S-Oil said Wednesday it will deploy drones and smart helmets at all business sites by 2023 to accelerate its digital transformation. According to the South Korean refinery, drones will fly above 100 meters at its plants and check the safety of flare stacks, a gas combustion device in the shape of a chimney designed to burn unwanted or excess gases. The drones will provide video feeds and analysis of the facilities. “Digital transformation is not a matter of choice, but a must to comp

Samsung SDI spent a record 808.3 billion won ($710.2 million) on research and development for next-generation electric vehicle batteries in 2020. According to its annual report, released Tuesday, the amount was 7.2 percent of its revenue last year. “The investment is the seed of Samsung SDI’s future growth engine as the company prepares for the upcoming era of electric vehicles,” a company official said. This is the first time that Samsung SDI’s battery R&D sp

Calls to regulate the gaming industry are growing in South Korea after local game companies have come under fire for what users call a “deceptive” system of randomized, for-purchase game items. Yeo Myung-sook, the former head of the Game Rating and Administration Committee, threw her weight behind the pro-regulation argument, saying that games with a loot box feature, which offers randomized in-game items for sale, should be subject to the same tax imposed on casinos. “Ga

South Koreans’ love of golf has led to a flourishing culture of indoor golf, played on driving ranges that have been graphically or photographically simulated on screens. Now a gaming company has introduced an artificial intelligence-based service so that golfers can work on their skills at home. On Feb. 25 Kakao Games, the gaming unit of the country’s leading messenger app operator, launched a golf training app that allows newbie golfers to practice and correct their swings in

Battery metal prices are going through the roof due to explosive global demand for electric vehicles, threatening to undermine their price competitiveness against internal combustion vehicles. According to Swedish market tracker EV Volumes, global electric vehicle sales in 2020 spiked to 3.24 million units, up 43 percent from 2.26 million on-year, triggering a surge in the price of raw materials for lithium-ion batteries. Nickel and cobalt registered prices at 17-month and 24-month highs, res

S-Oil said Sunday it has purchased a 20 percent stake in advanced hydrogen fuel cell developer Fuel Cell Innovations. According to the South Korean refinery, the strategic investment will allow S-Oil to become the biggest shareholder of FCI and secure technologies for next-generation solid oxide fuel cells, or SOFCs. Compared to conventional fuel cells, SOFCs have a competitive edge in price, as they use nickel as a catalyst, instead of platinum, to generate electricity. They can also turn m

Kim Dong-kwan, the heir apparent of South Korea’s defense-to-finance conglomerate Hanwha and the mastermind behind its advancements in the solar power industry, will lead the group’s space satellite business, the group said Sunday. The 37-year-old chief executive of Hanwha Solutions and the eldest son of Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn will head aerospace task force “Space Hub,” which will comprise key personnel and engineers from Hanwha affiliates. The move fo

South Korea signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Thursday to cooperate on the hydrogen economy, further expanding their partnership currently focused on nuclear energy, oil and gas. During the Korea-UAE Industry and Energy Cooperation Forum held online, South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo and UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Al Jaber inked a memorandum of understanding to share hydrogen trade regulations and policies and establish a

The US Transportation Department will brief President Joe Biden on how a recent court decision to impose a 10-year import ban on SK Innovation will impact his green transportation goals. During a hearing held Wednesday, freshman Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, asked Polly Trottenberg, nominee for deputy secretary of the transportation department, whether she would provide the president an analysis of the ruling’s expected effect on his green transportation goals.

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Wednesday it has developed a new material that enhances the energy density of lithium-ion batteries by 20 percent while maintaining their stability. According to a research led by Cho Eun-ae, materials science and engineering safety professor at KAIST, lithium-ion batteries that contain 80 percent nickel inside cathodes demonstrate energy capacity of 200 ampere-hours per gram. However, the newly developed cathode materials can accommodate

Nexon said Monday it would disclose the draw probabilities of its “random” cash items to regain trust from users, as it is engrossed in scandal over the company’s alleged manipulation of game odds. In the second apology posted on the official website of its fantasy adventure PC game MapleStory, Nexon director Kang Won-ki said the company is preparing to disclose data and records that would dispel suspicions surrounding the game’s random item draw system by Friday at th

SK Innovation has asked the US president to intervene in its battery patent fight with LG Energy Solution, saying it might have to “abandon” a $2.6 billion production base in Georgia after its defeat last month in the top US trade court. Making a case for a presidential veto of the court decision, the South Korean firm gave a presentation to US government officials, which the Wall Street Journal reported underscored that the Georgia plant will create 2,600 new jobs and contained

Clean energy, new jobs and a revitalized local economy. President Moon Jae-in’s Green New Deal is billed to serve all these purposes. Yet, its push for solar energy runs the risk of fattening the pockets of Chinese manufacturers, who in recent years have swamped the local market with cheap solar cells. An investigation by The Korea Herald has revealed that none of the companies involved in the government-led 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) project to build a solar farm on the reclaimed l

Hanwha Group said Friday that Chairman Kim Seung-youn will come back to management as an unregistered representative of three Hanwha units, ending his seven-year absence. According to Hanwha Group, the chairman will take the post in the holdings firm Hanwha Corp., energy and chemical company Hanwha Solutions and Hanwha Engineering & Construction, starting next month. In 2014, Kim was sentenced to an imprisonment of three years, suspended for five years, for a breach of trust and had to res

Smilegate said Friday it will release Wonhon: A vengeful spirit to recount the atrocities South Koreans suffered under Japanese colonial rule and to celebrate the upcoming 102th anniversary of March 1 Independence Movement Day. According to the Korean gaming company, the prologue version of Wonhon will be unveiled on its content sourcing and distributing platform Smilegate Stove on March 1. Developed by Busan Sanai Games and published by Super.com, the thriller PC game takes place during th

Walt Disney said Friday it has appointed Tom Oh as chief of its Korean branch to bolster its presence in the country. Tom Oh, whose previous post was the head of direct-to-consumer business division of Walt Disney Korea, has been promoted to the general manager and representative director. Oh will spearhead Disney’s strategies and overall business in Korea. Kim So-youn, who has worked for Disney for 14 years after joining the company in 2007, will fill in Kim’s previous post. O

Krafton said Thursday it has raised the salary of new and existing employees by as much as 20 million won ($18,000), becoming the best-paying gaming firm in South Korea. According to the publisher of globally popular shooting game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, entry-level game developers and other staff members joining the company this year will earn 60 million won and 50 million won a year, respectively. For existing employees, the company granted a raise of 20 million won to develop

South Korean battery giants’ strategy for the electric vehicle market has been to go for premium, high-performance batteries, but the recent strides of Chinese makers with cheaper and less powerful batteries have brought that into question. According to a report released by industry analysis firm Adamas Intelligence on Monday, shipments of lithium iron phosphate batteries for EVs has increased more than sixfold on year in the second half of 2020, signaling the advance of entry-level, low

A next-generation solar cell developed by South Korean research team made the cover of leading science journal Nature, according to the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology on Thursday. The institute’s research team led by Seo Jang-won developed a perovskite solar cell that demonstrates an efficiency rate of 25.2 percent. The efficiency rate indicates the proportion of solar energy converted into usable energy. Perovskites are easily synthesized compounds with an orthorhombic

South Korea on Wednesday launched a new regulatory agency dedicated to accelerating the utilization of carbon materials in five core industries, including future mobility. The Korea Carbon Industry Promotion Agency, which will be overseen by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, aims to provide regulatory support for the carbon industry and spearhead economic feasibility tests of carbon materials to accelerate their commercialization in the market. The government appointed Bang Yun-hyuk