Fueled by the recovery of global trade volume and increasing demand for advanced eco-friendly vessels, South Korea’s main shipbuilders have seen business boom recently, with benefits spilling over to related sectors such as steel. But Samsung Heavy Industries, the shipbuilder under the nation’s top conglomerate, Samsung Group, continues to reel under troubled finances and weak recovery scenarios. Some critical hits to the company’s accounting books, according to market ob

GM Korea, the local subsidiary of the Detroit-based carmaker General Motors, will be resuming operations of its key manufacturing plants here, months after a global semiconductor shortage sent them reeling and halted production. The company will return to its regular operation and production level starting next week, as part of its US headquarters’ decision to normalize global productivity, officials said Friday. “But as the semiconductor shortage prolongs, we will need to assum

Kia, the carmaker affiliated with Hyundai Motor Group, will run a pilot “pick up and charge” program for the convenience of electric vehicle users, officials said Thursday. “We have come up with an on-demand pick up and charge system in order to reduce any inconvenience that all-electric vehicle drivers may face in everyday life,” the company said in a release. To go with the service, which will be available 24 hours a day in most parts of the country, the company has

South Korea’s top shipping company HMM -- formerly Hyundai Merchant Marine -- has vowed to halve carbon emissions by 2030, as part of its blueprint to attain carbon neutrality by 2050. The announcement came during a preliminary session of the 2021 P4G, Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030, an event held Wednesday at Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza, officials said Thursday in a release. “HMM saw its carbon emission volume reduced by 40 percent from 2008 to 20

South Korea’s major businesses saw their total number of staffers shrink by nearly 10,000 since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as conglomerates reduced new recruits and distributers carried out restructuring, industry data showed Wednesday. Meanwhile, the number of irregular workers in the country soared by almost 2,000 during the same period, reflecting the overall deterioration in the quality of jobs. According to a survey conducted by corporate tracker CEO Score of 309 of the n

As the battery electric vehicle market remains strong, South Korea’s battery makers are aggressively adding momentum to their global investments and are seeking production capacities in the US and EU markets, data showed Wednesday. According to energy market researcher SNE Research, global demand for battery electric vehicles is expected to reach 51.8 million by 2030, up 17 times from the end of 2020. The corresponding demand for batteries will likely expand some 23 times during the

For many drivers who aspire to move to eco-friendly battery electric vehicles this year, one of the key variables is the availability of government subsidies. Amounts vary depending on the market price of the car. When it comes to high-end demand, however, subsidies apparently made no difference as luxury BEVs aggressively expanded their presence, especially against global market champion Tesla, industry data showed this week. According to data compiled by the Carisyou Data Lab on vehicle regi

SK Engineering & Construction, the building arm of South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, has officially changed its corporate name to “SK Ecoplant” as part of the group’s effort to enhance ESG management. The company on Monday released its new corporate identity and future vision on the company‘s intranet under the title “Deep Change Story.” The new corporate name was approved at the extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting

South Korea’s shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said Friday that it will localize a core technology to propel ships, in order to advance its competitiveness, especially regarding high value-added vessels. DSME has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyosung Heavy Industries, the industrial motor manufacturer under Hyosung Group, to jointly develop a shaft generator motor using permanent magnet, according to officials. A shaft generator motor is a technolog

Hyundai Motor and Kia, which together form the world’s fifth-largest carmaker in sales, saw their sales in Europe more than quadruple from a year earlier, reflecting a bounce back from the low-base effect from the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The two automobile affiliates of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group, sold a combined 78,495 units in the European market in April, up 317.3 percent from the same period last year, officials said, citing

Pressed by the prolonged semiconductor shortage and the rapidly diminishing state subsidy balance, South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor is pushing to expedite the release of its new all-electric vehicle Ioniq 5 at all costs. The automaker, which had earlier underlined passenger comfort and various safety functions of the new model, is now suggesting that purchasers compromise some of these options in order to speed up their order. “We are considering various scenarios for c

While demand for eco-friendly electric vehicles prolonged rapid growth, anxiety has also escalated among plausible purchasers as the government’s subsidy balance is showing signs of swift exhaustion. Despite the government’s hurried move to allocate more budget and to alleviate the subsidy payment conditions, some customers are even considering turning to alternative choices currently available, instead of waiting for the new models amid a stalled manufacturing timeline. According

While HMM Co., formerly known as Hyundai Merchant Marine, saw its stock value zoom upward amid soaring shipping demands, market responses remained divided on whether the nation’s top shipper can maintain its bullish run throughout the year. The company and its creditors remained hopeful, citing the successful synergy of business strategy and government policy actions, but some observers pointed out that the shipper should take more precautions in expanding ship orders. The company saw i

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog will take steps to revise the current regulatory definition of “conglomerate owner,” seeking to expand the range of the term. The move came in the wake of public disputes regarding an earlier decision that e-commerce platform Coupang’s founder and chief Kim Bom-suk could not be seen as the controlling shareholder due to his US citizenship. “(The regulations regarding the definition of controlling shareholder) should be applied t

Hyundai Mobis, the auto parts affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, has vowed to raise its safety management capacities to the industry’s top level by 2025, as part of its mid- and long-term vision for sustainability. The company on Wednesday held a proclamation ceremony at its headquarters in Seoul’s Seocho-gu, laying out the road map for safety management system. This latest action reflected the safety-focused policies of Cho Sung-hwang, who was named as the company’s n

The inheritance process for the wealth of the late Samsung Group tycoon rekindled a chronic legislation debate here – the country’s inheritance tax rate that is one of the world’s highest. While business circles took the occasion to call for a revision of the current taxation system, authorities continued to draw a line in the debate, refraining from what may seem to be a privilege for the Samsung empire. Some market observers, while consenting to the tax system itself, cla

US carmaker General Motors and its domestic affiliate GM Korea on Monday blamed the South Korean government for handing down another exit ban on the GM Korea chief. Calling the ban an abuse of power and discrimination against foreign businesses here, the carmaker vowed to take legal countermeasures. “(The government’s exit ban order) is an arbitrary administrative measure which may lead to an abuse of legal procedures,” said GM Korea in a statement. “In order to respe

The labor-management feud escalated Tuesday within Renault Samsung, the South Korean unit of the French carmaker, as the company temporarily shut down its plant amid continued union strikes for a wage hike, officials said Tuesday. As the heightened discord has come amid sluggish sales and a prolonged global semiconductor shortage, CEO Dominique Signora sent out a warning signal to union workers, assuming a hard-line stance on the situation. “We are in urgent need to cut down costs dur

LX Holdings, which has spun off from LG Group, on Monday held an inaugural event and board meeting to officially mark its business kickoff and name Koo Bon-joon as its first CEO and chairman. The newly-launched business group is expected to exert all of its effort into phasing out of the LG brand in order to gain an independent position in the market. “Today, we sail off under the name LX, hopeful, yet also a little tense, over what may be awaiting us down the road,” Koo was quoted

South Korea’s antitrust regulator on Thursday included Coupang on its list of “large business groups,” henceforth imposing heavier corporate disclosure and compliance obligations on the e-commerce operator that had previously remained in the startup arena. The platform’s founder and chief Kim Bom-suk, however, was not deemed the de facto controlling shareholder on the basis of his US citizenship, rekindling skepticism on the validity of the current regulatory framework.