World's largest OLED TV set for local release on Sept. 21

LG Electronics said Wednesday it plans to release the world's largest 97-inch premium television using the flat-panel organic light-emitting diode display for home cinema experience in South Korea on Sept. 21. Dubbed the LG OLED evo Gallery Edition, the massive TV measures more than 2.4 meters across. The ultralarge TV will feature a 4K resolution and Dolby's cutting-edge vivid video format Dolby Vision IQ and surround sound technology Dolby Atmos. LG’s alpha 9 Gen 5 intelligent processors

TechnologySept. 14, 2022

Shipyard KSOE bags W331.8w order for 2 vehicle carriers

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE), a major South Korean shipyard, said Wednesday it has clinched a 331.8 billion-won ($239 million) order to build two vehicle carriers for a Middle East-based shipper. Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a KSOE affiliate, will construct the pure car & truck carriers powered by liquefied natural gas at its shipyard in Yeongam on the southwest coast, KSOE said in a regulatory filing. The vehicle carriers will be delivered to the undisclosed shipp

IndustrySept. 14, 2022

Hyundai Glovis wins W2.2t vehicle delivery deal

Hyundai Glovis Co., the logistics unit of Hyundai Motor Group, said Wednesday it has received a record 2.2 trillion-won ($1.6 billion) vehicle delivery deal from a global carmaker. Under the deal, Hyundai Glovis will deliver the unidentified carmaker's vehicles to Europe, the United States and Asia for three years from 2023, the company said in a statement. In 2020, the company signed a five-year vehicle delivery deal with Volkswagen Group and has strengthened its status in the vehicle ship

IndustrySept. 14, 2022

Apple to open 4th retail store in S. Korea this month

US tech giant Apple Inc. said Wednesday it plans to open its fourth retail store in South Korea later this month, expanding its presence in the country to compete with local rival Samsung Electronics Co. Named "Apple Jamsil," the store will open at Lotte World Mall in Seoul's southeastern neighborhood of Jamsil on Sept. 24, the company said. Apple's Korean website opened a special menu announcing the store's opening. Apple opened its first South Korean store in Seoul

IndustrySept. 14, 2022

S. Korea sets up task force to support typhoon-hit steel industry

The industry ministry said Wednesday it will run a task force to support steelmakers with post-typhoon recovery work and to check the supply situation of steel products to minimize damage by Typhoon Hinnamnor. Last week, Typhoon Hinnamnor hit the southern part of South Korea and affected steelmaking facilities run by major companies, including POSCO and Hyundai Steel. POSCO had halted blast furnaces at its main steel mill in Pohang for the first time in its half-century history. The task force w

EconomySept. 14, 2022

SK Telecom, Hanwha consortium partners with Jeju Province for air taxi project

An urban air mobility consortium led by SK Telecom and Hanwha Systems said Wednesday it has partnered with the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province to launch an air taxi pilot program on South Korea's southern resort island. The K-UAM Dream Team Consortium, comprising the two companies and the Korea Airports Corp., the Korea Meteorological Institute and LX, a state-run land information provider, signed an agreement to launch the commercial pilot project on Jeju Island in 2025. A signing cer

IndustrySept. 14, 2022

Seoul shares open sharply lower on dashed hopes for US inflation

South Korean stocks tumbled at the opening bell Wednesday, driven by big IT and bio shares, after the hotter-than-expected US inflation data sparked fears the Federal Reserve would push ahead with aggressive monetary tightening. The Kospi sank 62.19 points, or 2.54 percent, to 2,387.35 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The US August consumer price index slowed to an 8.3 percent on-year gain, which was above the consensus of an 8.1 percent increase. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy

MarketSept. 14, 2022

Hyundai Card CEO steps down after 1 year for 'personal reasons'

Hyundai Card CEO Kim Deok-hwan has resigned as chief executive at one of the largest credit card issuers in South Korea just one year after he was appointed, regulatory filings showed Tuesday. Kim officially stepped down on Friday with Hyundai Card citing “personal reasons” behind his resignation. No further elaboration was given. A local media outlet reported that Kim was recently “sued by his secretary." Born in 1972, Kim was known as the youngest CEO in the Korea cre

BusinessSept. 13, 2022

BOK vows market stability with eye on US rate hike

Speculation over a third large rate hike of 75 basis points by the US Federal Reserve next week runs higher than ever, but the Bank of Korea sought to reassure market watchers Tuesday that preparations to cushion its impact were underway. “We have to step up monitoring of capital inflows and outflows and currency markets,” said Lee Seung-heon, senior deputy governor at the central bank, warning against growing uncertainties: a hawkish US Fed and a like-minded European Central Bank. T

EconomySept. 13, 2022

Coupang denies local reports on selling Coupang Eats

South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang released a statement on Tuesday dismissing local reports that it was planning on selling its food delivery service Coupang Eats. “The rumor that we are selling Coupang Eats is groundless, and we have taken no measures to sell the service,” the company said in the statement. Coupang “will respond firmly against the industry and press concerning the spread of any rumors and falsehood, taking legal action (if necessary),” it added. The s

