SK Innovation said Tuesday it will focus on battery and chemicals businesses as its future growth engines, expanding investment and continuing to seek merger and acquisition opportunities.“SK Innovation aims to build a more sustainable profit structure through the choice and focus strategy,” SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun said Tuesday, during a press conference held at the company’s headquarters in Seoul.SK Innovation will continue to strengthen its oil refining business, while looking for new opport

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation, the nation’s sole electricity provider, has maintained its strong presence in the Forbes Global 2000, the business magazine’s annual list of the biggest 2,000 public companies in the world, Kepco said Sunday.In this year’s list, Kepco ranked 138th, while placing second in the electric utilities sector. Kepco has also topped all other Asian electricity providers for the third consecutive year. (Yonhap)In 2016, Kepco was listed 97th for 2016 in an an

Tech behemoth Samsung Electronics on Thursday opened its Galaxy Studio at Bank Gallery, located in Omotesando, Tokyo, the company said Sunday, ahead of the planned launch of its Galaxy S8 next month.Samsung Electronics will hold a series of promotional events at its newly opened studio through July 3, the company added. At the studio, customers will have hands-on experience of Samsung‘s latest electronic gadgets, including Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, new 360-degree camera Gear 360 and Gear VR, a

General Electric has joined a next-generation power supply development project named Energy Valley Project led by Korea Electric Power Corp. in Naju, South Jeolla Province.The two firms held a launch event Thursday for the GE “Bitgaram” office that will provide GE legal and technical support.Kepco CEO Cho Hwan-eik and GE Energy Connections CEO Russell Stokes participated in the event to discuss details of the future investment for the Energy Valley Project. Some 70 representatives from the Natio

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles delving into the economic policies and tasks expected of the new Moon Jae-in administration. This is the eighth installment -- Ed.In a major turn from the past government’s recommendation of using diesel-powered vehicles that were initially touted to be eco-friendly since around 2008, Korea has been moving to slash the number of them as a way to tackle fine dust. And the new Moon Jae-in administration appears determined to take the initiative.P

LS Cable & System Asia has signed a supply contract worth $10 million with Dong Energy, a Danish state-controlled utility and offshore wind farm developer, the company said Thursday. LS C&S Asia‘s supply contract is part of the $35 million deal made between its parent company LS Cable & System and Dong Energy in April 2016.With the contract, LS C&S Asia is to provide power cables to the European market for the second time. LS Cable & System AsiaIn 2016, LS C&S Asia provided cables worth 12.7 bil

Demands are rising among apartment residents to set up solar panels in their complexes since the government started to offer more subsidies for the installation costs last year.The Seoul Metropolitan City Government said Friday that 3,793 apartment units finished installing solar panels during the first four months of this year, compared with 846 in the same period last year.“Compared with last year, more people are making inquiries about the incentives for installing solar panels at their apart

South Korea’s energy companies are on alert, as President Moon Jae-in appears determined to carry out his pledge to cut fine dust emissions by 30 percent by reducing the number of coal-fired power plants.On Monday, Moon ordered the temporary shutdown of outdated coal-fired plants aged 30 years or over. As such, 10 of the nation’s 59 coal-fired plants, located in the Gangwon, South Jeolla, South Chungcheong and South Gyeongsang provinces, will stop operating for a month in June. The government al

GS Caltex held its 50th anniversary event Thursday at GS Tower in Gangnam, Seoul, celebrating achievements the company made over the past five decades.GS Caltex Chairman Huh Jin-Soo encouraged employees to prepare for the next 50 years to come in his speech. Korea’s first private-sector oil refiner GS Caltex was founded in 1967 as Honam Oil Refinery. It changed its name to LG Caltex in 1996 and GS Caltex in 2005, the year in which GS Group was founded.GS Caltex‘s daily oil-refining capacity has

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in takes a picture with employees at Incheon Airport on Friday. The visit to the airport was his first official event outside of the presidential office. Incheon International Airport Corp.Incheon International Airport became the first public corporation to join South Korea’s newly elected President Moon Jae-in in creating quality jobs by launching a task force, the company said Monday.On the back of the president’s visit to the airport last week, the airport’s C

