Drug Ministry cancels approval of 6 botulinum products

The licenses of six botulinum drugs will be revoked on Dec. 13, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday. The Drug Ministry said the drugs were being sold in the country without obtaining the state approval to sell them in the domestic market. The drugs are four of Hugel’s Botulax units and two of Pharma Research Bio’s ReNTox units. The Drug Ministry will also shut down Pharma Research Bio’s production for six months, citing that the biopharmaceutical firm&

Dec. 2, 2021

SK Group retains CEOs, delays decision on chairman’s brother

SK Group, the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, seems to be opting for stability rather than drastic changes in its year-end executive reshuffle, retaining all the CEOs at its key affiliates. While maintaining the top brass, 133 new executives are receiving promotions, the largest class in the past three years, in an apparent move to add weight to its new growth engine businesses that are still in their nascent phases with the potential to lead the group’s future. “Almos

Dec. 2, 2021

Incheon Airport’s debt ratio nears 70% over plunging travel demand

Incheon Airport on Thursday forecast its debt ratio to spike to nearly 70 percent this year due to a plunge in flight operations and travelers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The airport operator said in a press conference that flight operations are likely to have dropped 19 percent from last year, and travelers by 70 percent on-year. The downturn has hurt revenue, as the airport’s sales stood at 490.5 billion won ($416 million), a 55 percent drop from last year. The airport sought to respo

Dec. 2, 2021

'Political blessing' needed to launch EARC

The biggest obstacles in implementing the East Asia Railway Community are stalled inter-Korean relations and geopolitical confrontation between China and the US, a former presidential adviser told a Transport Ministry forum Thursday. “The EARC is needed to overcome the continental-maritime divide along the Korean Peninsula, which is the old relic of the Cold War system, to open a new horizon of prosperity by tapping into the northern frontier to facilitate functional spillover effects on

Dec. 2, 2021

NIPA holds IoT Korea Online Business Meeting

The 2021 IoT Korea Online Business Meeting held by National IT Industry Promotion Agency from Nov. 2-4 wrapped up with several agreements reached by participating firms. Nearly 370 business meetings were arranged over the three days at the Pangyo 2nd Techno Valley Corporate Support Hubs. Small and medium-sized IoT companies in Korea have been seeking routes into overseas markets and have been doing so at large global trade shows every year. However, due to the pandemic, online export confere

Dec. 2, 2021

New book offers tips for businesses on metaverse

Business leaders who planned and built a metaverse platform have written a book on the subject of the metaverse -- a virtual world that incorporates augmented reality and avatars, among other things, in parallel to the physical world. Choi Jin-young, CEO of The Korea Herald; Ryu Seong-taek, CEO of Hyundai Futurenet, an affiliate of Hyundai Department Store; and Song Min-jae and Choo Sun-woo, CEOs of Meta Factory, co-authored “The Metaverse Management,” based on their discussions as

Dec. 2, 2021

Consumer price growth hits decade high

SEJONG -- The growth in consumer prices posted the highest in almost a decade last month with prices of daily necessities such as diesel and agricultural products surging, sparking concerns over its impact on households. Statistics Korea said Thursday that consumer prices climbed 3.7 percent on-year in November, which marked the highest increase since the 4.2 percent growth in December 2011. Consumer prices increased over 3 percent for the second consecutive month, following a 3.2 percent gro

Dec. 2, 2021

SK hynix sets up new US business unit

SK hynix, the chip-making affiliate of SK Group, said Thursday that it has set up a new business unit solely dedicated to the US market where the memory chip giant has made a renewed push to secure a firm footing and expand partnership with local tech firms. The new unit, called American Business Team, is one of the three new units established under the direct influence of CEO Lee Seok-hee, as part of the company’s year-end executive reshuffle and organizational overhaul. The other two u

Dec. 2, 2021

[Herald Interview] Do you have a best friend at office? Human connection crucial for work efficiency, says behavioral scientist

After COVID-19 forced many aspects of our lives to become more isolated, the world is making a gradual move to return to how we used to be. Commuting to work has resumed and team lunches have been revived, although people still wear their masks and transparent acrylic panels have been erected between people at the tables.  Although South Korea kicked off its “living with COVID-19” scheme with eased social distancing rules on Nov. 1, still today many are suffering from soc

Dec. 2, 2021

Seoul stocks rally for 2nd day on strong foreign buying

South Korean stocks rallied for second straight session Thursday on the back of strong foreign buying. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) increased 45.55 points, or 1.57 percent, to close at 2,945.27 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 523 million shares worth some 11.8 trillion won ($10 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 756 to 139. Foreigners bought a net 886 billion won, while retail investors sold 915 billion

