SK Group headquarters building in Seoul. SK GroupSK Group, the nation’s third largest conglomerate, said Wednesday it has set up an independent team to offer a variety of advisory services to its affiliates seeking mergers and acquisitions. The group has recently created the “integrated financial solution team’’ under the roof of the Supex Council, the group‘s highest decision-making body, and appointed Jim Eun, the former head of Intel Korea, as the IFST leader. Eun, who has been appointed vice

 President Park Geun-hye reiterated the importance of structural reforms for economic revitalization on the foundation of security in her New Year's press conference Wednesday, urging the parliament to pass economy-related bills within this month not to lose growth momentum in the economy.   President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech in her New Year's press conference, held at Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday. YonhapThe economy losing vitality and security on the Korean Peninsula were the two key phrases

Korean Air executive vice president Cho Won-tae   Hanjin Group, a leading South Korean transportation conglomerate, is expected to accelerate the generational power shift in management as Cho won-tae, the only son of group chairman Cho Yang-ho, will take a bigger role in its flagship affiliate Korean Air. 　Korean Air, the nation’s flag carrier, accounts for half of the groups’s entire revenue. 　According to the 2016 executive reshuffle announced late Monday evening, junior Cho, the executive vic

BMW Group chairman Harald Krueger makes a speech during the annual kick-off meeting of BMW Korea on Monday. BMW Korea   BMW will expand partnership with Samsung and Korean car component makers in the transition to an era of electric mobility, top management of the German luxury carmaker said Monday.  　“We have had good cooperation with Samsung in such areas as batteries and cells (used for electric vehicles). The long-term partnership with Samsung will get more important as electric mobility gai

Technicians check the audio system in Kia’s new K7 sedan at the carmaker’s R&D center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday. The automakers’ new flagship sedan with eight-speed transmission boasts enhanced fuel efficiency and driving performance. The new K7’s price tag ranges from 30.8 million won ($24,940) to 39.4 million won depending on power trains and options. Kia Motors　

Hyundai Motor Group said Sunday it appointed Korean architect Kim Jong-sung as the head of a multibillion-dollar project to build the Hyundai Global Business Center in Samseong-dong, an affluent business district in southern Seoul, by 2023.　The 82-year-old architect, part of the first generation to develop the nation’s modern architecture, will coordinate various architecture projects developed for the landmark multipurpose business complex on the 79,342-square-meter site, the company officials

In contrast with falling car sales overseas, domestic sales by Korean automakers posted a record high of 1,558,000 units in 2015, 7.7 percent up from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Sunday. The five automakers running production lines here include Hyundai, Kia, General Motors Korea, Renault Samsung and Ssangyong Motor.　“Along with new car launches, the temporary reduction in special consumption tax -- aimed at boosting domestic spending -- lifted domestic c

Hyundai Motor jumped into the heated global green car race by unveiling its ‘‘Ioniq” hybrid electric vehicle at a media preview event on Thursday. The event, held at its Namyang R&D center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, came soon after it released a rendering of the model and started preorders early this week. The automaker said it plans to roll out Ioniq hybrid in the domestic market on Jan. 14. Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo. YonhapHyundai Motor has developed a new platform for g

Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun presents the company’s new global luxury brand Genesis at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in downtown Seoul on Nov. 4. Yonhap    Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun has started the engine for the international debut of the G90 (EQ900 in Korea), the first vehicle under the firm’s newly created premium brand Genesis, as he flew to the U.S. on Tuesday.　The Korean automotive group official said he would introduce the G90 at the 2016 North Ameri

The Okpo shipyard of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (Yonhap)    CEOs of the nation’s top three shipbuilders -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries -- vowed to make a turnaround this year in their respective New Year’s messages on Monday. 　“The market will not wait for us anymore unless the company makes a profit this year,” HHI CEO Kwon Oh-gap said, presenting the firm’s annual order target of $19.5 billion for 2016, down $3.4

