Lotte Group announced Wednesday that Chairman Shin Dong-bin will head the holding firm in Japan, securing leadership of operations in South Korea and Japan, ending a six-year dispute with his elder brother Shin Dong-joo,. The Lotte Holdings board of directors in Japan decided to appoint him as chairman effective April 1. Lotte Holdings had operated under the leaderships of Lotte’s late founder Shin Kyuk-ho and Vice Chairman Dong-bin. The post was vacant since the founder was named hon

History and strategy behind lopsided shares in Korean car market

Hit by a sharp drop in the number of passengers flying in and out of Gimpo International Airport amid COVID-19 concerns, Shilla Duty Free said Thursday that it will temporarily close its store at Gimpo International Airport until March 28.  This follows another duty free operator Lotte Duty Free’s decision last week to close its store at Gimpo International Airport amid dwindling sales.  Industry sources said that Lotte saw its sales plummet from daily sales of 200 to 300 mill

The Australian subsidiary of South Korean defense company Hanwha Defense has launched a web portal as part of an effort to supply military land systems to the Australian Defense Force. Recently, Hanwha Defense Australia opened Australian Industry Portal as foreign defense contractors are required to outline how they would contribute to Australia’s defense activities and how they would cooperate with local companies, according to Hanwha Defense. The AIP is expected to support Hanwha&rs

South Korean airlines are halting more flights as countries increasingly imposed entry restrictions in their fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus. Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest airline and national flag carrier, said Thursday it will begin reducing the number of flights to three per week from seven on the Incheon-Paris route. The latest move comes as European countries close their borders and restrict movement in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Korean Air

Oil refineries, construction, shipbuilding hit hard, transport sector expects no boon

Samsung Electronics launched nine models of 2020 quantum-dot light-emitting diode TVs on Thursday. The company said it has expanded its QLED 8K models by twofold from before, to increase consumer options and its dominance in the 8K TV market. The 2020 QLED 8K from Samsung Electronics are categorized by series names QT970S, QT900S and QT800, offered in screen sizes ranging from 55 to 85 inches. The smallest 55-inch model will launch within the first half of the year, Samsung said. The most

As a journalist, my job is to get around. The ideal rut of this job is to be constantly on foot, meet people, glean information, fact-check, and package the story in a way you, reader, would find relevant and stay to read to the end. But truth be told, like many others in South Korea right now, I haven’t been getting around much. Not since the COVID-19 outbreak here took a serious turn for the worse. It will soon be a month since I started telecommuting and social distancing. I’m

Diageo Korea said Thursday it had donated 200 million won ($154,700) to the Korea Red Cross to support culnerable people facing difficulties amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The South Korean branch of British liquor firm said it delivered the fund on Wednesday, to support households, old people and children that are affected either directly or indirectly by the epidemic crisis. The fund is to be used in providing hygiene products and daily necessities, the company said. The liquor maker also del

Samsung SDI President Jun Young-hyun said Wednesday he would focus on pioneering overseas energy storage systems market and investing in the company’s second battery plant in Hungary. At the general shareholders meeting held in Seoul, Jun Young-hyun handpicked ESS and electric vehicle batteries as the company’s main agenda. “This year, the focus is on overseas ESS business and investment in the second EV battery plant in Hungary,” Jun said at the meeting. The batte

South Korean carmakers are likely to shut down their overseas plants as their global peers are planning to close factories as a precaution against the rapid spread of coronavirus. Local carmakers already suffered production losses due to a lack of parts when their suppliers in China suspended plants due to an extended Lunar New Year holiday amid fears of COVID-19 infections. The worsening outbreak is now dealing a further blow to the automobile industry as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co.

  South Korean companies operating in Europe are on high alert after the European Union (EU) imposed a 30-day entry ban on travelers outside the bloc to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, industry sources said Thursday.  The European Union (EU)has decided to shut its borders and enforce travel restrictions on non-EU citizens after the region accounted for one-third of global COVID-19 cases.  South Korean firms in Europe have beefed up their quarantine measures and are m

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun was reelected as Hyundai Mobis’ in-house director Wednesday during a shareholders meeting, after overcoming objections. Chung’s term was extended until 2022. The same day, the shareholders passed resolutions approving the financial statements and appointing two outside directors, Young&Co’s CEO Chang Young-woo and former Opel Chief Executive Karl-Thomas Neumann. Prior to the shareholders meeting, some overseas

South Korean internet giant Naver said Wednesday that the company will display the user names and comment histories of users who post replies on news stories on its platform. The new online comment system will be in place Thursday. The change is intended to prevent abusive behavior online, the company explained. Naver’s anonymous comment system has often been criticized for allowing abusive and disparaging comments. Commenters’ user names are partially hidden, with only the first

Cass, the leading domestic beer brand produced by Oriental Brewery, has won the 2020 Korea Wine and Spirits Award for five consecutive years. In January this year, OB’s Cass won the top prize at 2020 Korea Brand Hall of Fame, presented by the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies, the company said Wednesday. Cass is OB’s flagship lager beer here first introduced in 1994. Its market share in the local beer market in 2019 reached 36 percent with 1.19 trillion won of sales, accor