[ASEAN-Korea summit] With Vietnam as strategic base, LS subsidiary eyes expansion to other ASEAN countries and US

South Korea's chip and display industries, the backbone of Asia's No. 4 economy, have remained intact since Tokyo's export curbs against the Asian neighbor, Seoul's trade ministry said Sunday.The country's top four tech giants -- Samsung Electronics Co., Samsung Display Co., SK hynix Inc. and LG Display Co. -- claimed that they have suffered no significant damages in their production lines from the restrictions, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In July, Japan implemented

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, has agreed to pay $75 million in penalties to avoid prosecution in the United States over its scheme to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Brazilian officials to win a contract, the US Department of Justice has said.The company has admitted to paying $20 million in commission to a Brazilian intermediary between 2007 and 2013, knowing that some of that money would be used to bribe high-level executives at a Brazilian state-owned oi

Cho Hyun-ah, the infamous "nut rage" heiress to Korean Air Lines Co., has been grilled by prosecutors over allegations of assault and child abuse raised by her husband, with whom a divorce suit is under way, sources said Saturday. Prosecutors called in Cho, a former vice president of the air carrier and daughter of late Hanjin Group chief Cho Yang-ho, earlier this week, after her husband, surnamed Park, filed an accusation against her in February.Park also filed a divorce suit in April

Biotech startup Bridge Biotherapeutics is on its way to becoming the first Kosdaq-listed no-research, development-only company in Korea by the end of this year, the company said Friday.This is the company’s third attempt at making an initial public offering, and more promising than the previous two attempts on the back of the record 1.5 trillion-won ($1.27 billion) licensing out to Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim in July. In a press conference held at Conrad Seoul, CEO Lee Jung-kue sa

Hyundai’s flagship full-size sedan makes dramatic facelift under “Sensuous Sportiness” concept

President Moon Jae-in celebrated the construction Friday of a new silicon wafer plant in South Korea by a Taiwanese firm's local unit, calling it a milestone in his country's efforts to diversify the supply channel of core strategic materials against Japan's export control.His move came as a Seoul-Tokyo military information-sharing accord, called the General Security of Military Information Agreement, is scheduled to expire at the end of the day.Seoul's decision not to extend GSOMIA is attributa

South Korea's major electric vehicle battery producers sharply increased their market share in September amid a slowdown in global EV battery use, industry data showed Friday.  Based on the global usage of their EV batteries, the combined market share of three South Korean EV battery makers -- LG Chem Ltd., Samsung SDI Co. and SK Innovation Co. -- stood at 16 percent in September, up 6.8 percentage points from a year earlier, according to data from market tracker SNE Research.   L

A new South Korean anti-epileptic drug will be available in the US from as early as April. The US’ Food and Drug Administration has approved SK Biopharmaceuticals’ anti-epileptic drug XCOPRI (Cenobamate), officials said Friday. The product will be available in the second quarter of 2020 after review by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.The marketing and sales process will be overseen by SK Life Science, the US subsidiary of SK BIopharmaceuticals based in Paramus, New Jersey. XCO

Jeju Air Co., South Korea's biggest low-cost carrier, said Friday it has opened routes to Vietnam's Phu Quoc and the Philippines' Bohol amid lower demand for travel to Japan.The budget carrier began to serve the routes from Incheon International Airport to the two Asian cities on Thursday, the company said in a statement.Local airlines have suspended or reduced flights on routes to some less-popular Japanese cities since August amid a trade row between South Korea and Japan.To protest Japan's cu

A local private equity fund was selected the preferred bidder on Thursday to acquire a controlling stake in SKC Kolon PI Inc., a joint venture between South Korea's SKC Co. and Kolon Industries Inc. that makes polyimide (PI) film. SKC and Kolon Industries said they've selected Glenwood PE as the preferred bidder to acquire their 54.06 percent stake in SKC Kolon PI. SKC and Kolon Industries each hold a 27.03 percent stake in the PI maker. Industry insiders speculate that the deal is worth ar

South Korea's finance minister said Thursday that the government will spare no effort for the completion of a multi-billion-dollar project to build Asia's second-largest theme park in the country.South Korean retail giant Shinsegae is set to break ground for the 4.57 trillion-won ($3.8 billion) project to build a theme park in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers southwest of Seoul, in 2021, with an initial opening in 2026 and the full opening in 2031.The project on a 4.2-square-kilometer plot of land

Aionco Korea, a South Korean business-to-business platform of K-beauty products for global e-commerce, was established in 2015. Within four years, the Korean platform that connects local cosmetics suppliers with foreign buyers all over the world has garnered over 500 vendors representing markets in 54 countries. Some of them include China’s Alibaba and individual sellers on marketplaces such as Lazada and Q10. “Our company allows retail buyers abroad to have an easy access to a

CJ Healthcare said Thursday it will export its original gastroesophageal reflux disease drug to Thailand’s Pond’s Chemical. K-CAB Tab (tegoprazan) is listed as the 30th new drug developed by a Korean company. It acquired commercial approval from South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2018 and was launched here in March 2019. Since then, the drug has raked in 18.7 billion won ($15.8 million) in sales. K-CAB Tab is already being exported to 17 countries including China

LG’s IT solutions affiliate LG CNS and Kakao’s blockchain subsidiary Ground X joined hands with a view to expanding the use of blockchain and applying it to diverse business areas, the firms said Thursday.The two companies agreed to a strategic partnership to build mutually compatible infrastructure. Ha Tae-Seok, the leader of LG CNS’ future strategic business division, and Kakao Ground X CEO Han Jae-seon attended a signing ceremony at the LG CNS headquarters within LG Science