Apr 9, 2020

Samsung requests compliance committee to defer Lee Jae-yong’s apology to May

Samsung Electronics has requested an external compliance monitoring committee to defer the timing of its heir’s public apology to next month, according to the committee Thursday. The committee led by former Chief Justice Kim Ji-hyung last month had urged Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to apologize to the public on the group’s past scheme to succeed leadership from Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The letter was sent to seven Samsung affiliates governed by Lee, offering 30 days of consid

Apr 9, 2020

Electricity bill payments deferred to alleviate coronavirus shock

State-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. said Wednesday it would delay electricity bill payments for small businesses and underprivileged families struggling from the coronavirus outbreak. According to Kepco, small business owners using residential, industrial and general electricity and the underprivileged currently receiving fixed welfare discounts on electricity bills will be eligible for delaying their monthly payments for three months each from April to June. The application period

Apr 9, 2020

Hyundai Oilbank takes full responsibility for medical bills of ‘stench’ incident victims

South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank apologized Thursday to the victims of “stench” incident at its refinery located in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, promising full medical support for their recovery. The company said it would pay the medical bills of local residents affected by the stench that originated from its refinery around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, while the facility was burning remaining LPG inside the pipes to prepare for the upcoming regular turnaround. “Hyunda

Apr 9, 2020

GS Caltex pledges ESG to reduce carbon footprint

GS Caltex CEO Hur Sae-hong said Thursday the company will strengthen its environmental, social and governance strategy by reducing greenhouse emissions and air pollutants, speeding up its green management policy based on energy-efficient production facilities. The company said its facility in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, has replaced its fuel to liquefied natural gas from low-sulfur fuel oil after improvements on its production line. The move is expected to reduce carbon emissions significa

Apr 9, 2020

Shin Poong Pharm’s uterine myoma tablets cause ‘serious liver damage’

Shin Poong Pharm, the sudden and sole Korean beneficiary of the recent news of parasiticide ivermectin’s purported coronavirus-killing powers, is facing business uncertainties. The company’s uterine myoma treatment, a tablet of 5mg ulipristal acetate traded globally as Esmya, was found to have caused “serious liver injury” in a number of patients in Europe, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Esmya’s license is suspended in Europe until the Pharmac

Apr 9, 2020

Coronavirus testing time to shorten from 6 hours to 20 minutes: DGIST

South Korean scientists in Daegu have developed a diagnostic kit that will cut down the COVID-19 testing time from previous six hours to 20 minutes. This diagnostic agent has been transferred to a diagnostic kit maker called Mmonitor, whose website crashed due to heavy traffic as of 11 a.m., Thursday, upon the announcement by Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology. According to DGIST, its new diagnostic agent makes it possible to amplify genetic information of the coronavir

Apr 8, 2020

Lotte, Shilla surrender Incheon airport duty-free biz amid coronavirus woes

South Korea's two leading duty free operators have decided to give up their bids to operate stores at Incheon International Airport as the novel coronavirus has devastated business at the transportation hub, industry sources said Wednesday. The move by Hotel Lotte and Hotel Shilla comes as the business environment at South Korea's main airport has changed dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, insiders said. The two companies should have signed new 10-year lease deals with Incheon Inter

Apr 8, 2020

LG Chem supplies most EV batteries globally by capacity in Feb.

South Korean battery manufacturer LG Chem took the lead in the global electric vehicle battery market in February, accounting for more than one third of global EV battery capacity. According to the latest report from Adamas Intelligence, LG Chem supplied 1,800 MWh of EV batteries for newly sold passenger EVs in February, commanding 34.6 percent of total battery capacity deployed to EVs globally in the same month.  The battery deployment for passenger xEVs (BEV, PHEV, HEV) in February 2

Apr 8, 2020

‘Slowdown in US, China, Japan can lower Korea’s economic growth by 2%’

A slowdown in major economies following the global coronavirus pandemic could cut South Korea’ economic growth rate by as much as 2 percentage points, according to a local business research center Wednesday. The Korea Economic Research Institute analyzed the impact of the growth rate of three countries -- the US, China and Japan -- on the growth rate of Korea based on data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It found that if the growth rate of the three cou

Apr 8, 2020

Old or young, most workers feel generation gap: survey

‘Older workers feel wider generation gap, but younger employees feel greater difficulty’

Apr 8, 2020

School zone fears make drivers gear up with navigation apps, insurance

Drivers seek navigation apps to avoid school zones, buy insurance with more coverage in response to controversial child safety law

Apr 7, 2020

Korean Air calls for 6-month work stoppage for 70% of workforce

South Korea's No. 1 flag carrier, Korean Air Lines, said Tuesday that it will start a six-month-long work stoppage for more than 70 percent of its workforce, as the novel coronavirus wreaks havoc on the airline industry. The measure is part of an ongoing effort to survive the worsening business environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused air passenger movement to nosedive with countries around the world restricting movement of people. The stoppage, which will go into effec

Apr 7, 2020

Tax payment deferred for petroleum industry

The South Korean government has initiated a temporary tax relief program for domestic petrochemical companies as global demand has plummeted amidst the worsening coronavirus pandemic. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday it will allow 54 petrochemical companies to delay their tax payments on oil imports and sales of petroleum products for 90 days, giving financial room to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. “Tax payments for April, May and June will be p

Apr 7, 2020

Beauty app Zamface accumulates over 10m clicks on AI service

Zamface, a beauty video app, said Tuesday that its “Time Jump” service function accumulated over 10.17 million clicks from users since its launch in June 2019. The app’s Time Jump service allows users to skip ahead to parts of beauty YouTube videos to search out specific information, without having to watch the whole video. Time Jump, which is based on artificial intelligence, automatically analyzes a video to mark different chapters and create the time jump options -- shad