GS Group Chairman Huh Tae-soo urged company executives Wednesday to pay more attention to new consumer trends, adding digital transformation based on mobile and artificial intelligence will become more active in the future. His remarks came at the GS executive forum held for the second time since he took the helm early this year. The forum was attended by around 30 senior executives from all affiliates. “The political, social and economic shocks and changes caused by the pandemic are

Industry June 17, 2020

Housing polarization is rapidly deepening in South Korea, with the price gap between high and low-priced apartments widening to the highest levels in 10 years, latest data showed. According to the monthly housing price trend released by Kookmin Bank, prices of low-cost apartments nationwide have fallen by 2.2 percent, or 2.5 million won ($2,069), while those of expensive apartments have risen by 15.5 percent, or more than 100 million won, over the past year. 　 Compared to two years ago, the

Industry June 17, 2020

Asiana Airlines held an extraordinary shareholders meeting Monday, and voted to raise capital by increasing shares and issuing convertible bonds. The South Korean flag carrier put to a vote its decision to revise its articles of association, calling for an increase in the total number of issued shares and a higher limit on CBs. The amendment was passed with the approval of all shareholders present. With the shareholders’ approval, Asiana will increase the total number of its shares to 1

Mobility June 15, 2020

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said Monday it is applying domestically developed technologies at its shipbuilding sites to reduce person-to-person contact amid the coronavirus pandemic. The shipbuilder said it recently completed testing liquefied natural gas carriers by utilizing its own remote maintenance support system called DS4 AR Support. Its pilot tests were successful, which were done with engineers from overseas via an online application.  This system combines au

Mobility June 15, 2020

Coupang is set to pay 1 million won ($828) to each of its 2,600 temporary workers who have had to self-quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, the country’s leading e-commerce operator issued an in-house notice from Representative Director Sam Ko, saying, “We thought we had weathered the crisis. But COVID-19 has started spreading again, mainly in the metropolitan areas.” He added, “This is not an easy battle.” Coupang has made various so

Industry June 12, 2020

With no companies bidding for the sale of Korean Air’s land in Songhyeon-dong, Seoul, the government unveiled plans to launch a corporate asset purchase program worth 2 trillion won ($1.6 billion), raising expectations that the carrier may have a new option.　 According to industry sources, there were no participants in the preliminary bidding for Korean Air’s land, which closed Wednesday. That outcome was deemed to have been influenced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s p

Industry June 12, 2020

The emergency disaster relief funds for citizens provided by the government to combat the impact of COVID-19 pandemic were mainly used for dining out and shopping while sales for opticians, hospitals and pharmacies grew the most last month, data showed. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety data, which analyzed the use of credit and debit cards for availing the emergency funds from May 11-31 by eight companies, including KB Kookmin, NongHyup, Lotte, BC, Samsung, Shinhan, Hana and Hyundai

Industry June 12, 2020

The Korea International Trade Association said Wednesday it has submitted an official opinion to the US Department of Commerce to exclude Korean electric transformers from its investigation on imported transformers and parts. According to the business association, the US launched an investigation into imported transformers and parts, viewing them as national security threats under Article 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Imports make up around 85 percent of transformer and relevant parts supp

Industry June 10, 2020

As the private and public sectors join hands to increase trade during the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korean exporters are expected to see wider access to trade financing, as well as increased cargo shipments and fast-track entry procedures for major trading partners. At the forefront of these efforts is the Korea International Trade Association, which recently surveyed 722 exporters to better understand their concerns and draw up policy suggestions for the government. According to the survey, c

Industry June 10, 2020

LS Cable & System is promoting activities with the local community near its workplace, focusing on areas such as recovery from COVID-19, “talent donations” from executives and employees and support for welfare organizations. The cable maker recently provided 100 million won ($83,451) to the food pack business in Sejong City. It is a project to provide food and household goods to the elderly living alone, children without parents and people on low-incomes, all groups that are ha

Industry June 9, 2020

The Korean government will toughen probes into large firms infringing on the technologies of small and medium-sized enterprises, officials said Monday. For this, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced it will move to revise regulations related to companies’ technology infringements to reinforce the investigative power. Currently, authorities have to suspend an investigation on alleged technology infringement in certain cases, including when a business is temporarily closed or a

Industry June 8, 2020

Samsung Electronics reiterated Sunday that the merger of its two key affiliates that was allegedly fast-tracked to allow Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to wrest control of the conglomerate was completely legitimate. The company said in a statement that the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015 took place legitimately, a day before a review of the arrest warrant for Lee. The statement that started with, “Samsung is in crisis,” said, “To overcome this crisis, man

Industry June 7, 2020

LG International Corp. and local software maker Hancom Group have partnered for joint overseas expansion, the companies said Thursday. On the same day, LG International Corp. CEO Yoon Chun-sung and Hancom Group Chairman Kim Sang-chul signed a partnership agreement to jointly advance into the global market and to discuss ways to cooperate, LG International Corp. said. Under the agreement, LG International Corp. will carry out marketing to export various products and solutions of Hancom Grou

Industry June 4, 2020

The European Commission has resumed the screening of Hyundai Heavy Industries’ acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering after temporarily suspending the review amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the commission on Thursday. The EC said the “provisional deadline” of the screening would be Sept. 3 -- a delay from the initial plan of July -- on its website. Two months earlier, the site had shown the deadline of the screening as “suspended”

Industry June 4, 2020

Loans taken out by self-employed people and businesses in the January-March period increased by the largest amount ever in the wake of the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. According to the quarterly statistics released by the Bank of Korea, the balance of loans by industry was 776 trillion won ($637 billion) at the end of March. It was up 34 trillion won from December last year, the largest increase since 2008 when the statistics began to be compiled. It was also up a record-high 13 percen

Industry June 4, 2020