Hotel Lotte mulls employee stock ownership plan

South Korean retail giant Lotte's hotel unit has been working on an employee stock ownership scheme as part of preparations to list its stocks on the Seoul bourse, company officials said Sunday. Hotel Lotte, a unit of South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group, plans to submit an application next month for a preliminary regulatory review of its initial public offering .The company said it has been preparing to establish an employee stock ownership association under the regulation that

Dec. 6, 2015

All public firms agree to adopt wage peak system

All of South Korea's public corporations have agreed to adopt the wage peak system, which delays the mandatory retirement age in return for lower wages as part of labor reform measures, the finance ministry said Sunday.The wage peak system calls for the retirement age of workers to be pushed back, giving them greater job security. The same people benefiting from this, on the other hand, must accept lower wages just before retirement. The money saved will be used to hire new employees in a kind o

Dec. 6, 2015

Samsung Engineering wins US$880 mln plant order

Samsung Engineering Co., South Korea's top engineering firm, said Friday that it has a received a US$880 million order to build petrochemical plants in Malaysia.Under the deal with state-run utility firm Petronas, Samsung Engineering will construct plants that produce polyethylene and other chemicals in Pengerang, southern Johor, by 2019.Petronas is cultivating a refinery and petrochemical integrated development project (RAPID) and other associated facilities in Pengerang, Malaysia.Last year, Sa

Dec. 4, 2015

Asiana to temporarily halt flights to Vladivostok, Bali, Yangon

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's No. 2 full-service carrier, said Friday that it will temporarily suspend flight services to Vladivostok, Bali and Yangon due to weak demand.The company said it will halt flights to Vladivostok in Russia's Far East starting Feb. 1, while services to Indonesia's resort of Bali and Myanmar's capital will be discontinued March 1.Asiana currently operates four weekly flights to the Russian port city and two to the two Southeast Asian destinations.The company said i

Dec. 4, 2015

Samsung's new mobile chief seeks stability over change

Samsung Electronics Co.'s new leader for its flagship mobile business said Wednesday he will not seek an all-out reshuffle of the business, but instead seek stability.The remark came after Koh Dong-jin, who was previously in charge of the mobile research and development, was named to head Samsung's Mobile Communications Business on Tuesday."There will be no large-scale changes," Koh told reporters briefly, when asked if the Mobile Communications Business will go through restructuring, possibly t

Dec. 2, 2015

Samsung names new head for mobile business

South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group on Tuesday appointed a new head for its flagship mobile business, which is struggling with falling margins amid rising competition from low-end smartphone makers and Apple Inc.Under its annual executive-level reshuffle, Koh Dong-jin, who was previously in charge of the mobile research and development, was promoted to head Samsung Electronics Co.'s Mobile Communications Business.Shin Jong-kyun, meanwhile, will remain as the head of the IT & Mobile Comm

Dec. 1, 2015

Samsung cuts jobs amid restructuring efforts

South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group has shed more than 5,000 jobs over the past year, data showed Thursday, reflecting its struggle to cut costs amid a prolonged economic slump.The key affiliates of South Korea's iconic conglomerate saw their combined workforce reach 212,331 as of end-September, compared with 217,685 a year earlier, the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service showed.Group flagship Samsung Electronics Co.'s payroll came to 98,577 as of end-September, down 999

Nov. 19, 2015

Lotte founder's first son sues holding firm chief over family feud

The eldest son of the Lotte Group founder said Thursday he has sued the chief of Lotte Holdings Co. for the head's role in driving him out, waging a sideline attack against his younger brother as part of a long-running sibling power struggle. Lotte, South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate, is mired in a leadership dispute between group founder Shin Kyuk-ho's two sons -- Dong-joo and Dong-bin -- who had each controlled the company's operations in Japan and Korea until earlier this year. While Do

Nov. 13, 2015

10-year jail term sought for Hyosung chairman over tax evasion, embezzlement

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors sought a 10-year jail term on Monday for a business tycoon accused of creating slush funds and evading taxes of over 800 billion won (US$690 million) in total.Prosecutors demanded the sentence at a trial at the Seoul Central District Court against Cho Suck-rai, chairman of conglomerate Hyosung Group, saying that the group's accounting fraud amounts to 890 billion won over a decade from 1999.Prosecutors also demanded 300 billion won in fines. "While he degraded the c

Nov. 9, 2015

GE opens collaboration office in S. Korea

PAJU (Yonhap) – The U.S. industrial giant General Electric opened a collaboration office in the South Korean border city of Paju Monday as part of efforts to expand business in preparation of the unification of the two Koreas.GE held an opening ceremony to celebrate the opening of its office at Paju City Hall near the western border with North Korea.The ceremony drew some 80 people, including GE Korea head Kang Sung-wook, Paju Mayor Lee Jae-hong, Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, and Kim Moo-s

