Xiaomi Corp. said Thursday its new tablet PC will go on sale in South Korea next week as the Chinese tech giant eyes to expand its presence here. Xiaomi Pad 5, which was first unveiled in China last month, will be available on South Korean online retailers from next Thursday with a price tag of 449,000 won ($380). This is the first time since 2014 Xiaomi is releasing a new tablet product in South Korea. The company said it decided to sell the new tablet in the country to meet growing demand

Industry Sept. 16, 2021

South Korea's trade watchdog said Thursday it has decided to recommend the government extend anti-dumping duties on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film imported from Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, citing substantial damage to the local industry. The Korea Trade Commission said it has advised the finance ministry to set duties of 3.19 percent to 60.95 percent on PET film coming from the countries for the next five years. The country already had been applying tariffs of around

Economy Sept. 16, 2021

The cloud affiliate of South Korea's leading internet portal operator, Naver Corp., said Thursday it aims for the No. 3 position in the Asian Pacific region by 2023. "We aim to reach the No. 2 position in the country, and No. 3 in Japanese and Southeast Asian markets by 2023," Jang Beom-sik, an official of Naver Cloud, said during an online conference. "We aim to secure the new growth engine by investing 80 percent of our annual sales into technology and human resources." N

Industry Sept. 16, 2021

LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday the first phase of home appliance manufacturing facility upgrades at its main production base in South Korea has been completed as the company aims to improve productivity with a better automation system. The tech giant said its reconstructed production building at LG Smart Park in Changwon, 400 kilometers south of Seoul, started its initial stage operations.  LG earlier announced it will invest a total of 800 billion won ($683 million) to upgrade its C

Industry Sept. 16, 2021

North Korea's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, and other media outlets targeted toward the domestic audience did not carry a statement by leader Kim Jong-un's sister that warned South Korea of the deadlock of inter-Korean relations. On Wednesday, Kim Yo-jong released a statement slamming South Korean President Moon Jae-in for branding the North's weapons tests as a "provocation" and warned of a "total deadlock" of inter-Korean relations. As of early Thursday morning, the Ro

Politics Sept. 16, 2021

An appellate court on Thursday approved a 20-year prison term for a woman convicted of abandoning a 3-year-old girl in an empty house and causing her death. The 22-year-old woman surnamed Kim was arrested on Feb. 11 after the corpse of the 3-year-old was discovered the previous day at her home in a multiunit house in Gumi, 260 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Kim was accused of abandoning the child, leading to her death, after she moved out of her home in August last year to remarry. At first, the

Social Affairs Sept. 16, 2021

Human Rights Watch and three other human rights organizations have sent a joint letter to President Moon Jae-in and the National Assembly calling for the revision of a media bill accused of undermining press freedom. The legislation calls for punitive damages up to five times more than usual if a media outlet is found guilty of running false or manipulated news reports. Critics argue that it could be used to silence critical media. The letter points out that the bill defines "false or manip

Politics Sept. 16, 2021

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans rose in July due to an increase in overdue corporate loans, the financial regulator said Thursday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.27 percent at the end of July, up from 0.25 percent the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the rate was down 0.09 percentage point in July. The delinquency rate for corporate loans rose 0.03 percentage poi

Economy Sept. 16, 2021

South Korea's public account surplus turned to deficit in 2020 as the government increased fiscal spending to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Thursday. In 2020, the country's public account deficit came to 50.6 trillion won ($43.3 billion), according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The deficit compared with a 14.7 trillion won surplus in 2019, when the country's public account balance continued to stay in the black for the fifth consecut

Economy Sept. 16, 2021

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday its technology conference will take place online for the first time next month amid the pandemic. The South Korean tech giant said it decided to hold the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) on Oct. 26. The event was canceled last year due to COVID-19 concerns. The SDC, which started in 2013, is an annual event that brings thousands of developers, content creators and designers to discuss future technologies and services. Samsung has been also unveiling its

Industry Sept. 16, 2021

LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, said Thursday it aims to increase sales from its smart factory solutions business by sevenfold within five years as part of its broader push to boost its enterprise-focused services. The telecom operator has recently been developing industrial solutions that use its 4G and 5G networks to automate workload and improve safety. The carrier said in an online briefing its smart factory solutions are currently used in 150 locations across the co

Technology Sept. 16, 2021

D aewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Thursday it has developed a technology to store carbon dioxide captured in ship engine emissions. The technology developed in cooperation with a local ship part supplier, HI AIR Korea Co., will help ships in operation reduce their carbon dioxide emissions to brace for environment regulations by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), DSME said. The IMO aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions from international shipping by more

Industry Sept. 16, 2021

South Korea's exports of fishery products rose nearly 18 percent on-year in the first eight months of 2021 amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments of fishery products reached $1.74 billion over the January-August period, compared to $1.48 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The ministry attributed the growth to more people visiting restaurants around the globe compared to the previous year, which boosted the demand for seafood

Economy Sept. 16, 2021

South Korea's trade ministry said Thursday it has been maintaining robust trade with Britain on the back of their free trade agreement (FTA), which was revamped earlier this year, despite London's divorce with the European Union. South Korea and Britain held their first meeting of the trade committee of goods virtually to discuss a wide array of commerce issues and follow up on the bilateral FTA, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two countries implemented the pact i

Economy Sept. 16, 2021

SK Innovation Co. said Thursday it has received shareholders' approval to split off its battery unit to focus on new growth drivers. With the approval, the refinery-to-battery subsidiary under South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate, SK Group, will be split into two entities that are respectively in charge of its battery and petrochemical businesses. The new entities will be officially launched Oct. 1. SK Innovation will serve as a holding firm in charge of developing its eco-friendly business port

Industry Sept. 16, 2021