Major listed South Korean firms have seen a sharp drop in market capitalization by losing a combined 174 trillion won ($142 billion), down more than 20 percent, in the last 52 days, according to latest data Sunday. Local corporate tracker Korea CXO Institute surveyed the share price of 100 listed Korean companies -- top five in 20 industries -- between Jan. 20, when the first confirmed coronavirus case was reported here, and Thursday, after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pan

Hyundai Motor said Sunday it has signed a $60 million bus supply deal with Turkmenistan. It has signed a contract with Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Transport to supply 400 New Super Aero City buses, the South Korean automaker said. It is Hyundai’s second-biggest single overseas deal, after a $66 million order for 500 units in 2016. The New Super Aero City bus features upgraded functions compared to previous models, including rear-view camera and rear cross-traffic alert function

Most planes grounded at airports due to flight cancellations

Existing digital maps add mask info; new apps and web services spring up to assist mask purchasers

Socar CEO Lee Jae-woong said Friday that he was stepping down from the top position to take responsibility for the suspension of van-hailing service Tada. Socar is the parent company of Tada operator VCNC. His announcement comes a day after VCNC said it would “indefinitely terminate” the service April 10.  Lee “failed to secure Tada drivers’ employment, failed to keep the investors’ trust and (his) colleagues’ dream for innovation,” he wrote on F

Lotte Corp., the holding company for the nation’s fifth-largest conglomerate, will hold a shareholders meeting March 27 and seek approval to reappoint current Chairman Shin Dong-bin as executive director, the company said Friday.  The executive director normally serves two years, according to the group. Shin currently serves as executive director for Lotte Corp. and other affiliates including Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Chemical, Lotte Chilsung, Canon Korea and FRL Korea.  Shi

As the aviation industry has been hit hard from the coronavirus outbreak, South Korean air carriers were flying more air cargo planes than flights carrying passengers, industry sources said Friday.  More countries have been announcing entry restrictions of South Koreans over virus concerns. The number has reached 123 as of Friday morning.  This has led to South Korea’s largest full-service air carrier Korean Air to operate only 18 flights per day, compared to 131 flights opera

Vietnam has exempted Samsung Display engineers from South Korea from its mandatory quarantine, the South Korean Embassy in Hanoi said Friday, allowing them to swiftly do their jobs upon arrival. To stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, Vietnam has mandated a 14-day quarantine for all people travelling from South Korea. However, the South Korean Embassy said Samsung Display's workers will be exempted from this quarantine rule after the Vietnamese government accepted its request. Early

South Korea's major conglomerates pushed back their hiring schedules due to the novel coronavirus, industry officials said Friday, amid concerns that they may scale down their employment plans in the first half of the year. Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, said it is very likely to postpone its first-half hiring event that usually takes place in March. Industry officials said they expect Samsung's recruitment process to be delayed a month. Samsung and other big employers in

Coupang, South Korea’s leading delivery service provider, has been named one of the world’s most innovative companies by a US market researcher in recognition of the firm’s e-commerce technology and logistics service.  According to an announcement by US-based business media brand Fast Company on Tuesday, Coupang was ranked second on its list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020 for the Asia Pacific region. Korea’s biggest tech firm Samsung Elec

South Korea said Friday it has ordered one of the filter producers here to release its inventory as the country struggles to keep up the supply of protective masks amid the spread of the new coronavirus. The order will add 4.4 tons of melt-blown nonwoven fabric filters into the market, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The collected filters will be supplied to nine mask producers, which were on the verge of suspending their operations due to the shortage of materials. T

Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin on Thursday took to YouTube live to share the group’s ongoing efforts on coronavirus cure development, which he foresees will reach human clinical trial stage in six months’ time. “Under normal circumstances, the process takes around 18 months, but given the emergency in South Korea, we will closely communicate with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to initiate our antibody’s use on confirmed patients after six months,” Seo said.

Wage disparity among employees of large firms in Korea is rising as the annual salary gap between the top and bottom 50 conglomerates is widening, according to local corporate tracker CEOScore on Thursday. The firm surveyed the average annual salary of 300 companies within the nation’s top 500 companies that can compare employee wages from 2014 to 2018. The annual salary of the top 50 companies was 116.9 million won ($97,554), 69.67 million won more than 41.02 million won of the lower

US researchers from the University of Tennessee have identified 77 molecules that show potential to impair COVID-19’s ability to infect host cells, IBM said Thursday. They made the discovery with the help of simulations using supercomputer Summit. Viruses like COVID-19 infect cells by binding to them and using “spikes” to inject their genetic material into the host cells. To understand a new microorganism, researchers grow it and test its reaction to new compounds. The proce

South Korea’s three largest mobile carriers -- SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus -- announced on Thursday that they will minimize the number of call center employees who commute to their offices, after the packed working environment was found vulnerable to the viral infection. The decision came after some 90 people at a Seoul-based call center were tested positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon. SKT said it has currently allowed 1,500 call center employees -- about 25 percent of the w