4 companies to recall over 14,000 vehicles

Honda Motor Co., Audi Volkswagen Korea and two other companies will voluntarily recall over 14,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Friday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers operating in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The four companies, including Scania Korea Group and Ford Sales Service Korea, are recalling a combined 14,217 units due to faulty components in five models, the Ministry of Land, Infra

Jan. 15, 2021

[Newsmaker] Galaxy S21 comes with striking design change, most powerful processor

Samsung Galaxy S21, unveiled Thursday at midnight, boasts a new, striking design and is equipped with the most powerful processor yet. Plus, it comes with a lowered price tag. Samsung streamed the Galaxy S21 Unpacked show through various online channels to introduce its flagship smartphones for 2021 -- Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra -- one month earlier than previous years. The Ultra model supports the S Pen stylus for the first time. Samsung also introduced Galaxy Buds Pro

Jan. 15, 2021

Mirae Asset chairman stresses innovation

Park Hyun-joo, chairman and founder of South Korea’s Mirae Asset Group, on Thursday urged analysts to explore innovative companies, stressing shifting investment strategies focusing on the growth potential of companies rather than assessment of the manufacturing value chain. At an online investment strategy meeting, Park referred to unexpected innovations that could have a significant impact on the market, saying that the markets are transitioning from a focus on the value chain to innova

Jan. 14, 2021

Nexon's holding company invests $16m in Elon Musk's SpaceX

NXC, the holding company of South Korea’s largest game developer Nexon, has invested $16 million in SpaceX, the aerospace company run by electric carmaker Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the company said Thursday. “NXC invested $16 million in SpaceX’s fundraising round in August, in which the spaceflight company issued convertible preferred stocks,” said an NXC official, declining to comment on details of the deal. SpaceX is said to have issued preferred stocks at the time to ra

Jan. 14, 2021

Will commercial breaks give second chance to terrestrial broadcasters?

Terrestrial broadcasters will be allowed to air commercial breaks starting June, the first time since laws regulating the TV industry have been in place 48 years ago. 　 The Korea Communications Commission announced its “Broadcasting Market Promotion Policy Measures” on Wednesday. The Enforcement Decree of the Broadcasting Act states that commercial breaks will be allowed for all broadcasters regardless of their service providers. Current laws prohibit local terrestrial broadcasters

Jan. 14, 2021

Rise of retail investors pushes stocks, mitigates 'Korea discount': experts

The South Korean stock benchmark surpassing the 3,000-point mark last week highlighted the rise of retail investors, which mitigated a series of negative factors that had left the local stock market undervalued, market experts and leaders of financial companies said Thursday. They were referring to the massive capital injected by individual investors who have pushed up the market index, saying it has helped mitigate the so-called “Korea discount,” which refers to the undervaluing of

Jan. 14, 2021

Made-in-Korea COVID-19 treatments ready to hit market

One company after another, South Korea’s homegrown biopharmaceuticals are nearing emergency use approval for their proposed COVID-19 treatments. A day after Celltrion reported positive top-line data from its antibody drug regdanvimab, or CT-P59, another local drugmaker, Chong Kun Dang, presented promising results on Thursday from its own drug, nafamostat, from a clinical phase 2 trial. Tested on over 100 people in Russia, 36 of them high-risk patients, nafamostat showed 61.1 percent cl

Jan. 14, 2021

Only 3% of companies currently use AI: report

Only 3.6 percent of companies have adopted artificial intelligence technology, a report from the Korea Development Institute showed Thursday. To see how AI is being used or perceived in different sectors, the KDI conducted a survey of 1,000 companies with at least 20 employees, including conglomerates and small and midsized businesses. Conglomerates made up 91.7 percent of all AI-using companies, according to the report. By industry, 55 percent of AI-using companies were in the service secto

Jan. 14, 2021

[Newsmaker] With Galaxy S21, Samsung gets aggressive to offset pandemic effect

Samsung Electronics, set to launch its first batch of mobile phones this year, is expected to take an aggressive pricing strategy to boost sales. The Galaxy S21 series will be unveiled Thursday at midnight, South Korean time, amid expectations that the new phones will be available at a wider range of prices than their predecessors. According to industry sources, Samsung will release three Galaxy S21 models -- the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra -- with prices ranging from 999,

Jan. 14, 2021

Korean Air files report for Asiana takeover

The nation’s flagship air carrier Korean Air on Thursday filed documents to the Fair Trade Commission and antitrust authorities in eight other countries for a review of its planned takeover of the debt-laden Asiana Airlines. “We’ve had a business combination application submitted by Korean Air regarding the purchase of Asiana Airlines’ shares,” the FTC said in a statement. The airline also took the same steps in eight other countries including the United States,

