LG Chem, South Korea’s leading lithium-ion battery maker, said Tuesday that the company will start supplying cylindrical batteries this year for the Lucid Air, the first electric vehicle to be commercialized by Lucid Motors. The supply deal is expected to enhance the firm’s electric vehicle battery portfolio, along with its proprietary pouch-type batteries. The company is focusing on supplying pouch batteries and has order backlogs worth 150 trillion won ($124 billion). But the

Samsung Electronics announced Tuesday that it had begun mass production of the industry’s first 16-gigabyte DRAM for premium smartphones. The 16 GB low-power DDR5 DRAM, based on Samsung’s second-generation 10-nanometer-class (1y) process technology, offers a data transfer rate of 5,500 megabits per second, which is about 1.3 times faster than the previous mobile memory LPDDR4X. It also offers an energy savings of over 20 percent while providing twice the capacity. The advance wi

LG Electronics Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a new budget smartphone in South Korea, hoping that the latest handset can help its struggling mobile business. The LG Q51 will come with a price tag of 319,000 won ($260) and a 6.5-inch screen, according to LG. The mobile device will go on sale in South Korea on Wednesday. The LG Q51 sports a 13-megapixel (MP) main camera, along with a 5-MP ultra-wide lens and a 2-MP depth sensor, on the back. It also has a 13-MP selfie camera on the front. The pro

　South Korea’s beer imports fell sharply in 2019 from a year earlier due mainly to a boycott of Japanese products here amid a bilateral trade row, data showed. 　Beer imports reached $280 million in 2019, down 9.3 percent from $309 million a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Korea Customs Service - the first on-year decrease since 2009. 　The drop was largely attributable to the ongoing “No Japan” campaign by Korean consumers, who have been boycotting Japanes

The European Chamber of Commerce in Korea said Monday it has made an emergency donation of 10 million won ($8,210) to Daegu to help combat the spread of COVID-19. The donation was delivered to the Daegu Branch of Korean Red Cross. It will be used to help obtain masks for the most vulnerable people in the Daegu region. “As a responsible member of Korean society, the ECCK has decided to provide an emergency donation of 10 million won to Daegu city region in order to support to quickly ov

Safety concerns raised for delivery workers as orders surge amid coronavirus outbreak

South Korea’s leading steelmaker, Posco, said Monday that it had established a matching fund called “Emerald” with Xcoal Energy and Resources, a US-based coal producer, as part of Posco’s GEM matching fund initiative. The two companies signed the agreement Monday, with each promising to pay $50,000 a year into the one-on-one matching grant system. The money will be used for social causes in the two countries on an alternating basis. Posco started its GEM matching fund

According to a recent report by the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea’s participation in global value chain trade reached 55 percent as of 2017, placing it at No. 6 out of 18 major countries within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. GVC refers to international production where the different output stages take place across various countries. With the rise of transnational corporations, firms from different countries tend to divide their production

Delta Air Lines, the third-largest shareholder of Hanjin KAL which owns Korean Air, has bought 1 percent additional stake to support Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae, industry sources said Monday.  The US air carrier reportedly bought 114 shares of Hanjin KAL stake on Thursday and Friday via Goldman Sachs for around 60 billion won ($49 million). Delta now owns 11 percent stake in the holding firm of Hanjin Group.  Currently, local activist fund Korea Corporate Governance Improvemen

South Korea’s major industries -- including electronics, automobiles, retail and oil refining -- are on high alert due to a surge in COVID-19 cases here, as well as the market slowdown in China, the nation’s biggest export destination. As of Monday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients stood at 833, up 161 from the previous day, and the death toll had risen to eight. The nation’s largest tech firm, Samsung Electronics, temporarily shut down its operations at its Gumi p

A corporate culture centered on employees is often misunderstood here. It is mistakenly considered the opposite of a profit-centered culture and is used to describe companies providing generous welfare and compensation to employees. However, PMK goes beyond that, said Upadhyay in an interview with The Korea Herald. The company ensures staff go through a better employee experience throughout the employment cycle, starting from the job-seeking stage to leaving the company. Upadhyay, who has w

Air Busan on Monday said it will suspend 78 percent of its international routes next month to counter business challenges amid the COVID-19 outbreak. In March, the domestic low-cost carrier will stop operating 25 international routes bound for China and Southeast Asian countries, which have recently seen a dramatic decrease in passengers. According to the company, all Air Busan executives, including the CEO, have submitted their resignations to help the company cope with recent financial diff

Vaccines company SK Bioscience will build a research and development platform that will allow a speedy response to future outbreaks of mutant viruses, the company said Monday. COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome are ribonucleic acid coronaviruses that endlessly transform to outlive treatments. Developing vaccines for coronaviruses, therefore, generally requires one to five years. SK Bioscience said it envisions to shorten that by understanding what

South Korea’s leading household electronics rental service company  Coway attributes its competitiveness to the high-tech analyses at its Environmental Technology Research Institute, the biggest such facility in Asia. According to the company, the institute is at the center of its research and development of cutting-edge technologies and products, as the organization spearheads the entire product development process, starting from research to product design and development, to cond

The market capitalization of listed South Korean companies declined across industries, according to data from market researcher FnGuide. Between Jan. 20 and Thursday, the combined market cap of 48 firms selling personal and daily goods, including cosmetics makers, fell 5.06 trillion won based on the closing prices of stocks. The market cap of the wholesale and retail sector dropped 2.92 trillion won, while that of the hotel and leisure industry declined about 1.85 trillion won.  (khnew