Korean Air Lines Co. is set to put all of its non-Korean pilots on a three-month unpaid leave starting next month in a self-rescue effort amid worsening business conditions caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Under the measure, 387 pilots are expected to go on mandatory unpaid leave from April 1 to June 30, an industry source said Tuesday. Around 60 of them have already been off without pay, the source added. "(The measure) is aimed at adjusting workforce following a sharp reduction i

　South Korean exports to China are picking up in March as the new coronavirus retreats in the neighboring country, data showed. 　Daily exports to the world’s second-largest economy averaged $436 million during the first 10 days of this month, up 20.8 percent from the same period in February, according to the data from government and industry sources. 　Yet the daily average was down 8.2 percent from the same period a year earlier. 　Daily exports to China soared to $530 million in the

When will social distancing end? Is there light at the end of this tunnel of “stay-at-home and postpone-your-weddings” while listening to news about rising mortality? As this prolonged period of COVID-19 outbreak chips away at our morale, global neighbors from hard-hit regions of Iran, Italy, Germany, the UK, the US and Mexico came together to share how they are getting through this time. (Yoga and Animal Crossing, anyone?) Meet in this video Hamed Soleimanzadeh (@hamedsoleimanzade

South Korean biologics company GemVax & Kael said Tuesday it will expand its antiviral pipeline’s treatment scope to cover COVID-19. GemVax’s GV1001 is a telomerase-derived peptide that helps maintain the length of telomere, which is located at the end of human chromosome. Telomere acts as anti-inflammation, antioxidant, anti-aging and stem cell activation agent, effectively preventing cytokine storm. A cytokine storm is increasingly being recognized as the leading cause of COV

Samsung Display is planning to pull the plug on its liquid-crystal display business, which has been reeling from Chinese manufacturers’ low-priced large-volume cargo, according to industry sources Tuesday. The display unit of Samsung Group will reportedly close its seventh-generation and eighth-generation LCD manufacturing lines in South Korea and Xuzhou, China, in the first half of 2021. Currently, it manufactures 165,000 seventh-generation and 363,000 eighth-generation displays per mo

Online shopping platforms see boost in brand value, as airlines, travel companies suffer plunge

Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday that it would open a mobility innovation center in Singapore to focus on developing and producing future mobility solutions by 2022.  The automaker’s new global lab called Hyundai Mobility Global Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICs) will be located in Singapore’s Jurong Innovation District, an advanced technology manufacturing hub comprised of tech companies, factories and researchers. The establishment of the automaker’s lab over the

Domestic chemical firm Isu Chemical said Tuesday it is ramping up production of a hand sanitizer ingredient as demand is soaring in Europe. The company manufactures isopropyl alcohol -- a vital ingredient for hand gels and alcohol wipes -- as the stocks of the IPA are running low amid the worsening COVID-19 outbreak. “Isu Chemical has already got marketing approval in the European Union, so there is no issue with sales in the region,” a company official said. “Though faci

Hyundai Engineering and Construction said Tuesday it will open sales of 1,150 high-quality residential units in Daegu, Gyeongsang Province. The new residential complex, named Hillstate Dowon Central, consists of five 49-story high-rises located near Dalseong Park Station in Junggu, central Daegu. The Junggu area is expected to offer new 11,000 housing units in the future, attracting potential buyers with the location’s proximity to social and commercial infrastructures, including dep

SK hynix’s said Monday its non-memory semiconductor sales marked a 1.5-fold increase last year, while sales of memory products decreased by 33 percent on-year. The DRAM sales of SK hynix marked 20.3 trillion won ($16.6 billion), down 37 percent from a year earlier, while sales of NAND flash reached 5.1 trillion won, down 31 percent. The sales of SK hynix’s non-memory business, however, increased by 139 percent to reach 1.6 trillion won last year, from 650 billion won in 2018. Of

The South Korean government lifted its sanction on budget airline Jin Air on Tuesday, after having prohibited the company from expanding new flight routes and adding new planes for 20 months. The Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport said it would remove the sanction against the budget carrier, a move that is seen to reflect the company’s recent efforts for improved management, but also comes in time when the airline industry is into a desperate situation in the wake of the COVI

LG Group said Tuesday its four affiliates -- LG Electronics, LG Chem, LG Innotek and LG International Corp. -- have donated 50,000 coronavirus test kits to the Indonesian government. The donation was made in response to a request by the country, which lacks diagnostic kits due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, and to contribute to overcoming international difficulties caused by the infectious disease, the group said. Supplies of some diagnostic kits to the Indonesian National Board for Dis

Nexon’s holding company NXC said Monday it is developing an online trading platform in the form of a game, targeting young people held back by the complexity of conventional systems. The company has established a subsidiary Arques, to develop a friendly trading platform with a user interface of tycoon games for Generation MZ -- millennials and Gen Z -- who are discouraged by intricate systems despite their deep interest in investments. “Arques aims to develop a service where use

South Korean chemicals firm OCI said Monday it has launched a lunch box campaign for five days to support the socially vulnerable amid the coronavirus crisis. The company said its Pohang plant in North Gyeongbuk Province has started delivering lunch boxes to support the elderly people and the underprivileged in local areas from March 30 to April 3 as free community meals have been unavailable due to the COVID-19 outbreak. With voluntary donations made by the employees of Pohang plant and wi

South Korean companies should keep a close eye on the protectionist trade policies in the US as President Donald Trump is expected to raise trade barriers there ahead of the November presidential election amid the worldwide spread of coronavirus, a local trade association said Tuesday. The Korea International Trade Association’s new report said the coronavirus pandemic has emerged as an important variable in the Trump administration’s trade policy and the US presidential election