Posco has saved 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) so far in the process of achieving 100 reform tasks highlighted by the firm’s chairman in November last year, the steelmaker said Sunday. The reform tasks included reinforcing premium steel product sales, enhancing cost competitiveness, establishing a growth foundation for energy materials and building a shared growth ecosystem based on fairness, transparency and ethics. The project was shared publicly in time for the 100-day anniversary o

Metformin, a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes, was once heralded as a first-in-class treatment for which there was no substitute. Now it is sparking international concerns over a contaminant that may cause cancer.The debate has taken off in South Korea as well, and on Friday the Korean Diabetes Association urged the nation’s drug safety authority to test every drug containing metformin. The potentially carcinogenic impurity, called N-nitrosodimethylamine or NDMA, had previously been dete

South Korea’s business world, government and the families over the weekend mourned the death of LG Group Honorary Chairman Koo Cha-kyung, who as the second-generation leader of the conglomerate, had led the rise of the group’s global expansion. Koo was 94 when he passed away from an illness on Saturday.At a funeral altar set up at an undisclosed hospital in Seoul, Koo’s second son Bon-neung, the chairman of Heesung Group, greeted mourners. The deceased’s fourth son, grand

Six months after Japan’s restrictions on exports to South Korea, its exports to Korea fell by 14 percent on-year, while South Korean export to Japan dropped by 7 percent, indicating Japan’s larger damage in outbound shipments, data showed Sunday. According to the governments and industries in two countries, from July to October, Japan’s export shipments to Korea came at around $15 billion, which fell by 14 percent on-year. Over the same period, South Korean export shi

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier, on Sunday said that it plans to invest 2.6 trillion won ($2.2 billion) over the next five years to offer upgraded services after the country's science ministry approved its acquisition of the country's top cable TV operator.The Ministry of Science and ICT approved the telecom operator's acquisition of a 50 percent-plus-one-share stake in CJ Hello Co. from CJ ENM Co., a deal valued at 800 billion won. The acquisition will make LG Uplus the No. 2

The merger between South Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus Corp. and cable and budget phone operator CJ Hello Co. received final approval from the government Sunday in a development that could lead to more investment and growth in the local telecom and broadcasting sector.The conditional permission follows a detailed review of the market impact of the transaction, with emphasis placed on the benefits to the industry as a whole and improvements in rights and convenience for consumers, the Ministry o

Two out of South Korea's six complaints pending at the World Trade Organization will be left in limbo due to the suspended operation of its dispute settlement body, according to a local think tank Sunday.Earlier this week, the WTO Appellate Body shut down as it failed to meet the minimum quorum of three judges after the United States blocked the appointment of new ones in line with President Donald Trump's protectionism drive.Asia's No. 4 economy currently has six trade disputes pending at the G

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday it has won a deal to supply fourth-generation and fifth-generation network equipment to Videotron, a Canadian telecom firm."Starting in early 2020, Samsung will deliver 4G LTE-A solutions across Quebec and Ottawa," the company said in a statement."Samsung will increase efficiency in accelerating the expansion of 5G service coverage to match the pace with Canada's 5G commercial launch, which is expected to take place in late 2020," it added.

The demand for luxury cars in South Korea increased sharply in 2019 from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, despite the overall decrease in the sales of imported cars here.Sales of imported luxury cars with price tags of 300 million won ($255,972) or higher reached 360 units over the January-November period, posting a threefold growth on-year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association. The number of cars with a 200 million-won level price ta

KT Corp., a major South Korean telecommunication company, said Sunday its WiFi service will have upgraded security with encryption-based privacy protection technology. KT said it will apply a technology that protects International Mobile Subscriber Identity for Android phones to its 130,000 wireless zones nationwide. IMSI is a unique number that identifies a subscriber in the wireless world. KT said its system will encrypt IMSI and will protect users' data on their mobile devices and at WiF

LG Group Honorary Chairman Koo Cha-kyung died Saturday at age 94, the company said. Born in 1925, Koo took the helm at LG at the age of 45 following the death of his father and LG founder, Koo In-hwoi, and led the conglomerate for 25 years.  He handed over the group's leadership to his eldest son and late Chairman Koo Bon-moo, who died in May this year. Koo Cha-kyung is the grandfather of the current Chairman Koo Kwang-mo. As LG chairman, Koo put an emphasis on growing the conglomerate into

A Seoul court handed a jail term to a Samsung executive on Friday for attempting to break up a labor union at Everland, an amusement park run by the country's biggest conglomerate.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced the Samsung Electronics Co. vice president, Kang Kyung-hoon, to 1 year and four months in prison for obstruction of business and breaching labor union-related laws. Kang was not taken into custody so he can lodge an appeal.The court also sentenced a former Everland execut

Samsung Electronics on Friday denied media reports that the company has sold one million Galaxy Fold smartphones globally since the device's launch in September.Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon said at a conference organized by U.S. tech media TechCrunch that the South Korean tech giant has sold 1 million Galaxy Folds so far, double the industry's earlier estimate.But a Samsung spokesman said Sohn may have confused the figure with the company's initial sales target for the year, emp

Korean biologics drug companies, including major players Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics, agreed Friday to localize materials for bio drug production. Incheon Metropolitan City hosted the event attended by some 110 personnel from the biologics industry. Incheon houses Korean biologics production facilities. Korea’s 1.69 trillion won ($1.4 billion) bio industry output in 2017 has climbed annually, and is anticipated to rake in well over 2 trillion won. However, 98 percent of the materials u

Naver Financial, a financial platform by South Korean internet giant Naver, has attracted an investment of about 800 billion won ($683 million) from its financial partner Mirae Asset, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. The investment will secure a stable financial structure for Naver Financial and forge a partnership between the two to take the lead in the country’s emerging “techfin” industry. Techfin refers to technology firms seeking to deliver financial prod