This is the last installment in a series of interviews with executives of Korean companies with space ambitions. -- Ed. Every single one of South Korea’s 51 million inhabitants relies in some way on the Global Positioning System, the navigation system provided by a constellation of 31 satellites owned by the US. Since 1983, the US has offered its GPS service for free. Now, satellite navigation has seeped into every field of industry, from car navigation to logistics, and many aspects

Industry Sept. 26, 2021

Samsung Electronics and Harvard on Sunday introduced a new approach to mimicking the mechanism of a human brain on a memory chip. In a paper published in Nature Electronics, Samsung engineers and Harvard researchers explained how to create memory devices that can better mimic the unique computing traits of a human brain -- low power, facile learning, adaptation to environment and autonomy and cognition. The paper suggests copying the brain’s neuronal connection map using nano-electrod

Industry Sept. 26, 2021

A family of four in South Korea will see electricity bills rise as much as 1,050 won ($0.89) per month starting October as the Korea Electric Power Corp. decided to raise utility prices for the first time in eight years to mitigate skyrocketing fuel costs. According to the state-run utility firm Thursday, the electricity bill will go up 3 won per kilowatt-hour, the first increase since November 2013. For an average four-member household that consumes 350 kW of electricity per month, this would

Industry Sept. 23, 2021

This is the second installment in a series of interviews with executives of Korean companies with space ambitions. -- Ed.  About a month from now, South Korea will launch its first homegrown rocket “Nuri.” 　 A successful launch of the domestically made space launch vehicle is expected to herald a new space era for the country, where government-led programs transition to market-oriented ventures, with a key hindrance -- the decades-old Korea-US missile guidelines that put curb

Industry Sept. 22, 2021

Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday it has joined hands with two local partners in Texas to test whether spent-up electric vehicle batteries could be reused as energy storage systems. ESS is a giant battery the size of a container that stores leftover electricity by renewables such as solar and wind power. By September next year, Hyundai Motor, CPS Energy and OCI Solar Power will establish an ESS facility that can store a half-megawatt power, which is enough to power some 100 homes for a day.

Industry Sept. 15, 2021

Hyundai Motor Group on Wednesday broke ground on a 10 gigawatt-hour battery cell production plant in Indonesia in cooperation with LG Energy Solution, joining the global race to secure battery cells for the future. The joint factory, set for completion in the first half of 2023, will be built on a 300,000-meter site in Karawang, near the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. The two South Korean firms have formed a $1.1 billion joint venture for the project, with each owning a 50 percent stake. The

Industry Sept. 15, 2021

Everything that goes down the drain in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, a city of 1.25 million people, ends up in the Suwon Environment Affairs Agency. Every day, as much as 520,000 cubic meters of wastewater is filtered and purified at two water treatment facilities there -- one under and one above the ground -- and is then discharged into the river that leads to South Korea’s west coast. Earlier this month, The Korea Herald visited the underground facility whose operation is commissioned to

Industry Sept. 15, 2021

South Korea’s new Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo is a veteran negotiator who sat at the bargaining table for many of the free trade deals South Korea has inked over the past two decades, including the one with the European Union. Before assuming his current position on Aug. 9, the 51-year-old bureaucrat served as presidential secretary for the New Southern and New Northern policies -- President Moon Jae-in’s signature foreign policy initiatives to expand the nation’s economic and

Industry Sept. 14, 2021

When Yeo Han-koo, South Korea’s newly minted trade minister, first joined the officialdom in the early 1990s as a trade relations official, his country was just struggling to catch up with an emerging international trade order that later gave birth to the World Trade Organization. Three decades and 17 free trade deals later, South Korea stands as a shining example of free trade-driven prosperity, ranking among the world’s top 10 exporters. The path ahead, however, looks fraught w

Industry Sept. 14, 2021

SK Materials and Group14 Technologies will jointly establish an 850 billion won ($725.7 million) silicon anode plant in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, to gain foothold in the next-generation electric vehicle battery market, SK Materials said Tuesday. The project is to be led by a joint venture set up earlier by the two in a 75:25 ratio, tentatively named SK Materials Group14. The first factory is to break ground in October and kick off commercial operation starting next year. Including f

Industry Sept. 14, 2021

GS Caltex said Tuesday that it has deployed robots to maintenance tasks that entail risks of nitrogen asphyxiation, accelerating its digital transformation drive. According to the South Korean total energy company, its robot has successfully conducted a maintenance operation at the firm’s petrochemicals facility filled with nitrogen. The inert gas reduces fire risks during operation, but puts workers at risk of suffocation. Of 65 cases of workplace nitrogen asphyxiation cases in the la

Industry Sept. 14, 2021

LG Chem said Tuesday it will form a joint venture with Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world’s largest corn processors, to produce 75,000 tons of corn-based bioplastic per year starting in 2025. According to an agreement signed Monday between South Korea’s leading chemical firm and the Chicago-based agriculture company, a joint venture will be launched in early 2022 in the US to produce corn-based lactic acid and poly lactic acid, a biodegradable plastic used for food packaging,

Industry Sept. 14, 2021

Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon called for an aggressive, preemptive approach to increase its business foothold in the US during his recent visit there, the group said Monday. “The US holds the key to new market dynamics in the post-pandemic era,” the chief was quoted as saying by Hyosung officials in Seoul. “With thorough localization and attention to the customers’ needs, we must increase our market presence here.” Seoul officials linked the chairman&rsq

Industry Sept. 13, 2021

This is the first installment in a series of interviews with executives of Korean companies with space ambitions. -- Ed.  In 2013, South Korea celebrated the launch of its first rocket -- the “Naro” Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 -- from its own soil. The country’s first spaceflight success was, however, an effort that largely relied on Russian experts. Eight years later and amid an intensifying space race among superpowers, the country will attempt to launch a tru

Industry Sept. 12, 2021

South Koreans may face higher electricity bills later this year, as the government is mulling a response to compensate for rising fuel prices. According to industry sources Sunday, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will decide on Sept. 23 whether to raise electricity rates for the fourth quarter. A price hike seems inevitable, as the ministry and state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. already froze power bills twice in the second and third quarters in reflection of ongoing C

Industry Sept. 12, 2021