It seemed South Korea’s overwhelming dominance in StarCraft would last forever, until American Protoss player Alex “Neeb” Sunderhaft came out of nowhere and became the champion of the KeSPA Cup in 2016, becoming the first non-Korean in 16 years to win a premier StarCraft tournament on Korean soil. Cho “Trap” Sung-ho, who fell to Neeb in the KeSPA final, became the first Korean pro gamer to concede a trophy to a foreigner on home turf in the history of the StarCr

Major South Korean firms are willingly accepting “green premium,” a price tag for tackling green issues, to accentuate their sustainability efforts. According to SK Innovation Tuesday, its subsidiary SK IE Technology will run its domestic operations 100 percent with renewable energy. SKIET, which manufactures separators for electric vehicle batteries, purchased 180 gigawatt-hours of electricity generated by renewables through the Korea Electric Power Corp.’s Green Premium p

South Korea‘s biggest live streaming platform AfreecaTV saw its revenue and operating profit hit new highs in 2020, the company said Monday. According to a regulatory filing, the company’s revenue and operating profit soared 17.1 percent and 37.3 percent on-year to 196.6 billion won ($175.7 million) and 50.4 billion won, respectively. Its net profit rose to 36.4 billion won, a 6.5 percent increase on-year. AfreecaTV also enjoyed record quarterly results in the fourth quarter. I

Kakao Games, the gaming unit of South Korea’s leading messenger app operator Kakao, registered 495.5 billion won ($442.9 million) in revenue last year, the best figure since the company started business. According to a regulatory filing Monday, the company’s revenue and operating profit in 2020 spiked 27 percent and 90 percent on-year to 495.5 billion won and 66.6 billion won, respectively. Its net profit skyrocketed 659 percent to 67.3 billion won. “Kakao Games enjoyed r

Hyosung TNC, the fiber production unit of Hyosung Group, said Monday that it has launched a clothing brand to showcase garments made of recycled plastic and organic cotton. The first product from the new brand, G3H10, is a hoodie that will come in three colors -- charcoal, ivory and olive. The hoodies will be a blend of Regen, Hyosung TNC’s eco-friendly fiber made of recycled plastic, and organic cotton grown without the use of synthetic pesticides. “As a business-to-business co

To usher in the hydrogen economy, South Korea passed the world’s first hydrogen law. It centers on the development of an ecosystem for a hydrogen economy and expanded public access to the alternative fuel. The Economic Promotion and Safety Control of Hydrogen Act, which came into effect Friday, mainly deals with three key areas -- hydrogen vehicles, charging stations and fuel cells. First, the hydrogen law is intended to bring transparency to the nation’s hydrogen pricing system

SK Innovation said Sunday it is considering initiating international arbitration proceedings against the Peruvian government for blocking the company’s exit from Camisea Gas Project in Peru. The South Korean battery-to-petrochemical giant inked a deal with Pluspetrol in September 2019 to sell its 17.6 percent stake in two Camisea gas fields in the Cusco region of Peru to the Argentine firm for $1.05 billion. However, the Peruvian government still hasn’t endorsed the transaction, th

LG Chem is the only firm among the world’s top seven chemical companies that saw its brand value grow amid the pandemic. According to the Brand Finance Chemicals 25 2021 report, the South Korean chemical giant’s brand value stands at $3.62 billion this year, a 2.9 percent growth on-year, maintaining the fourth position. Compared to $2.42 billion in 2018, LG Chem’s value has grown more than 50 percent just in three years. Meanwhile, the other six companies in the top seven

South Korean companies have become familiar with using mobile devices in their businesses, but only a handful of them are utilizing new information and communication technologies including artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing. According to “2020 Yearbook of Information Society Statistics” released Sunday by the National Information Society Agency, as of December 2019, 58.3 percent of 222,218 private companies with 10 or more employees in Korea used mobile devices i

As part of President Moon Jae-in’s Green New Deal initiative, South Korea is rolling out solar farms more than ever before. Last year, the country installed 53,454 new solar farms worth 4.1 gigawatts, a record annual increase, according to the Korea Energy Agency. The record is set to be broken, as another 4.4 GW are planned this year. Despite the country’s bold ambitions, experts say Korea lacks grid infrastructure, clear rules and proper incentives to support the staggering q

