Long after market rumors had circulated of GM Korea’s possible withdrawal from the country, GM headquarters made a decision to shut down the Gunsan plant in North Jeolla Province in February.　The announcement immediately sent shock waves across the local auto industry, which is facing similar hardships, with militant labor unions demanding higher wages despite declining productivity and sales.　The last time Daewoo Motor, the predecessor of GM Korea, was sold in 2002, it was due to the 1997-1998

Local steelmakers on Friday remained cautious following the US’ decision to pause imposing 25 percent tariffs on Korean steel products until the end of April.“The temporary exemption is a positive sign, but uncertainty continues as the decision is not a definitive one,” said the spokesperson of Korea Iron and Steel Organization.“We will fully support the government to persuade the US for permanent exemption.”Due to the temporary exemption, tariffs won’t be levied on steel and aluminum imported f

In efforts to convince the labor union and public that China’s Doublestar is a credible buyer of Kumho Tire, Doublestar Chairman Chai Yongsen on Thursday promised autonomous management of the local firm and guaranteed three years of employment.While urging the labor union to cooperate with the recapitalization deal Doublestar had signed with creditors last week, Chai hinted at a possible withdrawal if the union does not come on board by the end of this month.“Together with Kumho Tire, Doublestar

As Kumho Tire continues to face fervent opposition from unionized labor regarding the sale of the company to China’s state-run tiremaker, Doublestar Chairman Chai Yongsen is visiting Korea to persuade the labor union, the Korea Development Bank confirmed Wednesday.While here, Chai is scheduled to hold a press conference Thursday morning at the KDB headquarters and discuss unresolved issues with creditors during the trip.As for the labor union, Chai is expected to explain Doublestar’s future inve

South Korea has agreed with China and Japan to hold a three-way summit in May to discuss ways to boost economic, environmental and cultural cooperation, Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported Tuesday.The summit is to be chaired by Japan and attended by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, possibly on May 8-9, the report said.The last such trilateral summit was held about two years ago in November 2015 in Seoul.  From left: South Korea

South Korean tiremaker Kumho Tire will supply its Crugen HP91 high performance original equipment tires to German luxury BMW’s new X3 SUV, diversifying its customer portfolio, the company said Tuesday.The tires made at Kumho’s Gwangju plant in South Jeolla Province will be supplied to the BMW new X3 that began production at the Spartanburg factory in June 2017.The X3 midsize SUV is BMW’s top-selling model first released in 2003. The German carmaker has since sold over 1.6 million units worldwide

As carmakers compete in the eco-friendly vehicle market, Toyota Motor Korea is poised to lead the hybrid market here, achieving average annual growth of 82 percent, the company said Tuesday.Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus sold a combined 19,102 units of hybrid vehicles here in 2017, up 26 percent on-year, the company said.The two made up 84 percent of the imported hybrid car market in 2017, when a total of 22,773 units of hybrids were newly registered, according to data from the Korea Automobi

South Korean construction company GS Engineering & Construction has signed a 50-50 joint venture agreement with Vasanta Group, Indonesia’s leading developer, to construct a residential complex for 1,445 households in western Jakarta, the company said Tuesday.Vasanta Group will invest land it owns, while GS E&C will put about $20 million into the complex construction dubbed “City Gate 88,” which is expected to yield some $200 million in sales. “We look forward to creating synergy with Vasanta Gro

Inching closer to a deadline set by the creditors of Kumho Tire for the protesting labor union to decide on selling the ailing company to Chinese tiremaker Doublestar, related parties are making all out efforts to hype up public opinion for the sale, against the opposing voices of the labor union.Office workers of Kumho Tire on Monday held a protest in front of the Kumho Asiana headquarters in northern Seoul, opposing a walkout and calling for prompt management normalization.Doublestar Chairman

Posco Daewoo, the trading arm of the South Korean steel giant Posco, provided medical services for visually impaired patients in Uzbekistan, together with Vision Care, for nine days last week, the company said Sunday. Posco Daewoo provides medical services for patients suffering from vision impairments in Uzbekistan, together with Vision Care. (Posco Daewoo)Through the medial camp, some 1,800 local patients were treated free of charge, including 150 patients who received cataract surgeries and 7

