EcoPro touts 10-year battery materials partnership with Sony

EcoPro said Wednesday it has celebrated 10 years of supplying battery materials to Sony, later acquired by Murata Manufacturing. According to the company, it first supplied high-nickel cathode materials for Sony in 2013 for the first time for a Korean company. The two companies have kept business ties even after Murata, a Japanese electronics manufacturer, took over Sony’s loss-making battery business in 2017. EcoPro has been providing thousands of tons of nickel, cobalt and aluminum (NCA)

MobilityAug. 30, 2023

Dong-A Otsuka holds blood donation event

Dong-A Otsuka, the nation’s leading beverage maker, said Wednesday that it will hold a nationwide blood donation event with employees throughout the month of September, hoping to contribute to a rebound of the blood supply in South Korea. On Tuesday, the first donations from employees came at the company’s headquarters in Seoul, with a bloodmobile from the Korean Red Cross. Following the headquarters donations, the event moves to three manufacturing plants -- at Anyang in Gyeonggi Pr

IndustryAug. 30, 2023

Tous les Jours opens 100th US store

South Korean bakery chain Tous les Jours launched its 100th store in the United States earlier this month, as its popularity has risen among American consumers, operator CJ Foodville said Wednesday. The new store is located in Bronxville, an affluent neighborhood in New York, according to CJ Foodville. The company added that Tous les Jours has been posting robust profits per store, solidifying its position as a lucrative business model in the country. Since first entering the US market in 2004,

IndustryAug. 30, 2023

Cosmetics maker Siita sets off new syndrome in sustainability

Korean vegan skincare brand Siita's sustainable hand cream released in May sold more than $9 million worth of product over the last three months, selling out a year's worth of inventory on its day of release. Former K-pop star and activist Lee Hyo-ri, a figure who swore off commercial advertising, has been actively publicizing Siita's new sustainable hand cream. Through Siita, public engagement in sustainability has been increasing in Korea. Biodegradable plastic was deemed unatta

IndustryAug. 30, 2023

Seoul shares open higher amid hopes for pause in US rate hikes

Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, amid hopes that the US Federal Reserve may pause its tightening campaign. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 20.93 points, or 0.82 percent, to 2,573.09 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.7 percent. Latest US economic data, including decreased job openings and weakened consumer confidence, has r

MarketAug. 30, 2023

[Graphic News] Samsung keeps top spot in Q1 memory chip market

Samsung Electronics retained its top spot in the global memory chip market in the first quarter despite lackluster earnings amid the chip glut, a report showed. SK hynix, on the other hand, was pushed back to third place from No. 2 compared to a year earlier, due largely to the output cut that came before Samsung, according to the market tracker Omdia. Samsung Electronics kept the largest share of 42.8 percent in the DRAM market, unchanged from the previous quarter. Samsung’s DRAM revenu

TechnologyAug. 30, 2023

Kia plant temporarily suspended after fire in paint shop

Kia Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker by sales, said Tuesday one of its eight domestic plants will be suspended until early September due to a fire in its paint shop. Eight industrial robots in the paint shop of Kia's No. 3 plant in Hwaseong, just south of Seoul, were affected by a fire Monday evening, a company spokesperson said. The No. 3 Autoland Hwaseong plant will be suspended until Sept. 6, he said. The plant produces the K5 sedan, the K8 sedan and the all-electric EV

MobilityAug. 29, 2023

Kakao Pay available in major retail locations in Thailand

Kakao Pay, the online payment subsidiary of Kakao Corp, announced Tuesday it has expanded to Thailand, making the service available at major payment points from department stores and pharmacies to a taxi-hailing platform. Central Retail, one of Thailand's largest retail corporations, now supports Kakao Pay at over 3,000 of its locations. These include department stores like Central World and Central Embassy, drugstores such as Kiyoshi Matsumoto and retail outlets like Muji and Tops Club. St

TechnologyAug. 29, 2023

Seoul shares end higher ahead of key economic data

Seoul shares ended higher Tuesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, with investors awaiting economic data over the next few days for clues on the outlook for global central banks' monetary policies. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 8.75 points, or 0.34 percent, to close at 2,552.16. Trading volume was moderate at 434.48 million shares worth 8.15 trillion won ($6.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 622 to 248. O

MarketAug. 29, 2023

Korea slams brake on budget growth

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the 2024 budget proposal worth 656.9 trillion won ($497 billion), marking the lowest on-year growth in nearly two decades as the country suffers from sluggish tax revenue. The size of the second budget proposal drawn up by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has increased by 2.8 percent from this year’s 638.7 trillion won, the smallest proposed increase since 2005. The budget for this year was 5.1 percent up on the previous year. “Due to the past administ

