Korea Aerospace wins W180b T-50 parts supply deal

Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI) said Wednesday it has received a 180 billion-won ($152 million) deal to supply parts and maintenance services to the T-50 trainer jets operated by the Korean military. Under the deal signed with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the country's sole aircraft manufacturer will provide parts to the T-50 advanced trainer jets, the FA-50 light attack aircraft and the TA-50 lead-in fighter aircraft until July 2025, the company said in a statement. &

IndustryDec. 15, 2021

Regulator approves restart of nuclear reactor after maintenance

South Korea's nuclear safety watchdog on Wednesday approved the restart of a nuclear reactor in the country's southwestern nuclear complex that was shut down for an inspection. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said it has given the go-ahead to restart the Wolsong No. 4, 700-megawatt reactor, in Gyeongju, 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The Wolsong No. 4 nuclear power reactor, which first started operations in 1999, has been shut down since Oct. 10 for regular maintenance. The com

EconomyDec. 15, 2021

Samsung, LG Electronics to debut innovative products at CES 2022

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's two biggest consumer electronics companies, will unveil a slew of innovative products at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) set to open early next month in Las Vegas. The two companies are among the approximately 1,700 businesses from around the world and about 300 South Korean companies that will attend the event to showcase their consumer electronics and latest technologies, promising to change the way people live their

IndustryDec. 15, 2021

Use of robots results in 'meaningful' decline in human labor demand in manufacturing: BOK report

Expanded use of robots has resulted in a "meaningful" decline in demand for human labor in the manufacturing industry while replacing mostly "routine" and "repetitive" jobs, a central bank report said Wednesday. The Bank of Korea's report was based on data related to introduction of robots in industries and the impact on employment from 2010-2019. It analyzed the net effect of the "displacement effect" in which robots replace workers and "productivit

EconomyDec. 15, 2021

Money supply up 1.1% on-month in October

South Korea's money supply grew in October on increased savings amid higher interest rates on deposits, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 3,550.6 trillion won ($3 trillion) as of end-October, up 1.1 percent, or 38 trillion won, from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The growth slightly quickened from the previous month's 0.5 percent gain. Compared with a year earlier, the money supply

EconomyDec. 15, 2021

Auto exports down 4.7% in Nov. amid lack of automotive chips

South Korea's automobile exports fell nearly 5 percent in November from a year earlier due to a global shortage of automotive chips, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of automobiles came to 178,994 units last month, down 4.7 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, however, exports advanced 3.3 percent to $4.12 billion in November, the largest monthly tally since April when the supply bottlene

EconomyDec. 15, 2021

Seoul shares open lower ahead of Fed meeting

Seoul shares opened lower Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as investors eyed the Federal Reserve's rate decision this week.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 9.40 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,978.55 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Tuesday (US time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 percent to 35,544.18, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 1.1 percent to 15,237.64. Investors are waiting on cues from the two-day Fed me

MarketDec. 15, 2021

Job growth extended for 9th month in Nov. amid economic recovery

South Korea reported job additions for the ninth straight month in November in the latest sign the country's economic recovery has continued despite the latest upsurge in COVID-19 cases, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 27.79 million last month, 553,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The reading was lower than an on-year increase of 652,000 in October. But the number of employed people has risen since March as Asia's fo

EconomyDec. 15, 2021

KT&G suspends tobacco business in US amid growing regulations

  KT&G Corp., South Korea's dominant tobacco company, will suspend its tobacco business in the United States for an unspecified period, the company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. "We need to conduct a review of our business in the US amid intensifying regulations over tobacco and growing competition," the company said, referring to a hostile business environment, such as the US Food and Drug Administration's recent move to introduce a bill to curb nicotine content an

IndustryDec. 14, 2021

Busan starts campaign to host Expo 2030 world fair

Busan started its campaign Tuesday to host the Expo 2030 world fair at a virtual meeting convened by the organizing body Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), Busan Metropolitan City said. Busan -- one of five cities including Rome, Moscow, Odessa and Riyadh to have submitted the bid -- was the first city to make its case online. The Busan mayor leading the Korean delegation proposed holding the fair under the theme: “The era of great change: Sailing toward a better future.”

