Korea’s Teachers’ Pension and Government Employees Pension System announced they will not consider financing any new coal-fired power plants, becoming the first Korean financial institutions to boycott coal financing amid the global movement to tackle climate change and air pollution problems. Although the two hold no history of having invested in coal projects in the past, their refusal to participate in any future projects can be a catalyst for other institutions to follow suit, according to e

Calls continue to grow in South Korea to enforce tax laws more strictly for global tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Apple, as concerns have been raised over ambiguities critics say may create an uneven playing field for local tech firms. For example, Google Korea and Korean tech giant Naver are estimated to have reported similar sales figures of around 4.7 trillion won ($4.23 billion) last year. The US tech giant paid only 20 billion won in corporate taxes, while Naver paid 423 billion wo

LS Cable & System said on Monday that it had signed a contract with the Denmark-based power company Orsted to supply high-voltage cables for the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project Two.Under the contract, LS Cable will supply 350 kilometers of onshore high-voltage cables, including 400-kilovolt cables, by 2021.Hornsea Project Two will be located 89 kilometers off the Yorkshire coast in the UK. When operational in 2022, it will be capable of supplying electricity to well over 1.3

The US Federal Reserve’s latest quarter-point interest rate hike will not have a huge impact on the local financial market as the move was already expected, according to the Bank of Korea governor and the finance minister on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points for the third time this year and also predicted it would further raise its base rate in December. The rate gap between Korea and the US now stands at 0.75 percentage point, as Seoul fr

A senior researcher of local tech company Poinix grabbed attention at the international noise control conference with her study on the close-proximity method, according to the company Wednesday. Kim Hyun-jin, senior researcher at Poinix, presented her research on comparing measurement on noise reduction of quiet pavement at the International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering that took place from Aug. 26 to 29. Dr. Ulf Sandberg (left), an author of Tyre/Road Noise Reference Boo

With North Korea reaffirming its willingness to denuclearize, such as by agreeing at the third inter-Korean summit Wednesday to allow in nuclear inspectors, expectations have been raised for economic cooperation between the two Koreas, including the resumption of operations at a joint industrial park and the connection of railways.At a joint news conference in North Korea on Wednesday, the two leaders, Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un, vowed to end hostilities and move toward a nuclear weapons-free p

Business leaders of the South and North shared their views on the economic cooperation of the two Koreas on the first day of President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang, although no detailed cooperation has been announced. From about 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 17 South Korean business leaders, including the chiefs of Samsung, SK and LG, met with Ri Ryong-nam, the North’s Deputy Prime Minister. During the 1 1/2-hour meeting, the business leaders briefly introduced themselves, as some expresse

President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang on Tuesday with leaders of the nation’s top conglomerates and public companies aims to foster peace on the Korean Peninsula and eventually realize a new economic road map on the basis of denuclearization.The new economic road map for the two Koreas, one of Moon’s 2016 election campaign pledges, involves a strategy to develop and connect economic zones on the east and west coasts of the Korean Peninsula, as well as the Demilitarized Zone, in the form of

The labor and management of SsangYong Motors agreed to reinstate 119 dismissed workers by the first half of next year, ending the prolonged dispute over the firm’s mass dismissal of them, according to the company on Friday. “We agreed to reinstate the laid-off workers in order to solve social problems and for the company to take off,” said the statement jointly released by the company’s union and management.  SsangYong Motors’ union holds a placard that reads, “Thank you” for the reinstatement o

Samsung Electronics is partnering with Google to unveil a next-generation messaging service based on rich communication services for smartphone users, according to sources on Friday. Rich communication services are the international standard for integrated messengers developed by the GSM Association, which represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide.  (Yonhap)Using the new service, users can send messages, high-resolution photos and videos through the text messaging function o

The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed 117 new trainees for the Ausbildung program this year with participating German automotive companies, BMW Group Korea, Daimler Trucks Korea, MAN Truck & Bus Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea. Ausbildung is a German dual vocational training program comprising 70 percent of job training in the actual field and 30 percent of corresponding theoretical instruction provided by a university.The program was introduced in Korea in September 2017 wit

Hanwha appointed the CEO of Hanwha Total Petrochemicals as the new chief of Hanwha Q Cells, the photovoltaic solar cell manufacturing arm of Hanwha Group, according to the group on Friday. The new president of Hanwha Q Cells, Kim Hee-cheul, replaced former chief Nam Sung-woo, who resigned due to health reasons. Kim Hee-cheul, new CEO of Hanwha Q CellsKim, who is a global strategist within the group, had served as CEO of Hanwha Total Petrochemicals since the acquisition of Samsung Petrochemical.

Hyundai Motor unveiled Friday a rendered image of its upcoming hydrogen-powered truck slated to be launched next year. The Korean automaker said it would announce more details, including data, development status and sales plans of its next-generation hydrogen trucks, at the upcoming IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018, which kicks off Wednesday in Hannover, Germany. The name of the vehicle and the actual vehicle will be unveiled in time for the launch next year. A rendered image of Hyundai Motor’s hydr

Korea’s exports will reach a record high of $600 billion this year, driven by favorable market conditions of global tech companies and the rise of oil prices, said the chief of the state-funded trade and investment promotion organization on Thursday.Korea’s exports in the period from January to August stood at $399.8 billion, a rise of 6.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. The nation’s exports reached $574 billion last year. “Althou

South Korea has launched a joint private- and public-sector committee to create a roadmap for the hydrogen economy as part of the nation’s move to shift to clean energy, according to officials on Wednesday. The hydrogen economy recently gained momentum in Korea as the government set the energy source as one of the three key investment areas alongside data and block chain last month. The government set aside 110 billion won ($97 million) for next year, a rise from 42.2 billion won this year, with

The “fourth industrial revolution” is the hottest buzzword of 2018 in Korea. The fourth industrial revolution received people’s attention after artificial intelligence AlphaGo beat Lee Se-dol in a historic series of Go matches in 2016. In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, people’s everyday lives are translated into big data, which is then analyzed by sophisticated AI. It enables individuals to receive products and services tailored to their idiosyncratic features and demands. Companie

South Korea will toughen measures on illegal outflow of foreign exchange amid an increase in the number of crimes involving the abuse of trade transactions and concealment of assets overseas, according to officials on Tuesday. The Korea Customs Service under the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it would set up a new investigation division exclusively responsible for foreign exchange. The revision of related laws containing the set-up was also passed during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. (Yon

Korea Aerospace Industries said on Tuesday that it had acquired ISO 37001 certification, proof that its anti-bribery management systems meet international standards. It is the first time that this certification has been granted to any institution in the Korean national defense industry.The International Organization for Standardization adopted ISO 37001 in 2016. To be certified, companies must show they are equipped with appropriate, effective systems to prevent corruption and bribery. They must

Korea is slated to start the first round of negotiations on a trade agreement with South American bloc Mercosur on Tuesday, in its first step in expanding trade and investment in the newly emerging market, according to officials Monday.The negotiation is a follow-up measure to the ministerial meeting in May, where trade ministers from Korea and Mercosur, an economic bloc comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, jointly announced they would begin talks on a trade agreement. This week

Reflecting the sluggish domestic economy, the number of companies that plan to pay out bonuses for Chuseok decreased slightly from last year, data showed Sunday.According to a survey conducted by the Korea Employers Federation on 527 companies, 73.2 percent of the companies with more than 300 employees and 69.4 percent of the companies with less than 300 employees said they would give bonuses in the upcoming holiday season. This marked an overall average of 70.2 percent, down 1.9 percentage poin