       Hyundai Motor Group has decided to buy back a 23 percent stake in    Hyundai Capital Services, its auto loans arm, from IGE USA Investments, a unit of GE Capital, in an effort to expand its auto financing business in overseas markets, industry sources said Monday. 　Currently, IGE is the second-largest shareholder in Hyundai Capital with a 43.3 percent stake, after Hyundai Motor with a 56.47 percent stake.  　“It is true that the two parties are at the table for a stock deal, but they have

The Bank of Japan tweaked its lavish stimulus program Friday in a well-timed move that spotlights pressures on companies to do more to support growth by raising wages and investing in factories and equipment. The Japanese national flag flies atop the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday. (Bloomberg)This week, the U.S. central bank raised its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point, signaling confidence in the U.S. recovery at a time when Japan is still struggling to re-i

A South Korean culture promotion office said Friday that it aims to increase the number of people joining global "clubs" as it pushes to keep up Korean culture popularity worldwide. KCON, a global ``hallyu'' festival, hosts a k-pop music concert in Los Angles in August. Yonhap   Currently, those joining clubs intended to enjoy Korean culture together are estimated at around 21 million. The office launched by the culture ministry said that it will push to raise the number to 40 million by the end

Public Investment Fund, a sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia, will have a say in the management of POSCO Engineering & Construction by securing two seats on its six-member corporate board. 　The builder said Wednesday it appointed two board members recommended by the Saudi fund, the firm’s second-largest shareholder.　PIF purchased a 38 percent stake in POSCO E&C, the construction arm of POSCO, for 1.24 trillion won ($1.08 billion) in June this year in its efforts to secure international vendors for i

Photo by BloombergOPEC signaled no respite from the global oil glut that has driven prices to a six-year low.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep pumping about 31.5 million barrels a day, the group’s President Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said Friday after a meeting of ministers in Vienna. Members set aside their previous daily output target of 30 million barrels, a ceiling breached for 18 months. OPEC will wait until June to decide on a new limit, Secretary General Abdalla El-Ba

   The culture ministers from South Korea, China and Japan will hold three-way talks later this month aimed at promoting cultural exchanges among the three nations, a diplomatic source said Saturday.    The two-day talks, set to start on Dec. 19 in China's northern port city of Qingdao, come as Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo revived a trilateral summit earlier last month after a three-year hiatus over history and territorial issues.    Among the agenda of the Qingdao talks are a plan to name "culture

The FBI announced Friday that it is investigating the mass shooting at a Southern California office party as an act of terrorism, but the agency's director said there is no indication the husband and wife who killed 14 people were part of a larger plot or members of a terror cell.Police officers secure the scene where a mass shooting occurred at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, on Dec. 2. BloombergIf the investigation confirms the massacre was inspired by Islamic extremi

   President Park Geun-hye returned home Saturday after a two-nation swing to attend the U.N. climate summit and a string of summits with the leaders of central European countries.   In Paris, Park called for global efforts to launch a new deal on combating climate change and sought collaboration among countries to help make clean energy widely affordable.   "We must marshal the collective will and capacities of the entire world and make absolutely sure that this climate change conference gives

An Samsung C&T employee walks into the office building. YonhapSouth Korea’s financial regulator is investigating allegations of insider trading by officials at Samsung Group before the merger of two key affiliates by the country’s biggest conglomerate.The probe includes shares traded before Cheil Industries Inc. agreed to buy Samsung C&T Corp., Kim Hong-sik, an official at the Financial Services Commission, said by phone Friday. The all-stock merger was valued at $9.3 billion when it was announc

Samsung Electronics Co. agreed to pay Apple Inc. the $548 million a court ordered but that doesn’t mean they’ve come to a final resolution of their long-running patent battle over smartphones.Samsung said in a court filing Thursday that it’s only paying the money because an appeals court refused to block a judgment ordering it to pay. The South Korean device maker said it will pursue reimbursement for at least some of the money if the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidates the patents and