SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has vowed to spend about $26 billion on electric vehicle (EV) batteries, hydrogen and other eco-friendly businesses in the United States in a move to join US efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The figure is part of $52 billion set aside by South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate to invest in the US by 2030. Chey said SK is aiming to cut carbon emissions of 200 million tons, which account for 1 percent of the global target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions of

When Super Junior D&E was formed in 2011 as a subunit of the popular boy band Super Junior, its members Donghae and Eunhyuk never expected it would remain active even after 10 years. The two, both born in 1986 and having been with the group since they were trainees, looked back on their past years during an online press conference held Tuesday to promote their first full-length album. The new release will drop at 6 p.m., ahead of the unit's 10th anniversary next month. "Super Junior D

The top nuclear negotiators of South Korea and Japan held phone talks Tuesday to explore measures for progress in stalled denuclearization efforts, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Noh Kyu-duk, the special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and his Japanese counterpart Takehiro Funakoshi shared their assessments of the regional security situations and discussed ways to achieve lasting peace, according to the ministry. The two sides agreed to closely work together for

In a world first, SK Chemicals has begun mass-producing chemically recycled copolyester, a synthetic plastic widely used in packaging, the firm said Tuesday. According to the South Korean chemical company, it will produce more than 10,000 metric tons of chemically recycled plastic and supply it to cosmetics brands at home and abroad. “Not a single company in the world has ever mass-produced plastic via chemical recycling because it requires a secure supply chain of plastic waste as wel

Pope Francis is unlikely to visit North Korea in the winter, although it is difficult to predict when the trip will happen, the Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson said Tuesday. President Moon Jae-in asked the pope during their meeting at the Vatican last week to visit North Korea to help foster peace on the Korean Peninsula. The pope responded that he would do so if he received an invitation from the North. "Various efforts are under way, but it's difficult to predict the timing," Cheong Wa

SK Innovation said Tuesday it will capture 300,000 metric tons of carbon emitted at its petrochemical plant in Ulsan and sell it as industrial gas starting next year. According to the South Korean battery-to-petrochemical giant, it is already capturing carbon generated at factory No. 1 inside its Ulsan facility and making a profit by selling it. After the carbon is collected, it is purified and then used as industrial gas for the etching process of semiconductors, welding, dry ice and plant cul

Democratic Party gets head start in tight race for top post

Hanwha Solutions said Tuesday it will go carbon neutral by 2050 by utilizing its renewable and hydrogen technologies. According to the South Korean solar-to-hydrogen energy company, it will curb carbon emissions totaling 3.58 million tons by 2050. The firm emitted 2.46 million tons last year and is expected to generate an additional 1.12 million tons in the future. “All of Hanwha Solutions’ businesses will join a Korean version of Renewable Energy 100 and use electricity genera

  The number of delivery workers in South Korea swelled nearly 12 percent in the second half of last year to hit a record high amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed. Asia’s fourth-largest economy had 390,000 carriers as of the end of December last year, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea. The tally covers mail carriers, door-to-door couriers, food delivery workers, newspaper delivery workers and carriers of milk and other bev

South Korea plans to buy back 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) worth of government bonds in a bid to tackle a sharp hike in bond yields, a senior government official said Tuesday. Second Vice Finance Minister Ahn Do-geol said the government will actively seek policy coordination with the Bank of Korea (BOK), when needed, to stabilize the bond market. "The stable management of the government bond market has become more important than at any time to support the fiscal policy's role and the smo

President Moon Jae-in made another overture toward North Korea at a UN climate summit Monday, suggesting planting trees together to reduce carbon emissions on the Korean Peninsula and pledging to make good on a 3-year-old promise in an apparent bid to reengage Pyongyang. “The Republic of Korea will take a leading role in cooperation for reforestation,” Moon said in his keynote speech at the 26th Conference of the Parties or COP26 held in Glasgow, Scotland, calling tree planting one

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) launched its presidential election committee on Tuesday to help steer its presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung to victory in the upcoming election in March. The committee is the liberal party's largest ever and includes all 169 of its National Assembly lawmakers with party chairman Song Young-gil as its standing chief and 12 others as co-chiefs. The party held a massive launching ceremony that was expected to be attended by up to 499 people under the government

Nearly half of all recent COVID-19 cases in Seoul were breakthrough infections, a Seoul city official said Tuesday. "Of the 646 new cases confirmed in Seoul on Sunday, 49.4 percent, or 319 cases, were breakthrough cases," Park Yoo-mi, a disease control official at the Seoul metropolitan government, said in a briefing. "The rate of breakthrough infections in Seoul is higher than the nationwide average," she noted. According to the city government, Seoul has recorded 12,663

Seoulites complain of noise, frequent traffic violations as motorcyclists rush deliveries