McDonald’s Korea said Monday it has donated 8,000 burgers and coffee cups to subway cleaning staff through Seoul Volunteer Center. The fast-food chain said it delivered 4,000 coupons each for Bic Mac burgers and Americano coffee cups to cleaning and disinfection staff of Seoul Metro Environment and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp., which manage Subway Line No. 1-4 and 5-8, respectively. “Cleaning and disinfection staff are the true unsung heroes as they risk their own safet

South Korea’s leading oil refinery and gas station operator SK Energy said Sunday it had completed a successful trial run of its desulfurization facility, ready for commercial production. Since 2018, SK Energy has spent 1 trillion won ($820 million) on building the vacuum residue desulfurization facility with a capacity of 40,000 barrels of low-sulfur fuel oil a day to prepare for stringent regulations on ship fuel. The VRDS facility is expected to allow SK Energy to produce more low-

Outrage over the Telegram sexual abuse ring is spilling over to children’s online games that depict preadolescent characters in sexualized ways. An online Cheong Wa Dae petition posted Tuesday raised alarm over video games in which characters who physically resemble children wear revealing costumes. This follows the news that at least 58 women and 16 underage girls were sexually abused over several months so the abusers could produce videos and sell them in Telegram chat rooms. &ldqu

Hyundai Mobis said Sunday it would target the global market with future mobility technologies including vision-autonomous driving, connectivity and electrification technology. The auto parts unit under South Korea’s largest auto conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group pledged to develop high-performance sensors for self-driving cars with independent technology within this year. It marks 25 years since its transition to the auto parts business, After developing the country’s first shor

Porsche Korea said Thursday it has donated 649 million won ($527,000) to ChildFund Korea to continue its social contribution efforts in the country. The company has signed a memorandum of understating with the social welfare foundation and delivered the donation to build on its “Porsche Do Dream” campaign, which has been running for four years. “For the past four years, Porsche Korea has endeavored to create an environment where Korean children can follow and fulfill their

South Korean refiners are exporting more petrochemical products at lower prices as their storage facilities have reached their limit due to a sharp fall in domestic demand, industry sources said Thursday. According to the state-run Korea Natural Oil Corp.’s oil information provider Petronet, the domestic consumption of petroleum goods in February sank to 72.12 million barrels -- the lowest figure since 70.82 million barrels of April 2016 -- while outbound shipments in February rose 8.28

South Korean oil refiners are facing heavy losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, but are unable to shut down their plants without causing further problems. According to a domestic oil refinery unit SK Innovation, the company is unable to close its facilities despite a mounting operating loss as oil must keep flowing through the pipes. “Car manufacturers can simply halt their assembly lines and resume operation again, but that’s not the case for refineries. When oil heated up in

Hanwha Solutions pledged a shift to an eco-friendly business and named Vice President Kim Dong-kwan as executive director of the company’s board. The decisions were made at the firm’s general shareholders meeting at a hotel in Jung-gu, central Seoul, Tuesday. Kim Dong-kwan, the eldest son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, entered the group in 2010. Having been promoted to vice president of Hanwha Solutions last year, Kim this year has taken the reins of Hanwha Group&rsquo

With the coronavirus spread clipping the wings of the South Korean aviation industry, Asiana Airlines has decided to take stringent measures to further tighten its belt. The air carrier has extended the unpaid leave of absence for all employees to 15 days at the least from April, compared to 10 days this month. This would leave it operating with half of the workforce for the time being. Executives will also have their wages slashed by 60 percent, an additional 10 percent cut. “We wil

Casinos have been left out from the government’s coronavirus relief loans despite their hefty contributions of 10 percent of sales every year. To support coronavirus-hit tourism and show business, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday last week had allocated 100 billion won ($79 million) for special loans from its Tourism Promotion Fund. Despite the casino industry being a majority donor for the funds and also suffering significantly from the virus spread, the loans

