The South Korean government will draw up a frequency spectrum plan by the end of this year in efforts to support the growth of new industries such as electric vehicles, robots and urban air mobility, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Tuesday. “We hope that the government’s preemptive supply of frequency and policy improvements will serve as a foundation for Korea to lead the global market in various new industries, including wireless charging of EVs in times of digital transform

No major damage reported at manufacturing, construction, agricultural sites, but concerns grow as more rain expected

Insurance companies face hefty claims as heavy rain hits Gangnam where registration of luxury cars is high

Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn’s wife, Suh Yung-min, died at 61 at a hospital in the United States on Sunday, as she was suffering from cancer, the group said Tuesday. Suh is survived by Kim, who leads South Korea‘s seventh-largest conglomerate dedicated to chemicals, renewable energy and finance, and their three sons, Dong-kwan, Dong-won and Dong-sun. Suh, who studied pharmaceuticals at Seoul National University, was the daughter of five-term lawmaker Suh Chung-hwa, who fo

Avikus, an in-house venture under Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, became the first autonomous navigation software company to sell Level 2 autonomous navigation solutions in the world. Avikus signed order contracts with two South Korean shipping companies, SK Shipping and Sinokor Merchant Marine, to install Hyundai intelligent Navigation Assistant System (HiNAS) 2.0 on a total of 23 large vessels, including container ships and LNG carriers, starting from August 2023, the company said Tuesday. H

The possibility of getting an electric shock from a submerged electric vehicle is low, but drivers should never touch the battery of flooded cars, experts warned Tuesday. According to the Korea Transport Institute, EV batteries are designed to automatically cut off outgoing electricity if any water seeps into it. The battery then drains itself by sending electric currents back and forth between the two electrodes. Though it is highly unlikely one would get electrocuted by touching the vehicle

South Korean manufacturers' domestic supply increased for the sixth straight quarter in the April-June period as exports remained robust despite the global economic slowdown, data showed Tuesday. The manufacturing domestic supply index stood at 112.7 in the second quarter, up 1.5 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The index, which measures both locally produced goods and imports, serves as a major indicator of domestic demand trends. The index rose

Avikus, a unit of South Korea's leading shipbuilding group, HD Hyundai, said Tuesday it has commercialized its Level 2 autonomous navigation system for the first time in the shipbuilding industry. Avikus has signed a deal with two domestic firms -- SK Shipping Co. and Sinokor Merchant Marine Co. -- to gradually supply the Level 2 autonomous navigation solution to 23 ships operated by the shippers, the company said in a statement. The deep learning-based HiNAS 2.0 system will allow a vessel

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest wireless carrier, said Tuesday that its second-quarter net profit dropped 67.6 percent from a year earlier due mainly to last year's spinoff of its semiconductor businesses. The company logged a net profit of 258.1 billion won ($197.7 million) on a consolidated basis in the three months ending in June, compared with 795.7 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit went up 16.1 percent on-year to 459.6 bill

SK Geocentric Co., a chemical unit of South Korean's No. 2 conglomerate SK Group, said Tuesday it is building a plant in China that will produce a high value-added packaging material to expand its presence in Asia's largest market. SK Geocentric will form a 6:4 joint venture with Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co., and the factory will be built in a petrochemical complex in Lianyungang, a city in northeastern Jiangsu Province, according to SK Geocentric. A total of 290 billion won ($

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) likely posted a massive loss in the second quarter due to surging costs following record red ink three months earlier, a market tracker said Tuesday. The market consensus of KEPCO's consolidated operating loss stands at 5.37 trillion won ($4.11 billion) for the April-June period, flirting with the 5.86 trillion-won deficit for the whole of 2021, according to FnGuide. In the first quarter of this year, the state power company chalked off a rec

　South Korea’s exports of ice cream reached an all-time high in the first half of this year, data showed, amid a global heat wave and the growing popularity of Korean culture. 　Overseas shipments of South Korean-made ice-cream products came to $50 million in the January-June period, up 14 percent from a year earlier to reach a record high, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. 　Imports inched up 0.3 percent on-year to $28 million, also hitting an all-time high, during th

Korean biotechnology firms hoping to ink successful deals with foreign pharmaceutical companies must fully comprehend their potential partners’ A to Z’s, a legal expert in out-license deals said. “(Global big pharmas) want something that’s going to be successful and hopefully innovative, and both help patients and provide care, but also be valuable and create profit for the company,” Joshua Hofheimer, a partner and co-head of Global Life Sciences industry group at

NHN Corp., a leading South Korean information technology company, said Tuesday it swung to a net loss in the second quarter from a year earlier due to losses from its financial assets and increased marketing costs. The company logged a net loss of 5.3 billion won ($4.1 million) on a consolidated basis in the three months ending in June, shifting from a net profit of 15.2 billion won a year earlier. Operating profit tumbled 73.9 percent on-year to 5.2 billion won, while sales rose 12.8 percent to

Science ministry, civic group divided over safety of wearable fans