Dec. 2, 2021

[Battery+] 2nd urea crisis? Four metals China can weaponize to sink S. Korean EV battery firms

The ongoing urea solution shortage in South Korea is just a trailer. The real movie hasn’t even started yet. China can always send another wave of supply chain crises to Korea, and next time, the electric vehicle battery industry could be the target. According to Hana Financial Investment Thursday, electric vehicle batteries manufactured in South Korea by LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On are heavily dependent on Chinese metals. “The three companies source 71 percent

Dec. 2, 2021

Korea to foster 89,000 more software talents by 2025

South Korea will foster 89,000 more people specialized in software technology by 2025 to cope with a shortage of digital talent in the future, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday. Unveiling the government’s plan to support younger generations in times of digital transformation, the ministry said a total of 413,000 software professionals will be supplied over the next five years. The government’s original plan was to raise 324,000 software talents, but the expected demand

Dec. 2, 2021

More listed units of biz groups adopt e-voting for small shareholders

More listed units of South Korea's major business groups have adopted electronic voting and other types of voting this year than a year earlier in a bid to promote small shareholders' rights, the country's antitrust regulator said Thursday. As of May, 78.8 percent of 274 listed affiliates of the country's 62 major conglomerates, or 216 firms, had introduced at least one out of cumulative, written or e-voting systems, the Fair Trade Commission said in a report on large business groups' governanc

Dec. 2, 2021

Doosan Robotics launches unmanned modular robot cafe

Doosan Robotics Co. said Thursday it has produced an unmanned modular robot cafe in cooperation with Folletto Robotics, a local unmanned beverage manufacturing system maker. Doosan Robotics is a subsidiary wholly owned by Doosan Corp., a holding company of Doosan Group, South Korea's 15th largest conglomerate by asset. The unmanned modular robot cafe is a kind of collaborative robot, which refers to a robot that can work with a human. The unmanned modular robot cafe can be manufactured by put

Dec. 2, 2021

Hyundai Rotem wins W219b tram cars order in Canada

Hyundai Rotem Co., a South Korean railway system and plant equipment maker, said Thursday it has received a 219 billion won ($186 million) order to supply tram cars to Canada. Under the deal, Hyundai Rotem will supply tram cars for the Valley Line West to be built between the downtown of Edmonton, Alberta, and the western part of the city by June 2027, the company said in a statement. The company didn't provide the volume of tram cars. Hyundai Rotem beat rivals such as Germany's Siemens AG,

Dec. 2, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower on virus woes

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street that stemmed from worries about the global outbreaks of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 9.42 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,890.3 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came off to a weak start, led by foreign and institutional sell-offs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.34 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite de

Dec. 2, 2021

Inflation growth hits 10-year high in Nov. amid rising oil prices

South Korea's consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in nearly 10 years in November due to surging energy costs and high prices of farm products, data showed Thursday, underscoring a build-up in inflationary pressure amid economic recovery. The consumer prices increased 3.7 percent in November from a year earlier, accelerating from a 3.2 percent on-year gain in October, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Consumer inflation rose 0.4 percent in November from a month ago. It m

Dec. 2, 2021

Hyundai, Kia's US sales fall 13% on chip shortage

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Thursday their combined sales in the United States fell 13 percent last month from a year earlier amid the global chip shortage. Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 89,663 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market in November from 103,068 units a year ago, according to the companies' sales data. Hyundai's US sales fell 20 percent to 44,345 units from 55,171 over the cited period, while Kia's declined 5.4 percent to 45,318 from 47,

Dec. 2, 2021

S. Korea's Q3 economic growth unchanged at 0.3%: BOK

South Korea's economy grew at the same pace as earlier forecast in the third quarter of the year despite better-than-expected private consumption and robust exports, central bank data showed Thursday. The country's gross domestic product adjusted for inflation grew 0.3 percent in the July-September period, compared with three months earlier, according to the preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). This is the same as the earlier estimate the central bank announced in late October. Annual

Dec. 2, 2021

Posco Chemical enters US EV battery market via GM joint venture

Posco Chemical and General Motors will form a joint venture and build a factory in North America to locally produce key electric vehicle materials, the two companies announced Thursday. Once completed in 2024, the new facility will produce and supply cathodes to Ultium Cells, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, which is building two EV factories in Ohio and Tennessee. Though size and location remain unclear, this is Posco Chemical’s first expansion to the US. Cathodes a

Dec. 2, 2021