South Korea’s trade policies, including free trade agreements, are expected to undergo a drastic overhaul under the new government as the presidential transition committee has decided to transfer trade issues from the Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Strategy and Finance over to the Knowledge Economy Ministry.Under the government reorganization plan, the Knowledge Economy Ministry, currently in charge of policies on industries, will absorb nearly all functions related to trade while the Foreign

The nation’s drive to increase electricity generation from renewable energy sources is facing rough sailing as a number of power and utility companies failed to meet their green energy production targets in 2012. The targets were set by the government under a regulation called the renewable portfolio standard, or RPS.RPS, which was introduced in January last year, is an annual renewable energy development quota for state-run and private power and utilities companies with more than 500 megawatts

Despite the continued slump in shipbuilding orders overseas affected by the prolonged global economic downturn, the nation’s top three shipbuilders have set bold goals for winning orders in the beginning of the year, renewing their growth strategy, industry sources said. Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, said it increased its order target steeply by 52.3 percent to $29.7 billion this year compared with order results in 2012. The other two shipbuilders also unveiled doubl

Hyundai Heavy Industries, or HHI, the world’s biggest shipbuilder, said Sunday it sealed an $1.1 billion deal with Statoil ASA, a state-run oil and gas operator in Norway, for the construction of offshore gas facilities. This is the second time for HHI to win an offshore facility construction order from the Norwegian company. The floating facility called a spar platform, which will weigh 64,500 tons, will be built in the Aasta Hansteen gas field in the North Sea by March 2016.  The offshore faci

The first reactor of the Uljin nuclear power plant in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, suspended its operations due to a technical malfunction, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power said Thursday. The breakdown in a power measurement instrument in the reactor stopped operations, but the reactor is safe and without signs of radiation leakage, the KHNP said. The 25-year-old first reactor of the Uljin nuclear power plant, which has the power generation capacity of 950 megawatts, has raised safety concerns

In response to rising demand for electricity, the government plans to expand the nation’s electricity generation capacity to 110 million kilowatts by 2027, up 37.5 percent from the current 80 million kilowatts, officials said on Wednesday. The officials from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the plan will be included in the upcoming Sixth Basic Plan on Electricity Demand and Supply to be published by the ministry at the end of this month.The report, which has been released every two years s