Hyundai Motor to recall overseas Kona EVs over potential battery fire risks

Hyundai Motor Co. has decided to voluntarily recall its Kona all-electric models sold overseas, industry insiders said Sunday, after the automaker vowed to take the same step on the home turf over potential battery fire risks. Hyundai will globally recall some 77,000 Kona Electric models manufactured between September 2017 and March, 2020, industry insiders said. The recall comes after 13 fires in the model have been reported since 2018. The South Korean automaker already decided to recal

MobilityOct. 11, 2020

SK Innovation extracts solvent, lube base oil from plastic waste

SK Innovation said Sunday it has successfully extracted solvent and lube base oil from plastic waste to boost environmental, social and corporate governance under SK Group’s Green Balance initiative. According to South Korea’s refining-to-battery firm, researchers of SK Innovation Institute of Technology Innovation heated pieces of plastic waste and obtained high-purity pyrolysis oil by removing impurities in it significantly. With the pyrolysis oil, the researches manufactured s

IndustryOct. 11, 2020

LG Electronics unveils teaser of world’s 1st rollable TV

LG Electronics released a teaser Sunday for the “LG Signature OLED R,” the world’s first rollable TV, which will go on sale at the end of this month. The home appliance giant uploaded a 17-second YouTube video that shows the LG Signature OLED R’s rollabe display slowly coming up from the inside of the TV’s base. As of 11:00 a.m. Sunday, the video has garnered more than 140,000 views. The price of the Signature OLED R is reportedly set at over 100 million won

IndustryOct. 11, 2020

Hanwha Defense’s K9 self-propelled howitzers arrive in Estonia

The first two units of Hanwha Defense’s K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers have arrived in Estonia, according to a recent release from the country’s armed forces. The first batch arrived in Estonia in late August and the remaining 16 units purchased by the country will be delivered over the course of three years. After modification and refinement, the K9 howitzers will be deployed to the artillery battalion of the 1st Infantry Brigade to replace 155-millimeter artillery. The

IndustryOct. 11, 2020

One-fifth of Korean exports generated by foreign-invested firms: report

Around 18.5 percent of South Korea’s total export volume last year was from foreign-invested firms, according to a Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency report Sunday. The export volume generated by firms with foreign investment reached $100 billion last year, while the nation’s total exports marked $542 billion, according to KOTRA’s report, which surveyed 14,000 local trading firms. The number of local firms with foreign capital reached 5,800 as of last year, the report

IndustryOct. 11, 2020

KB, K-Growth to select partners for social impact investing

KB Financial Group and the Korea Growth Investment Corp. said Sunday that they would select two external partners to establish funds worth at least 30 billion won ($26 million) as part of their five-year social impact investing initiative. KB Financial Group will commit 15 billion won to the two external partners combined, and K-Growth will provide 5 billion won. The selected partners will pool at least 10 billion won to create the funds by the first half of 2021, according to K-Growth’s

MarketOct. 11, 2020

Kakao Bank's mid-rate lending total surpasses W2tr

Kakao Bank, South Korea’s leading internet-only bank and an affiliate of mobile platform operator Kakao, has supplied more than 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in accumulated mid-range interest rate loans, officials said Sunday. The company has also already achieved its annual target of 1 trillion won and has vowed to sustain its mid-rate lending throughout the rest of the year in a gesture to provide liquidity to people with weak credit ratings. Kakao Bank’s mid-range lending so far

MarketOct. 11, 2020

Fund scam to take center stage in Assembly's financial audit

Tension is escalating at financial institutions as the National Assembly begins two weeks of auditing on financial bodies, focusing on a private equity fund scam and the government’s “Korean New Deal” program. This year, the inspected organizations are especially weighed down by advance paperwork, as only a limited number of people are allowed in the audit hall, as par of anti-coronavirus social distancing rules. The National Policy Committee of the National Assembly will

MarketOct. 11, 2020

Tencent-backed Maoyan divests W22b YG Entertainment stake

Tencent-backed online movie ticket booking platform Maoyan Entertainment has unloaded its stake in YG Entertainment worth a combined 22.1 billion won ($19.2 million) since August, disclosures showed Sunday. The selloff reduced the Chinese company’s control over South Korea‘s major entertainment powerhouse -- home to K-pop groups Big Bang, Blackpink and the newly-debuted Treasure -- to 5.78 percent, from the previous 8.09 percent. In September alone, Maoyan divested a combine

MarketOct. 11, 2020

No. of fitness centers soar in 10 years: data

The number of fitness centers in South Korea has soared in recent years, reflecting the rising demand for fitness and leisure activities in the midst of the work-life balance culture triggered by the government’s 52-hour workweek cap, an industry report showed Sunday. According to KB Financial Group’s report on self-employed workers here, nearly 9,900 fitness centers are in operation nationwide as of July, increasing 53 percent during the last 10 years. Of them, 1,109 opened last