EconomyDec. 14, 2021

Upbit operator Dunamu vows to go global

Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, aims to become a global platform for all types of exchanges, its chief said Tuesday. “In the future, Dunamu will establish a trading channel for all digital assets to discover new opportunities such as metaverses and non-fungible tokens,” said Dunamu CEO Lee Sirgoo in an online press conference held on its recently-launched metaverse platform 2ndblock. “Taking a step further from being a platform f

IndustryDec. 14, 2021

KB chairman vows to cooperate with ASEAN banks for carbon neutrality

South Korea’s KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo vowed to cooperate with ASEAN banks in achieving carbon neutrality at a leadership meeting of the UN-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the firm said Tuesday. “As a representative of Asia in this meeting, KB will focus on spreading and supporting net-zero initiatives in ASEAN nations where we have a vast network of businesses,” Yoon said at the NZBA Steering Group Principals Meeting held via video conference on Monday.

MarketDec. 14, 2021

Seoul stocks down for 3rd day amid FOMC uncertainties

South Korean stocks retreated for a third consecutive session Tuesday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of a meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 31.71 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 2,987.95 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 566 million shares worth some 9.2 trillion won (US$7.8 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 574 to 284. Foreigners

MarketDec. 14, 2021

LG debuts hyperscale AI Exaone

LG Group’s AI research hub LG AI Research on Tuesday unveiled its new “ultra-large” artificial intelligence language model Exaone that boasts more parameters than any other similar models created by its South Korean rivals. Exaone, which refers to “expert AI for everyone,” has some 300 billion different parameters or variables that it can tune in. Being large means that the AI model has a better capacity to process data more efficiently and perform more advanced l

TechnologyDec. 14, 2021

Dyson’s formaldehyde-busting air purifiers hit Seoul

UK-based home appliance maker Dyson said Tuesday it started selling its air purifiers equipped with technologies to sense and destroy indoor air pollutants including formaldhyde more precisely in South Korea. Its new fanless air purifiers feature algorithm-powered, solid-state formaldehyde sensors that distinguish the colorless gas pollutant from other volatile organic compounds. Dyson said the solid-state sensor, using electrochemical cell technology, is superior to gel-based sensors in that

TechnologyDec. 14, 2021

Samsung Biologics to manufacture AstraZeneca’s Evusheld

Samsung Biologics will begin manufacturing AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 antibody combination Evusheld by expanding their earlier deal, officials said Tuesday. The newly expanded deal is estimated at $380 million, up about $50 million from the initial contract of the two pharmaceutical giants’ long-term strategic partnership signed in September 2020. Evusheld, formerly known as AZD7442, is a combination of two long-acting antibodies, tixagevimab and cilgavimab. It has the effect of prev

IndustryDec. 14, 2021

LX Holdings chairman prepares to complete spinoff by selling stake in LG

LX Holdings, a holding company which was established in May by taking four non-electronics affiliates from LG group, said Tuesday that its Chairman Koo Bon-joon has sold his stake in LG Group to complete the spinoff procedure. The company said Koo Bon-joon’s stake in LG Group has reduced to 2.04 percent from 7.72 percent. Together with his family’s stake, Koo’s total stake is now at 2.96 percent, meeting the prerequisite of the chief and relatives owning no more than 3 percen

IndustryDec. 14, 2021

LG Energy Solution, Siemens team up for smart manufacturing

LG Energy Solution, the battery-making unit of LG Group, said Tuesday it has joined forces with German industrial giant Siemens to upgrade its battery plants into more advanced smart factories. Under a deal signed earlier in the day, the battery firm agreed to adopt Siemens’ software and other technologies to build an “intelligent manufacturing system.” Intelligent manufacturing, or smart manufacturing, is designed to optimize energy efficiency and quality control at product

TechnologyDec. 14, 2021

Property investment platform operator Kasa attracts W19b

Kasa Korea Co., operator of a digital property investment platform, said Tuesday that it has attracted 19 billion won ($16 million) from six investors to enhance security for trading and other necessary infrastructure. The investment, from investors including PGS Partners, WeMade, Arche Investment and Yuanta Investment, raised the total funds Kasa Korea has received to about 40 billion won, according to Kasa Korea. The fintech startup said it will use 19 billion won to enhance the security sys

IndustryDec. 14, 2021

S. Korea's ICT exports hit new monthly high in Nov.

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products touched a new monthly high in November on brisk global demand for chips and displays, data showed Tuesday. Outbound shipments of ICT products reached $21.49 billion last month, up 30 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The November tally represents the largest-ever monthly amount and the 18th consecutive month of on-year gains since June last year. ICT

EconomyDec. 14, 2021