S. Korea expands public Wi-Fi availability

South Korea's ICT ministry said Wednesday it made over 15,000 new public Wi-Fi service zones available across the country and in buses last year, bringing the total locations with free public Wi-Fi to over 57,000. The Ministry of Science and ICT said the public can access free Wi-Fi in 28,132 public locations, such as bus stations, public facilities and parks, and also in 29,100 buses. By region, there are 2,529 public Wi-Fi locations in Seoul, with 4,358 locations in the surrounding Gyeonggi

Feb. 24, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding bags W570b order from Europe

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Wednesday that it has secured a 570 billion won ($514 million) order from a European company. Under the deal to build six 45,700-ton ConRo vessels, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. will deliver the ships starting in the first half of 2023, Korea Shipbuilding said. The ConRo vessel refers to a hybrid of a car carrier and a container carrier. Hyundai Mipo Dockyard has been leading the global ConRo ship market, building 19 ConRo ships, or 40 percen

Feb. 24, 2021

Samsung starts mass-production of power-efficient SSD for data centers

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it has started mass-production of a power-efficient solid state drive (SSD) for data centers that also boasts enhanced security solutions. The South Korean tech giant said PM9A3E1.S is the industry's first data center-use SSD product based on sixth-generation V-NAND chips. It supports the standards of Open Compute Project (OCP), an organization that sets hardware and software standards in data centers. Samsung, the world's leading memory chip producer, sa

Feb. 24, 2021

Biz sentiment improves for March on eased uncertainties: poll

South Korea's business sentiment improved for March on decreased economic uncertainty, with more companies expecting a recovery down the road, a poll showed Wednesday. The business survey index (BSI) of the country's top 600 companies by sales reached 109.2 for next month, up 19.1 points from February, the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) said in a statement. "The business index got a boost from expectations that the rollout of new coronavirus vaccines and recovery in global deman

Feb. 24, 2021

Land ministry picks new sites for housing development project

The land ministry said Wednesday it has selected new sites for its housing development project aimed at increasing supplies in urban areas and curbing housing prices. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it has selected a vast area spanning 1,271 square meters in Gwangmyeong and Siheung in Gyeonggi Province as the site for approximately 70,000 new homes. The two satellite cities are located about 12 kilometers southeast of Yeouido, a major business district in eastern Seoul.

Feb. 24, 2021

LG Electronics to allow rivals to use its smart TV platform

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its smart TV platform will be used by other TV makers this year as the company eyes boosting its software capability. LG said some 20 TV manufacturers, including RCA, Konka and Ayonz, will release TVs installed with its webOS platform. To attract more TV brands using its smart TV platform, LG said it has also signed partnerships with streaming giants like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon, as well as remote controls solution provider Universal Electronics Inc. The

Feb. 24, 2021

Samsung tops global TV market for 15th straight year in 2020: report

Samsung Electronics Co. remained the world's leading TV vendor for the 15th straight year in 2020 on the back of its QLED and large TVs, a report showed Wednesday. The South Korean tech giant had a market share of a record 31.9 percent in terms of sales revenue last year, up from 30.9 percent a year earlier, according to data from industry researcher Omdia, extending its lead in the global TV market for the 15th consecutive year. Samsung was followed by its South Korean rival LG Electronics In

Feb. 24, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower on inflation worries

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking overnight tech losses on Wall Street that stemmed from US inflation concerns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 11.46 points, or 0.37 percent, to 3,058.63 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Samsung Electronics retreated 0.49 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shed 0.36 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor moved down 0.2 percent, with internet portal operator Naver declining 1.02 percent. Leading chemica

Feb. 24, 2021

S. Korea's exports tipped to rise 8.9% in February: poll

South Korea's exports are expected to rise 8.9 percent on-year in February to extend gains for a fourth month on robust shipments of chips and automobiles, a poll showed Wednesday. The country's outbound shipments are expected to reach $44.5 billion this month, according to the poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The survey was conducted on six local brokerage houses. Imports were estimated at $42.7 billion this month, resulting in a trade surplus of $8.1 bill

Feb. 24, 2021

Steelmakers moving to rev up output on rising demand

South Korean steelmakers are rushing to ramp up capacity utilization in an effort to meet rising demand at home and abroad, industry sources said Wednesday. The move comes amid stabilizing international steel prices due to a drop in China's steel exports, and expectations for an increase in domestic demand for steel used in construction. According to the sources, leading steelmaker Posco has decided to postpone repair work on a cold-rolled steel plant in Gwangyang on the south coast, originall

