Korean firms should be prepared for repercussions from tensions between world’s two largest economies

LG Electronics Inc. on Sunday unveiled the name of its new smartphone that is expected to be released in South Korea next month. LG said the upcoming mass-market premium smartphone has been named LG VELVET. The new name comes after the company recently revealed it will no longer use the G series brand. "LG VELVET will be the first device to implement the company's new branding strategy for its mobile devices, moving away from alphanumerical designations in favor of familiar and expressiv

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. are set to suffer a sharp decline in their first-quarter earnings due to a growing coronavirus impact on production and sales, data showed Sunday. Hyundai Motor is expected to post an operating profit of 700 billion won ($577 million) for the January-March period, down 15 percent from 824.9 billion won a year earlier, according to data from Yonhap Infomax, a financial service arm of Yonhap News Agency. Before the outbreak of the new coronav

South Korean refiners are expected to report a 2.5 trillion-won ($2.06 billion) combined operating loss during the first quarter due to lower demand and refining margins, industry sources said Sunday. The country's four major refiners -- SK Innovation Co., GS Caltex Corp., Hyundai Oilbank Co. and S-Oil Corp. -- are forecast to suffer the hefty operating loss in the first quarter as demand fell amid the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus outbreak and oil prices plunging due to a pr

LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean mobile carrier, said Sunday it has joined hands with a Japanese telecommunication firm and a Taiwanese drone maker to develop smart drone solutions. Under a memorandum of understanding with Japan's KDDI Corp. and Taiwan's Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corp. (CIRC), LG Uplus will cooperate in the development of a drone control platform. The system is designed to better transmit images or videos recorded by drones to control centers, via LTE or 5G telecomm

Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Friday it has reached a tentative agreement with its union over wages for last year as the automobile industry tries to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, the company said Friday. Renault Samsung workers accepted a wage freeze and will be paid cash bonuses of 8.88 million won ($7,320) per person for 2019, the company said in a statement. "The company and the union have reached a consensus that they will have to make joint efforts to weather an industry-

Baedal Minjok, which has come under fire for the introduction of a restructured commission system, on Friday issued a public apology and said it would be returning to the previous fee structure. The country’s No. 1 delivery app operator Baemin recently took public flak after it announced it would expand the fixed-rate commission system from April 1, while scaling back the more preferred flat-sum system. Woowa Brothers’ Chief Executive and founder Kim Bong-jin and CEO Kim Beom-jo

Porsche Korea said Friday that it has donated 200 million won ($166,000) to ChildFund Korea with its four authorized dealer partners -- Stuttgart Sports Cars, Autostadt, Deutsch Auto Co. and Yongsan Sports Automobile -- for coronavirus relief efforts. The donation will be used under two categories “Porsche Do Dream Safe Kit” and “Porsche Do Dream Safe Fund.” Recipients will be children in low-income families and vulnerable groups who have been experiencing difficulties

Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don visited Renault Samsung’s Busan plant Friday to encourage workers amid the continued economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the automaker, Oh also met with Renault Samsung CEO Dominique Signora and the labor union, vowing to support them to overcome the current crisis. Renault Samsung said that he appreciated workers at the facility for working hard and focusing on manufacturing major vehicle lineups.  He also discussed with Signora

South Korean businesses are increasingly selling assets in a bid to secure liquidity by hoarding cash amid high uncertainty triggered by the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to industry sources Friday. Hyundai Steel, a steelmaking affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, has decided to sell one of its corporate buildings in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. The building in Jamwon-dong, an affluent neighborhood in the area, has been used for the company’s sales operations. “It is hard t

ULikeKorea, a livestock health care company, said Friday it has successfully detected early-stage bovine coronavirus in South Korea and Japan. Coronavirus is prevalent in animals, and few are lethal to humans and cause respiratory infections like the COVID-19, Middle East respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome. Coronaviruses are ribonucleic acid virus that are prone to mutation, and have the possibility of animal-to-human and human-to-animal infections, uLikeKorea CEO Kim

Samsung Biologics on Friday signed a binding letter of intent worth 440 billion won ($363 million) to manufacture US-based Vir’s COVID-19 treatment, starting 2021. It is the biggest single deal Samsung Biologics has taken since its 2016 initial public offering. Vir’s SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) candidates VIR-7831 and VIR-7832 have demonstrated high potency in neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 in live-virus cellular assays. The molecules were approved for fast-track developme

Major duty-free operators withdraw contracts at Incheon Airport, complain of high rental fees amid COVID-19 crisis

Companies that fail to shift their paradigms in terms of safety will fall behind others in the long run, said an executive at SK Innovation, a leading oil refinery and battery maker in South Korea on Friday. Yoo Jae-young, head of safety, health and environment division at the company, said in an internal interview that SK Innovation has turned the latest coronavirus outbreak into an opportunity that has enhanced its workplace environment monitoring system. “The company has stepped up

Paper manufacturer Moorim said Tuesday it is the first South Korean company to receive a biodegradable certification from a European institution for its paper cup products. The company’s biodegradable paper cup with water-based coating received “OK compost” certification from TUV AUSTRIA in March, a 140-year old European certification institution. Moorim’s Neoforet Cup can be biodegraded 100 percent within 45 days after use, while typical paper cups can’t be dec