SK Materials and Hyosung Chemical’s NF3 gas is enjoying an unprecedented boost in sales as demand for semiconductors and displays have spiked amid the pandemic. NF3, short for nitrogen trifluoride, is a special type of gas used during the manufacturing process of semiconductor, display and solar panels. The gas removes residue left on inner walls of the manufacturing chamber. “Thanks to the recovery of global chip and display industries, NF3 is currently selling like hotcakes,&rd

Coupang said Wednesday it has launched an exclusive pre-order promotion event for its customers ahead of the launch of Xiaomi’s smart watches “Mi Watch” and “Mi Watch Lite” in South Korea. According to the e-commerce giant, the promotion is intended for consumers interested in health and exercise, as the hashtag #WOD, short for “workout of the day,” has been trending lately amid the pandemic. The event will give Coupang customers the chance to get

From Apple to General Motors, global tech giants and automakers are in a tight race to develop or utilize electric vehicles to catch up with market champion Tesla. Against this backdrop, the size of the global EV battery market is set to reach 182 trillion won ($167.5 billion) in 2025 from last year’s 38.8 trillion won. For Samsung SDI, the battery manufacturing affiliate of Samsung Group, its EV battery business road map is anticipated to take flight in the upcoming years, save for a

LG Chem said Wednesday it will inject 30 billion won ($26.9 million) to add another customer technical support and development center in China. South Korea’s leading chemical firm signed an agreement with the city of Wuxi, China to build a local tech support center. LG Chem will invest about 30 billion won while Wuxi will provide the land and the infrastructure for the center, which will break ground in the first half of this year and begin operations in May next year. “The tech

S-Oil said Wednesday that it has achieved 6 million man-hours without an accident, maintaining a safe operational environment for 471 days from Oct. 22, 2019. “Our Ulsan plant has safely conducted three major maintenance operations during that period despite difficulties caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. This is the third time S-Oil has accomplished 6 million man-hours without a disaster since the company started business,” the company said in a release. To ensure the safety of empl

South Korean textile and chemical conglomerate Hyosung Group is gaining a double boost from the prolonged pandemic and the global transition to electric and hydrogen vehicles. Hyosung TNC, the fiber production unit of Hyosung Group and the world’s No. 1 spandex producer by capacity, is witnessing a surge in spandex sales as more people choose to work and exercise at home. “Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, people are spending more time at home, for telecommuting for instance, and th

New and existing employees at South Korean gaming giant Nexon have been given a generous pay boost as part of a drive to attract talent amid the coronavirus outbreak, the company said Monday. Nexon said it raised the annual starting salary of new developers and other staffers who joined the company starting this year to 50 million won ($44,722) and 45 million won, respectively. The average starting salary of university graduates at a company with 500 or more employees is 344.7 million won,

LG Energy Solution has the most patents for electric vehicle batteries that are officially registered with the patent offices of five major countries, industry data showed Monday. According to the global patent information service WIPS ON, LG Energy Solution’s EV battery patents -- excluding utility patents -- registered with patent offices in Korea, Japan, China, Europe and the US amounted to 23,610, the largest among battery companies in the world. LG Energy Solution was followed by

Almost three years have passed since LG Energy Solution sued SK Innovation through the US International Trade Commission and the US District Court of Delaware for allegedly stealing its electric vehicle battery trade secrets. As the legal wrangling nears a conclusion, the USITC is set to deliver its final ruling on Feb. 10. From South Korean Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun to congressmen in Georgia and Tennessee, pressure is mounting on both parties to patch things up, but a huge discrepancy i

As South Korea accelerates its transition to electric vehicles, the question arises – is there a future for the country’s more than 10,000 gas stations? Unlike conventional petroleum- or gas-powered cars, electric vehicles run on electricity, which is relatively price stable and easily accessible. This means drivers can charge their car batteries at home, in public parking lots or elsewhere where charging systems are installed. In the face of a fundamental change to the retail