S. Korean importers tense over Suez Canal blockage

In the wake of the Suez Canal blockage that is paralyzing regional and global logistics, South Korean companies are starting to feel an impact. With importers tense over possible delays in their material and product supplies, shipping companies are expected to gain from increased fees and surplus demands. HMM, Korea’s largest and the world’s eighth-largest shipper, saw its stock price climb 15.96 percent on-day to 34,150 won ($30.20) on Friday, prolonging the uptrend for nine co

March 26, 2021

YG Entertainment founder’s control shrinks after Chinese company exit

YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun-suk’s grip on the firm has weakened after China’s ticket booking platform divested itself from the K-pop powerhouse this month. Shanghai Fengying Business Consultant Partnership has unloaded all of its 953,947 shares in YG Entertainment, dissolving a special relation status with Yang, a former CEO of the firm, a regulatory filing showed on Friday. The report showed that the combined stake owned by Yang and seven other related parties fell to 25.

March 26, 2021

Celltrion founder’s two sons appointed as executive directors

Celltrion Group saw a generation shift in its leadership as the founder and honorary chairman stepped down from his official posts and his two sons obtained seats in key affiliates’ boardrooms, following a decision made at shareholders meetings Friday. The founder’s first son Seo jin-seok has been appointed as an executive director at Celltrion, filling an empty seat left behind after the founder stepped down from the chairman post in December. Second son Seo Joon-serk was also sepa

March 26, 2021

Seoul stocks advance on oil prices, recovery hopes

South Korean stocks advanced more than 1 percent Friday, as vaccine distribution spurred expectations of an economic rebound amid stable oil prices. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 32.68 points, or 1.09 percent, to close at 3,041.01 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1 billion shares worth some 15.4 trillion won ($13.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 544 to 291. Foreigners bought a net 296 billion won

March 26, 2021

Samsung SDS CEO vows makeover into cloud business

Samsung SDS President and CEO Hwang Sung-woo urged the company to realign itself into a cloud-based business platform that focuses on logistics and security services. “It is now time for Samsung SDS to transform into a true cloud company. Let us concentrate all strengths on cloud, logistics and security,” Hwang said Friday in an email sent out to staff and executives. Marking his first official message since taking office last December, Hwang made it clear that cloud-based busine

March 26, 2021

Korean Air’s Cho Won-tae survives proxy vote, remains CEO

Cho Won-tae, CEO of the nation’s flag carrier Korean Air and its holding Hanjin Group, has been reappointed to lead the company, despite the country’s pension fund operator’s disapproval in doing so. Shareholders in attendance at the meeting on Friday, or those who had submitted a proxy statement in advance, represented 56.91 percent in terms of shares. Nearly 83 percent of the shareholders with voting rights voted in favor of Cho, the company said. The National Pension Servi

March 26, 2021

SK rejects LG compensation demands, unafraid of giving up Georgia plant

SK Innovation said it cannot accept rival LG Energy Solution’s demands for damage compensation it suffered after its battery technologies were stolen, dragging on an already drawn-out settlement dispute involving the two battery makers. The corresponding remark came during the company’s annual shareholders meeting on Friday and also in the wake of LGES’ vow on the previous day that it will fight to receive reasonable compensation from SK. At the 14th shareholders meeting hel

March 26, 2021

LG confirms launch of new holding company LX Holdings

LG Corp., the holding firm of South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate by assets LG Group, received approval from shareholders on Friday to set up another parent entity as part of the conglomerate spinoff plan. Set for launch on May 1, LX Holdings will take four non-electronics affiliates with promising outlooks -- LG International, LG Hausys, LG MMA and Silicon Works under its umbrella. LG Corp. will keep electronics, chemicals and communications businesses and focus on future growth e

March 26, 2021

Samsung C&T wins $448m deal from Singapore

Samsung C&T Corp., the construction unit of Samsung Group, said Friday it has won a $604 million ($448) deal to build a section of Singapore's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. Under the deal with the Land Transport Authority, Samsung C&T will build Hougang interchange station and tunnels for the Cross Island Line, the city state's eighth MRT line. The Land Transport Authority said the deal also covers the construction of additional and alteration works to the existing Hougang station a

March 26, 2021

Daewoo Shipbuilding establishes shipyard simulation system with game engine

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said Friday it launched a shipyard simulation system based on a game engine for optimized operations. According to DSME, it utilized the Unity game engine and constructed a 3D version of its actual shipyard. Inside the simulated space, DSME developed an algorithm that provides optimized transporter routes and block assembly. DSME aims to further advance the simulation system by applying cloud computing and machine learning technologies. Also, th

March 26, 2021

Home transactions tumble 24.5% in Feb.

