SsangYong Motor files for court receivership

Cash-strapped SsangYong Motor on Monday filed for court receivership, after failing to pay back about 165 billion won ($149.5 million) worth of debts to its creditor banks. In a statement, the automaker said its executive board has made the decision to apply for corporate rehabilitation and related documents were submitted to the Seoul Bankruptcy Court in the afternoon. “We are truly sorry to worry all interested parties, financial institutes and employees at this time when the world

Dec. 21, 2020

T'way Air to lease three Airbus A330-300 jets

T’way Air has signed a letter of intent to lease three Airbus A330-300 jets late next year to introduce new medium and long-haul flights, the South Korean low-cost carrier said Monday. The move comes as part of the budget airline’s efforts to prepare for a rebound in air travel demand after the pandemic that has dealt a severe blow to the aviation industry is over. The budget airline currently operates 27 B737-800 chartered aircraft on routes to Vietnam, China, Japan and Taiwan. Bu

Dec. 21, 2020

T'way Air to adopt 3 A330-300 jets next year

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Monday it will adopt three A330-300s next year in preemptive efforts to meet the post-coronavirus travel demand. T'way Air has recently signed a letter of intent with European aircraft maker Airbus to lease the A330-300 passenger jets and plans to gradually inject them on the long-haul routes to Australia, Croatia, Singapore and Malaysia, the company said in a statement. T'way Air suspended most of its international routes in March as countries

Dec. 21, 2020

Hyundai Motor Group unveils AI-based Korean-English translation app

Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it has developed a Korean-English translation app to support smooth communication among its employees in local and overseas offices. Dubbed the H-Translator, the app is based on artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm and is specialized in the automobile industry, the South Korean automaker said. Hyundai explained that it has come to develop the translator to support timely communication and strengthen work efficiency, as the company has been actively recrui

Dec. 18, 2020

Korean Air CEO receives honor from French government for building ties

Korean Air CEO Cho Won-tae has been awarded with a gold medal of honor medal by the French government for his contributions to enhancing relations between Korea and France. During a ceremony in Seoul on Thursday, Franck Rieste, the visiting minister-delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness of France, bestowed the honor on the Korean businessman for continuing direct flights between the two countries despite a sharp decrease in passengers. The medal is given to those who have cont

Dec. 18, 2020

Hyundai Motor seeks to up stake in Turkey plant

Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday it seeks to raise its stake in its plant in Turkey by acquiring a 27 percent stake held by Kibar Holding in preparation for the post-coronavirus recovery. Early this month, Hyundai Motor submitted documents to the Turkish authorities to buy most of Kibar's stake in its local factory, a company spokesman said over the phone. The South Korean carmaker currently holds a 70 percent stake in the 230,000-unit-a-year plant in the northwestern city of Izmit, and Kibar ow

Dec. 18, 2020

Air Busan cabin crew to wear goggles on domestic flights

Low-cost carrier Air Busan will make goggles mandatory for all cabin crew from Thursday, including those on domestic flights, as South Korea struggles to rein in coronavirus outbreaks. Before, only those on international flights had to wear safety glasses. The company said the measure would “relieve the worries of passengers.” Korea announced over 1,000 new cases Thursday, with over 400 of those cases in Seoul. The new move will also see ground staff wear goggles and masks and be

Dec. 17, 2020

Hyundai JV, Lyft to launch driverless US robotaxi services in 2023

Motional, the Hyundai Motor-Aptiv joint venture, said Thursday it has partnered with US ride-sharing firm Lyft Inc. to launch driverless robotaxi services in major US cities in 2023. Motional said it plans to deploy fully autonomous vehicles, which are based on the Korean automaker Hyundai Motor's platform, in Lyft's ride-sharing network in the United States. Lyft has the second-biggest ride-sharing network in the world's most important automobile market after Uber Technologies Inc. The busin

Dec. 17, 2020

Korean Air, labor union agree to wage freeze, furlough amid pandemic

Korean Air Lines Co. and its labor union have agreed to freeze wages and put 70 percent of employees on furlough in the first half of 2021 to ride out the fallout of COVID-19, officials said Wednesday. About 70 percent of 12,600 employees at South Korea's largest air carrier have been taking unpaid leave since April as part of cost-cutting efforts to overcome the impact of the pandemic. In this year's negotiations, the management and the labor union agreed to freeze wages and maintain the furl

Dec. 16, 2020

Hyundai tops global hydrogen auto sales through Sept.

