SK Telecom spins off mobility business

  SK Telecom announced Thursday the mobile carrier’s shareholders approved the spinoff of its mobility business unit as part of enhancing the carrier’s future mobility solutions. Approved by 99.98 percent of its shareholders, a new mobility business dubbed as T Map Mobility will be established on Dec. 29 as a wholly owned subsidiary. The unit has been operating SKT’s T Map service, the largest mobile navigation service whose users doubled from its rival Kakao’

Nov. 26, 2020

Daewoo Shipbuilding succeeds in ship-to-ship LNG loading test

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Thursday that it has succeeded in a ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) loading test for the first time in the global shipbuilding industry. The ship-to-ship LNG loading test was aimed at streamlining procedures to verify the safety of newly built LNG carriers' tanks and to save on test costs, Daewoo Shipbuilding said. Before the ship-to-ship LNG loading test, newly built LNG carriers were usually sent to local LNG terminals far away

Nov. 26, 2020

Korea Air wins W290b F-16 maintenance deal

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Thursday it has received a 290 billion won ($260 million) F-16 maintenance order in the United States.  In the 10-year deal signed with the US Department of Defense, Korean Air will be in charge of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work for the life extension of the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft deployed to the US air forces in South Korea and Japan, the company said in a statement. The national flag carrier has been providi

Nov. 26, 2020

S. Korea to roll out more digital services amid pandemic

South Korea will start to unveil more digital services, from mobile identification to artificial intelligence (AI) doctors, as the pandemic limits face-to-face contact, the ICT ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it has named key services to support for digital transition amid the pandemic, including rolling out mobile identification for public servants from this year and mobile driver's licenses from next year. The ministry said it will also pursue a test service for

Nov. 26, 2020

Samsung maintains top spot in Western Europe smartphone market in Q3: report

Samsung Electronics Co. maintained the top spot in the Western Europe smartphone market in the third quarter of the year, a report showed Thursday, despite sales decline. The South Korean tech giant shipped 10.3 million smartphones in Western Europe in the July-September period for a 35.6 percent market share, according to industry researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). The figures were slightly down from a year ago when the company shipped 11 million smartphones for a 35.8 percent marke

Nov. 26, 2020

S. Korea to reduce operation of coal plants to cut fine dust emissions over winter

South Korea said Thursday it plans to reduce the operation of some coal-powered plants over the winter in line with efforts to cut the emission of fine dust. Under the plan, the country will halt the operation of from nine to 16 coal-powered plants over the season, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. Other plants will be required to maintain their power output at 80 percent of capacity depending on demand. South Korea first adopted the reduction scheme last year. Throug

Nov. 26, 2020

[Monitor] Major firms see overseas sales increase despite pandemic

The top 100 companies in South Korea saw their overseas sales inch up in the third quarter this year despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Federation of Korean Industries showed Tuesday. According to the data, the companies marked a combined 181.9 trillion won ($164 billion) in revenue from their overseas operations, up 1.6 percent from a year ago. Compared to the second quarter, it is an increase by 24.1 percent. The increase came from a rise in demand from major exporting coun

Nov. 26, 2020

Hyundai, Kia's EV exports set to exceed 100,000 units this year

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday they are set to export over 100,000 electric vehicles this year on growing demand for environment-friendly cars. Hyundai and Kia shipped a combined 98,505 EVs from January to October, jumping 71 percent from 57,517 units during the same period of last year, according to the companies. "Stricter emission rules in Europe drove up demand for all-electric and less-emitting models," a Hyundai spokesman said. Hyundai's

Nov. 26, 2020

[Graphic News] KT maintains top spot in pay TV market in H1: data

　KT, a South Korean telecom giant, and its affiliate had the most number of pay TV subscribers in the country in the first half of this year, maintaining the top status in terms of market share, ministry data showed. 　The mobile carrier and its satellite TV unit KT Skylife had a combined 31.4 percent share of the market, or 10.7 million subscribers, in the January-June period, followed by LG Uplus and its pay TV unit LG HelloVision at a total 25.1 percent, according to the Ministry of Scien

Nov. 26, 2020

Seoul stocks open lower on Wall Street losses

South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Thursday, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street over disappointing US economic indices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.94 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,600.6 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.58 percent to 29,872.47 points on an increase in weekly US jobless data, weakening hopes for a quick recovery from the pandemic. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.48 percent,