MarketOct. 11, 2020

S. Korean workers' income rises to $42,300 a year: OECD

South Korean full-time employees' average annual income reached $42,300 last year, placing the country 19th among 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, data showed Sunday.  The figure was the highest ever for the nation’s fourth-largest economy. Korea’s next-highest average annual income was in 2003, when it posted $32,100 and ranked 24th, said Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the ruling Democratic Party, citing the OECD data.  The average ann

EconomyOct. 11, 2020

Korea’s shipbuilding industry picks up thanks to Greece

On recent orders from Greek shipping companies, South Korea’s shipbuilding industry regained the No. 1 spot from China in the third quarter of this year, data showed Sunday. According to UK-based market research firm Clarksons Research, Greece placed orders for 18 ships worth 589,421 compensated gross tonnage from Korean shipbuilders this year, accounting for 20.7 percent of Korea’s total orders this year and making Greece the No. 1 source of its orders. During the same period,

MobilityOct. 11, 2020

[Behind the Wheel] Volvo S90 taps into Korea’s cutthroat executive car market

With the launch of the facelifted luxury sedan S90 in Korea, Swedish automaker Volvo has thrown down the gauntlet to the German automotive brands that dominate the nation’s executive car market. In the executive car market, or E-segment, Koreans are avid buyers of German brands, such as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5-Series and Audi A6. The three models have a combined 77 percent share in the nation’s luxury E-segment market. Volvo, which boasts strong sales in sport utility

MobilityOct. 11, 2020

[From the Scene] National Institute of Ecology out to consolidate research, conservation goals in COVID-19 era

SEOCHEON, South Chungcheong Province - The year 2020 has been tough for the National Institute of Ecology, with the number of visitors and exhibition opportunities plummeting from the coronavirus outbreak. The wildlife center in Seocheon, South Chungcheong Province, attracted 994,966 visitors on its first full year of opening and stayed relatively popular, with 823,826 visitors last year, but for the first 9 months of 2020, the NIE welcomed just 161,834 visitors. And when The Korea Herald visi

TechnologyOct. 11, 2020

Corporate retirement pension funds’ poor returns draw flak

Corporate retirement pension funds managed by South Korea’s major commercial banks posted poor returns in the first half of the year, data showed Thursday. Low yields have also drawn criticism from a lawmaker here, who called for swift adoption of improvement measures in operating such funds. 　 Retirement pension funds managed by top commercial lenders saw their yield rates hover at 1.69 percent on average, according to the state regulator Financial Supervisory Service’s data acqui

MarketOct. 9, 2020

[Monitor] Govt. looks into status of self-employed Koreans

According to a survey of self-employed people who went out of business this spring and participated in a state-sponsored recovery program, it took them an average of 6.4 months to go bankrupt from the initiation of their entrepreneurship. The survey by Small Enterprise and Market Service looked at 400 self-employed people whose businesses had failed between April 20 and April 29, and was released by Rep. Ku Ja-keun on Thursday. Upon bankcruptcy, these self-employed people on average had an ou

IndustryOct. 9, 2020

Race for leadership heats up in local credit card market

Runners-up in the local credit card sector increased their market shares in the April-June period, upping the ante against South Korea’s largest card issuer, Shinhan Card, data showed Thursday. Overall sales from personal and corporate credit cards issued by the nation’s seven leading credit card companies, including Samsung Card, KB Kookmin Card and Hyundai Card, came in at 140.3 trillion won ($121.2 billion) in the second half, according to the state regulator, the Financial Supe

MarketOct. 9, 2020

Hyundai E&C wins $330m railway deal in Philippines

Hyundai Engineering & Construction said Friday it has signed a $330 million deal with the Philippine transportation ministry to participate in a local railway project. It is the first time for Hyundai E&C to win a construction project in the Philippines since it won a contract to build the Asian Development Bank headquarters building in 1986. Hyundai E&C will build two station buildings and a 17 kilometer-long railway on elevated bridges as part of the $573 million Malolos to Cla

IndustryOct. 9, 2020

Posco Energy files $800m suit against US firm over license deal

Posco Energy, a wholly owned energy unit of South Korean steelmaker Posco, said Friday it has filed a 922 billion-won ($800 million) claim against US-based FuelCell Energy for damages involving their license deal. On Wednesday, Posco Energy filed the suit with the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in London and Singapore, demanding FuelCell Energy pay for the loss of $800 million caused by the US firm's unilateral cancellation of their license contrac

IndustryOct. 9, 2020

Samsung, LG announce Q3 earnings surprise upon pent-up demand amid COVID-19

Samsung Electronics on Thursday announced an earnings surprise for the third quarter of this year, posting the largest operating profit in two years. The South Korean tech giant said in its preliminary earnings report that it would register 66 trillion won ($57.01 billion) in revenue and 12.3 trillion won in operating profit for the July to September period. It was a surprise, since the financial market’s profit forecasts hovered around 10 trillion won. If confirmed, the Q3 revenue

TechnologyOct. 8, 2020