Samsung Group will audit its financial units this month, including key affiliates such as its insurance arms following a scandal at another subsidiary, industry sources said on Monday.The move would mark the first audit on the financial units since 2003. The group’s auditing team will first review the business operations of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance later this month, before a separate audit

Samsung on Friday merged Samsung’s Electronics’ embattled liquid crystal display unit into a newly created Digital Solutions division to be headed by Kwon Oh-hyun, chief executive of the company’s semiconductor business.Chang Won-kie, chief executive of the LCD unit, was removed from his post to become adviser to Kwon in a move that industry watchers saw to be a demotion criticizing Chang’s role f

Kwon Oh-chul, chief executive of Hynix Semiconductor, on Friday was inaugurated as the chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. Kwon became the first executive not come from Samsung Electronics to become chairman. Kwon’s term will be until March of 2013.  Kwon Oh-chul“Semiconductor demand has been sluggish on the back of a slower than expected recovery in the global economy, makin

SK Telecom Co. and LG Uplus Corp. plans to start commercial services of the “Long Term Evolution” mobile technology to usher in the long-awaited era of fourth-generation wireless networks, the companies said on Thursday. LTE is cited as the next-generation mobile technology following the current 3G, and promises to offer an Internet data transmitting speed of up to five to seven times existing net

Korean company asks U.S. commission to block imports of mobile devicesSamsung Electronics has taken another legal step in its strife with Apple Inc. by requesting that the U.S. International Trade Commission block the import of overseas-made iPhones, iPads and iPods into the U.S.Samsung’s complaint involves all “mobile electronic devices, including wireless communication devices, portable music an

Korea Express union opposes takeover, worries about job losses from potential merger with GLSHefty acquisition costs and bad blood with Samsung have left CJ Group pondering how to overcome the multiple hurdles it faces as the preferred bidder for logistics giant Korea Express, industry watchers said.At the top of the agenda is addressing industry concerns that CJ would have a tough time coming up

Companies quietly pulling out all stops to keep unions to minimumFollowing is the second in a two part series featuring multiple labor unions that will be introduced in Korea on Friday. ― Ed.The top brass at Korean companies are on high alert over challenges they could face when multiple unions become legal as of July 1. Conglomerates, some of which have enjoyed years without the nagging presence

LG Electronics, the world’s leading household appliance maker, is poised to push up the quality of appliances by several notches with the introduction of savvier smart appliances.“Smart appliance” has become one of the industry’s new buzzwords, quickly picking up on the growing demand from consumers to live smarter and more economically at not just the office, but at home.LG Electronics, as the in

Samsung Group denies involvement in bidding processCJ Group was selected Tuesday as the preferred bidder in the controversial race to acquire a sizeable stake in logistics company Korea Express. If all goes smoothly, the conglomerate will be on its way to achieving its long-term goal of creating Asia’s largest logistics company by 2015. Korea Express is likely to fetch up to 2 trillion won ($1.8 b

LG CNS on Tuesday signed an agreement with Busan to build the country’s first global data center as a joint effort between the private and public sector in the port city. The “Global Cloud Data Center” will be erected by December 2012 within Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone and will go down as the largest such facility, covering 133,000 square meters. “By combining the high-quality cloud services o

CJ Group claims Samsung affiliates conspired to acquire Korea Express; Lotte gives up on bidCJ Group said it will retaliate against what it claimed was Samsung Group’s deliberate act of betrayal regarding the bidding for Korea Express, the nation’s top logistics company.CJ is to take legal action against Samsung Securities for breaking off a sales advisory contract after being privy to critical in

SK, ex-tax official under probe over suspected kickbacksNew light was shed on the problematic practice of former civil servants’ perks on the discovery that an ex-executive at the National Tax Service received sizeable paychecks from local companies.Lee Hee-wan, formerly head of the tax office’s investigative unit is suspected of receiving 3 billion won ($2.7 million) from SK Group’s affiliates fo

South Korea’s stock market is expected to continue its upward movement this week as investor worries over high energy prices may ease and outlooks for major economies could improve, analysts said Saturday.Still, anxiety remains that the debt crisis in Greece might hurt investor sentiment significantly and reverse the market course, they noted.The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, gained 2.89 p

Work has started on the third phase of the Incheon International Airport expansion plan that will fuel growth of the key Northeast Asian transportation hub, the Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said Sunday.The state-operated corporation said that it picked blueprints for the airport’s second passenger terminal drawn up by a consortium led by Heerim Architects and Planners Co.It said the

Samsung Electronics may be penalized for obstructing an investigation by the Fair Trade Commission.Sources from the antitrust watchdog said the agency is considering penalties over an incident in March when employees of Samsung Electronics’ Suwon plant barred the commission’s investigators from entering the facility.The investigators had been dispatched to monitor the manufacturing price of mobile

Combined market share of mid-sized sedans made by Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister company Kia Motors Corp. ranked first in the United States last month, industry sources said Sunday.Sources said sales of Hyundai’s popular Sonata sedan reached 22,754 units in May, while Kia sold 7,401 Optima sedans in the one month period. This pushed up market share of the two models to 19.0 percent of all mid-si

Firms met regularly to fix cheese prices, antitrust watchdog saysThe nation’s four major dairy companies were fined a combined 10.6 billion won ($9.8 million) for fixing prices of their cheese products, the antitrust agency said on Sunday. Seoul Milk, Maeil Dairies Co., Namyang Dairy Products Co. and Dongwon Dairy Foods were subject to the penalties, the Fair Trade Commission said. Seoul Milk was

HTC on Thursday unveiled its EVO 4G smartphone and Flyer 4G tablet, the first fourth-generation smart devices to hit the nation. Starting July 1, the Taiwan-based smartphone maker will be distributing the phones via KT Corp. Prices have yet to be set. Both the phone and the tablet will be capable of transmitting data at up to three times as fast as current smartphones, HTC said. HTC unveils its EV

Local chambers of commerce join to press government to stick to tax policyRepresentatives of one of the nation’s top private economic organizations on Thursday called for the government and politicians to stay committed to tax reduction to help the corporate sector. “Tax reduction is necessary to enhance corporate competitiveness and attract foreign capital,” the heads of the country’s 71 regional

GS Caltex Corp., the nation’s No.2 oil refiner, on Wednesday said it has borrowed 870,000 barrels of diesel oil from reserves kept by the Korea National Oil Corp. This marks the first time in three years that the refiner has dipped into government fuel reserves.The borrowed fuel is expected to be released at local gas stations next week. GS Caltex has recently been unable to properly provide to ga