Jan. 14, 2021

Personal data from chatbot Luda shared on Github

Scatter Lab, developer of artificial intelligence chatbot Lee Luda, has come under fire for uploading private messages on an open-source platform to train its AI model, local media said Thursday. Scatter Lab has reportedly uploaded around 100 datasets of KakaoTalk messages on GitHub dating from September last year, when the company started sharing its artificial neural network model for the chatbot, the reports said. The datasets contained personal information of users of the Science of Love

Jan. 14, 2021

South Korean research team contributes to discovery of photon avalanches

A joint research team from South Korea, the US and Poland has discovered a new phenomenon called “photon avalanche,” which is expected to open up new ways of research on fields that use optical technology. According to the research team from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, it has found that absorption of a single photon in some materials could trigger a chain reaction that produces a large burst of light. This special type of upconversion called photon avalan

Jan. 14, 2021

Lotte Group chief calls for drastic changes in post-COVID-19 era

South Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group needs to undergo innovative changes and portfolio revisions to respond to the post-COVID-19 market changes, the group’s chair said in a call to action, according to company officials Thursday. Chairperson Shin Dong-bin also sent out a reprimanding signal to executives for failing to defend the group’s previous lead in the retail market. “The sluggish management indexes amid the COVID-19 crisis last year indicate that we failed

Jan. 14, 2021

Korea updates EV rules to meet market reality

South Korea has realigned its regulations for eco-friendly vehicles, in an effort to catch up with the quickly changing industry and global enhanced calls for reduced emissions, officials said Thursday. While the discontinued low-speed electric vehicles were removed from the regulatory guidance, articles on microsized electric vehicles were added. Clauses on the maximum speed and travel range for a single charge have also been updated, reflecting the current level of technology. The governm

Jan. 14, 2021

Hyundai Oilbank to launch solar panel material business

Hyundai Oilbank said Thursday it will begin the production of a raw material for solar panels to seek a new growth engine in the renewable energy industry amid sluggish demand for petrochemical products due to the prolonged pandemic. According to the South Korean refinery, its subsidiary Hyundai Chemical will manufacture 180,000 metric tons of ethylene vinyl acetate at its plant under construction in the Daesan petrochemical complex in South Chungcheong Province, starting in the second half o

Jan. 14, 2021

LG, Samsung spearhead OLED patents in South Korea

LG companies applied for the most number of patents for organic light-emitting diode materials in South Korea, new data showed. LG companies, including LG Display and LG Electronics, lodged a total of 939 patent filings for OLED materials in the 2015-2019 period, according to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Thursday. Samsung Group and its affiliates came in second with 442 filings and Doosan companies ranked fourth with 203 patent applications. Of the total 3,067 patent applicat

Jan. 14, 2021

Antitrust regulator starts review of Korean Air's Asiana takeover deal

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday it has started to review a deal by Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest carrier, to buy the debt-ridden Asiana Airlines Inc. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it will see if the merger of the nation's two largest carriers could constitute a monopoly or hurt market competition as Korean Air submitted an application for approval earlier in the day. In November 2020, Korean Air said it will acquire its smaller rival Asiana Airlines

Jan. 14, 2021

[News Focus] Nonregular jobs growth fastest in Moon strongholds

SEJONG -- The number of nonregular employees in South Korea came to 7.4 million as of 2020, which made up 36.3 percent of the country’s 20.4 million salaried employees, Statistics Korea data showed. Job statuses in the nation are commonly divided into regular jobs with permanent contracts and strong protections for workers, and nonregular jobs such as temporary jobs, contract jobs and other forms of works with lower job security. Compared to 32.4 percent in 2015 during the previous Park

Jan. 14, 2021

S. Korean firms wrap up CES journey after showcasing solutions for new normal era

South Korean firms, anchored by Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., wrapped up their four-day journey at the world's largest tech expo Thursday after introducing their innovations for the new normal era of the pandemic. This year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) went all-digital for the first time due to the novel coronavirus. The number of exhibitors for CES 2021 was only 1,960, which was far less than last year's 4,500 attendees, as many Chinese firms decided to skip the show f

Jan. 14, 2021

IT, bio lead Korean IPO market: KRX

South Korea’s IPO market has seen a shift in its driving force with information technology and biopharma companies taking the lead, replacing manufacturing and finance firms in recent years, a report showed Thursday. According to the report released by the Korea Exchange, initial public offerings of companies delivering IT and communication services topped the list of industries, accounting for 22.8 percent of all market debuts made on the nation’s main bourse after its benchmark Ko

Jan. 14, 2021