Entrepreneurs in South Korea, Japan and China called for free trade and economic cooperation at a business meeting held in Chengdu, China, according to a local business association Tuesday. The business summit, jointly organized by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its Japanese and Chinese counterparts, was held on the sidelines of the summit between leaders of the three nations. The event was attended by President Moon Jae-in, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li

S-Oil has awarded a total of 70 million won ($60,261) to six maritime police officers at a ceremony in Songdo, Incheon, the company said Monday. At the awards ceremony, S-Oil gave a plaque and an award of 20 million won to Lt. Lee Sung-hee of Pohang Maritime Police Office, selected by the Korea Coast Guard and the Korea National Council on Social Welfare. Five other police officers received a plaque and 10 million won each. Lt. Lee Sung-hee, who was selected as the top hero of the maritime

GS Group said Monday it donated 4 billion won ($3.44 million) to the Community Chest of Korea to support the livelihood and education of people in need. Separately, the group’s affiliates have been supporting disadvantaged families through diverse volunteer work in line with Chairman Huh Chang-soo’s vision of corporate social responsibility. GS Caltex has been running year-end relay volunteering programs for 15 years, comprising 21 projects, including making kimchi, upcycling of

South Korean companies should be more vocal in the global discussion on digital tax before it becomes too late, said a partner lawyer at a local law firm. As the world faces a new paradigm where more businesses are being conducted online, the necessity to define digital tax is growing worldwide and a debate is underway in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Pressed by the US, home to many digital firms, the OECD discussion is also considering whether manufacturing companie

Korea Aerospace Industries has delivered two KUH-1 helicopters developed based on the Surion to the Korea Coast Guard, the company said Friday. The police helicopters will be deployed to the East Sea and the Korea Coast Guard at Jeju Island on Tuesday and will enter into service early next year. The new helicopters have added a variety of advanced mission equipment to maintain maritime security to crack down on illegal fishing, search and rescue and prevent marine accidents, KAI said. For t

Korea’s antitrust watchdog plans to set up a chip division early next year to focus on the abuse of market dominance by chipmakers, the chief said Thursday. During a press briefing Thursday afternoon, Fair Trade Commission chief Joh Sung-wook said, “We will closely monitor a chipmaker’s blockade of competitors’ entry into markets that may occur during the transition process into 5G network.” A chipmaker’s blockade is, for instance, to exclude competitors

South Korean builder GS Engineering & Construction is set to develop a 300-megawatt solar power plant in Rajasthan state, northwest India, as an independent power producer, the firm said Thursday. An IPP is an entity that builds power plants, runs them for a certain period and recoups its investment.GS E&C said the investment will be made by acquiring a stake in the ISTS-IV 300-megawatt photovoltaic project implemented by Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd., which was founded by India

Posco International has completed a solar power system in Manaung Island, Myanmar, to provide electricity to around 1,000 households, the firm said Thursday. The photovoltaic system built by Posco International is a combination of 500 kilowatt power generation and 2,000 kilowatt-hours of energy storage system. It is capable of providing power to around 1,000 households in Manaung Island, Rakhine state situated on the western coast of the nation with about 60,000 inhabitants.  Through the pr

South Korea’s exports are forecast to rise by 3 percent in 2020 to exceed $550 billion, led by key industries including chips, automobiles and biomedicines, according to a state-run trade agency on Wednesday. This year’s exports are expected to total $540 billion, down 10.7 percent from last year, the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency said. This is a bit lower than the Korea International Trade Association’s prediction of $543 billion, which represented a 10.2 percent on-

LS Cable & System said Tuesday it is pushing ahead with the initial public offering of its electric vehicle parts unit LS EV Korea, with the aim of achieving sales of 1 trillion won ($858 million) in 2030 in the global market.The Korean cable firm plans to file for preliminary screening of the EV unit at the nation’s tech-heavy secondary Kosdaq bourse. LS EV Korea was established in November 2017 after LS Cable & System spun off its electric vehicle parts business to nurture i

