SES’ Li-metal battery is world’s biggest, but why does this matter?

SES on Thursday unveiled the world’s largest lithium-metal battery that is big enough to power an electric vehicle. According to the Singapore-based startup, the battery cell, dubbed “Apollo,” weighs just 0.98 kilogram and can deliver 107 amperes of electricity per hour. Also, it supports quick charging, taking just 12 minutes to go from 10 percent to 90 percent. SES claims that Apollo is the world’s first lithium-metal cell to have breached a 100 Ah threshold, but wh

Nov. 4, 2021

DP presidential candidate vows to push for MSCI World Index inclusion

The presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea said Thursday that he would push for winning a developed market status for South Korea from Morgan Stanley Capital International to revive the undervalued stock market here, if elected. “The price-earnings ratio in the domestic stock market is about one-third compared to other advanced economies. We must mitigate the so-called ‘Korea discount,’” Lee Jae-myung said during a conference with a group of repo

Nov. 4, 2021

LG Energy Solution joins global ESG alliance

LG Energy Solution said Thursday it has joined a nonprofit coalition of leading companies dedicated to improving social, environmental and ethical conditions in their global supply chains. The company said it is the first Korean battery producer to join the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) which has some 180 members including Apple, Google, Volkswagen and Tesla. By becoming a member of the RBA, LG Energy Solution will apply RBA’s code of conduct in labor, health and safety, environmen

Nov. 4, 2021

Fed taper to have limited impact on Korean market

The US Federal Reserve’s decision to dial back its bond-purchasing program in November will have a limited impact on the Korean financial market, the Korean government said Thursday while vowing to monitor market uncertainties surrounding the inflation outlook in the US. As widely expected, the Federal Open Market Committee, the US Fed’s monetary policymaking body, announced that it would reduce its bond purchases by a total of $15 billion a month starting in November. It left it

Nov. 4, 2021

KT CEO, company officials indicted on illegal political donation charges

The head of KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, was indicted Thursday along with more than a dozen of company officials for allegedly making illegal political donations in the past, prosecutors said. KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo and 13 other company executives and managers were charged with violations of political fund laws and embezzlement. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office also indicted the company. Ku and the company officials are suspected of having purchased commercial gift certific

Nov. 4, 2021

Samsung Biologics to build new facility for genetic medicines in Songdo

Samsung Biologics has purchased land in Songdo, Incheon, to build a production facility for genetic medicines, the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority said Thursday. The pharmaceutical firm has signed a deal with the authority, which oversees a plan to develop a bio cluster in Songdo, to purchase 10,000 square meters of land in the city. The site was put up for sale in June. There, Samsung Biologics is expected to construct a new facility to produce materials and drug platforms for genetic

Nov. 4, 2021

Doosan Heavy completes 18-megawatt wind farm in S. Korea's southern tip

South Korea's top power plant builder Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Thursday that it has built an 18-megawatt wind farm in the southern tip of the country. The six 3-megawatt wind turbines built in Jangheung, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul, could generate enough electricity to power about 12,000 four-member households per year. Doosan Heavy has 3-megawatt and 5.5-megawatt wind turbines and is developing 8-megawatt wind turbines with the aim of commercial production

Nov. 4, 2021

Apple Korea’s general manager Brandon Yoon to resign

Apple Korea’s general manager Brandon Yoon will resign from his position, industry sources said Thursday. According to the sources, Yoon tendered his resignation from the position at the company on Thursday. The company refrained from offering a confirmation. Yoon has led Apple Korea since 2018. Before coming to Apple Korea, Yoon worked at Samsung Electronics. He also worked for Microsoft from 2003-2015. Industry sources said Yoon’s resignation is sudden and unexpected, given t

Nov. 4, 2021

Shinhan Financial chief highlights net-zero goals at COP26

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung vowed to contribute to South Korea’s swift transition into a carbon neutral society with the financial giant‘s net-zero goals at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the firm said Thursday. The chief of Korea’s second-largest banking group by total assets on late Wednesday introduced Shinhan Financial’s own plans to achieve carbon neutrality in finance dubbed the “zero carbon drive

Nov. 4, 2021

Seoul looking to tap into industrial urea stockpile for diesel cars

To ease a nationwide shortage of emissions control fluid for diesel vehicles, the South Korean government is getting hold of a key ingredient needed to make it from the industrial sector, officials said Thursday. In Seoul and major cities across the country, diesel exhaust fluid, without which diesel trucks cannot run, is in short supply, triggering fears for disruptions in cargo delivery. There is due to be a sharp drop in urea imports from China, which supplies more than 60 percent of the

