, the company said Tuesday. The San Francisco-based company released the e-cigarette brand Juul in 2017 in the US. Its US market share was 72 percent as of September 2018. “We are aiming to put the Juul on the South Korean market during the first half of this year or at the start of t...

The United Nations Security Council on Friday granted a sanctions waiver to the shipment of equipment to North Korea for video reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, diplomatic sources said. The UN sanctions committee on North Korea approved South Korea's request to permit relevant equipment to be sent to the North for the Koreas' video reunions of divided families on humanit...

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK's "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" surpassed 700 million YouTube views Saturday, becoming the first Korean music group to set such a milestone. The video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" set the milestone in nearly nine months after being released last June, YG Entertainment said. The music video also set a record among K-pop groups of adding 100 million views at the fastest pace after hitting 200...

South Korea's trade surplus with the United States fell sharply to below the $20 billion mark last year for the first time in six years, U.S. data showed Saturday. The world's largest economy posted a deficit of $17.9 billion in trade with South Korea in 2018, down from a deficit of $23.1 billion a year earlier, according to the data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is the first time that...

With sales of vehicles in China plummeting sharply since 2017, South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor said Thursday that it was considering suspending operations at its manufacturing plant in Beijing. Plans to suspend Hyundai Plant No. 1 are under review because the production rate has plunged to 50 percent. The carmaker’s Beijing office has already relocated or slashed 2,000 workers as part of a...

South Korean steel giant Posco said Thursday it has decided not to pursue the acquisition of a local electric vehicle parts maker, saying that it does not fit into its battery business. The company was eyeing KCFT, formerly known as LS Mtron, which manufactures copper foils and flexible copper clad laminates for lithium-ion batteries. “For expanding our secondary battery business, we had review...

LSIS, a South Korean energy solution provider, has completed the construction of a solar plant in Japan capable of producing 18 megawatts of electricity a year, the company said Wednesday. The 46 billion won project was built on 300,000 square meters of land in Ishikawa Prefecture of Honshu. LSIS won the project in 2017. Its office in Japan will also run operation and maintenance of the plant fo...

South Korean solar-panel manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells has filed patent infringement complaints against three companies over allegations that they used its technology and imported it to the US, officials in Seoul said Wednesday. The solar-panel making unit under Hanwha Group filed the complaints against Jinko Solar Holding Co., Longi Solar and REC Group with the US International Trade Commission o...

A full week after reports surfaced, SK Group confirmed Tuesday that its chief, Chey Tae-won, would step down as chair of the board of SK Holdings, the conglomerate’s holding company, to improve transparency in corporate governance. The company said in a statement that it was considering amendments to its articles that would forbid CEOs from concurrently serving as board chair. The board will als...

Major conglomerates in South Korea began recruiting staff this month, but they appear to have made noticeable changes in the way they hire new employees, according to industry watchers Tuesday. In a survey of 646 companies in Korea, 63.7 percent of large businesses in South Korea confirmed plans to hire new employees this month, according to Incruit, a local job seeking site. Affiliates of top ...

South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor has joined a partnership with five global companies, including rival Toyota, to develop standardized parts needed for refueling hydrogen-powered commercial trucks, the company said Monday. The consortium also includes Air Liquide, Nel, Shell and Nikola, an US manufacturer of hydrogen trucks, it added. The partnership is aimed at accelerating the use of comm...