S. Korea 'important' for Mercedes-Benz, serves as test bed: exec

South Korea is a very "important" market for Mercedes-Benz and also serves as a test bed full of "educated" and "demanding" customers, a senior company official said Tuesday.Ola Kallenius, who is a member of the board of management of Daimler AG and responsible for Mercedes-Benz's marketing and sales, said that it will broaden its product portfolio available to customers in Korea, a move aimed at propping up its growth."The Korean market is very important to Mercedes-Benz. It is one of our top 1

May 26, 2015

Watchdog sanctions LG Chem for unfair trade practices

South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Tuesday that it has sanctioned chemical giant LG Chem Ltd. for unfair trade practices against its subcontractors and called for criminal investigations to be launched.The Fair Trade Commission said that it has ordered LG Chem, one of the world's largest manufacturers of rechargeable batteries, to pay 141 million won ($128,400) in compensation to partners and slapped 50 million won in fines."LG Chem unlawfully demanded and used information on a patented batte

May 26, 2015

Liquidation looms large for handset maker Pantech

Cash-strapped South Korea handset maker Pantech Co. said Tuesday it has asked a local court to end its receivership as no viable investors sought to take over the once No. 2 handset maker in the country.Pantech, which was put under court protection August last year, has been on the selling block, but rounds of bids to sell the handset maker fell through due to lack of viable investors.If the Seoul Central District Court court accepts Pantech's call, the handset maker will face liquidation."Despi

May 26, 2015

Samsung narrows gap with Intel in chip sales

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's top chipmaker, narrowed its gap with No. 1 global player Intel Corp. in chip sales in the first quarter of the year, data showed Friday.  Samsung's chip sales increased 6 percent on-year in the January-March period to $9.33 billion, the data compiled by industry tracker IC Insights showed. In contrast, Intel's semiconductor shipment remained nearly unchanged at $11.63 billion over the cited period.  Foundry operator Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fo

May 22, 2015

Samsung C&T signs deal to build commercial complex in Malaysia

South Korea's top builder Samsung C&T Corp. said Thursday that it has signed a deal to construct a commercial complex in Malaysia that is estimated at $160 million.  Under the contract signed with UMLand, a local property developer, Samsung C&T said it will carry out the "UMCity Medina Lakeside" project to construct buildings on a land site of 168,900 square meters in Iskandar, Malaysia. This includes construction of four towers that will host hotels and offices.  The construction project will s

May 21, 2015

SK Telecom joins race for data-oriented rate plan

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, said Tuesday it will start selling a new rate plan that offers unlimited calls and text messages and charges only based on the amount of data that subscribers use, joining the race with two local rivals as mobile trends shift to data-focused services.   The mobile carrier said in a statement that it will start selling the new data-oriented rate plan nationwide Wednesday.   The announcement came a week after smaller rival LG Uplus Inc. rolled out

May 19, 2015

Creditors to sell Kumho Industrial to Kumho chairman

Creditors of South Korean construction firm Kumho Industrial Co. have decided to sell their stake in the company to the chief of Kumho Asiana Group after a recent sales bid fell through due to differences over a price, the lead manager for the sale said Monday.Some 98 percent of the creditors who hold a combined 57.54 percent stake in Kumho Industrial have voted for the plan to sell their holdings to chairman Park Sam-goo and his son, Se-chang, according to statement by Korea Development Bank, w

May 18, 2015

Lotte officially reopens controversial skyscraper

South Korean retail giant Lotte Group officially reopened its namesake skyscraper in Seoul on Tuesday, nearly five months after parts of it were shut down due to safety concerns.The 123-story Lotte World Tower, set to be South Korea's tallest structure upon its completion in 2016, was initially allowed to open in October. Two months later, some of the facilities were shut down pending an investigation into water seepage at its aquarium and vibrations at the movie theater.Last week, the Seoul cit

May 12, 2015

SoftBank may resume sales of Samsung handsets: sources

Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank Corp. will likely resume sales of Samsung Electronics Co.'s mobile phones in Japan this month after a four-year hiatus, industry sources said Tuesday. According to the sources, SoftBank is expected to supply the Galaxy S6, just released in April, to the Japanese market late this month. Currently, Samsung's new lineup is sold through other rivals, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI.SoftBank has not been selling Samsung handsets as the firm instead focused on sales of Apple Inc.'

