Posco Chemical and OCI to establish JV to produce hydrogen peroxide for semiconductors

Posco Chemical and OCI Company said Sunday that they will establish a hydrogen peroxide joint venture to tap the semiconductor processing materials business. According to the announcement, the JV will take shape in the second quarter of 2020, with a 51 percent stake to be held by Posco Chemical and 49 percent by OCI. The groundbreaking will take place this year, and commercial manufacturing is expected to begin in 2022. Hydrogen peroxide is an environmentally friendly oxidant that is widely us

IndustryFeb. 23, 2020

[News Focus] After 15 years, Korea considers overhaul of games industry law

The South Korean government is looking to revise the law that governs the games industry, with a view to supporting its growth rather than constraining it. For a nation that boasts ultrafast connectivity and a culture of internet cafes, one that is home to world-famous esports figures like League of Legends player Faker, Korea is a less ideal environment for game companies than one might imagine. A number of unusual speed bumps hinder a smooth ride on the path to growing a business. For 2020,

IndustryFeb. 23, 2020

Samsung to supply U.S. Cellular with 5G, 4G LTE network solutions

Samsung Electronics said Sunday it has signed a deal with U.S. Cellular to provide the American mobile carrier with 5G and 4G Long Term Evolution network solutions. This is the fourth US deal Samsung has clinched in the field of telecommunications and its first with U.S. Cellular. Under the agreement, U.S. Cellular can purchase Samsung’s 5G solutions, including New Radio technology, to boost its existing 4G LTE network services. U.S. Cellular is the fifth-largest telecom service prov

IndustryFeb. 23, 2020

Department stores shut down over coronavirus fears

Major South Korean retailers said Sunday they will partially shut down some of their outlets in Seoul for disinfection measures following recent visits by patients diagnosed with the new coronavirus. Shinsegae Department Store said its store in the posh Gangnam district will close its food court on the basement level for one day, after a patient infected with the COVID-19 virus stayed at the venue for an hour on Wednesday with her husband. The patient attended a religious service of a minor C

IndustryFeb. 23, 2020

Use of AI speakers, PCs, smartphones increases in Korea amid COVID-19 outbreak

The use of AI speakers, PCs and smartphones has increased here amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to industry data. South Korean mobile carrier KT on Friday said use of its AI speaker Giga Genie increased 8.3 percent in Jan. 30-Feb. 12 compared with Jan. 2-15, before the outbreak was reported. In particular, the number of news searches surged 99 percent, KT said, adding that they were largely related to confirmed cases of the coronavirus here. Online grocery shopping via the AI speake

IndustryFeb. 21, 2020

Samsung’s Z Flip Thom Browne edition sells out in 2 1/2 hours

Online sales of Samsung Electronics’ Z Flip Thom Browne edition ended within just 2 1/2 hours on Friday. Samsung Electronics at Thursday midnight started sales of the limited Thom Browne edition of its new foldable phone. The company’s official website suffered crashes from the load as a rush of consumers tried to connect all at once. The number of Z Flip Thom Browne edition phones sold remained undisclosed by the company. Samsung Electronics was initially to open sales of the Z

IndustryFeb. 21, 2020

Former finance minister to head Samsung Electronics’ board

Former Finance Minister Park Jae-wan was appointed as the new board chair of Samsung Electronics, becoming the first outside director to head the tech giant’s board of directors, the company said Friday. Park, 64, has been an outside director for the tech behemoth since March 2016. Park served as the minister of labor from 2010 to 2011 and minister of finance from 2011 to 2013, both times in the Lee Myung-bak administration. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Seoul Nati

IndustryFeb. 21, 2020

Seoul stocks extend losses late Friday morning on virus woes

South Korean stocks extended losses late Friday morning amid rising concerns over the fast spreading novel coronavirus in the country. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 25.94 points, or 1.18 percent, to 2,169.56 as of 11:20 a.m. The index started weak, tracking overnight Wall Street losses, and struggled to move upward. The index took a further hit after South Korea reported 52 new cases of the new coronavirus Friday morning, raising the total number of infections i

MarketFeb. 21, 2020

Former Hanjin executives support current chairman, denounce KCGI coalition

Following the Hanjin Group labor union’s endorsement of Chairman Cho Won-tae last week, former executives have also stepped up to support the current management, according to their statement Friday. Issued in the name of the former executive council, they said, “We fully trust and support the current management centering on Chairman Cho.” The group consists of about 500 retirees who served as executives at the group. “Despite the challenging business environment,

IndustryFeb. 21, 2020

Airlines to suspend more flights over coronavirus

South Korean airlines said Friday they will reduce more routes and ask employees to take unpaid leave as the spread of the novel coronavirus is impacting travel. With no clear end in sight for the COVID-19 outbreak, local airlines began to suspend or reduce their flights early this month to adjust to weak demand on domestic and international routes. Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest airline, said it plans to gradually begin halting services on seven additional routes to Asian citi

