South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission is seeking to set up a new team dedicated solely to overseeing merger and acquisition deals among local and foreign businesses, according to industry sources on Sunday. The plan was reportedly included in a recent report on the antitrust watchdog’s reorganization submitted to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Currently, the FTC is responsible for reviewing the legitimacy of M&A deals and other antitrust issues involving Korean companies

South Korean energy company GS Caltex is seeking to diversify its business portfolio with the completion of a new olefin production facility worth 2.7 trillion won ($2.01 billion) in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. On Friday, the company held a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the facilities, with its top brass, including CEO Hur Sae-hong, in attendance. Olefin, a linchpin element in the petrochemical business, is used as a basic material for plastic, synthetic fiber and synthetic rubber. T

After Itaewon tragedy, safety chief at GM Korea says people should speak up for safety

SsangYong Motor Co. said Friday it has graduated from the court-led debt rescheduling program nineteen months after it was placed under court receivership amid the COVID-19 pandemic. SsangYong Motor applied for court receivership on April 15, 2021, after its Indian parent Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. failed to attract an investor due to its worsening financial status amid the pandemic. The Seoul Bankruptcy Court approved SsangYong's debt payment plans in August after the court picked a loca

South Korea's car exports jumped 28.5 percent on-year last month on brisk demand for eco-friendly cars, data showed Friday. The value of outbound shipments of automobiles came to $4.92 billion last month, the largest ever for any October, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of volume, a total of 208,544 vehicles were sold last month, up 30.2 percent from the previous year, the data showed. By region, exports to North America jumped 60.2 percent to $2.3

Mayor visits Merck, ASML, IMEC facilities during Europe trip

NCSOFT Corp., a major South Korean online and mobile game developer, said Friday its third-quarter net income soared more than 80 percent from a year earlier, led by strong sales from the latest entry of its popular "Lineage" franchise. It logged a net profit of 182.1 billion won ($132.2 million) on a consolidated basis in the three months ending in September, compared with 99.5 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. For the quarter, NCSOFT posted an opera

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. said Friday it has signed a binding agreement with a US minerals provider for a long-term supply of a key lithium product used in electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries. The offtake agreement with Compass Minerals Inc. is for 40 percent of about 11,000 tons of lithium carbonate the US company is estimated to produce for six years starting in 2025, LG Energy Solution said in a release. The two companies also agreed to work on a separate supply de

KT Corp. said Thursday it is making a strategic investment worth $2 million in Sonde Health, a US voice biomarker tech startup that analyzes people’s voice to recognize depression, anxiety and respiratory problems. The Boston-based firm, equipped with the world’s largest amount of data on voice health, has already secured partnerships with global tech companies like Qualcomm and GN Group. Vocal biomarkers are gaining renewed attention recently, with voice-related services from smartp

Korean general trading firm STX said Thursday it has donated 130 million won ($95,000) to the families of foreign victims of the Itaewon Halloween tragedy, as it seeks to offer comfort for their losses. The company said it donated money to the family and multiculturalism division of the Seoul Metropolitan Government for them to then deliver to the bereaved families. "We would like to convey our condolences to the foreigners who lost family members on foreign soil due to a sudden accident,&q

South Korean dairy company Purmil's announcement of its business termination, which stirred nationwide controversy for unilaterally firing its employees, had been upended as of Thursday. According to a statement from Purmil, the company will be normalizing its business operations but will still downsize 30 percent of its workforce to increase management efficiency. The announcement was made after an agreement was reached between management and labor, it added. The company intends to continu

South Korean plant builder Doosan Enerbility said Thursday it won an order worth 1.6 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for a construction job at the El Dabaa plant, the first nuclear power plant project in Egypt. Doosan Enerbility will be responsible for the supply of 82 pieces of equipment including turbine generators, key components for nuclear power plants that extract thermal energy from pressurized steam and convert it into electrical energy. Doosan Enerbility is scheduled to construct cooling fa

New York-listed shares soar on upbeat earnings

A concept model of Hyundai Motor's personal air vehicle S-A1 is displayed Thursday at the 2022 K-UAM Confex exhibition, an urban air mobility event, held at a hotel in Yeongjong Island, near Incheon. It runs through Friday.

Musk-led email layoffs unjustified under Korean labor law, but legal battle will be long, legal experts say