Top executives of the Samsung and SK groups are expected to visit Britain and Japan this month to promote South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in the southern city of Busan, sources said Thursday. Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is reportedly planning to visit Britain later this month after the appointment of Britain's new prime minister. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is expected to visit Japan this month also as part of the government's World Expo bid cam

SEJONG -- South Korea’s Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang called for the US to take a cooperative stance on resolving the backlash from the local automobiles industry over the US Inflation Reduction Act, which is targeted to scale back subsidies to electric vehicles not assembled on American soil. Lee delivered the nation’s position during his meeting with US Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg in Seoul on Wednesday. He said worries among local carmakers as well as the Korean governm

The world’s largest exhibition exploring the potential of hydrogen in the field of mobility kicked off in Korea on Wednesday, bringing industrial giants from in and out of the country with their latest technological achievements. H2 Mobility Energy Environment Technology, or H2 Meet in short, is the world’s only hydrogen industry exhibition. It was organized to bolster the country’s technological innovation in the hydrogen sector ranging from the energy’s production, stor

South Korean corporate decision makers in the field of information technology have shown a lackluster appetite for expansion and investment compared with the global peers, a survey showed Wednesday. Fifty-five out of 100 Korean decision makers responded that their organizations are planning to expand in a new city, country or region within the next 12 months, which was lower than the global average of 72 percent, according to Nasdaq-listed digital infrastructure investment firm Equinix. Those wh

South Korea’s state-funded Korea Water Resources Corp. hosted Wednesday a ceremony marking the completion of Chungju Dam’s third floating photovoltaic power plant at Chungju Lake located in the North Chungcheong Province. Floating photovoltaic power plants are installed on buoys that float on bodies of water. They inflict less damage to the surrounding environment, and the water acts as a natural coolant, increasing solar panel efficiency by 10 percent, according to experts. The Ch

British car designer hopes to work with Kia

Piggybacking on SPC Samlip’s Pokemon Bread craze, South Korean food companies are using animated characters on their product packaging to appeal to customers with a desire to collect nostalgic items. Convenience store chain 7-Eleven said Wednesday it has sold more than 250,000 rolls of its recently launched Digimon Bread in a week. The pastry comes with a sticker of one of 182 characters from the Japanese anime television series “Digimon Adventure” -- a key rival of the Poke

Hyundai Engineering ＆ Construction said Wednesday it has opened a model house to initiate sales of its Hillstate Wonju Restige apartment. Located in Wonju, Gangwon Province, the apartment complex consists of 976 households, ranging in size from 84 square meters to 136 square meters. After receiving applicants between Sept. 5 and 7, the company will announce the selected residents on Sep. 15. The move-in date is scheduled for some time in January 2025. Hyundai E＆C said since the apartment com

GS Engineering and Construction said it has joined hands with a Finnish energy company to produce bioethanol using cassava peels waste in Thailand. Cassava is a nutty tasting, starchy root vegetable that looks like sweet potatoes and is grown in tropical regions. Huh Yoon-hong, president of GS E＆C’s new businesses unit, and Patrick Pitkanen, director of St1 Renewable Energy (Thailand) Ltd, signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday in Bangkok on technological cooperation to produce b

South Korea will begin embedded subscriber identity module, known as eSIM, services from Thursday, allowing Koreans to have two different numbers in one mobile device, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Wednesday. The eSIM service, an upgrade from the universal subscriber identity module, is based on downloading the electronic profile of subscribers to each device. Therefore, it does not require a physical USIM card change. The ministry said Koreans can now choose between the two types of SI

HIT2, a recently-launched massively multiplayer online role playing game developed by South Korean game developer Nexon, is looking to change the nature of how MMORPGs are played by offering players chances to revise the playing rules. According to Nexon, HIT2 players get to vote on the rules of their game server under the name of “Altar of the Coordinator” each week. Players can obtain their voting rights by completing simple quests in game. The players can also opt to sell their v

Samsung Electronics' integrated home appliances solution SmartThings is poised to be applied to Samsung plus 12 other major white goods brands by the first half of 2023, the company said Wednesday. This comes as Samsung's SmartThings is to make consumer electronics goods and mobile apps interoperable under the standard provided by the 13-member Home Connectivity Alliance, through an update of Samsung's smart home solution next year. The update will allow users of 13 HCA member bra

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group’s refining affiliate Hyundai Oilbank said it has been bolstering efforts in developing next-generation energy, it said in a statement Wednesday. The refiner said it has been constructing a biodiesel production plant with an annual production capacity of 130,000 metric tons in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, since last year, as part of its “White Bio” project. The plant is expected to be completed by 2023. White bio refers to carbon reduction

The number of startups in South Korea fell nearly 5 percent in the first half of the year due mainly to a plunge in new real estate businesses, government data showed Wednesday. A total of 696,000 new companies were set up in the country in the January-June period, down 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Startups. The number of newly established real estate companies sank 18.9 percent on-year, with that of hospitalit

South Korea’s top financial watchdog said Tuesday it is seeking to support fair competition between fintech firms like Naver and Kakao. “Our hope is that all these companies meeting with us today help to cultivate a fair and transparent environment,” Gov. Lee Bok-hyun of the Financial Supervisory Service said at a meeting with the chief executives at the local tech firms. Lee and the companies discussed whether commissions that the internet platforms collect from sellers usin