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. topped the global hydrogen vehicle sales in the first nine months of the year on rising demand for the Nexo model, data showed Monday. In the first nine months, Hyundai Motor sold a total of 4,917 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, accounting for 74 percent of the global hydrogen car market, according to data from local market research firm SNE Research. Toyota Motors Corp. ranked second with a share of 11.5 percent, or 767 vehicles, while Honda Motor Co. ran

Dec. 14, 2020

Asiana decides on capital reduction to improve financial status

Asiana Airlines Inc. said Monday it will cut its capital base to improve its financial status amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Shareholders approved a 3:1 capital reduction plan as the airline's capital erosion rate reached 56.3 percent at the end of June, a company spokesman said. "The company made the decision to avoid being designated as issues for administration or having its credit rating downgraded," he said over the phone. After the reduction, the number of Asiana's overall stocks

Dec. 14, 2020

Tesla accident: Faulty vehicle or bad driving?

South Korean police are investigating a Tesla crash that killed one person and injured two others last week, to see if defects in the vehicle could have played a role. The Yongsan Police Station said Sunday that the vehicle has been delivered to the National Forensic Service for a forensic investigation, after the Seoul Western District Court issued a search and seizure warrant Friday. The vehicle, a Tesla Model X produced this year, caught fire after crashing into a wall late Wednesday as i

Dec. 13, 2020

Hyundai Motor Group acquires US robotics firm

Hyundai Motor Group is taking the first major step toward transforming into a smart mobility solution provider, acquiring the world’s leading robotics firm, Boston Dynamics. The Korean conglomerate announced late Friday its agreement with SoftBank to acquire a controlling interest in the mobile robot firm, valued at $1.1 billion. Under the agreement, three Hyundai Motor companies and group Chairman Chung Euisun will together hold 80 percent of the firm’s shares, while SoftBank r

Dec. 13, 2020

Hyundai Motor to acquire 80-pct stake of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group said Friday its affiliates and its chairman will buy an 80-percent stake, worth up to 900 billion won ($828 million), in US robotics firm Boston Dynamics Inc. in the latest move to propel its future mobility business. The board of directors at Hyundai Motor and its two affiliates, Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Glovis, approved the plan to acquire the controlling stake in Boston Dynamics from Japanese investment firm SoftBank Group, Hyundai Motor said in a regulator

Dec. 11, 2020

Audi Volkswagen Korea to launch 8 EV models over 3 years

Audi Volkswagen Group has unveiled its electrification strategy and business plans in the Korean market over the next years. The group said in a digital press conference Friday its four affiliated brands -- Audi, Volkswagen, Lamborghini and Bentley -- will release more than 20 new models next year and eight electric car models within three years in the Korean market. The German automaker plans to increase the proportion of electric vehicle sales in Korea to 11 percent of the total sales b

Dec. 11, 2020

Virus-hit Jeju Air to receive state funding for survival

South Korea will inject 32.1 billion won (US$29 million) into the virus-hit budget carrier Jeju Air Co. to help it stay afloat amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, a state lender said Thursday. The Key Industry Stabilization Fund will extend 25.7 billion won in loans to Jeju Air and invest 6.4 billion won in the carrier's convertible bonds, the state-run Korea Development Bank, which operates the fund, said in a statement. Jeju Air, the country's biggest low-cost carrier, is required to tak

Dec. 10, 2020

Hyundai to invest W60tr by 2025

Hyundai Motor unveiled Thursday its new “2025 Strategy” for innovative mobility solutions and core business strategies such as electric vehicles, urban air mobility, autonomous driving, fuel cells and the hydrogen ecosystem. The nation’s largest automaker announced the plan during its CEO Investor Day forum held online for shareholders, analysts and credit rating agency officials. During the event, the company vowed to invest 60.1 trillion won ($55 billion) in future busines

Dec. 10, 2020

[Herald Interview] Korea eyes how to revitalize aviation industry

The year 2020 has been one marred by a global pandemic. For the aviation industry, it was a time of unseen hardships. Countries around the world took a different approach to the virus crisis as some tried to maintain the flow of people while others were quick to close down the borders. South Korea‘s strategy was to balance the two apporaches, said Kim Sang-do, deputy minister for civil aviation at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. “We did a great job preemptive

Dec. 9, 2020

Kia Motors workers to strike again for three days

Kia Motors’ labor union on Wednesday began a partial strike, its third collective action this year, following the collapse of negotiations over wages and other issues a day earlier. Lost production from strikes this year is expected to exceed 30,000 vehicles. Representatives of the management and the union held talks for two days, but failed to reach a compromise. Following the talks’ collapse at midnight Tuesday, the union decided to cut work short by four hours per day for three

Dec. 9, 2020

Korean Air completes first cold-chain delivery of COVID-19 vaccine materials

In a country first, Korean Air transported raw materials used to make COVID-19 vaccine from Korea to the Netherlands on Tuesday, the company said Wednesday. The South Korean flag carrier used a cold-chain system to deliver the packages weighing 800 kilograms, including containers and dry ice. Of the 800 kilograms, 208 kilograms is dry ice in special containers to keep temperatures below minus 60 degrees Celsius for some 120 hours – a threshold required to safely transport raw materials f

Dec. 9, 2020