Nov. 4, 2021

BTS agency teams up with Korean crypto exchange to venture into NFT market

Hybe, the K-pop powerhouse behind BTS, said Thursday that it has teamed up with South Korea’s top cryptocurrency exchange operator to establish a joint venture to branch out into the nonfungible token marketplace. The music agency is poised to acquire a 2.48 percent stake in Dunamu for 500 billion won ($423.7 million), as the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit plans to issue 861,004 ordinary shares for third-party rights, offering to invite Hybe as a new shareholder. Dunamu also

Nov. 4, 2021

[Battery+] SES aims to become battery world's Tesla

In the battery world, phrases like “next-generation” and ”game-changer” have become cliche. Everyone claims to be developing a dream battery, yet no one has proven themselves with a real product. But leaders may be starting to emerge in the race to replace today’s most prolific, yet fire-prone lithium-ion cells, with cheaper, safer and longer-range batteries that use lithium metal. SES, a Singapore-based battery startup backed by General Motors, on Thursday unvei

Nov. 4, 2021

Seoul stocks advance on Fed's comments over tapering

South Korean stocks advanced Thursday, as the US Federal Reserve signaled "patience" in raising interest rates. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 7.51 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 2,983.22 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 759 million shares worth some 14.4 trillion won ($12.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 580 to 295. Foreigners bought a net 326 billion won, while retail investors s

Nov. 4, 2021

South Korea seeks cooperation with Visegrad Group in finance, defense and bio

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Thursday that the leaders of South Korea and Hungary and business leaders from South Korea and the Visegrad Group met to discuss cooperation in sectors such as EV batteries and biotechnology. The Visegrad Group, also known as the V4 countries, include Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The V4-Korea Business Forum was held in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday where President Moon Jae-in is visiting on a state visit until Thursday. Dur

Nov. 4, 2021

Korean investors commit 90m euros to coinvest with BlackRock's infra fund

South Korean institutional investors have allocated a combined 90 million euros ($104 million) of commitment to a separately structured coinvestment vehicle of a fourth flagship fund by BlackRock Infrastructure Solutions, industry sources said Thursday. Seoul-based investment house IPM Asset Management said Thursday it has created the vehicle for Korean investors, allowing them to implement a coinvestment strategy alongside BlackRock’s fund, dubbed Global Infrastructure Solutions 4. Thr

Nov. 4, 2021

Hyundai teases electric SUV ahead of US launch this month

Hyundai Motor Co. on Thursday released a teaser for the electric SUV concept "Seven" ahead of its unveiling in the United States this month. The large-size SUV concept built on Hyundai Motor Group's dedicated EV platform, called E-GMP, comes with the group's IONIQ battery EV brand's signature design elements, the company said in a statement. The IONIQ brand's design elements include Parametric Pixels, the smallest unit of digital imaging. Hyundai plans to unveil the concept car at

Nov. 4, 2021

KT&G Q3 net jumps 29% on currency gains

KT&G Corp., South Korea's dominant tobacco company, said Thursday its third-quarter net profit jumped 29 percent from a year earlier on foreign-exchange-tied gains. Net profit for the three months ended in September rose to 359.2 billion won ($300 million) from a profit of 277.7 billion won in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. "The won's weakness against the dollar drove up the value of the company's dollar-denominated assets and helped the quarterly bottomline,&qu

Nov. 4, 2021

Daewoo Shipbuilding develops virtual experience platform for ship construction

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Thursday that it has developed a virtual experience platform for ship construction for the first time in the local shipbuilding industry. The platform is mixed reality combining technologies of virtual reality and augmented reality, which allows for the experience of all processes of shipbuilding, Daewoo Shipbuilding said. Daewoo Shipbuilding said the platform will help win more orders for ships as it will be able to show shippers virtual

Nov. 4, 2021

Google to provide alternative payment system at its app store

Google Inc. has pledged to provide an alternative payment system at its app store in South Korea, the telecommunications regulator said Thursday, in what could be a concession amid a tug-of-war over lucrative payment systems in the app market. The commitment is part of follow-up measures to a new South Korean law that restricts app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing their in-app payment systems on developers. Wilson L. White, Google's public policy and government relations s

Nov. 4, 2021

Starbucks to expand reusable cup program to Seoul

Starbucks Korea announced Thursday that a dozen of its locations in Seoul will get rid of single-use plastic cups as part of the chain’s ongoing efforts to reduce plastic waste. Starting Saturday, 12 Starbucks stores in Seoul will serve beverages only in mugs, tumblers or reusable cups. These include the City Hall Station, Seosomun-ro and Eulji-ro branches in the city center. Seoul is the second location where the coffee chain has decided to move away from single-use plastic cups, aft

Nov. 4, 2021