Businesspeople, experts, investors and government representatives from around the world will gather on the South Korean resort island of Jeju to promote carbon-free mobility technology at an international exhibition that kicks off Wednesday. The sixth annual International Electric Vehicle Expo -- the world’s first and largest event dedicated entirely to EVs and EV components, technology and infrastructure -- runs May 8-11 at International Convention Center Jeju, organizers said Monday. Ioniq (Hy

Amid ongoing labor disputes, the management of Renault Samsung has decided to suspend operations at its plant in the southeastern port city of Busan for three days starting Monday. It is the first time operations of the Busan plant have been temporarily suspended by the management, not by unionized workers who have staged partial strikes for months.  Renault Samsung's Busan plantThe move is widely viewed as an attempt by the management to realign its strategy before reengaging in labor negotiati

A South Korean university is launching a new department in cooperation with Samsung Electronics to nurture future talent in the field of system chips. Yonsei University said Thursday it would open a system chip engineering department starting from the class of 2021, in partnership with Samsung Electronics. The undergraduate program, funded by South Korea’s biggest chipmaker, is designed to educate future talent under the condition that all students will be hired by the company as soon as they gr

SK has denied local reports that the conglomerate is gearing up for a $1 billion investment in Vietnam’s largest private company Vingroup.“We have been reviewing a number of investment cases, but there is no such case confirmed yet,” the company’s spokesman said. (Yonhap)News reports said the nation’s third-largest conglomerate will soon invest $1 billion to acquire shares of Vingroup through its overseas investment arm SK South East Asia Investment. Based in Singapore, SK’s investment unit was

Steelmaking itself is not environment-friendly, but its byproducts can be, South Korean steel giant Posco said Monday, citing its application of slag and gases to the company’s conservation projects and businesses. 　On average, in the process of making 1 metric ton of steel around 600-700 kilograms of byproduct is produced, mostly slag. Posco’s Triton is installed for marine life conservation. (Posco)Slag, if the lime is separated, can be used as a fertilizer to improve the production of rice ar

South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor has named Jose Munoz, a former Nissan executive, as global chief operating officer in charge of sales in the Americas, the company said Friday. Munoz is to oversee the performance of the carmaker’s regional offices in North America and Latin America, the company said, announcing his appointment as president and CEO of both Hyundai Motor North America and Hyundai Motor America. He will play a leading role in improving the overall profitability of the carmaker

Former Kumho Asiana Chairman Park Sam-koo on Tuesday sent out a letter to the staff of Asiana Airlines apologizing for having to let go of the air carrier that was his “everything,” a day after the board of directors decided to put it up for sale to tackle the group’s liquidity crisis.“It is with a shameful and embarrassing heart as a person that has been leading the group to have had to come to this decision that must have sent all of you into shock and confusion,” Park said in the letter poste

TEL AVIV (AFP) -- Scientists in Israel on Monday unveiled a 3D print of a heart with human tissue and vessels, calling it a first and a "major medical breakthrough" that advances possibilities for transplants. Israeli scientist Tal Dvir from Tel Aviv University holds a transparent cup containing what the university says is the world?s first 3D-printed, vascularised engineered heart, during a demonstration at a laboratory in the university, Tel Aviv, on Monday. (Reuters)The heart, about the size

With the nation’s second-largest flagship carrier now up for sale, speculation is rampant as to who will acquire Asiana Airlines, with the unlikely candidate SK Group -- a telecommunications-to-chips giant that has no business experience in transportation -- emerging as a potential dark horse.The nation’s third-largest conglomerate has so far denied all rumors it is interested in acquiring the heavily indebted air carrier. But market analysts continue to point at its sizeable capital resources,

Amid a rising tide of trade protectionism, Korean carmakers are facing a dilemma between producing abroad or at home, where labor agreements force them to maintain staffing levels at high wages.Producing a vehicle in South Korea using highly paid workers costs a lot more than in emerging markets with cheaper labor such as in China, Southeast Asian countries and even Eastern Europe. The low profitability of vehicles made in Korea due to high tariffs has been also cited as a hurdle for Korean auto