EconomyAug. 29, 2023

KAI, HD Hyundai team up for training systems

Korea Aerospace Industries and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said Tuesday that they signed a strategic partnership to cooperate in developing maritime training systems, teaming up to advance South Korea’s competitiveness in the global warship market. According to the two companies’ announcement, KAI and HD HHI plan to develop maritime training systems based on battleship and submarine business. They will also work together to draft and expand training systems for advancing existing bat

IndustryAug. 29, 2023

Hyundai Motor’s 3 startups spin off ahead of schedule

Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday that its three startups -- Pitin, Madde and Evacycle -- spun off less than a year after participating in the company's in-house startup incubator program. It usually takes more than a year for startups to become separate firms from their parent company, but they have shown great potential in the automotive and semiconductor business in just nine months, the carmaker said. Pitin has developed a battery subscription service using refurbished batteries for co

MobilityAug. 29, 2023

SKT aims to set global standard for quantum-safe communication

SK Telecom, South Korea's largest wireless carrier by membership, on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious goal of setting the global standard for quantum-safe communication, a more advanced security technology that protects the whole communication process from attacks by quantum computers. The company said it plans to share the progress of its ongoing development project during the Seoul meeting of the UN-affiliated ITU-T Study Group 17 that kicked off its weeklong program on Tuesday. Quantum-safe

TechnologyAug. 29, 2023

[Exclusive] KEPCO affiliates prepare legal fight against Australia’s ALS Coal

Five subsidiaries of South Korea's state-operated power utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. are currently putting in joint efforts to sue Australian laboratory giant ALS Coal, on the basis that it falsified coal quality inspections and allowed low quality coal to be exported to Korea, industry sources said Tuesday. According to an industry source close to the matter, the state-run subsidiaries under Kepco -- including Komipo, Korea Southern Power, Korea Western Power, Korea East-West Po

IndustryAug. 29, 2023

Upbit at forefront of fighting phishing scams

South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has been at the forefront of preventing fraudulent digital transactions, with its state-of-the-art artificial intelligence-based fraud detection system, amid increasing virtual asset investment and related crimes. Using its latest technology, the company said Tuesday it has prevented voice phishing scams of some 25 billion won ($18.9 million). According to South Korea’s financial authorities, the annual scale of financial damages f

IndustryAug. 29, 2023

[Photo News] Brewing with solar energy

Oriental Brewery CEO Ben Verhaert (third from left) and other executive members pose for a picture to celebrate the completion of a solar power system at the company’s brewery in Gwangju, Tuesday. The company said the solar panels will help eliminate 1,709 metric tons of carbon emissions per year. With more plans to expand the solar power-based production system, the company aims to run all its production facilities on renewable energy only by 2025. (Oriental Brewery)

ConsumerAug. 29, 2023

DGB to establish asset management firm in Singapore

DGB Financial Group, a Korean financial holding company, said it plans to establish an asset management company in Singapore. The company recently submitted an application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore seeking a license to operate as a registered fund management company. "Our primary focus for now is securing the approval as Singapore financial authorities have tightened their approval processes due to the substantial influx of Hong Kong funds into the country," a DGB Financia

IndustryAug. 29, 2023

[Photo News] New Audi Q4 e-tron

Audi Korea launched the latest models of its all-electric sports utility vehicles -- the Audi Q4 40 e-tron and Audi Sportback Q4 40 e-tron -- in the domestic market on Tuesday. The carmaker said the latest electric SUVs have longer driving distances per full charge than previous models, with the Audi Q4 40 e-tron capable of driving 411 kilometers and the Audi Sportback Q4 40 e-tron able to drive 409 kilometers. The electric SUVs are priced starting at 61.7 million won ($46,600). (Audi Korea)

MobilityAug. 29, 2023

Kumho Tire giving momentum to EVs

South Korean tire maker Kumho Tire revealed a new commercial under the slogan “Your EV Partner, Kumho Tire” riding the increasing popularity of electric vehicles. The commercial addresses the company’s new tires specifically tailored for EVs. Compared to the internal combustion engine cars, EV-customized tires need to be strong enough to support heavier vehicles, better grip the road, and lower the noise levels. In the commercial, Kumho Tire introduces its cutting-edge technolo

MobilityAug. 29, 2023

S. Korea to export premium 'hanwoo' beef to Cambodia for 1st time

South Korea will export "hanwoo," or premium Korean beef, to Cambodia for the first time, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday. The two nations signed the first contract for South Korean beef to be exported to the Southeast Asian country Monday, eight years after reaching an agreement on quarantine negotiations, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. South Korea aims to export 2,000 tons of hanwoo worth US$100 million over the next five years, it added. In M

IndustryAug. 29, 2023