Apple is likely to face sanctions from the Korean antitrust watchdog over dumping its advertising and repair costs to local telecom operators, according to industry sources, Sunday. (Yonhap)The Fair Trade Commission’s secretariat recently agreed to impose penalties on Apple Korea over the unfair practice and sent an examination report to Apple Korea to seek an explanation, according to the sources. The FTC will confirm whether to impose sanctions and the range within a few days after hearing fro

South Korea aims to become the world’s fourth-largest exporter by 2022 with a new trade strategy to diversify its export destinations beyond the US and China, join the Trans-Pacific Partnership and foster digital trade, according to the government on Thursday. Under the government’s new trade strategy, Korea aims to reach around $790 billion in export volume in four years to become the fourth-largest exporter following China, the US and Germany, and overtaking Japan. Last year, Korea ranked sixt

The Korea Herald is publishing a series on South Korea’s business environment for foreign companies and investors. This is the third installment. -- Ed.When Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong was released from prison on Feb. 4 almost a year after he was jailed on corruption charges, the center-left People’s Party released a statement, saying, “We doubt whether the public will accept this ruling with their ‘national sentiment law.’” National sentiment law, a phrase often used in South Korea, is not

Despite President Moon Jae-in hailing the latest negotiations to revise the free trade agreement with the US as a “great achievement,” the South Korean government remains flustered as the US side continues to make claims outside of the agreement.“The quick completion of the trade negotiations with the US amid heightened protectionism is a great achievement as it has removed uncertainties in the global economy,” Moon said during a meeting with his chief aides in the Blue House on Monday.“Addressi

Cash-strapped Kumho Tire went through a rollercoaster ride Friday as the creditors, labor union and the government scurried to avoid the worst-case scenario of a court receivership just hours before the midnight deadline to agree to an acquisition by a Chinese investor.　Tension had notched up when Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-yeon held a joint press conference pressing the labor union in the morning, before taking a dramatic turn in the afternoon when the union took a step back and announced t

Stratasys, a 3-D printing company, said Thursday it would unveil its latest prototyping and additive manufacturing solution at tech exhibition Simtos in Kintex exhibition center in Goyang from Apr. 3 to 7. Prototypes are basic models designed with only key functions in order to verify and improve performance before new products are launched. Additive manufacturing is a 3-D printing application that stacks and combines layers of base materials to make 3-D products. At the Stratasys booth, visitor

A former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Kwon Pyung-oh, has been appointed as the new chief of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the organization said Thursday.KOTRA said his inaugural ceremony would be held Monday. He had served as an ambassador to Saudi Arabia since November 2015, after working as chief of the Trade Ministry’s trade promotion division from 2013 to 2015. Kwon has a bachelor’s degree in trade from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. He joined the government force in 198

The Korea Herald is publishing a series on South Korea’s business environment for foreign companies and investors. This is the second installment. -- Ed. A lack of trust between the government and companies is among the biggest problems for companies doing business in Korea, according to the chairman of the board of governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.“The government and companies in Korea don’t trust each other. The government thinks the company management is not transparent

Korea and the US officially announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement in principle to the revision of their bilateral trade deal, including an exemption of tariffs on Korean steel, ending three months of talks. The joint statement released by South Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer read, “Today, Minister Kim and Ambassador Lighthizer are pleased to announce that Korea and the US have reached an agreement in principle on the general t

The Korea International Trade Association said Wednesday it has set up an office in Dubai, the first regional arm in the Middle East and Africa, following President Moon Jae-in’s latest visit to the United Arab Emirates. 　The office will support small and mid-sized companies jumping into the markets of the Middle East and Africa, provide them with trade and market information and speak for the interests of Korean companies by building a network. “Through the UAE office, we hope many excellent Ko

Daewoo Engineering & Construction is slated to start selling apartment units of Cheongju Hillspark Prugio from next month. The apartment complex will be located in Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju, the capital and largest city of North Chungcheong Province. A perspective view of Cheongju Hillspark Prugio (Daewoo Engineering & Construction)Cheongju Hillspark Prugio, which recently began construction, will contain a total of 777 households, with the area for each apartment ranging between 75 square meters a