May 12, 2015

Samsung only chipmaker to expand capex in 2015: sources

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's top tech giant, is expected to become the only major chipmaker around the globe to expand facility investment this year, industry sources said Tuesday.According to the sources, global industry leader Intel Corp. is expected to allocate US$8.7 billion to facility investment this year, down $1.3 billion from 2014.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is also expected to slash the amount by $1 billion to $10.5 billion this year.In contrast, Samsung announced

May 12, 2015

CJ E&M to support YouTube content creators' reach to world

South Korea's leading content and media company CJ E&M  Thursday launched a new project supporting YouTube video creators to help them advance to the global market.The company said it will expand its two-year-old Multi-Channel Network service under the rechristened brand name, DIA TV, an acronym for Digital Influence & Artist TV, by discovering new earning sources, increasing the number of platforms and supporting content creators' advance to the world stage.Multi-channel networks are organizati

May 7, 2015

Samsung Electronics breaks ground on new chip line

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. broke ground on a new chip-production line on Thursday, aiming to further expand its clout in the semiconductor sector amid its ailing smartphone business.The 15.6 trillion won ($14.4 billion) chip line in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, is scheduled to be ready to start production in the first half of 2017. It marks Samsung's largest-ever investment in a single production line.Samsung estimates the new plant will likely generate som

May 7, 2015

Samsung Electronics breaks ground on new chip line

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. broke ground on a new chip-production line on Thursday, aiming to further expand its clout in the semiconductor sector amid its ailing smartphone business.The 15.6 trillion won ($14.4 billion) chip line in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, is scheduled to be ready to start production in the first half of 2017. It marks Samsung's largest-ever investment in a single production line.Samsung estimates the new plant will likely generate som

May 7, 2015

Hyundai, Kia face tough road in achieving annual sales goals

Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. logged lower-than-expected sales during the first four months of this year, raising worries that they might not be able to achieve their annual sales targets for this year.Hyundai Motor, South Korea's leading automaker, earlier aimed to sell 5.05 million cars this year, while No. 2 Kia Motors targeted 3.15 million units. The two pushed to sell a combined 8.2 million units, up 195,000 from last year.Sales figures so far this year, howev

May 7, 2015

Galleria eyes 90 bln won in Jeju duty-free sales for 2015

South Korean retailer Hanwha Galleria said Wednesday it aims to raise sales at its Jeju duty-free branch to 90 billion won ($83 million) this year on a continued influx of Chinese shoppers to the country's southern resort island.The Hanwha affiliate began operations of its first duty-free store in Jeju last year after winning an operational license to run a 409-square-meter duty-free shop in the island's sole airport.The airport branch, which preliminary opened in April last year, has proven to

May 6, 2015

SK Telecom Q1 net soars 66 pct

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, said Wednesday its first-quarter net profit hiked 65.6 percent from a year earlier, mainly due to the absence of one-off costs. Net income reached 442.8 billion won ($409.5 million) in the January-March period, compared with 267.3 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.The figure, however, falls far short of the median consensus of 512 billion won in a poll conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yon

May 6, 2015

Samsung to unveil VR device for Galaxy S6 smartphones

South Korea's top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it will release its new virtual-reality device later this week that works on its latest Galaxy S6 smartphones.The new Samsung Gear VR device, which will be slightly smaller than the previous version that links with the Galaxy Note 4 through a micro USB port, will be available for purchase with a price tag of 249,000 won ($230.19) starting Thursday. It will come in one color, white.The first version of the Samsung Gear VR was sho

May 6, 2015

Renault Samsung seeks to introduce Twizy ultra-small EV in S. Korea

Renault Samsung Motors Co., the local unit of French automaker Renault SA, said Monday that it is seeking to introduce its popular Twizy ultra-small electric vehicle in South Korea amid "satisfactory" progress in talks with relevant authorities for its sale here.The Twizy is a battery-powered two-passenger electric vehicle that produces no emissions. Renault started to sell the vehicle in Paris and other global markets in 2012, but not in South Korea, as it has not met local safety and other reg

May 4, 2015