MobilityFeb. 21, 2020

Korea's exports up 12.4% in first 20 days of February

South Korea's exports moved up 12.4 percent in the first 20 days of February, customs data showed Friday, led mostly by chips and auto parts. The country's outbound shipments reached $26.3 billion in the Feb. 1-20 period, compared with $23.3 billion a year earlier, according to the Korea Customs Service. By product, exports of chips soared 15.4 percent, and outbound shipments of auto parts surged 40.6 percent. But the average daily exports -- which reflect working days -- fell 9.3 percent on

EconomyFeb. 21, 2020

[Graphic News] COVID-19 helps toy sales

　Sales of toys are surging in South Korea as children stay home longer and people pay more attention to their health due to the prolonged scare over COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus, industry sources said. 　Online shopping site Auction said its sales of toys for toddlers and children skyrocketed from a year earlier in the seven-day period to Feb. 9. 　Sales of ball tents and toy blocks surged 285 percent and 72 percent, respectively, with those of mobile toys like

BusinessFeb. 20, 2020

S. Korea takes aim at Gyeonggi to curb housing prices

South Korea’s government on Thursday unveiled additional regulations to curb housing prices, this time focusing mostly on Seoul’s outskirts that have recently gained popularity. The latest measures marked the 19th housing-related regulations announced since the Moon Jae-in administration took office in May 2017. They were also the first to focus primarily on non-Seoul areas. The Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Financi

EconomyFeb. 20, 2020

[News Focus] Number of de facto jobless up 440,000 in 2 months

SEJONG -- South Korea saw the number of de facto jobless people -- meaning those underemployed -- increase sharply in recent months, the latest data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the “extended (or sentiment-reflected)” unemployment rate climbed to 12.1 percent in January 2020. The figure indicates that 3.58 million of the extended economically active population of 29.65 million are de facto unemployed. This far exceeds the nation’s official jobless rate (4.1 pe

EconomyFeb. 20, 2020

Korean chipmakers start to worry about COVID-19

South Korean chipmakers have started to be concerned about a looming slowdown in demand for chips and impact on production in the wake of an unexpected spike in the number of COVID-19 infections across the country, according to industry sources on Thursday. “So far, the company is not facing any difficulty in running the production lines as usual, but it is worrisome that signs of demand slowdown from set makers are looming as the situation gets worse and longer,” said an official

TechnologyFeb. 20, 2020

KCGI slams KAL owner family for losses, rules out heiress' return to management

Holding the ownership family of the nation’s flag carrier Korean Air responsible for its indebtedness, the head of a Korean private equity fund on Thursday reiterated calls to oust the incumbent chairman and bring in professional managers to run the struggling transport empire. Kang Sung-boo, chief executive of Korea Corporate Governance Improvement, also ruled out the possibility of Cho Hyun-ah -- the heiress to Korean Air, with whom he had forged an alliance to dethrone her brother -- r

MarketFeb. 20, 2020

[Monitor] More companies purchase renewable energy directly

More companies around the world are purchasing renewable energy directly from power producers, under the corporate renewable power purchase agreements, data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance showed. The global market for corporate renewable energy reached 19.5 gigawatts of new deals in 2019, a leap by more than triple from 2017, when the deals made amounted to 5.4 gigawatts. The total size of corporate renewable power purchase agreements has been showing an increasing trend, since it surpasse

IndustryFeb. 20, 2020

Hyundai Capital eyes stake in vehicle leasing unit of German firm

South Korean auto financing firm Hyundai Capital said Thursday that it is in talks with German car rental giant Sixt SE to acquire a stake in the latter’s vehicle leasing unit, Sixt Leasing SE. The announcement came after recent news reports that the Seoul-headquartered company was trying to acquire Sixt Leasing SE, via its European office Hyundai Capital Bank Europe, to increase its presence in the European car leasing market and gain a competitive edge in the emerging fuel cell elect

MarketFeb. 20, 2020

IMM PE in talks to buy Kolmar Korea’s pharma operations, CMO

IMM Private Equity is conducting due diligence as it looks to buy some of the operations of cosmetics-to-pharmaceutical business group Kolmar Korea, according to Kolmar Korea on Thursday. The South Korean investment house is proposing to buy Kolmar Korea Holdings’ contract manufacturing subsidiary Kolmar Pharma and Kolmar Korea’s pharmaceutical division, except for CJ Healthcare. They are roughly valued at a combined 750 billion won ($628.6 million).  Kolmar Korea sa

MarketFeb. 20, 2020

Vice finance minister briefs US investors, credit raters on Korean economy

Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom briefed US investors and officials from credit rating firms in New York on South Korea’s economic situation and government policies, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Thursday. Kim first met with 25 investors from New York-based investment banks and asset managers, including Blackrock, Morgan Stanley and UBS, in a meeting held Wednesday (US time). The vice finance minister explained that while Korea’s major indexes and chip prices have s

EconomyFeb. 20, 2020