Hyundai Motor has invested in CODE42.ai, a local startup founded by a former chief technology officer for Naver, to strengthen their partnership by developing an open platform for the new mobility-as-a-service market.The carmaker’s de facto chief, Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun, recently met Song Chang-hyun, CEO and founder of CODE42, to strengthen their partnership on a smart mobility solution called the Urban Mobility Operating System, the company said in a statement.  Hyundai Motor Exe

The South Korean government on Friday welcomed a ruling by the World Trade Organization that upheld the government’s import ban on Japanese seafood in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.“The government has been making all-out efforts to follow the principle of making the health and safety of the people a priority, and the government highly appraises the WTO’s decision,” the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Energy said in a statement, adding that it would continue the import ban on Japanese

Hyundai Motor and local partner Thanh Cong Group in Vietnam have presented a Santa Fe to Park Hang-seo, the South Korean coach currently leading the Southeast Asian nation’s national football team. The SUV given to Park was assembled at a complete knock-down plant the two companies completed in a joint venture early this year. “We offer Santa Fe to Park Hang-seo who has given pride to Vietnamese people, so that he could do better,” a Hyundai official said. 

Hyundai Motor said Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea East-West Power Co. and Deokyang, a local hydrogen producer, to test run a 1-megawatt fuel cell generator in the nation’s southeastern city Ulsan.Under their partnership, Hyundai will set up fuel cell power generation system, while EWP, an affiliate of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., will maintain the hydrogen-powered system and sell electricity generated from the plant. The hydrogen gas will be supplied by

(Yonhap)As of April 8, the Cho family held a combined 28.95 percent stake in Hanjin KAL, the holding company of Hanjin Group, including stocks held by family-friendly shareholders.In theory, unless the family comes up with a different way to pay it off, its controlling stake will shrink to 20.03 percent after the 50 percent inheritance tax is paid on his shares in the company, according to a report by eBest Investment and Securities.

The possibility of Hanjin Group conducting wide-ranging governance reform during the course of passing down shares held by the late Chairman Cho Yang-ho is low, and family control over the conglomerate is likely to continue, a report said Tuesday.Yang Ji-hwan, an analyst at Daishin Investment and Securities, said in his report that the heir to the transport empire, Korean Air President Cho Won-tae, and his family can maintain their control over Hanjin Group by selling shares of other affiliates

Cho Yang-ho, the second-generation chaebol scion who led the rise of the nation’s largest air carrier Korean Air, only to struggle late in life to contain damage from a series of power abuse scandals involving his wife and children, died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 70.He had been receiving treatment for pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic disease, since late last year that was not disclosed to the public. He died at a hospital in LA early Monday morning Korean time, in the presence of his family mem

Hyundai Motor on Thursday denied that it was building a new manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia, after a Cabinet member of the Middle Eastern country said in an interview there had been “advanced” talks on the matter. “We have always taken various plans for review to expand global sales,” said a company official. “There is no plan with regard to (making) investment in Saudi Arabia or any other advanced talks (about that) and we don’t have a plan to build a manufacturing plant there.” (Yonhap)The

Despite a strong state drive, South Korea does not have any hydrogen technology standardized for global use so far, the government said Wednesday, vowing to make 15 locally developed technologies globally standardized by 2030.According to the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the government plans to file for global standardization of next-generation fuel cells for drones, ships and heavy machinery. The plan also includes proposing four s

TaiMed, a Taiwan-based biotechnology company, has picked Samsung BioLogics as its new contract manufacturing organization for the production of its novel biologic Trogarzo, used to treat patients with multidrug resistant HIV. The multiyear capacity contract, worth 150 billion won ($132 million), was concluded in August last year.The deal was made after TaiMed suffered from the lower conversion rate at its Chinese partner Wuxi Biologics in the second half last year, wrote Jerry Su, an analyst at