LG Chem said Monday it would start supplying lithium-ion battery packs this month for Germany-based SMA Solar Technology, currently the world’s biggest solar inverter producer. The battery packs will be used in an energy storage system called Sunny Boy Smart Energy developed by SMA for household use. As the world’s first wall-mounted storage system, the inverter and battery pack have been combined for maximum space and energy efficiency, LG Chem said. The inverter, co-developed after years of re

South Korea logged a trade surplus for the 17th straight month in June despite tough external market conditions, customs data showed Sunday.South Korea’s exports came to $46.7 billion last month, down 1 percent from the same period a year earlier. Its imports dropped 3 percent on-year to $40.7 billion, according to the data provided by the Korea Customs Service.As a result, the country logged $6 billion in trade surplus in June, marking the 17th straight month of a surplus since February last ye

More than half of Samsung customers said that they would continue to choose the same brand rather than a competitor, while only less than a fourth of Apple customers said they would do so, a report showed.Securing the top spot three times in a row since last year in a report called Technology Brand Preference Index, Samsung marked a record rating of 58.7 and also became the only company out of 20 tech firms that scored over the 50-threshhold.The index, released by market research institute Strat

SA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-largest carmaker, plans to offer French workers incentives to take early retirement to trim costs and return to profit, according to a union official. In talks with unions Friday, Peugeot proposed a bonus equivalent to 1.5 months salary to employees that either retire early of work part-time for lower pay, Franck Don, the leader of the CFTC union at the Paris-based company, said by phone. The plan would be available to French workers at least 57 years old, whi

South Korea will likely collect 10 trillion won (US$8.9 billion) less in taxes during the first half than a year earlier, raising worries that the government might need to draft a second extra budget plan to fill the revenue gap, datashowed Sunday.According to the data submitted by the National Tax Service (NTS) to lawmakers, the government had collected 82.13 trillion won worth of taxes during the January-May period, which is about 9 trillion won less than the same period a year earlier.The tax

SAN FRANCISCO (Yonhap News) -- A teenage girl died Friday after succumbing to injuries sustained last week during the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport, authorities said. San Francisco General Hospital did not reveal the name of the girl but confirmed she had been in critical condition. Her death was confirmed by the Chinese consulate in the city, which also said that she was a Chinese citizen. The latest death brings the total number of fatalities to thr

International flights to and from South Korea increased significantly from a year earlier in the first half on a growing number of South Koreans going overseas, the government said Friday.In the first six months of the year, the total number of international flights coming to and from the country totaled 167,237, up 9.64 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.“International traffic surged greatly from the same period last year, ref

The total amount invested by South Korean funds in overseas assets rose 7.4 percent in the first half of 2013 from six months earlier as investors’ appetite for safer assets grew, data showed Friday.Local funds’ investment in offshore assets reached 39.7 trillion won ($35.3 billion) as of end-June, compared to 37 trillion won tallied at end-December 2012, the data by the Korea Financial Investment Association showed.The association said the increase came as investors sought after safer assets su

Hyundai Motor Co.’s subcompact Accent became the second best-selling car in Russia in the first half of this year, data showed Friday.Hyundai sold 57,009 units of the Accent, called the Solaris in the Russian market, between January and June, according to data posted on the website of the Association of European Businesses based in Moscow.Still, the sales of the Accent in the first six months represent a 2 percent drop from a year ago.The Accent is followed by the Pride subcompact built by Hyund

The financial regulator said Friday it has taken disciplinary measures against 10 local savings banks for slack management in lending and network security.The Financial Supervisory Service slapped 16 employees at 10 savings banks, including executives, with either cautionary warnings or warnings for lax handling in loan business and securing network safety, according to FSS officials.The names include some of those recently debuted in the market with a new name after they were taken over by majo

As the competition in the global smartphone market continues to heat up, LG Electronics expects that it will continue the momentum shown earlier this year with the release of its latest model G2. This year, the world’s third-largest smartphone maker sold more than 10 million smartphones worldwide for the second consecutive quarter for the first time. And the G2 is expected to give the company an extra sales boost for the second half of the year, according to company officials on Friday.“We’ve re

Financially faltering STX Group, the nation’s fourth largest shipbuilder, said Friday it completed the sale of STX Energy to Orix, a Japanese financial service company. “The group’s board approved the sale of its remaining 43.15 percent stake to Orix for 270 billion won ($240 million) in its latest meeting,” the group said in a press release. With the deal, Orix’s stake in STX Energy, whose core businesses are power generation and solar power manufacturing, soared to 93.2 percent. Orix secured a