The Chinese government has allowed subsidies for electric vehicles equipped with South Korean batteries, lowering the threshold for foreign battery makers.　 According to the Korean Embassy in Beijing on Friday, Tesla’s China-made Model 3 EV sedan and Chongqing Jinkang’s pure electric SUV -- equipped with LG Chem and Samsung SDI batteries -- have been included on a whitelist for new energy vehicle subsidies announced March 6 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of

South Korean aircraft manufacturer KAI said Monday that the US Air Force is planning to rent a small number of KAI’s advanced T-50A trainer jets until new trainer jets arrive from Boeing, the winner of the T-X trainer contest. According to a notice posted online by the US General Services Administration in January, the US Air Combat Command plans to contract Hillwood Aviation to provide four to eight of KAI’s T-50A Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer aircraft to help its aviators de

A significant portion of South Korea’s renewable energy is generated by a controversial material that emits more greenhouse gas than coal, government data showed, raising concerns over the sustainability of the domestic green industry. According to the Korea Energy Agency, compressed organic matter or biomass generated 6,620,283 megawatt hours of electricity in 2018, up 80 times from 83,015 MWh in 2012. Biomass accounted for 12.5 percent of total electricity generated by renewable ener

Coupang has introduced new plans to boost the safety of its delivery personnel as of Friday. Coupang said it will provide remote health counseling service to all of its Coupang deliverymen and have their health checked by visits from health professionals on a regular basis. The company added that it will provide emergency care service for its deliverymen if they are confirmed with the coronavirus or under self-quarantine. Also, safety mangers will be deployed at all c

LG Chem’s shareholders meeting this year posed a real challenge to the company as attendees braved to gather amid the coronavirus outbreak at an auditorium in Twin Tower headquarters in Yeouido, western Seoul, Friday. The involved three steps: wearing masks first cleaned their hands with hand sanitizer, had their temperatures checked with a hand-held noncontact infrared thermometer and had to pass the final stage of a thermal imaging camera. Due to reinforced safety efforts amidst the

STM, a subsidiary of South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI, has bagged a deal to sell electric vehicle battery materials to Cosmo Advanced Materials & Technology. According to industry sources, STM sold its precursor production line to Cosmo AM&T. The negotiation over the deal had been in process since last year. The size of the deal is unknown. A lithium-ion battery is composed of four main parts: cathode, anode, electrolyte and separator. Precursors are an intermediate pr

The Australian subsidiary of South Korean defense company Hanwha Defense has launched a web portal as part of an effort to supply military land systems to the Australian Defense Force. Recently, Hanwha Defense Australia opened Australian Industry Portal as foreign defense contractors are required to outline how they would contribute to Australia’s defense activities and how they would cooperate with local companies, according to Hanwha Defense. The AIP is expected to support Hanwha&rs

Samsung SDI President Jun Young-hyun said Wednesday he would focus on pioneering overseas energy storage systems market and investing in the company’s second battery plant in Hungary. At the general shareholders meeting held in Seoul, Jun Young-hyun handpicked ESS and electric vehicle batteries as the company’s main agenda. “This year, the focus is on overseas ESS business and investment in the second EV battery plant in Hungary,” Jun said at the meeting. The batte

Korean instant noodle maker Nongshim has become one of the greatest beneficiaries of big Oscar winner “Parasite,” thanks to the global “Chapaguri” popularity. Chapaguri -- translated as “ram-don” in the English subtitles -- is a hybrid instant noodle dish mixed with Chapaghetti black bean instant noodles and soup-based Neoguri ramen, both of which are manufactured by Nongshim. According to Nongshim, sales of Chapaghetti -- long a staple in Korean kitchen

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense has selected Doosan Babcock, the British subsidiary of South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, as one of its nuclear technical support providers. According to the Defense Infrastructure Organization last Wednesday, three suppliers have been selected to join Britain’s nuclear technical support provider framework. One is a consortium comprising Doosan Babcock and two other companies, KBR and Assystem. The other support