Nov. 26, 2020

BOK keeps key rate at record low, ups economic outlook

The South Korean central bank on Thursday held its policy rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent, while slightly revising up this year's economic outlook, amid growing concerns over a winter wave of coronavirus infections. As expected, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) voted to leave the base rate steady in this year's final rate-setting meeting. Driven by signs of a modest recovery in exports, the BOK revised up this year's economic growth outlook to 1.1 percent cont

Nov. 26, 2020

[Herald Interview] Customs service promotes global program for safe, risk-free trade

The global economy has been seriously affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with trade and international travel being restricted due to economic lockdowns worldwide. Amid the ongoing battle against the economic fallout from the virus, the Korea Customs Service will hold a conference Friday to promote the authorized economic operator (AEO) program, which helps both exporters and importers carry out customs procedures swiftly. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the World Customs Organization

Nov. 26, 2020

Banks' bad loans inch down in Q3

Nonperforming loans at South Korean banks edged down in the third quarter from three months earlier due to a decline in overdue corporate loans, data showed Thursday. Nonperforming loans came to 14.1 trillion won ($12.7 billion) at the end of September, down 900 billion won from the end of June, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Overdue corporate loans reached 12 trillion won at the end of September, compared with 12.8 trillion won from a quarter earlier, the

Nov. 26, 2020

S. Korea's Nov. exports tipped to rebound 6.6%: poll

South Korea's exports are expected to rebound by rising 6.6 percent on-year in November following a brief fall in the previous month, on the back of stronger demand for chips and automobiles, a poll showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments are estimated to reach $46.9 billion this month, according to the poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The survey was conducted on eight local brokerage houses. Imports were estimated at $40.3 billion this month, res

Nov. 26, 2020

S. Korea's trade deficit with Japan inches up amid weaker boycott

South Korea's trade deficit with Japan edged up in the first 10 months of the year, data showed Thursday, as a local boycott of Japanese consumer goods shows signs of losing steam. Seoul posted a trade deficit of $16.56 billion in the January-October period, compared with $16.42 billion during the same period a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). Exports to the neighboring country fell 13 percent on-year to $20.63 billion over the cited pe

Nov. 26, 2020

LG U+ names Hwang Hyun-sik as new CEO

LG U+’s Chief Executive Officer Ha Hyun-hwoi stepped down Wednesday, recommending in his place Hwang Hyun-sik, president of consumer business. According to LG U+, Ha has determined that now is a critical point for LG U+ in its preparation for the post-COVID-19 era and digital transformation.  He has recommended Hwang to helm the leadership, saying his 20 years of experience in the telecommunications business will stably guide LG U+ through the rapidly evolving market.  Hwang,

Nov. 25, 2020

Is COVID-19 like the flu?

Perhaps one of the most frequently posed questions since the pandemic’s onset is how the new virus may compare to seasonal influenza. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Oh Myoung-don, who leads the National Medical Center’s committee for clinical management of emerging infectious diseases, said during a press conference Tuesday that complications from “COVID-19 might not be more severe than the flu.” “Certain cardiovascular and neurological complications have been

Nov. 25, 2020

IATA exec says more consolidation in aviation possible

The International Air Transport Association’s regional vice president said on Wednesday that the aviation industry could see more consolidation between airlines from the same country in the wake of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines acquisition deal. “We’ve had a number of airlines who’ve tried to set up regional operations but they’ve tended to be challenged by the ownership and control rules that apply in different countries with respect to air operator certificates,

Nov. 25, 2020

LG Display appoints new CTO, first female senior vice president

LG Display, in its annual personnel appointment announcement Wednesday, introduced a new chief technology officer, Yoon Soo-young. Yoon will replace incumbent CTO Kang In-byeong. All new appointments are effective January 1st, LG Display said. Yoon, formerly the head of LG Display Laboratory, has been acknowledged for his role in leading the company‘s business transition to next-generation organic light-emitting diode technology. LG Display said that it has promoted 19 more officials

Nov. 25, 2020

Top 10 conglomerates’ market cap exceeds W1,000tr

The recent spate of records in South Korea’s stock market on hopes of a global coronavirus containment has brought the market capitalization of the 10 largest business groups’ listed affiliates to fresh highs, data showed Wednesday. As of Monday, the market cap of all 102 listed affiliates of the 10 largest business groups came to 1,069 trillion won ($964.3 billion), topping 1,000 trillion won for the first time in history, according to data from financial market tracker FnGuide.

Nov. 25, 2020