Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, South Korea's top shipbuilder, said Monday it will make improving safety for its workers its top priority amid a series of accidents at its workplaces. The move was followed by its decision last week to spend an additional 300 billion won ($244 million) to beef up safety for its workers over the next three years. The group now plans to spend a total of 1.64 trillion won during the cited period to improve safety at the facilities of its nine affiliates, includ

More than half of South Korean firms plan to cut their spending on research and development (R&D) and hiring of researchers in the second half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Monday. The survey of 1,221 companies, taken by the Korea Industrial Technology Association (KOITA) from May 22-25, showed 58 percent of the respondents have plans to scale down their R&D investment in the July-December period. The figure is up 10.3 percentage points from a similar surv

Remdesivir shortens recovery time for novel coronavirus patients, but the experimental drug conventionally used for treating Ebola has limited efficacy in severe cases, health experts said Monday. Last week, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, South Korea's drug safety watchdog, approved the use of Remdesivir as a treatment drug for COVID-19, allowing special imports by using its special measures procedure. Following the approval, controversies arose on whether Remdesivir, medication develo

The most popular apartments in Seoul are new and located in Seocho-gu, according a recent report. Local real estate company Real Estate 114 surveyed the average price of apartments by year and district in Seoul as of last month. By year, it found that new apartments in the first to fifth year of occupancy were the most expensive at an average of 1.38 billion won ($1.14 million). By district, Seocho-gu had the highest average sale price of 2.57 billion won. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Hanwha Systems Co., the defense industry unit of Hanwha Group, said Monday it has acquired a British satellite communication antenna company in a move to secure a new growth driver. Hanwha Systems clinched a deal last week to acquire the business and assets of Phasor Solutions Ltd., which develops satellite communication antenna technology, the company said in a statement. "We have made a swift decision to acquire the British company as the satellite communication equipment market has

　The volume of short-term floating capital in South Korea hit an all-time high of more than 1,100 trillion won ($904 billion) amid low interest rates and increased uncertainties over the novel coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　Cash and other forms of short-term capital, including demand deposits and money market funds, totaled 1,106.3 trillion won as of end-March, Bank of Korea and Korea Financial Investment Association data showed. The amount was the largest since the institutions began

LG Uplus announced Sunday that it has renewed its contracts with Ubiquoss and Dasan Network Solutions to supply 5G equipment. South Korea’s third-largest mobile carrier will purchase 271 billion won ($224 million) of 5G equipment by May 2023 -- revised from the initial 155 billion-won deal set to expire on November 2021. It will buy about 90 billion won of 5G equipment a year. LG Uplus said the this will increase supplies of equipment for its 10 Gigabits per second 5G network service.

Total components such as display, mobile AP and camera account for less than half retail price

Asiana Airlines said Sunday it has resumed flights to Hanoi after Vietnam exceptionally allowed 220 South Korean students to enter the country. Since March 22, Vietnam has suspended the entry of all foreigners to contain the spread of COVID-19. In February, Asiana made an emergency return as the Vietnamese government refused to allow the plane from Korea to land at Hanoi.　 Asiana said its OZ733 flight carrying 218 Korean students departed from Incheon International Airport at 9:20 a.m. on Su

Given the nationwide social distancing norms in place, South Koreans are playing more computer games and watching videos on mobile devices, data showed Sunday. According to a report from local market research firm Nielsen KoreanClick, Koreans spent 34 percent of their time playing games on PCs in the March-April period, an 11 percentage-point increase on-year, topping other activities. Meanwhile, Koreans spent less time on internet portals and search engines, with the ratio dropping from 26

Samsung Electronics reiterated Sunday that the merger of its two key affiliates that was allegedly fast-tracked to allow Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to wrest control of the conglomerate was completely legitimate. The company said in a statement that the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015 took place legitimately, a day before a review of the arrest warrant for Lee. The statement that started with, “Samsung is in crisis,” said, “To overcome this crisis, man

  Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's No.1 carmaker, said Friday that it will delay delivery of its diesel-powered GV80 sport utility vehicle due to engine vibration issues. In a notice sent to customers who ordered the company's first-ever uber luxury SUV by its high-end Genesis sub-brand, Hyundai confirmed that there have been intermittent problems with the engine. The engine at the center of the problem is a new longitudinal in-line six diesel that is exclusive to the GV80. The company

SK Group, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate by revenue, has been reviewing to invest some 94.2 billion won ($78 million) for a 10 percent stake in Asia’s largest low-cost carrier Air Asia, after the Korean conglomerate was recently approached by the firm, industry sources said Friday.  SK Southeast Asia Investment Corp., the group’s investment arm operating in the region, recently received a proposal from the Malaysian-flagged Air Asia to make an investment for a

Market Kurly said Friday that 315 people linked to a COVID-19 case at its logistic center have all tested negative for the disease. The online grocery platform had one virus infection case involving a part-time worker at one of its logistics centers in Songpa-gu, Seoul, on May 27, which prompted the company to conduct the round of virus tests on employees and visitors at the center. Market Kurly and the government sorted out and designated 315 people linked to the center and had them tested

Daewoong Pharamaceutical and its subsidiary Daewoong Therapeutics said Friday that their proposed COVID-19 treatment DWRX2003 (niclosamide) has been found capable of removing the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a ferret’s lungs in three days. Daewoong Therapeutics, in collaboration with Chungbuk National University, carried out preclinical animal tests of DWRX2003 in ferrets infected with SARS-CoV-2. In a lung tissue biopsy conducted three days into the administration, the researchers found that a