The duty-free arm of retail giant Lotte has opened new branches in Australia and New Zealand after acquiring five units from Australian duty-free operator JR Duty Free in August last year, the company said Monday.By opening four branches in Australia and one in New Zealand, the South Korean duty-free operator aims to expand its business and become No. 1 in the Oceania market in the next four years, the company added. The company plans to generate more than 200 billion won in sales from its new O

Industry March 25, 2019

Tension ran high early Friday morning, just before Hyundai Motor’s annual general shareholders meeting at the carmaker’s headquarters in Yangjae, southern Seoul, and it showed on the faces of the executives.Highlighted in the media weeks earlier, the second battle between the South Korean auto giant and the US hedge fund Elliott was a must-win for Hyundai Motor, which had already suffered big as a result of an attack by Elliott a year earlier. Then, the US activist fund blocked a 10 trillion won

Industry March 24, 2019

Former South Korean midfielder Kim Jung-woo received a warm reception at his retirement ceremony on Friday as fans gave a standing ovation for his service to the national football team. Kim officially bid goodbye to his playing career and thanked fans for their support in his retirement ceremony prepared by the Korea Football Association (KFA) during halftime of the men's national football team friendly against Bolivia at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, some 400 kilometers south of Seoul. Kim J

Soccer March 22, 2019

South Korea has proposed holding military talks with North Korea on implementing a bilateral accord signed last year, but there's no reply from Pyongyang yet, an official here said Friday."Recently, (we) suggested South-North military talks and are currently waiting for a response," the defense ministry official said, requesting anonymity.Attending a National Security Council (NSC) session last week, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo reported to President Moon Jae-in that the military plans to h

North Korea March 22, 2019

Ending weeks of arguments over the adequacy of Hyundai Motor’s dividend plans, shareholders on Friday rejected a proposal by US activist investor Elliott Management that urged it to provide a combined 8.3 trillion won ($7.3 billion) dividends to investors this year.At an annual shareholders meeting held at the carmaker’s headquarters in Seoul, 86 percent of the shareholders voted for Hyundai’s plan of offering 1.1 trillion won in dividends while 14 percent stood by Elliott’s proposals.Shareholde

Mobility March 22, 2019

Posco has launched a new committee consisting of outside directors and scholars to enhance the steelmaker’s presence as a socially responsible company, the company said Thursday.The seven-member Corporate Citizenship Committee is chaired by former Sungkyunkwan University President Kim Jun-young, with professor Chang Sea-jin of the National University of Singapore and professor Kim In-hoe of Inha University’s law school serving as panelists. Kim Jun-young, chairman of Posco’s Corporate Citizenshi

Mobility March 21, 2019

Hoping to pick up the declining sales of midsize sedans, Hyundai Motor on Thursday said it has set the 2019 sales target of more than 70,000 units for the eighth-generation Sonata, a signature vehicle for more than three decades through which it has built its reputation.“By setting the sales target at 70,000 units this year, excluding (the number of vehicles to be sold) for commercial use, (Hyundai) will cement its No. 1 position in the sedan segment,” said Lee Kwang-guk, vice president for the

Mobility March 21, 2019

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles on South Korea’s latest measures to support the hydrogen economy, the market drive for hydrogen-powered vehicles and the hurdles that stand in the way. This is the seventh installment. -- Ed.TOKYO -- Close to Shiba Park, just under the Tokyo Tower, one of the Japanese capital’s most famous landmarks, is a modern building plastered with a huge H2 symbol.It is a hydrogen refilling station operated by Iwatani Corp., a local gas company

Economy March 20, 2019

A series of estimate reports by local brokerage houses on South Korea’s two major chipmakers reignited market fears Tuesday, as they became more skeptical over their first-quarter earnings, citing falling memory chip prices due to market saturation. According to local market researcher FnGuide, the market consensus on Samsung Electronics’ operating profit came to 8.33 trillion won ($7.36 billion), a 47 percent decrease from the first three months last year. The quarterly estimate of SK hynix, th

Technology March 19, 2019

The number of preorders for Hyundai Motor’s all-new Sonata has surpassed the 10,000 mark in five days across the country since the carmaker start receiving orders on March 11, the company said Sunday.The eighth-generation Sonata sedan is selling faster than the previous one, around 2,000 units a day. On average, a total of 5,487 units of the seventh-generation Sonata, also known as Sonata LF, were sold a month last year, the company explained. The 8th generation Sonata (Hyundai Motor)The portion

Industry March 17, 2019

Hyundai Motor has developed a third-generation platform and used it for the all-new Sonata, set to be launched later this month here, the company said Wednesday.By using ultra-strength and hot-stamped steel, the platform is 10 percent stronger and 55 kilograms lighter than before, it added. (Yonhap)The new platform will help the carmaker design and manufacture safer, energy-efficient and more powerful vehicles. It is the basis of improving the carmaker’s performance and reduce air resistance.The

Mobility March 13, 2019

South Korean auto part maker Hyundai Mobis will invest 5.5 billion won ($4.86 million) in DeepGlint, a Chinese startup developing 3D image analysis and pattern recognition technologies.The company is a leader in the fields of security monitoring and business analysis, and has developed facial recognition technology that can identify a single person out of 1 billion people from a distance of 50 meters. (Yonhap)Mobis’ investment in DeepGlint is aimed at securing technologies for recognizing in-veh

Mobility March 13, 2019

Institutional Shareholder Service, a global proxy advisory firm, has supported Hyundai Motor against its conflict with Elliott over special dividend payouts to shareholders.ISS said in a statement that it doesn’t support Elliott’s demand to return almost 7 trillion won in excess cash to shareholders through special dividends. It, however, supported two of Elliott’s three nominees for the board. It also showed support for Hyundai’s nomination of Yoon Chi-won, vice chairman of UBS AG’s wealth mana

Industry March 12, 2019

On early Monday morning last week, an unthinkable scene unfolded in the lobby of Hyundai Motor’s headquarters in Yangjae, southern Seoul. Employees wearing sweat shirts, sneakers and blue jeans marched into the office, with some seniors in hiking tops and pants receiving morning greetings from younger ones, awkwardly, as if they came to realize at that instant that they were a bit off from what business casual really meant.For the first time in the carmaker’s half-a-century history,

Economy March 12, 2019

US e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. is likely to enter the South Korean market within the first half of the year, the company said Tuesday.The San Francisco-based company released the e-cigarette brand Juul in 2017 in the US. Its US market share was 72 percent as of September 2018.“We are aiming to put the Juul on the South Korean market during the first half of this year or at the start of the latter half at the latest,” a company representative said. (AP-Yonhap)Before entering the South Korean

Industry March 12, 2019