Nov. 9, 2015

Samsung may face sanctions for violating investment laws

Authorities are poised to slap sanctions on Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group for violating investment regulations when it merged Samsung C&T with Cheil Industries in September, sources said on Friday.The Fair Trade Commission has yet to pinpoint the violations, but industry watchers say the agency is likely to zero in on the newly created investment rotunda binding the Samsung affiliates together. For instance, the newly merged entity holds stakes in Samsung Life, which holds stakes in Sam

Nov. 6, 2015

POSCO Chief calls for China to cut steel supplies

POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon lamented the global steel industry’s overwhelming supply in his first interview with a local business daily Thursday.Kwon said the oversupply, fueled mainly by ramped-up production from China, is turning the markets lopsided. With that in mind, the chairman called for China to cut its steel supply by at least 30 percent.Between 2005 and 2014, China’s steel production doubled to 820 million tons from 350 million tons. Global production also rose, but until last year th

Nov. 6, 2015

LG Electronics starts global sales of V10

LG Electronics Inc. started global sales of its latest dual-display smartphone, the V10, on Friday, one day after it reported disappointing quarterly earnings for its mobile business.Starting this month, the V10, showcased earlier in October, will reach the United States, and gradually head to China, Latin America, and Europe in the near future, the company said.The 5.7-inch LG V10 features a QHD IPS Quantum display and a small rectangular screen above the larger screen. Although the display see

Oct. 30, 2015

Lenovo to open service center in Korea

Chinese electronics giant Lenovo Group said Friday it will open a service center in South Korea as part of its efforts to expand its market presence here.Lenovo said the center, which will open on Monday, aims to provide customers with faster and better service. Currently, Lenovo's China-based service centers provide support to South Korean users.It will mark the first time Lenovo has opened a service center outside China in the Asia-Pacific region.Chinese companies have been rushing to tap into

Oct. 30, 2015

LG Electronics drops suit against Dyson in Australia

South Korea tech firm LG Electronics Inc. said Friday it has decided to withdraw its lawsuit against Dyson filed earlier this week in Australia over a controversial advertisement, as they have reached an out-of-court settlement.On Tuesday, the South Korean player asked an Australian court to ban British manufacturer Dyson's V6 vacuum cleaner advertisement that read "the most powerful cordless vacuum" and "twice the suction power of all cordless vacuums." LG claimed that such remarks mislead cons

Oct. 30, 2015

Lotte suffers over 1tn won loss in China: chairman's brother

Lotte Shopping, a key retail unit of Lotte Group, has racked up a huge loss from its Chinese operations over the past four years, the elder brother of the group chairman claimed Wednesday, demanding a right to review the firm's financial report. Shin Dong-joo, the elder son of Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho, filed several legal suits against Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, his younger brother, to nullify his dismissal from executive posts from Lotte Holdings Japan and to gain the right see and c

Oct. 28, 2015

20 Lotte affiliates meet IPO requirements

One in four unlisted affiliates of South Korea's retail giant Lotte Group are found to meet requirements for a stock market debut, data showed Wednesday.The conglomerate has pledged to simplify its governance structure and boost its managerial transparency through a set of measures, including initial public offerings, after a bitter family feud over control of the retail conglomerate. Currently, Lotte has eight publicly traded affiliates here, with the key units being linked through unlisted Jap

Oct. 28, 2015

Union of Daewoo Shipbuilding OKs demands of creditors

The union of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. agreed to self-secure plans, officials said Monday, a move that could lead to an injection of additional funds from creditors."We made a final decision to submit a letter of consent to the creditors," Hyun Si-han, the head of the union, said in the country's southeastern island of Geoje Island, home to South Korea's shipyard operations.Yoon Yo-han, a spokesman of Daewoo Shipbuilding in Seoul, said the management and labor are likely to su

Oct. 27, 2015

SK Networks applies for two duty-free licenses in Seoul

SK Networks said Tuesday it hopes to keep its existing duty-free store in a luxury hotel in eastern Seoul and wants to open another in Dongdaemun, a major fashion district, to expand its retail sector.The trading and hotel unit under SK Group is up against Lotte, Shinsegae and Doosan in a heated competition to win three operating licenses for Seoul duty-free stores that are set to expire this year. SK Networks has a store in the Sheraton Grand Walkerhill Hotel in the southeastern part of the cap

Oct. 27, 2015

LG Electronics sues Dyson in Australia over advert

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against British manufacturer Dyson over an advertisement in Australia claiming that its vacuum cleaners perform better than those made by the South Korean maker.In the advertisement rolled out only in Australia, Dyson said its V6 cleaner is "the most powerful cordless vacuum" and boasts "twice the suction power of all cordless vacuums." LG claimed that such remarks can mislead consumers and decided to ask Australia's federal court to ban th

Oct. 27, 2015