IndustrySept. 13, 2022

Use of disposable cups soars during pandemic

The use of disposable cups has soared during the pandemic years, with the annual number exceeding 1 billion for the first time last year, a report showed Tuesday. According to an Environment Ministry report submitted to Rep. Lee Joo-hwan of the ruling People Power Party, the number of single-use plastic and paper cups consumed at 14 cafe and four popular fast-food chains was 4.34 billion over the past five years. Last year, the number reached 1.02 billion, a surge from 770 million in 2019. The a

EconomySept. 13, 2022

Seoul shares spike 2.7% on expectations of slowdown in US inflation

South Korean stocks rallied by nearly 3 percent Tuesday as investors were optimistic ahead of the release of the US inflation data, with eyes on the Federal Reserve's rate-setting policy meeting set for next week. The local currency rose against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 65.26 points, or 2.74 percent, to 2,449.54. Trading volume was moderate at 361.7 million shares worth 9.05 trillion won ($6.58 billion) with gainers far outpacing decliners 771 to

MarketSept. 13, 2022

Should it be illegal to send work-related messages after hours?

South Koreans are debating whether it is necessary to ban giving work instructions via Kakao Talk or other means of communication outside work hours after a relevant bill was submitted last week. Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the main opposition Democratic Party proposed the revised bill that prohibits making repeated or constant work-related instructions via phone calls, emails, text messages or social media after statutory working hours. Large companies have banned sending work-related messages after

IndustrySept. 13, 2022

Prosecutors mull defining luna as security

South Korean prosecutors are considering whether to view the troubled cryptocurrency luna as a security, a move which could put the coin developers and those complicit under scrutiny for not only fraud, but also for violations of the Capital Markets Act. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office’s Financial and Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team has met with crypto experts and financial authorities to review if luna can be categorized as a security, the prosecution said Tuesda

MarketSept. 13, 2022

KB opens Korea's largest premium private banking branch

South Korea’s KB Financial Group said Tuesday it has recently opened the nation’s largest premium private banking branch in Seoul in a bid to provide a fuller range of services to its wealthy clients. The seven-story building, named after the bank’s recently launched premium banking service “KB Gold ＆ Wise the First,” is located in Seoul's posh district of Apgujeong. The floor space, themed on books and art, consists of 15 consulting rooms and 1,400 vaults. At the

MarketSept. 13, 2022

Hanmi Pharmaceutical scores 1st US FDA approval

Hanmi Pharmaceutical has scored its first approval from the US Food and Drug Administration with its novel biomedicine Rolontis. Rolontis -- Hanmi Pharmaceutical's treatment for neutropenia, a disease that occurs when a specific type of white blood cells is lacking so that the body cannot fight infections, especially those caused by bacteria -- was given the FDA’s approval on Friday, according to the Korean firm’s US partner Spectrum Pharmaceuticals’ announcement. Neutropenia's

TechnologySept. 13, 2022

LG, Parsons come together for AI-generated design projects

  LG Corp. and Parsons School of Design will collaborate to combine contemporary art and design practices with artificial intelligence technology, LG's tech arm LG AI Research said Tuesday. LG AI Research, which runs a hyperscale AI platform called Exaone, will carry out joint research projects for advanced AI technologies and emerging research domains with experts in fashion, design and media at Parsons for three years. Through the partnership, artists and designers will explore the inters

TechnologySept. 13, 2022

After weeklong repair, Posco resumes production at typhoon-hit plant

South Korean steel giant Posco said Tuesday that it has resumed operation of steel production at its manufacturing plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, a week after the factory had been stalled due to heavy rain on Sept. 6 linked to Typhoon Hinnamnor. Over the four-day national Chuseok holiday that wrapped up Monday, an accumulated 30,000 employees and subcontractors worked around the clock to fully repair the facilities, Posco said. Key facilities at the plant, including all three blast

IndustrySept. 13, 2022

JYP overtakes entertainment giant CJ ENM in market cap

The market capitalization of JYP Entertainment, one of South Korea’s four major K-pop powerhouses led by producer Park Jin-young, has remained higher than that of Korea's largest entertainment firm CJ ENM for three consecutive weeks, data showed Tuesday. According to Korea Exchange on Tuesday, JYP shares closed Thursday at 63,000 won ($45.81) per share, while its market cap closed at 2.23 trillion won, just before the Chuseok holiday. On the same day, CJ ENM shares settled at 91,000 w

MarketSept. 13, 2022

SK-backed AI chip outperforms Nvidia's GPU

Sapeon, an artificial intelligence-powered chip designer backed by South Korea's SK Group, unveiled Tuesday a test result that its first commercialized product X220 has outperformed US graphic processor giant Nvidia's newest product A2. The chips for data centers in two varieties, X220-Compact and X220-Enterprise, were both superior to Nvidia's A2 in terms of AI processing speed and power consumption, according to a benchmark test result in MLPerf's inference. The large-scale AI cloud service pe

TechnologySept. 13, 2022