South Korea has the third-highest proportion of low-paid workers among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, highlighting the need for the country to bolster its social safety net and focus on inclusive growth. The proportion of low-paid workers in Korea was 23.7 percent in 2017, the third-highest out of 26 OECD countries surveyed, following the US with 25.02 percent and Ireland with 24 percent, according to the organization’s report titled “Towards bette

Anywhere you go either online or offline, it is easy to spot advertisements for diet supplements, spewing out enticing catchphrases that with their products, one can lose their weight in a short period time.They range from subway ads of oriental medicine clinics that prescribe weight-loss herbal medicines to diet supplement ads on social media.“I have tried just about every diet pill and slimming cream available while working as a model. When I first took my herbal medicine appetite suppressant,

Amid continued uncertainty surrounding the fate of GM Korea, a report Thursday showed that the automaker achieved the highest productivity per worker of any Korean carmaker, countering the company’s argument that its poor performance was due to high operating and labor costs.GM Korea and its second-biggest shareholder Korea Development Bank officially started due diligence this week, following the headquarters’ decision to shut down one of its plants in the country.In a report released Thursday,

Toyota Korea has rolled out the Prius C hybrid compact car, boasting 19.4 kilometers per hour fuel economy and an affordable price tag of 24.9 million won ($23,400), with aims to bolster its hybrid vehicle portfolio, the company said Wednesday.Marking the last model of Toyota’s Prius hybrid car lineup, the Prius C was first introduced in Japan in 2011, followed by the US and other countries.Reaping popularity worldwide, the Prius C hybrid is the Japanese automaker’s second best-selling hybrid mo

Amid a debacle over its plant shutdown, GM Korea applied Monday to Incheon Metropolitan City and South Gyeongsang Province for a designation of its remaining three plants as foreign investment zones for tax benefits.During his fourth visit to Korea last week, GM International President Barry Engle met with Lee Dong-gull, head of the state-run Korea Development Bank, and related officials. He said the automaker would submit requests for factory sites in Bupyeong, Incheon and Changwon, South Gyeon

South Korea‘s leading energy and chemicals firm SK Innovation said Friday that it has held a ground breaking ceremony for an 40 billion-won ($784 million) electric vehicle battery plant in Hungary as part of its expansion of production capacity on growing demand. The plant is SK Innovation’s first exclusive factory to be built in Europe, in the hopes of playing an important role in the company’s advancements into the European market where most major global automakers are based.The plant will be

The heads of local steelmakers held emergency meetings with the government, expressing grave concerns over the impact of the US‘ decision to slap a 25 percent tariff on steel products, though the degree of the anxiety differed slightly by the size of their businesses.Heads of South Korea‘s steel companies held a joint meeting with the government representatives headed by Trade Minister Paik Un-gyu in Seoul, soon after US President Donald Trump signed on Thursday a 25 percent tariff on steel impo

Audi Volkswagen Korea, the local distributor of the two German brands, has received a temporary permit from the Seoul government to test drive its level 3 automation here, marking the first among import carmakers, the company said Thursday.Equipped with self-driving systems, the Audi A8 will run on local roads and K-City, Korea‘s test bed for automated vehicles in Gyeonggi Province, collecting data on traffic conditions here, while developing its level 3 conditionally automated driving technolog

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s leading automaker, on Tuesday denied suspicions that its factory in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, had leaked cutting oil into a nearby lake, the company said.“We are assuming that oil on roads was carried away in the rain. The related team is working to find out details,” Hyundai Motor said.Fishermen in the region and Asan city have called for Hyundai to apologize and take action for the leakage that has caused fishes to die and become deformed. “Component analys

GM Korea is to face an aggravating financial situation over the next two months, amid escalating protest from its labor union and a tug-of-war between its headquarters and the local government. 　The company must come up with ways to pay a combined 2.3 trillion won ($213 million) for voluntary resignations and loans.　The maturity date for the 700 billion won GM Korea borrowed from its headquarters expires later this month. 　The automaker’s board members agreed last month to postpone the loan’s du