Home transactions in South Korea sank nearly 25 percent in February amid government measures to rein in rising prices, data showed Friday. The number of homes changing hands nationwide stood at 87,021 last month, down 24.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The February reading was also down 4 percent from the previous month. The number of home transactions in the Seoul metropolitan area, which includes the western port

March 26, 2021

Korean automotive LED makers up presence in 2020 despite market decline: report

South Korea's two major automotive light-emitting diode (LED) makers saw their revenues increase last year despite an overall market slump amid the pandemic, a report showed Friday. Seoul Semiconductor Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. maintained their status as the world's fifth- and seventh-largest automotive LED suppliers, respectively, in 2020, but their market shares and sales grew, according to market researcher TrendForce. Seoul Semiconductor's revenue jumped 3.2 percent to $130 million

March 26, 2021

Doosan Heavy completes 2nd wind power generator plant

South Korean power plant builder Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Friday it has completed the construction of its second plant for wind power generators in the country. The plant in Changwon, 398 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will assemble and test 5.5-megawatt wind power generators, Doosan Heavy said. With the plant, Doosan Heavy will be able to produce 30 wind power generators annually, the company said. With its wind power business starting in 2005, Doosan Heavy has b

March 26, 2021

Over 80% of extra budget-funded relief aid to be offered by May

South Korea plans to provide more than 80 percent of another extra budget-funded relief aid to pandemic-hit smaller merchants by May, a senior government official said Friday. The National Assembly on Thursday approved the 15 trillion-won ($13 billion) extra budget designed to finance the 20.7 trillion-won aid package for the self-employed and vulnerable groups battered by the pandemic. Second Vice Finance Minister An Il-whan said more than 80 percent of the 7.3 trillion-won budget set aside t

March 26, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding wins W637b order for 5 container ships

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Friday it has clinched a 637 billion-won ($562 million) order from a Taiwanese company to build five container carriers. The deal signed with Wan Hai Lines calls for Korea Shipbuilding to start delivering the 13,200-twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels in the first half of 2023, Korea Shipbuilding said in a regulatory filing. The container carriers will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the company said. Hopes for a

March 26, 2021

Samsung Heavy bags W2.8tr order for 20 container carriers

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Friday it has obtained a 2.8 trillion-won ($2.5 billion) order from a Panamanian company to build 20 container carriers. Under the deal, Samsung Heavy Industries will deliver the 15,000-TEU vessels, on which energy saving devices will be mounted, by June 2025, the shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing. Samsung Heavy Industries has won a combined $5.1 billion in orders to build 42 ships so far this year, achieving 65 percent of its annual order target of $7.8

March 26, 2021

S. Korea to ease inflation pressure amid rising raw material prices

South Korea will step up efforts to ease growing inflationary pressure as hikes in global grain prices have jacked up prices of processed products, a senior government official said Friday. Vice First Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom also said the government plans to consider measures to ease financial burdens of businesses that have suffered from hikes in raw material prices. "People have felt higher price pressures as prices of processed goods, such as ready-to-eat steamed rice, bread and

March 26, 2021

Samsung, Marvell develops new System-on-a-Chip for 5G networks

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it has developed a new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) that can improve the performance of 5G networks in collaboration with US chip designer Marvell Technology Ltd. The South Korean tech giant said the new SoC will be used in the company's network equipment, such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and other radios, and plans to introduce the product in the second quarter of the year. An SoC refers to an integrated circuit that integrates entire or most

March 26, 2021

Samsung Display dominates 2020 smartphone panel market with 50% share

Samsung Display Co. dominated the global smartphone display panel market last year, a report showed Friday, as it posted record revenue amid the pandemic. The affiliate of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone producer, represented half of the worldwide smartphone panel market last year in terms of revenue, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. The global smartphone display panel market grew 7 percent on-year to $43 billion in 2020. Samsung Display was follow

March 26, 2021

[Graphic News] China’s imports of South Korean goods unfazed by pandemic

　China’s imports of South Korean products last year stayed nearly the same as the previous year despite the novel coronavirus pandemic, a report showed, as the world’s second-largest economy bought more consumer goods like cosmetics. 　China imported $173.5 billion worth of goods from South Korea in 2020, only 0.03 percent down from 2019, according to the report from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. 　China spent $10 million or more on each of 59 items from South Ko

March 26, 2021