The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles on the quest of South Korea’s government and businesses to switch to renewable energy. -- Ed.South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor should speed up its efforts in changing its business portfolio toward carbon-neutral in order to avert a major blow in the global market within a year or two, according to Greenpeace deputy director Jude Lee.Globally, countries are setting stricter climate targets in response to growing environmental concern

South Korea plans to increase the proportion of energy generated from renewable sources to as much as 35 percent of the total by 2040 in response to growing environmental concerns, the government said Friday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced key points in the nation’s third energy master plan, to be implemented from 2019 to 2040. An energy master plan is the nation’s top-level power plan, established every five years to set forth a vision for its energy policies and strategie

INCHEON -- Cherry blossoms were in full bloom and songs to usher in spring resonated along a tree-lined pathway on the grounds of SK Incheon Petrochem, in stark contrast to the industrious gray structures in the background. Couples pushing strollers and bigger family clusters strolled leisurely, snapping pictures and gazing at trees, enjoying the six-day flower festival at the firm’s headquarters last week. Behind that peaceful scene were the company’s desperate efforts to get along with its nei

Foreign firms in South Korea have often complained of being kept out of the loop when it comes to policy, including under the Moon administration, but recently the government has been moving to bridge the gap.A prime example was on March 28, when President Moon Jae-in held a meeting with leaders of foreign investors and related organizations at Cheong Wa Dae for the first time. Sixty-five representatives of foreign companies and organizations, including the chambers of commerce of US and Europea

The world’s largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries said Sunday it has signed contracts to build vessels, including liquefied natural gas carriers, valued at $600 million over the past two weeks. The Korean shipbuilder said it has signed a contract with a Greek company to build a 174,000 square-meter LNG vessel -- its latest deal in two weeks. HHI said it has signed contracts to make a total of five carriers, including LNG vessels, with Greek, Japanese and Korean firms. The names of the com

LG Electronics launched its latest premium smartphone, the LG G8 ThinQ, in North America on Friday via major mobile carriers including Verizon Communications, AT&T, Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile, the tech firm said Sunday. (LG Electronics)The new model features a biometric unlock system that recognizes the pattern of veins on a user’s palm. It also has a fingerprint sensor and a rear camera assembly that is flush with the glass. In addition, the call-receiver speaker has been removed to allow the or

South Korea’s oldest throne hall has been opened to the public for the first time, displaying the beauty of the 17th century hall. (Photo credit: Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)The main hall of Changgyeong-gung Palace, Myeongjeongjeon, is where the king attended to state affairs, holding meetings with officials and receptions of foreign envoys.  (Photo credit: Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)Originally built in the mid-15th century by King Sejong of Joseon Dynasty, it was destroyed during the Jap

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards has called for setting international standards for new electric vehicle and hydrogen energy technologies. It has also requested support to be elected as a member of the International Organization for Standardization’s council board at the 42nd Pacific Area Standards Congress in Wellington, New Zealand. The Pacific Area Standards Congress is a forum of standardization organizations from the Pacific area that meets to discuss international standardiza

South Korea’s steel industry is likely to see weak corporate earnings in the first quarter of this year due to a price surge in raw materials, a fall in steel prices and growing trade protectionism. According to corporate tracker FnGuide, the market consensus forecast the nation’s largest steelmaker Posco would see operating profit fall 22 percent to reach 1.1 trillion won ($962 million) in the first quarter of this year. During the same period, Hyundai-Steel and SeAH Besteel are estimated to se

South Korea is slated to call on the European Union to ease trade barriers on some Korean products during its meeting Tuesday with the EU, as its trade deficit with the EU remains high, according to the government on Monday. The eighth meeting on the Korea-EU free trade deal, attended by Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, will be held in Seoul. During the meeting, the Korean side plans to ask for the improvement of export conditions for Korean firms in the

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles on the quest of South Korea’s government and businesses to switch to renewable energy. -- Ed.Going green is becoming mainstream for big tech players. Amazon, Apple, General Motors and BMW are among the 169 multinational firms that have joined RE100, a global initiative to reach the goal of 100 percent renewable electricity. And now the global players are starting to aim even higher and encouraging their suppliers to go carbon-free. Samsung Elec

The devastating forest fire in the town of Goseong, Gangwon Province, may have been caused by a disconnect switch on a utility pole, the state-run power utility said Friday. In the early morning, the nation’s emergency management agency said the fire appeared to have started when a transformer exploded near a resort in the town of Goseong. (Yonhap)But a few hours later, the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation, which manages both transformers and disconnect switches, said, “There was no tr

More than 2 million trees have been cut down in South Korea over the last three years to make space for solar panels, according to opposition lawmakers who argue that the government’s renewable push should not be a replacement of nuclear energy. Since the government strongly pushed for solar power business in 2017, 4,407 hectares of forest have been damaged, 15 times the space of the Yeouido area of Seoul, according to Rep. Yoon Sang-jin of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party on Thursday. 12

South Korea is slated to suspend tariff concessions on European Union products in response to the EU’s safeguard measures on Korean steel products, according to the government Tuesday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it “notified the World Trade Organization about suspending tariff concessions on EU goods valued at about 56.8 million euros ($63.6 million).” (Yonhap)The amount is the estimation of additional tariffs imposed on Korean steel products in the wake of the EU safeguard

South Korea needs to open its state-run energy sector to private companies to bring in more investment and competition and to better achieve the nation’s renewable energy goal, according to a UK-based energy consulting firm. Shortly after Moon Jae-in became president, the Korean government unveiled its power supply plan aiming for 20 percent of total electricity consumption to come from renewable energy sources by 2030.Wood Mackenzie forecast Korea’s renewables would account for about 17 percent

A continued oversupply of global steel products and growing protectionism around the world are weighing on South Korean steelmakers already struggling to find fresh growth engines for the future. Global steel production capacity last year stood at around 2.23 billion tons, down 0.3 percent from the previous year, said the OECD Steel Committee at a regular meeting in Paris last week. Though the figure was nearly unchanged, it far exceeded demand -- by 576 million tons, which was almost 19 times t

Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo announced Thursday he would step down from all of his roles to take the blame for mismanagement, in a surprising turn of events just a day after the chairman of its rival Korean Air, Cho Yang-ho, was ousted from board membership. “I will leave my role as the chairman of the group. This is a decision made to take responsibility for the group mired in (financial) difficulties,” Park said in an email sent to employees Thursday. “The group will be run under t

After years of being mired in controversies and scandals fit for a soap opera involving himself and his closest family members, Cho Yang-ho, chairman of South Korea’s largest air carrier, lost his board seat Wednesday after shareholders voted against extending his term as a director.Although he retains his management rights with shares held by his family, Cho becomes the first conglomerate chief ousted since the nation’s pension fund decided to actively exercise voting rights last year for respo

Hyundai Steel elected its new board of directors during its annual shareholders meeting last week, in its first move to achieve this year’s corporate goals of expanding sales and innovating corporate culture, the steelmaker said Wednesday. The firm appointed new inside directors -- CEO Ahn Dong-il, Vice President Park Jong-sung and Finance Executive Suh Kang-hyun. CEO Ahn was also elected as chairman of the board of directors. As for outside directors, Chung Ho-yeol, a professor of Sungkyunkwan

South Korea is slated to invest around 16 trillion won ($14 billion) in research and development for 100 key technologies over the next five years in its push to become a global technology powerhouse. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced its seventh industrial technology innovation plan Tuesday. The plan sets forth industrial technology research and development policy goals and related investment plans over the next five years under the Industrial Technology Innovation Promotion