Prosecutors indicted a former employee of Samsung Electronics on Wednesday on charges of leaking key semiconductor technologies of the tech giant to a Chinese company in return for money, officials said. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office indicted the employee surnamed Kim, who formerly served as a department head at Samsung, under physical detention on charges of violating the industrial technology protection law, prosecution officials said. Kim is accused of having stolen Samsung&

Kia has set a new record by selling 3.08 million vehicles across the world last year, Korea’s second-largest automaker said Wednesday. Kia sold 563,660 cars in Korea and 2.51 million vehicles overseas, up 4.6 percent and 6.7 percent on-year, respectively. The automaker’s previous record was 3.04 million units in 2014. Kia’s sport utility vehicles led the company’s record year. The three bestselling models were the Sportage with 523,502 units sold, the Seltos with 344,013

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Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyeon-joo (left) poses for a photo after agreeing to donate 25 percent of his stake in Mirae Asset Consulting to the group's charitable entity, Mirae Asset Hope Foundation, during a ceremony in central Seoul on Dec. 26, 2023. Aiming to give back to society, the Mirae chief plans to donate more shares in Mirae Asset Capital and Mirae Asset Global Investments to the charity in phases. (Mirae Asset Global Investments)

Incheon International Airport and Starfield shopping malls were the top two destinations searched for on GPS app T Mobility, during the three-day New Year's holiday, the app’s operator said Wednesday. The big data analysis confirms a preference for either overseas vacations or shopping at mega malls during the holidays. From Dec. 30 to Jan. 1, T Map Mobility recorded 33,856 GPS-based routing requests from users heading to Incheon International Airport Terminal 1. Combined with reque

Samsung Electronics will unveil the Galaxy S24 series featuring the company’s latest artificial intelligence model in Silicon Valley -- the home turf of its archrival, Apple -- this month. Releasing the official invitation on Wednesday, the world’s largest smartphone maker said it will hold the Unpacked event for its flagship smartphone series in San Jose on Jan. 17. The company said it will be “opening a new era of mobile AI” with the latest smartphone series. “A

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, the nation's primary mutual financial institution, also known as Saemaul Geumgo, held a capacity-building workshop ahead of opening its first branch in Fiji. Ten visitors, including government officials and villagers, from Fiji flew in for the workshop, which was held for 10 days in December at the MG Human Resources Development Institute in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. Held as part of the South Korean Interior Ministry's

Hahn & Company, the nation's largest private equity firm based on assets under management, said Tuesday that it has completed the sale of SK Eco Prime, a leading biodiesel manufacturer, to Hillhouse Capital, a global equity manager based in Singapore. The company declined to reveal the deal size, but the acquisition is estimated to have been made at between 400 to 500 billion won ($306 to 382 million), according to news reports. Hahn & Co. acquired SK Chemical's bioenergy divis

Hundreds of South Korean firms, including tech giant Samsung Electronics, are set to be hit by the newly implemented 15 percent global minimum tax rate. Under the new corporate tax rule that came into effect Monday, multinational enterprises with a consolidated revenue of over 750 million euros ($827 million) are subject to an effective tax rate of 15 percent on their profits in every jurisdiction where they operate. The global minimum corporate tax system was agreed upon by the Organization for

Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyeon-joo has decided to donate 25 percent of his stake in Mirae Asset Consulting to the group's charity foundation in phases, the company said Tuesday. The stock will be gifted to the Mirae Asset Hope Foundation, a charitable entity established in 1998 to nurture and help the younger generation, from college students to children and teenagers, to gain a foothold in society via scholarships and improved education infrastructure. “I hope this d

Taeyoung E&C's liquidity shortage should have limited impact on banking industry: analysts

Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang's Bibigo brand has set a target of 35 billion won ($26 million) in domestic sales this year for its K-street food products, after observing considerable sales momentum in the market in 2023, according to the firm on Tuesday. Among Bibigo's K-street food offerings, its bungeoppang products, or fish-shaped waffles, achieved monthly domestic sales of 1 billion won for both November and December. Launched in August, the bungeoppang series currently boasts r

With the US government excluding electric vehicles equipped with Chinese batteries for tax credits starting this year, Korea-made electric cars sold in the US officially became ineligible for the hefty tax break. According to the US Department of Energy on Monday, only 19 EV models are available for tax credits of up to $7,500 following the Inflation Reduction Act, a drop from last year’s 43 models. Several US automakers’ electric car and plug-in hybrid models -- Chevrolet, Chrysle