LG Chem, LG Energy Solution acquire W60b stake in Canada’s Li-Cycle

LG Group’s chemicals and battery units, LG Chem and LG Energy Solution, said Wednesday that they had acquired a 2.6 percent stake in Canadian battery recycling company Li-Cycle Holdings by investing 30 billion won ($25.3 million) each. Li-Cycle, based in Toronto, operates North America’s largest lithium-ion battery recycling facility. The firm recycles waste from the EV battery manufacturing process and recovers battery metals for reuse. The Canadian firm recently issued new shar

Dec. 15, 2021

SK chairman appears in antitrust session to defend stock purchase

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won made a rare appearance in a session held by the nation’s top antitrust watchdog to defend his controversial stock purchase in 2017, when SK acquired a silicon wafer unit from its crosstown rival LG Group.  The Fair Trade Commission has reviewed the case over allegations that SK Inc., the holding company of SK Group, deliberately helped its chairman purchase the stock at a cheaper price to benefit from hefty dividends.  The deliberation session was

Dec. 15, 2021

The robots are coming ... with your bubble tea

Baedal Minjok, also known as Baemin, began mobilizing robots for a door-to-door food delivery service, South Korea’s largest food delivery app said Wednesday. Named “Delidrive,” Baemin’s autonomous driving robot is the first of its kind in the world, according to the app operator Woowa Brothers. The robot delivery service is currently only available in the apartment complex of Alleyway Gwanggyo near Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. The company said Delidrive can freely move

Dec. 15, 2021

Big tech‘s financial services fall under the same rule: top regulator

South Korea’s top financial regulator on Wednesday told tech firms here that their financial services are to operate under and comply with existing financial regulations. The remark came amid concerns of tech giants Naver and Kakao’s fast-growing online and mobile financial services as related regulations on their customer protection and data use remain unclear. “Big Tech’s foray into the finance sector will be carried out under the same financial regulations and custom

Dec. 15, 2021

Tally for unemployed falls to 730,000 in Nov.: data

SEJONG -- The number of employed in the nation increased by 553,000 in November, compared to a year earlier, continuing improvement in the hiring index over the past few months, state data showed Wednesday. But the number of de facto jobless -- unemployed plus underemployed -- still surpassed 3 million, with the actual jobless rate reaching 11 percent. The Ministry of Economy and Finance maintained that the “official” tally for the jobless and jobless rate stayed at 734,000 and 2.6

Dec. 15, 2021

Hyundai Motor sweeps global automotive awards in 2021

Hyundai Motor Group has secured recognition at six of 10 major car of the year awards this year, stepping up its brand value and reputation on the global stage, along with securing fourth place in terms of global sales this year.  According to the Korean automaker, Hyundai Motor vehicles including an electric model, luxury car and a combustion engine vehicle have received awards. Hyundai’s Elantra sedan has been awarded as the North American Car of the Year. The company’s luxu

Dec. 15, 2021

Samsung retains No.1 spot in Q3 global smartphone market: report

Samsung Electronics Co. retained the top spot in the global smartphone market in the third quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday. The world's largest smartphone maker held a market share of 20 percent in the July-September period, followed by Apple with 14 percent and Xiaomi with 13 percent, according to a report from market researcher Counterpoint Research. During the three months, the South Korean tech giant shipped 69.3 million smartphones, up 20 percent from the previous quarter

Dec. 15, 2021

Race for next-gen DRAM chips heats up with SK hynix’s new release

The race for next-generation DDR5 memory chips is intensifying, with SK hynix unloading its latest chip featuring an enhanced density enough to boost performance of cloud data centers and potentially of high-performance servers. SK hynix said Wednesday it has shipped samples of 24-gigabit DDR5 dynamic random access memory chips, touting its technology leadership in commercializing a single DRAM chip that has the largest density in the industry. DDR5, or double data rate 5, refers to a newest it

Dec. 15, 2021

Kakao Brain unveils image-generating AI model

Kakao Brain, the artificial intelligence technology research and development subsidiary of Kakao, said Wednesday it has launched its second AI model that self-generates images, allowing the company to quickly expand its presence in Korea’s mammoth AI space. The AI model, dubbed “minDALL-E,” creates images the users wish to see, according to the company. For instance, when users type in requests such as “draw a picture in a Salvador Dali style” or “create an

