President Moon Jae-in visited a special regulation-free district in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on Thursday to highlight the need for bold action to encourage new industries and revitalize the regional economy. Moon attended an investment ceremony where GS Engineering & Construction and authorities of the province and city signed an agreement for a new battery recycling factory. He also visited a steel mill in the port city operated by the country’s leading steelmaker Posco.Duri

Telecom firm chief pledges to reinforce cooperation between local, global firms on AI including Samsung, Kakao

Park Jun-kyu, country head of Riot Games Korea, passed away Thursday. He was 44. Riot Games Korea said that Park was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2019 and that his condition drastically worsened early this month. Due to his characteristic hardworking nature, Park refused to take leave or make his illness publicly known up until the day of his death, a Riot Games Korea official said.  The industry responded in shock to the news of his passing. Park’s last public appearance had only b

Doosan Group Chairman Park Jeong-won looks at a cooperative robot being showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It is the first time the infrastructure giant has taken part in the event. Park told reporters that the group was making efforts to take the lead in advanced technologies in its business areas. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

The head of Samsung’s anti-corruption committee said Thursday that the panel would look closely into a broad range of issues affecting the group, including management succession, corruption and labor issues, with independence and autonomy.“The basic principles of the committee’s operation will be independence and autonomy,” said Kim Ji-hyung, the former Supreme Court justice who was named to head the compliance committee, in a press briefing on the day. Kim said he had re

LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's leading chemical company, said Thursday that it is seeking business opportunities in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries amid growing demand for electric motorcycles."We are considering businesses in various sectors in Indonesia as small electric vehicle markets such as electric motorcycles could grow in the country," a company official said.He said no specific decisions have been made yet on its possible businesses in Southeast Asia. The comments

Unionized workers at Renault Samsung staged an impromptu partial strike late Wednesday despite a planned renegotiation with the management the next day, according to the automaker. The South Korean carmaker said the unionized workers staged a four hour-long partial strike by suspending the operation of the production line. A Renault Samsung representative told The Korea Herald that given the current situation, the planned renegotiation on Thursday has been canceled. According to t

Toyota Motors Corp. said Thursday it will launch four new models in South Korea in the first half of the year to jump-start its lackluster sales amid trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo. Toyota Motors plans to introduce the gasoline-powered GR Supra sports car on Jan. 21, the Camry's sports version XSE gasoline model in February and the all-wheel drive Prius and Prius C Crossover gasoline hybrid models in March, the company said in a statement.For the whole of 2019, Toyota sold 10,611 vehicle

South Korea said Thursday it will revamp safety guidelines for deep-sea fishing boats and their crewmen to improve their working environment and better meet international regulations.Under the plan, South Korea will raise a fund worth 170 billion won ($146 million) together with shipowners and financial firms to replace fishing boats that are 40 years or older, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.The state budget allocated for the fund is 85 billion won.  "Many of the dee

US-based chemical firm Dupont on Thursday announced its plan to invest $28 million in South Korea to build a production line for photoresist, which can potentially help Asia's No. 4 economy reduce its dependence of the key industrial material on Japan amid their trade spat.Under the project, Rohm and Hass Electronic Materials Korea Ltd., the South Korean unit of Dupont, will build a new production line in Cheonan, 92 kilometers south of Seoul, and test facilities for extreme ultraviolet  &n

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's sixth-largest tiremaker by sales, said Thursday it has set up an overseas subsidiary in Austria for expansion in Europe.The subsidiary established in Vienna Schwechat will be in charge of sales in Austria and Switzerland to gain a bigger share in the European markets, the company said in a statement.Hankook Tire has 15 subsidiaries in Europe in countries such as Germany, Britain, France, Spain, Hungary, Russia and Sweden, it said. Hankook Tire earns

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday their combined sales in the United States rose 4.6 percent last year, helped by robust sales of SUVs. In 2019, Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 1,304,109 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market, up 4.6 percent from 1,257,307 units the previous year, the companies' sales data showed. The annual figures include sales of Genesis models that are sold under Hyundai's independent Genesis brand. Hyundai and Genesis' US s

Sales of sport utility vehicle models in South Korea hit a record high last year as carmakers strengthened their SUV lineups to meet rising demand for recreational vehicles, industry data showed Thursday.  For the whole of 2019, the country's five automakers, including Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., sold a combined 575,662 SUVs here, accounting for 38 percent of their domestic sales of 1,533,166 passenger vehicles, according to the carmakers' sales data.  Their local sales fel

According to local corporate tracker CEOScore, members of the owner families of the nation’s conglomerates joined their groups at the age of 29 and became executives at 33.6 on average. The survey was carried out on 40 groups, in which both parents and their children participate in the management, among the nation’s top 59 groups that are defined as chaebol by the Fair Trade Commission. The survey showed the young chaebol scions were promoted to executives after 4.1 years after joini

LG Electronics and Switzerland’s Luxoft announced Wednesday they will set up an in-vehicle infotainment joint venture in Santa Clara, California, in the first half of 2020. The partnership deal was signed by LG Electronics Chief Technology Officer Park Il-pyung and Luxoft CEO Dmitry Loschinin on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They vowed to strive for innovations in the intelligent mobility field. The JV, whose name or ownership ratio will be decided later, wil