Sales of cigarettes in South Korea fell 0.7 percent in 2019 from a year earlier due to the government-led anti-smoking campaign and higher prices, data showed Wednesday. Smokers purchased 3.45 billion 20-cigarette packs last year, compared with the previous year's 3.47 billion packs, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.The figure represents a 20.9 percent drop from 2014, a year before South Korea increased the price of cigarettes by 80 percent, from 2,500 won ($2.14

McDonald’s Korea CEO Cho Ju-yeon resigned from her post last week due to “personal reasons.” Cho sent an email to all employees on Tuesday to announce her resignation, without elaborating on the reason, industry officials said. However, a McDonald’s Korea official said Cho was leaving due to personal reasons unrelated to the company. While McDonald’s Korea does not have a designated tenure for the CEO position, Cho’s resignation was a planned move, the officia

Automaker chief says there is no shortcut to future hydrogen society

Posco Chemical signed with LG Chem to supply the latter with anode for electric vehicle batteries through end-2022, the companies said Tuesday. The deal is worth 1.8 trillion won ($1.54 billion).An anode is a core material that determines the capacity and output of a battery.  The anode Posco Chemical will provide LG Chem is high-nickel NCM, short for nickel, cobalt and managnese. The greater percentage nickel accounts for in an anode, the better output the battery has, making it better sui

Celltrion announced Tuesday that it would build its first plant in Wuhan, China, saying it would be the country’s biggest biologics plant. Celltrion Group said it had the full support of the Hubei provincial government in setting up the plant, which would be able to manufacture 120,000 liters of biologic drugs. China’s largest current facility can produce 5,000 liters. The city in central China has a geographical advantage in shipping its products to all four corners of the country.

GS Engineering and Construction said Tuesday it has taken over two European manufacturers of prefabricated houses, and is set to finish the acquisition process of an American company, aiming to expand its business in the global market. According to GS E&C, the company signed the takeover contract with Danwood, a Polish company specializing in wood prefab houses, in Bialystok, Poland, Tuesday. At the signing ceremony, GS E&C President of New Business Huh Yoon-hong, Enterprise Investor Pre

South Korean household and personal care product maker Aekyung Group said Tuesday it has purchased a site at Songdo, Incheon, for its envisioned research and development center.The company has signed a contract with Incheon Free Economic Zone to buy the 28,722-square-meter site inside the high-tech industry cluster Sector B in Songdo International City, for 34.5 billion won ($29.5 million).The group’s major subsidiaries, Aekyung Petrochemical and Aekyung, have invested in the site at a 60:

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it plans to give its chipmaking subcontractors a bonanza during the Lunar New Year holidays -- the biggest bonus since 2010 -- for their performance last year. The South Korean tech giant’s semiconductor division pays a total of 41.74 billion won ($35.8 million) to around 20,000 employees of primary and secondary contractors, marking the greatest sum in incentives for the second-half period since 2010. For the first half of last year, Samsung provided

LG Hausys is increasing its presence in North America by operating its third engineered stone production line at a plant there. The South Korean construction and interior materials company is also introducing its new product lineup at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show 2020 in Las Vegas, which runs through Thursday. At the show, the company has introduced 20 artificial marble products, it said in a statement released Tuesday. “The company this year will try to attend exhibits and events,

South Korea’s ICT Ministry on Tuesday gave its thumbs up to the merger of SK Broadband and T-broad, the second-largest cable TV operator here. The ministry has also listed conditions aimed at minimizing side effects from new service providers that could drive out relatively small-sized media businesses across the country. The government has been cautious over the merger as it is the first case between nationwide IPTV operator and a local cable system operator.The conditions include sp

SK Telecom said Tuesday it has reached a deal with Microsoft to expand the service of 5G-based cloud gaming platform Project xCloud here. The two firms hope to increase the number of games available on the platform. An alpha test is planned before the official launch -- the beta test was only opened to a select few.In September, SKT became an exclusive operating partner of Microsoft’s cloud gaming service in Korea. Since the company started the test run in October, the mobile carrier

South Korea's two tech giants -- Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. -- said Tuesday they will unveil their new home appliance products at a US trade show for the kitchen and bath market, highlighting their built-in design and artificial intelligence solutions. Samsung and LG are among the 600 exhibitors at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show 2020, set to kick off its three-day run in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday (local time). The two companies already showcased their latest home a

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea's biggest shipping company by sales, said Tuesday it aims for a 25 percent rise in its 2020 sales on the back of increased cargo-shipping demand.Hyundai Merchant Marine's sales came to 4.16 trillion won ($3.5) in the January-September period. Sales for the fourth quarter have yet to be released.Hyundai Merchant Marine also said it could shift to an operating profit in the third quarter this year, citing increased cargo-shipping demand and its April joinin

LG Electronics Inc., a major South Korean electronics maker, said Tuesday it has launched its premium wireless earphones in the United States to expand global sales. The LG TONE Free HBS-FL7, Bluetooth wireless earbuds, is now available in the U.S. market, according to LG. The company added it also plans to sell the product in Europe and other Asian countries this year. LG's totally wireless stereo earbuds made their debut last year in South Korea.Its wireless earphones applied tuning and digita

South Korea said Tuesday it will invest 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) in research and developmentn projects for medical instruments over the next six years to foster the area as one of the new growth engines for Asia's No. 4 economy.The spending will be aimed at beefing up global competitiveness of local medical instruments and provide the public with better medical services, according to the joint statement by industry, science, welfare and drug safety ministries.The country will also aim to pe