The number of workers subscribed to the national pension program has dropped by more than 10,000 over the past two months in South Korea, as the global COVID-19 pandemic has dampened corporate business, according to a local corporate tracker on Wednesday. CEOScore surveyed 492 companies out of the nation’s top 500 companies on the number of their employees who joined the mandatory National Pension Service. According to the survey, the number of pension subscribers stood at around 1.6 mi

The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry is calling for innovative companies in Korea to apply for the “6th KGCCI Innovation Awards” until May 31, the organization said Tuesday. “Companies of all industries and sizes located in Korea can apply for the award by submitting their applications through the official awards homepage,” KGCCI said. “Not only innovations made in Korea but also innovations made in Germany that have add value in the Korean market c

  With South Korean businesses in China suffering from low business sentiment and depressed sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese ambassador to Korea said Tuesday that Seoul and Beijing had agreed on a fast-track system to guarantee efficient business travel between the two countries. In a keynote speech at a meeting hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries, Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming said Korea and China had agreed on the plan and that details of their consultations

LS Group plans to expand into the power infrastructure, smart energy and digital transformation sectors in the global market, the firm said Monday. Chairman Koo Ja-yeol, in his New Year’s address this year, urged the company to “thoroughly localize the organization and manpower of its global business and increase their operational efficiency.” To this end, LS plans to establish a group-level regional strategy centered on areas with high growth potential, such as China and th

Doosan Group said Monday it finalized a self-rescue plan to secure 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) by selling assets and reducing costs to improve struggling Doosan Heavy Industries’ financial structure. Minutes later, its main creditors released a statement, saying they accept the plan and have begun reviewing additional financial support. “Even if the recovery of the global economy and power generation market are delayed, Doosan will make self-rescue efforts to improve its financia

Change seems to be looming for Hyundai Motor’s labor union -- known for hard-line protests and strikes -- with their new pragmatic leader and as the global pandemic persists. Hyundai Motor’s wage negotiations, which are normally launched in late April or May at the latest, are expected to be delayed until July this year. “We are considering a plan to finalize the requests in mid-June and hold a meeting with the management in July. We have to watch the global pandemic trend

South Korea on Thursday decided to inject emergency funds into the nation’s five key industries -- automobiles, aviation, shipping, shipbuilding and oil refineries -- that are facing a liquidity crisis since the outbreak of the new coronavirus. It discussed customized support measures for each industry at the crisis management meeting led by Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki as a follow-up measures to President Moon Jae-in’s announcement of a 40 trillion won ($32.5 billion) worth relie

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has approved low-cost airline Jeju Air’s takeover of the management of struggling Eastar Jet, officials said Thursday. Early last month, Jeju Air signed a deal with Eastar Holdings, the largest shareholder of Eastar Jet, to acquire the airline for 54.5 billion won ($45 million). The firm acquired 4,971,000 common shares for a 51.17 percent stake. “The Fair Trade Commission conducted the review as promptly as possible, considering the circu

South Korean shipbuilders are jittery as oil prices in the US plummeted to negative territory for the first time in history this week, coupled with the reduced demand for crude oil and global shipments driven by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The business outlook for the global shipbuilding industry is also not very rosy. In the first quarter of this year, global orders for ships fell 78 percent year-on-year to 2.33 million compensated gross tons. Here, only two liquefied natural gas carri

Compared with years past, more of the executives from owner families at South Korea’s conglomerates are women or members of the younger generation, data from a local corporate tracker showed Monday. Six group chairpersons were born since 1970 and nearly a quarter of the conglomerates’ 150 young executives are women, the Korea CXO Institute said, citing its survey of the 200 largest groups. Among the younger business leaders in charge at the nation’s top 10 conglomerates are

SK E&S has sold its entire stake in a Chinese private gas company to prevent a liquidity crisis as demand in the energy market plunged since the global coronavirus pandemic. The energy unit of SK Group said it sold all of its 10.25 percent stake (535 million shares) in China Gas Holdings through a block deal on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the previous day in a regulatory filing Friday. The sale price was 1.8 trillion won ($1.4 billion), 11.1 percent off the closing price of the contra

Hyundai Motor is set to provide about 60 rooms in its human resources development center in Paju as temporary quarantine lodgings for people entering South Korea, the automaker said Friday. The facilities are places where people who enter the country without symptoms can stay until they are notified of the results of coronavirus tests. The company will also provide outdoor parking lots for the installation of test facilities. In March, Hyundai Motor Group provided two training centers in Gye

As oil prices continue to fall, airlines will not impose fuel surcharges on international and domestic airline tickets issued in May, according to the industry Friday. Fuel surcharges are imposed in steps when the average value per gallon (3.785 liters) of Singapore’s jet fuel is 150 cents and over. From March 16 to Wednesday -- the period that determines fuel surcharges for international routes for May -- the average price of Singapore’s jet fuel was $27.60 per barrel and 65.72 c

The South Korean government is seeking to enable department stores and outlets to temporarily sell duty-free stores’ inventory to help the struggling operators, according to local news outlets on Friday. According to news reports, major duty-free operators in Korea, including Lotte, Shilla and Shinsegae, held a meeting last week with officials from the Korea Duty-Free Shops Association and the Korea Customs Service to discuss the sale of bonded goods. During the meeting, the duty-free

Representatives of South Korea’s key industries expressed concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and raised their calls for the government to expand support for the sectors reeling. On Thursday, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and associations of five industries, including automobiles, steel, petrochemicals, machinery and shipbuilding, jointly held a meeting to listen to the difficulties of the industries and discuss solutions. “The economic impact of coronavirus was

Despite public apathy and tougher shareholder censure, South Korea’s chaebol groups are preparing a generational shift in leadership. The Korea Herald looks at different conglomerates and succession scenarios. -- Ed. Satoshi Shigemitsu, 33, who goes by the Korean name Shin Yoo-yeol, is the only son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin. Being a Japanese citizen, he went to Keio University, got a management degree from Columbia University and currently works at Nomura Singapore. Alth

Although the continued spread of coronavirus has disrupted many industries in South Korea, those related to “untact” services -- referring to no-contact interaction, which have become an integral part of life -- have fared well and are expected to grow even further, according to industry sources Wednesday. E-commerce companies appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of the prolonged pandemic. Online shopping transactions in Korea amounted to 11.9 trillion won ($9.7 billion) in F

Hyosung TNC said Tuesday it will make eco-friendly bags using plastic bottles with its textile brand Regen in a joint project with Jeju Province Development Corp. The textile and trading unit of Hyosung Group has signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a resource circulation system with the Ministry of Environment, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Jeju Province Development Corp. and eco-fashion brand Pleatsmama. Jeju Island Development Corp., which makes bottled water Samd

South Korea’s information and communications technology industry could suffer as spending by companies is poised to decline due to the COVID-19 spread, according to research firm IDC Korea on Tuesday. Spending on ICT systems is expected to decline this year due to the rise of companies’ emergency management system and short-term cost reduction, the research firm noted. In a recently published report “Korea ICT 2020 Market Outlook,” IDC revised down its forecast for m

Job openings at South Korean companies have fallen by a third in March on-year as businesses are struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, according to a local online job portal Monday. Saramin released an analysis of job openings in the first quarter of 2019 and 2020. According to the results, the hiring rate saw a 32.7 percent drop in March as the prolonged COVID-19 spread has increased uncertainties. The number of the companies analyzed was not disclosed. Considering that March is usuall