Feb. 24, 2021

Listed firms' dividends surge 47% in 2020

South Korean listed companies' dividend payouts soared nearly 47 percent in 2020 from a year earlier thanks to a jump in payments by top-cap Samsung Electronics Co., a corporate tracker said Wednesday. According to CEO Score, 613 firms listed on the main stock market paid out a combined 37.34 trillion won ($33.6 billion) last year, up 46.7 percent from the previous year. The businesses cover those which have so far put out their dividend payouts for fiscal 2020. The jump came as Samsung Elect

Feb. 24, 2021

Manufacturers' business sentiment rises for 2nd month in March

South Korean manufacturers' business sentiment rose for the second straight month in March, but worries about sluggish consumption remained amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The business sentiment index (BSI) for local manufacturers came to 85 for March, up from 81 for February, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index measures manufacturers' outlook on business conditions in the following month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumb

Feb. 24, 2021

Samsung Heavy, Brazilian authorities reach $149m settlement in bribery probe

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with Brazilian state prosecutors and auditors over a graft probe surrounding drillship orders by the company. The company said in a regulatory filing that it has agreed to pay 812 million reais ($149 million) in a leniency deal with Brazil’s Office of the Comptroller General, Office of the Attorney General and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, accepting the results of an investigation into a criminal case inv

Feb. 23, 2021

Samsung SDI to inject W1tr into Hungary battery plant

Samsung SDI said Tuesday it will inject 1 trillion won ($900 million) into its battery plant in Goed, 30 kilometers north of Budapest, Hungary. In a regulatory filing, the battery maker said its European subsidiary Samsung SDI Hungary issued rights worth 403.8 billion won. Samsung SDI will also guarantee debt worth 538.4 billion won for the subsidiary, the company said. Samsung SDI explained that the rights offering is intended to shore up funds for expansion, including the construction of t

Feb. 23, 2021

Once-hot P2P lending industry faces tough road ahead

Peer-to-peer lending platforms that were once the talk of the town are facing a myriad of challenges amid ongoing litigation and tougher regulations, highlighted by a lawsuit against Tera Funding, experts said on Tuesday. Tera Funding is facing another class action from investors who are unhappy with delayed payments and loss of investments. This is the second time the company has had to deal with a lawsuit since August 2020 when a group of 500 investors took the company to the court, alleging

Feb. 23, 2021

Korean experts advise Pfizer vaccine for 16 and older

The first of the three-part evaluation of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine here has shown the vaccine to be 95 percent effective and eligible for use on those aged 16 and older, South Korea’s Drug Ministry announced Tuesday. The panel of seven, comprising virologists, medical professionals and statistics experts, confirmed that all 36,523 candidates given two shots of the Pfizer vaccine in clinical trials experienced quadrupled antibodies in their system. The panel assessed that the tria

Feb. 23, 2021

S. Korean authorities raise red flag over crypto frenzy

South Korea’s top financial authorities sounded warning bells about the absence of underlying value that digital coins hold, as speculative fever has been sweeping cryptocurrency markets in recent months. Market liquidity backed by stimulus packages and accommodative monetary policy may have attracted investors‘ attention to cryptocurrency, but they should stay cautious as the digital asset shows sharp price fluctuations, authorities said. Attending a briefing of the National Asse

Feb. 23, 2021

Incheon Airport to roll out rapid coronavirus tests

Incheon Airport will roll out speedy coronavirus tests from next month, cutting down the process from seven hours to two or four hours. The new loop-mediated isothermal amplification -- or LAMP-type -- rapid PCR tests, which have been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, can take as little as two hours to show the result and have been recommended for passengers with no symptoms traveling abroad, the Incheon International Airport Corp. said Tuesday. Negative results from rapid PCR

Feb. 23, 2021

Chey Tae-won named as incoming KCCI chief

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, 60, is set to be officially sworn in as the new chief of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, after being named on Tuesday as the first among the nation’s “Big Four” conglomerate chiefs to head the Seoul branch of the business chamber. His rise to the role came while SK Group is facing a number of challenges in the arena, including its battery and energy affiliate SK Innovation’s recent defeat in the yearslong legal battle against

Feb. 23, 2021

Hyundai Motor makes a splash with the all-electric Ioniq 5

Hyundai Motor unveiled the all-electric midsized sport utility vehicle Ioniq 5 on Tuesday. It is the first model to use the automaker’s own electric vehicle platform, the Electric-Global Modular Platform or E-GMP. In an online press conference, Hyundai Motor President Chang Jae-hoon and executives presented the Ioniq 5, highlighting how the new car would set the standard for an electric mobility lifestyle with sustainable and innovative features. “Electrification is the major foc

Feb. 23, 2021