The world’s biggest oil company Saudi Aramco has become the second-largest shareholder of Hyundai Oilbank by paying its parent group Hyundai Heavy Industries Group 1.37 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for a 17 percent stake, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.This is in line with the investment agreement signed between HHI Group and Aramco on Jan. 28. HHI Group said it plans to use the proceeds to pay off borrowings to improve its financial structure and to invest in new business

In a major push to target the world’s largest power market, Hyosung Heavy Industries said Monday it has acquired Mitsubishi’s American electric power product plant in Tennessee for $46 million. The Japanese company’s Tennessee plant produces core-type ultrahigh voltage transformers used for the power generation industry. The transformers account for 95 percent of the total demand in the global transformer market, including North America, according to the company. Hyosung Heavy

Posco has saved 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) so far in the process of achieving 100 reform tasks highlighted by the firm’s chairman in November last year, the steelmaker said Sunday. The reform tasks included reinforcing premium steel product sales, enhancing cost competitiveness, establishing a growth foundation for energy materials and building a shared growth ecosystem based on fairness, transparency and ethics. The project was shared publicly in time for the 100-day anniversary o

South Korea’s business world, government and the families over the weekend mourned the death of LG Group Honorary Chairman Koo Cha-kyung, who as the second-generation leader of the conglomerate, had led the rise of the group’s global expansion. Koo was 94 when he passed away from an illness on Saturday.At a funeral altar set up at an undisclosed hospital in Seoul, Koo’s second son Bon-neung, the chairman of Heesung Group, greeted mourners. The deceased’s fourth son, grand

The Industry Ministry said Wednesday it has set aside around 9.4 trillion won ($7.8 billion) in its budget for 2020, up 23 percent from this year, to focus on technology independence from Japan and the expansion of renewable energy. The budget plan for the ministry was finalized through a resolution of the National Assembly on Tuesday. “In response to Japan’s export controls, the budget for supporting the materials and parts equipment has increased significantly from 669 billion won

Samsung Display faces new opportunities for sales growth as the growing demand for fifth-generation smartphones is expected to drive up sales of the firm’s small and medium-sized OLED panels, industry watchers said Sunday.OLED panels, a key component of large-screen smartphones, are seeing increased demand with the rise in consumption of high-definition video and game content among handset users. Global handset makers, Samsung Electronics, Apple, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, began to adopt

South Korea’s efforts to tackle environmental issues related to power generation using conventional technologies are no longer sustainable, and the only way forward -- apart from expanding renewable energy -- is to allow private operators in the sector which is now controlled by state firms, according to Korea Energy Economics Institute President Cho Yong-sung.“Korea should now ponder whether its energy market needs to embrace a free market mechanism in a new era driven by renewable

Korea Aerospace Industries has successfully performed the first flight test of its light civil helicopter, the firm said Thursday. The helicopter delivered its first flight performances for about 20 minutes after take-off, KAI said.The light civil helicopter, which began development in June 2015, is now applied with advanced technologies for the main gearbox, cockpit and canopy, KAI explained. It is also equipped with a main rotor and tail rotor with low vibration and noise.The copter can be dep

The Seoul High Court ruled on Wednesday in favor of the nation’s antitrust watchdog in a legal battle with US chipmaker Qualcomm over a record penalty of 1 trillion won ($837 million). “The court dismissed Qualcomm’s requests and partially sided with the Fair Trade Commission,” said the FTC in a statement on the day. The “partial” decision is due to the court deeming that some corrective actions taken against Qualcomm were illegal, although the imposition

Three South Korean financial institutions -- DB Insurance, Korean Teachers’ Credit Union and Public Officials Benefit Association -- said Tuesday they had decided to stop coal project financing in order to support the global efforts to tackle climate change. The move by the financial institutions, who have a combined $73 billion of assets under management, comes after two local public pension funds -- Korea’s Teachers’ Pension and Government Employees Pension Service, with $22