South Korean shipbuilding and heavy industries conglomerate HD Hyundai is presenting the blueprint of future construction sites utilizing unstaffed autonomous technologies at CES 2024 in Las Vegas this week. According to HD Hyundai, this year’s exhibition has been set up under the core theme of “Xite Transformation,” a land innovation vision to solve the problems humanity is facing, such as security, supply chains and climate change. HD Hyundai divided its exhibition area into

Industry Jan. 10, 2024

South Korea’s new space body, Korea Aerospace Administration, or KASA, is finally set to take flight with the country poised to join the global space race. The National Assembly on Tuesday passed special bills required for establishing and managing the space aviation agency to allow legal grounds for KASA. KASA, inspired by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will be established in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province. The space agency is expected to be officially launched

Industry Jan. 9, 2024

South Korean defense firms are seeking to break through into the US market, the biggest in the world, as the industry looks to carry on its export momentum. Hanwha Aerospace on Thursday announced that it completed a field test of its multipurpose unmanned ground vehicle, Arion-SMET, with the US Army and Marine Corps in Hawaii in December. It was the first time a Korean UGV developer had taken part in the US Defense Department’s foreign comparative testing. “Arion-SMET’s partici

Industry Jan. 7, 2024

BMW has once again reclaimed the top auto importer title in South Korea, for the first time since 2015, by edging out Mercedes-Benz in a duel that came down to the wire. According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association’s report released Thursday, BMW sold 77,395 vehicles in the Korean market last year, just 698 more than Mercedes-Benz’s 76,697 sold. As the former took up 28.56 percent of the total market share and the latter accounted for 28.3 percent, the two

Mobility Jan. 4, 2024

Kia has set a new record by selling 3.08 million vehicles across the world last year, Korea’s second-largest automaker said Wednesday. Kia sold 563,660 cars in Korea and 2.51 million vehicles overseas, up 4.6 percent and 6.7 percent on-year, respectively. The automaker’s previous record was 3.04 million units in 2014. Kia’s sport utility vehicles led the company’s record year. The three bestselling models were the Sportage with 523,502 units sold, the Seltos with 344,013

Mobility Jan. 3, 2024

Flying cars have long been a fixture in science fiction movies. For Hyundai Motor Group, the vision of vehicles flying in the air is not just a whimsical idea anymore as the Korean auto giant appears determined to make them a reality in the near future. Supernal, Hyundai Motor Group’s US-based advanced air mobility company, is gearing up to showcase the life-size concept model of its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, or eVTOL, at CES 2024 to be held at the Las Vegas Convention

Mobility Jan. 1, 2024

Employees at major South Korean firms are set to receive different amounts of year-end bonuses, ranging from nothing at all to 30 percent of their annual salaries, depending on the performance of the industrial sector for 2023. Workers in Samsung Electronics’ device solutions division, which is in charge of the company’s chip business, are expected to receive no incentives next year, due to the weak performance of the chip sector, according to industry sources Friday. Over the past

Industry Dec. 29, 2023

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday that the Korean government will invest 100 billion won ($77.6 million) to accelerate research and development efforts in the three major technology sectors -- semiconductors, displays and secondary batteries -- next year to secure key technologies and create new markets. “It is very important to secure original technologies in the three major technologies of semiconductors, displays and secondary batteries as the future growth engines of our ec

Industry Dec. 28, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group’s two auto brands -- Hyundai Motor Company and Kia -- have set a new record by selling some 767,000 hybrid electric vehicles across the world through November this year, the South Korean auto giant said Wednesday. According to the automakers, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia sold 254,258 HEVs in the Korean market, accounting for 21 percent of their total domestic sales during the January to November period. The two companies sold 513,000 HEVs overseas in the same timeframe

Mobility Dec. 27, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group has set its sights on the Southeast Asian region in search of alternative markets outside of China and Russia as the Korean automaker looks to move beyond its heyday in the two state-dominated nations. Hyundai Motor’s Chinese business used to boast upbeat sales of over 1 million units per year with five local manufacturing plants in operation. This came to an abrupt end in 2017 when Beijing took retaliatory actions against South Korean companies in response to Seoul&rsq

Mobility Dec. 26, 2023

Hyundai Mobis will work with US software company Wind River to develop a digital twin system called M.Dev Studio to optimize the future working conditions of crafting auto parts, the South Korean auto parts maker said Monday. M.Dev Studio is expected to offer a virtual space for not only Hyundai Mobis, but also its partners and various research teams to carry out joint projects through simultaneous simulation and remote monitoring as they work on developing core auto technologies and products to

Mobility Dec. 25, 2023

진행자: 간형우, Beth Eunhee Hong All Koreans need for Christmas is ... a cake? 기사 요약: 한국인이 크리스마스날 케익을 찾는 현상과 그 유래 [1] Ever wondered what Koreans most enjoy on their Christmas dinner tables? *wonder: 궁금해하다, 경이로운 것 [2] While the classic yuletide meal of turkey and stuffing are hard to find and there's no specific Korean Christmas dish, people often turn to a special treat enjoyed on other special occasions: cakes. *yuletide: 크리스마스 계절 [3] Sharing a cake after a Christmas meal, which could be any

Podcast Dec. 25, 2023

진행자: 간형우, Beth Eunhee Hong Half of Koreans could be over 65 by 2072 기사 요약: 출산율 반등해도 2072년 한국엔 65세 이상 고령인구가 절반 이상이라는 통계청 예측 [1] South Korea could see a more than 40 percent decline in its population in 50 years' time, with half of its people aged over 65, a recent report released by Statistics Korea showed. *decline: 감소, 하락하다, 사양하다 [2] The worst-case scenario in the agency’s projections for the country’s population between 2022-2072 forecast the nation's population would

Podcast Dec. 21, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group promoted 252 executives on Wednesday, the largest upper-level promotion ever in the company’s history, on the back of its record-high earnings this year as it looks to find future mobility leaders. Hyundai Motor said the promotions focused on preparing for the future as it speeds up its generational shift in leadership. Among the promoted, there are 197 newly appointed executives, of which some 38 percent are in their 40s. The conglomerate's proportion of those in their

Mobility Dec. 20, 2023

Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday it has decided to sell its entire shares of its car manufacturing plant in Russia, which has been temporarily shut down because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to a Moscow-based company, ending a decadelong operation. The carmaker’s board of directors approved selling Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Russia in St. Petersburg, along with a General Motor plant it acquired in 2020 to the Russian automotive service firm Art-Finance. “We have reviewed var

Mobility Dec. 19, 2023