SK Networks Chairman Choi Shin-won became the first recipient of the United Way Global Philanthropy Award, the company said Sunday.Choi received the award during the Community Leaders Conference held by United Way Worldwide in Orlando, Florida, Tuesday to Friday.UWW is one of the world‘s largest charities, currently with a network of some 1,800 affiliates globally. SK Networks Chairman Choi Shin-won (center) takes a picture with United Way Worldwide President Brian Gallagher (left) and UWW’s Gua

South Korea’s No. 2 automobile manufacturer Kia Motors’ combined sales of its K-series surpassed 5 million units, the company said Sunday.The accumulated overseas sales of the series reached 4.1 million, while domestic sales marked some 920,000 units, as of April this year, it said.Of the total 4.1 million overseas sales, 1.28 million units were manufactured in South Korea. The K-series has accounted for more than 30 percent of Kia Motor‘s total sales each year since 2009, when the K-series was

South Korea’s leading cable manufacturer LS Cable & System has developed movable overhead power cables for trains, the company said Thursday. Overhead rigid conductor systems, like the new cables developed by LS, hold wires above railways to transmit electricity to electric trains. But conventional cables can get in the way of loading and unloading freight from trains, LS Cable & System spokesperson explained. LS Cable & System’s new system allows the cables to be temporarily moved to make trans

South Korea’s freshly inaugurated President Moon Jae-in is expected to push forward renewable energy policies to tackle concerns over pollution and the safety of nuclear energy.On Moon’s campaign website, titled “Moon’s 1st Street,” his pledges related to energy have garnered 284,080 likes to date, topping many other promises by the camp.Moon is likely to scale down coal and nuclear power dependency as pledged during his campaign. His camp had said the government would no longer build nuclear re

Various promotional events are taking place in Korea to encourage the public to vote in the presidential election on Tuesday. The biggest event being carried out is a campaign called “Vote for Korea,” a website created by a local software developer. When a voter uploads a photo confirming that they voted, they will randomly be selected to get monetary prizes of up to 5 million won ($4,400). As of 4:40 p.m. more than 480,000 people participated in the event.Local companies, regardless of their si

Sales of masks and air purifiers recently skyrocketed by five to eight times upon fine dust alerts and yellow dust from China last weekend, retailers said Tuesday.Nose mask sales at CU convenience stores surged by 446 percent on-year between Saturday and Sunday, when the National Institute of Environmental Research issued fine dust warnings nationwide, according to the retailer. The company saw an 84 percent on-year increase in nose mask sales between April 1 and May 7. Retail chain E-mart also

Record-high earnings of Korean semiconductor and display giants sent their domestic component manufacturers’ stock prices rising high.The stock prices regarding light-emitting diode, printed circuit boards and LED display makers saw 40.4 percent, 38.8 percent and 38.7 percent hikes, respectively, as Samsung, LG Electronics and SK hynix’s profit skyrocketed in the first three months, according to Daeshin Securities on Friday. During the same period, the Korea Composite Stock Price Ind

On the back of a recent oil price recovery and anticipation for national holidays, the prices of international air tickets in March hit a five-year high, Statistics Korea’s data showed Friday. Starting in September last year, international tickets’ prices bounced back to rise by around 1 percent each month. In March, prices hiked by 4.5 percent year-on-year, the biggest leap since May 2012. (Yonhap)Ticket prices for domestic flights also went up by 7.3 percent in March, recording the biggest jum

The percentage of young men with natural science diplomas employed in the second half of last year dropped to 69.6 percent at a relatively rapid pace compare to those who studied liberal arts and social sciences, Statistics Korea said Thursday.Job seekers majoring in natural science had greater job opportunities just two or three years ago, with their employment rate hovering around 77 percent, slightly higher than the average among all majors.Last year’s rate marked the lowest since 2013, when

Saudi Arabia’s recent price cut for oil exports to Asia is likely to be favorable to South Korean oil refiners, industry insiders said Thursday.Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, recently lowered official prices for the crude it plans to sell to Asia for June by $0.40 per barrel, while it raised prices for other regions. The move was interpreted as trying to defend sales in the Asian market amid the ongoing price competition among oil producers, according to news reports. Korea, Japan and