South Korea's leading car-sharing app operator SoCar has teamed up with a local vehicle tech startup to launch an autonomous car shuttle service on the resort island of Jeju, the company said Monday. The collaboration with RideFlux Inc., which officially began earlier in the day, marks the first time that a so-called demand responsive transport service is being offered in the country. "Past operations were carried out under 'test conditions' with restrictions placed on traffic," SoC

ICT Minister Choi Ki-young visited South Korea’s 5G equipment manufacturer OE Solutions’ facility on Monday as part of the government’s efforts to encourage small and medium-sized firms here. OE Solutions is a local supplier of optical transceiver solutions for both wired and wireless network equipment. It provides parts to major players in the market, including Samsung, Ericsson and Huawei. “The nation’s efforts to become the first in the world to provide 5G net

Doosan Heavy & Construction Co., South Korea's top power equipment maker, said Monday that it will put about 400 employees under paid suspension as part of its self-rescue efforts amid a prolonged slump. The suspension is part of the company's efforts to tide over its liquidity crunch. The company drew up a 3 trillion-won ($2.4 billion) self-rescue plan last month. Workers subject to the paid suspension from this Thursday through the end of the year will be paid 70 percent of their monthl

Tmon, an e-commerce platform here, said Monday it would deliver 29.1 million won ($23,625) raised from donations to a teenager suffering from a rare skin disease. To mark this year’s Children’s Day – on May 5 -- Tmon said it partnered with Miral Welfare Foundation, a local nongovernmental organization, to start a social donation campaign on its platform for a teenage patient named Park Jun-seo. The 15-year-old patient has been suffering from an unidentified skin disease, in w

SK Engineering and Construction said Monday it has won a construction deal worth $7.55 million for a mega-sized Propane Dehydrogenation plant in Saudi Arabia. According to the South Korean construction company, the project is ordered by the joint venture of its energy arm SK gas and Saudi Arabian Advanced Global Investment Company. SK E&C will be in charge of Front End Engineering Design for the PDH plant and utility and off-site facilities, the company said. PDH is a process to produce

Posco, South Korea’s largest steelmaker said Monday it will expand support for young adults who leave child shelters when they turn 18, to stand on their own feet. Posco’s charity group Posco 1% Foundation has been running “Do Dream” program since 2018, which provides financial aid to the young adults to assist them to build a foundation for self-support. In the past two years, the company said 40 people have benefited from the program. Starting from this year, Posco

South Korean conglomerates are increasing their support for startups created and spun off by their own employees, the companies said Monday. The move is part of an effort to strengthen the country’s startup ecosystem by encouraging creative business ideas and technological innovation, they said. Samsung Electronics said it had selected five outstanding projects pitched by its employees this year, with the goal of spinning them out as independent units. The tech titan’s in-house

FRIGATE DEPARTS WITH MASKS -- The Philippine Navy’s latest 2,600-ton frigate, the Jose Rizal, recently built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, set sail for the Philippines on Monday carrying masks and other quarantine supplies. Hyundai Heavy shipped 20,000 masks, 180 bottles of disinfectant, 2,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 300 packs of sanitizing wipes to the Philippines out of gratitude for its participation in the Korean War.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry was selected as the winner of the 2020 James A. Van Fleet Award in recognition of its contribution to strengthening Korea-US relations, the KCCI said Monday. It is the first time that a business organization has received the award. The Van Fleet Award is an award given by the Korea Society, a Korea-US nonprofit foundation for friendship, to individuals or organizations that have worked to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two cou

GC Pharma said Monday that it would give out its blood plasma-derived COVID-19 treatment for free to domestic patients. The company’s pipeline, GC5131A, is currently under development and mass distribution is due in the second half of 2020. Huh Eun-chul, the CEO of GC Pharma, wrote to shareholders requesting their understanding over the company’s decision to put long-term health care stability over short-term profit. Many firms have previously offered potential COVID-19 treatmen

Korean biotech firm Genexine’s COVID-19 deoxyribonucleic acid vaccine pipeline GX-19 is ready for clinical testing, as soon as it applies to the Drug Ministry for human testing. Binex, which is part of the consortium that developed the drug, said Monday that it has completed manufacturing the supply enough for a clinical phase 1 trials of the drug. GX-19 is a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed based on Genexine’s DNA vaccine know-how. It is being collectively pursued by a consor

SsangYong Motors, one of South Korea’s five major automakers, has been refused by its financial auditor to deliver an opinion on its ability to survive, after posting swelling losses for the 13th consecutive quarter last week. But an official from the carmaker told The Korea Herald that it does not plan to appeal the decision, given that it was based on its latest quarterly report, not an annual report, and does not require appealing to prevent delisting. According to the automaker&rsqu

BMW Korea said Monday that its new models of 5 and 6 series sedans will be unveiled at the world premiere taking place in South Korea on May 27, the first time an imported carmaker here is hosting the world premiere here. The carmaker said, it will also be the first time for a foreign automaker to reveal the new model series -- not just a specific trim of the new models -- in the country, apart showcasing two world premiere models at once. BMW Korea said it has decided to hold the world premi

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Monday paid a visit to the company’s memory chip plant in Xian, China -- the first foreign business mogul to enter the country after the coronavirus outbreak. The South Korean tech giant’s heir apparent checked on the memory business in China during the visit accompanied by Memory Business President Jin Gyo-young and Samsung’s China operations chief Hwang Deuk-kyu. “There will be no future if we are caught in the past

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is doling out a series of funding for epidemic countermeasure research in Korea. SK Bioscience, a vaccine researcher and developer firm, said Monday that it has nabbed $3.6 million financial backing from the US foundation for to research the biologic structure of an optimal antigen for epidemics. This comes a day after the announcement of some $9.7 million funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Korean telecom company KT’s research fo