Dec. 15, 2021

Korea Aerospace wins W180b T-50 parts supply deal

Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI) said Wednesday it has received a 180 billion-won ($152 million) deal to supply parts and maintenance services to the T-50 trainer jets operated by the Korean military. Under the deal signed with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the country's sole aircraft manufacturer will provide parts to the T-50 advanced trainer jets, the FA-50 light attack aircraft and the TA-50 lead-in fighter aircraft until July 2025, the company said in a statement. &

Dec. 15, 2021

Regulator approves restart of nuclear reactor after maintenance

South Korea's nuclear safety watchdog on Wednesday approved the restart of a nuclear reactor in the country's southwestern nuclear complex that was shut down for an inspection. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said it has given the go-ahead to restart the Wolsong No. 4, 700-megawatt reactor, in Gyeongju, 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The Wolsong No. 4 nuclear power reactor, which first started operations in 1999, has been shut down since Oct. 10 for regular maintenance. The com

Dec. 15, 2021

Samsung, LG Electronics to debut innovative products at CES 2022

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's two biggest consumer electronics companies, will unveil a slew of innovative products at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) set to open early next month in Las Vegas. The two companies are among the approximately 1,700 businesses from around the world and about 300 South Korean companies that will attend the event to showcase their consumer electronics and latest technologies, promising to change the way people live their

Dec. 15, 2021

Use of robots results in 'meaningful' decline in human labor demand in manufacturing: BOK report

Expanded use of robots has resulted in a "meaningful" decline in demand for human labor in the manufacturing industry while replacing mostly "routine" and "repetitive" jobs, a central bank report said Wednesday. The Bank of Korea's report was based on data related to introduction of robots in industries and the impact on employment from 2010-2019. It analyzed the net effect of the "displacement effect" in which robots replace workers and "productivit

Dec. 15, 2021

Money supply up 1.1% on-month in October

South Korea's money supply grew in October on increased savings amid higher interest rates on deposits, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 3,550.6 trillion won ($3 trillion) as of end-October, up 1.1 percent, or 38 trillion won, from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The growth slightly quickened from the previous month's 0.5 percent gain. Compared with a year earlier, the money supply

Dec. 15, 2021

Auto exports down 4.7% in Nov. amid lack of automotive chips

South Korea's automobile exports fell nearly 5 percent in November from a year earlier due to a global shortage of automotive chips, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of automobiles came to 178,994 units last month, down 4.7 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, however, exports advanced 3.3 percent to $4.12 billion in November, the largest monthly tally since April when the supply bottlene

Dec. 15, 2021

Seoul shares open lower ahead of Fed meeting

Seoul shares opened lower Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as investors eyed the Federal Reserve's rate decision this week.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 9.40 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,978.55 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Tuesday (US time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 percent to 35,544.18, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 1.1 percent to 15,237.64. Investors are waiting on cues from the two-day Fed me

Dec. 15, 2021

Job growth extended for 9th month in Nov. amid economic recovery

South Korea reported job additions for the ninth straight month in November in the latest sign the country's economic recovery has continued despite the latest upsurge in COVID-19 cases, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 27.79 million last month, 553,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The reading was lower than an on-year increase of 652,000 in October. But the number of employed people has risen since March as Asia's fo

Dec. 15, 2021

KT&G suspends tobacco business in US amid growing regulations

  KT&G Corp., South Korea's dominant tobacco company, will suspend its tobacco business in the United States for an unspecified period, the company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. "We need to conduct a review of our business in the US amid intensifying regulations over tobacco and growing competition," the company said, referring to a hostile business environment, such as the US Food and Drug Administration's recent move to introduce a bill to curb nicotine content an

Dec. 14, 2021

Busan starts campaign to host Expo 2030 world fair

Busan started its campaign Tuesday to host the Expo 2030 world fair at a virtual meeting convened by the organizing body Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), Busan Metropolitan City said. Busan -- one of five cities including Rome, Moscow, Odessa and Riyadh to have submitted the bid -- was the first city to make its case online. The Busan mayor leading the Korean delegation proposed holding the fair under the theme: “The era of great change: Sailing toward a better future.”

Dec. 14, 2021

Upbit operator Dunamu vows to go global

Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, aims to become a global platform for all types of exchanges, its chief said Tuesday. “In the future, Dunamu will establish a trading channel for all digital assets to discover new opportunities such as metaverses and non-fungible tokens,” said Dunamu CEO Lee Sirgoo in an online press conference held on its recently-launched metaverse platform 2ndblock. “Taking a step further from being a platform f

Dec. 14, 2021