Doosan Group said Monday it finalized a self-rescue plan to secure 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) by selling assets and reducing costs to improve struggling Doosan Heavy Industries’ financial structure. Minutes later, its main creditors released a statement, saying they accept the plan and have begun reviewing additional financial support. “Even if the recovery of the global economy and power generation market are delayed, Doosan will make self-rescue efforts to improve its financia

Industry April 27, 2020

Change seems to be looming for Hyundai Motor’s labor union -- known for hard-line protests and strikes -- with their new pragmatic leader and as the global pandemic persists. Hyundai Motor’s wage negotiations, which are normally launched in late April or May at the latest, are expected to be delayed until July this year. “We are considering a plan to finalize the requests in mid-June and hold a meeting with the management in July. We have to watch the global pandemic trend

Mobility April 26, 2020

South Korea on Thursday decided to inject emergency funds into the nation’s five key industries -- automobiles, aviation, shipping, shipbuilding and oil refineries -- that are facing a liquidity crisis since the outbreak of the new coronavirus. It discussed customized support measures for each industry at the crisis management meeting led by Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki as a follow-up measures to President Moon Jae-in’s announcement of a 40 trillion won ($32.5 billion) worth relie

Industry April 23, 2020

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has approved low-cost airline Jeju Air’s takeover of the management of struggling Eastar Jet, officials said Thursday. Early last month, Jeju Air signed a deal with Eastar Holdings, the largest shareholder of Eastar Jet, to acquire the airline for 54.5 billion won ($45 million). The firm acquired 4,971,000 common shares for a 51.17 percent stake. “The Fair Trade Commission conducted the review as promptly as possible, considering the circu

Mobility April 23, 2020

South Korean shipbuilders are jittery as oil prices in the US plummeted to negative territory for the first time in history this week, coupled with the reduced demand for crude oil and global shipments driven by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The business outlook for the global shipbuilding industry is also not very rosy. In the first quarter of this year, global orders for ships fell 78 percent year-on-year to 2.33 million compensated gross tons. Here, only two liquefied natural gas carri

Industry April 22, 2020

Compared with years past, more of the executives from owner families at South Korea’s conglomerates are women or members of the younger generation, data from a local corporate tracker showed Monday. Six group chairpersons were born since 1970 and nearly a quarter of the conglomerates’ 150 young executives are women, the Korea CXO Institute said, citing its survey of the 200 largest groups. Among the younger business leaders in charge at the nation’s top 10 conglomerates are

Industry April 20, 2020

SK E&S has sold its entire stake in a Chinese private gas company to prevent a liquidity crisis as demand in the energy market plunged since the global coronavirus pandemic. The energy unit of SK Group said it sold all of its 10.25 percent stake (535 million shares) in China Gas Holdings through a block deal on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the previous day in a regulatory filing Friday. The sale price was 1.8 trillion won ($1.4 billion), 11.1 percent off the closing price of the contra

Industry April 17, 2020

Hyundai Motor is set to provide about 60 rooms in its human resources development center in Paju as temporary quarantine lodgings for people entering South Korea, the automaker said Friday. The facilities are places where people who enter the country without symptoms can stay until they are notified of the results of coronavirus tests. The company will also provide outdoor parking lots for the installation of test facilities. In March, Hyundai Motor Group provided two training centers in Gye

Industry April 17, 2020

As oil prices continue to fall, airlines will not impose fuel surcharges on international and domestic airline tickets issued in May, according to the industry Friday. Fuel surcharges are imposed in steps when the average value per gallon (3.785 liters) of Singapore’s jet fuel is 150 cents and over. From March 16 to Wednesday -- the period that determines fuel surcharges for international routes for May -- the average price of Singapore’s jet fuel was $27.60 per barrel and 65.72 c

Mobility April 17, 2020

The South Korean government is seeking to enable department stores and outlets to temporarily sell duty-free stores’ inventory to help the struggling operators, according to local news outlets on Friday. According to news reports, major duty-free operators in Korea, including Lotte, Shilla and Shinsegae, held a meeting last week with officials from the Korea Duty-Free Shops Association and the Korea Customs Service to discuss the sale of bonded goods. During the meeting, the duty-free

Industry April 17, 2020

Representatives of South Korea’s key industries expressed concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and raised their calls for the government to expand support for the sectors reeling. On Thursday, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and associations of five industries, including automobiles, steel, petrochemicals, machinery and shipbuilding, jointly held a meeting to listen to the difficulties of the industries and discuss solutions. “The economic impact of coronavirus was

Industry April 16, 2020

Despite public apathy and tougher shareholder censure, South Korea’s chaebol groups are preparing a generational shift in leadership. The Korea Herald looks at different conglomerates and succession scenarios. -- Ed. Satoshi Shigemitsu, 33, who goes by the Korean name Shin Yoo-yeol, is the only son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Being a Japanese citizen, he went to Keio University, got a management degree from Columbia University and currently works at Nomura Singapore. Alth

Industry April 16, 2020

Although the continued spread of coronavirus has disrupted many industries in South Korea, those related to “untact” services -- referring to no-contact interaction, which have become an integral part of life -- have fared well and are expected to grow even further, according to industry sources Wednesday. E-commerce companies appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of the prolonged pandemic. Online shopping transactions in Korea amounted to 11.9 trillion won ($9.7 billion) in F

Industry April 15, 2020

Hyosung TNC said Tuesday it will make eco-friendly bags using plastic bottles with its textile brand Regen in a joint project with Jeju Province Development Corp. The textile and trading unit of Hyosung Group has signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a resource circulation system with the Ministry of Environment, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Jeju Province Development Corp. and eco-fashion brand Pleatsmama. Jeju Island Development Corp., which makes bottled water Samd

Industry April 14, 2020

South Korea’s information and communications technology industry could suffer as spending by companies is poised to decline due to the COVID-19 spread, according to research firm IDC Korea on Tuesday. Spending on ICT systems is expected to decline this year due to the rise of companies’ emergency management system and short-term cost reduction, the research firm noted. In a recently published report “Korea ICT 2020 Market Outlook,” IDC revised down its forecast for m

Industry April 14, 2020