South Korea has been exempted from US steel tariffs in return for cutting its exports volume by 30 percent, Korea’s trade minister said Monday after returning from a third round of talks on revising the Korea-US free trade agreement in Washington a day earlier.The steel tariff was put on the negotiation table after the Trump administration signed an order to impose a 25 percent tariff on imported steel earlier this month.Korea will be the first nation the US has excluded from the list.  Trade Mi

South Korea and the United States have reached an agreement “in principle” on renegotiation of their free trade agreement, said the trade minister who returned from the US on Sunday, signaling that three-month-long talks have come to an end.The two countries started renegotiating the deal after the Trump administration called for a revision in June last year on the grounds of the nation’s growing trade deficit with Korea. “As for the trade deal and the US steel tariff issue, we reached an agreem

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of features and interviews on South Korea’s business environment for foreign companies and investors. This is the first installment. -- Ed. Amid the steady growth of foreign direct investment in Korea in the past decade, foreign companies doing business here say the market and consumers are attractive, but the ambiguous regulations are a headache. Foreign direct investment in Korea has nearly doubled over a decade from $11.7 billion in 2008 to $22.8 billio

South Korea will foster global, competitive midsized companies through financial and regulatory support with the aim of creating an additional 130,000 jobs over the next five years, the government said Monday.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced its plan to increase the number of midsized companies from 3,558 in 2015 to 5,500 by 2022, with the additional goal of increasing the number of companies generating more than 1 trillion won ($910 million) in sales from 34 in 2018 to 80 by

삼성전자 DMC 연구소의 이준현 전무가 최근 미국 삼성리서치아메리카(SRA) 법인장으로 발령받았다. 삼성전자 내부에 정통한 관계자는, “DMC연구소에서 음성인식 모듈관련 업무를 담당하던 이준현 전무가 최근 실리콘밸리연구소 삼성리서치아메리카 법인장으로 발령 받았다”고 전했다. 기존 이인종 부사장이 맡아온 소프트웨어 분야 총괄을 SRA 출신 김용제 부사장이 대체하기 위해 한국으로 주 근무지를 옮기면서 SRA 법인장이 공석이 되었기 때문이다. 2014년 미국 실리콘밸리에 설립된 삼성전자의 리서치아메리카는 삼성전자의 "미국판 종합기술원"이다. 북미 전역에 캠퍼스를 보유한 삼성리서치아메리카는 모바일 결제·보안 연구소, 디지털 솔루션 연구소, 컴퓨터 과학·혁신 센터 등을 두고 혁신기술 개발을 주도하고 있다. 이준현 전무는 향후 삼성리서치아메리카에서 빅스비 영어 버전 개발에 힘쓸 것으로 알려졌다. 삼성리서치아메리카는 빅스비 소프트웨어의 소스코드 분석 작업 등을 진행하는 등 무선사업부와 함께 빅스

DAEGU -- A top executive at Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s largest automaker, hinted Thursday at a strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics, which has been expanding into the vehicle component business in recent months. When asked by The Korea Herald about a possible partnership with the South Korean tech giant to develop electronic vehicle components and infotainment systems, Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Kwon Moon-sik said, “We will do so.” But regarding the plan and timeline, th

The fifth-generation network is a key factor for up-and-coming data-oriented technologies.Virtual reality, self-driving automobiles, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, which will be at the forefront of future industries, require a network that can transmit massive data seamlessly.  (123rf)To keep pace with the future connected world, Korean telecom operators KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus are speeding up the development of the fifth-generation mobile network, or 5G network, with th

Korean telecom operators are seeking partnerships with Israeli automotive tech firm Mobileye to maximize their presence in the self-driving car industry by combining their fast network capacities with the company’s big data technologies. Mobileye, which was acquired by Intel for $15.3 billion in March, is a leading advanced driver-assistance system solution provider to most global automakers. ADAS solution is a vehicle safety system which alerts drivers to potential collisions or accidents, by g

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it unveiled the world’s largest-capacity Vertical-NAND memory solutions amid growing demand for data-intensive applications across many industries using artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies. The world’s largest memory chip maker showcased 1-terabit V-NAND technology and an array of new solid state drives at the annual Flash Memory Summit held in California on Tuesday. Samsung said these solutions will be at the forefront of enabling data-