Despite changes in corporate culture that place more value on the quality of work environments, South Korea still has a more rigid working hour system compared to advanced economies, according to a report by the business lobby organization Federation of Korean Industries released Thursday. The report suggests companies give workers the option to work more when they need to, and take longer breaks in return. The statutory working hours in Korea are eight hours per day and 40 hours per week, unli

If successful, S. Korea will become seventh country in the world to have explored the moon

Kakao Corp. on Thursday reported its second-quarter net income of 101.2 billion won ($77.2 million), down 68 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that operating income for the April-June period rose 5.2 percent on-year to 171 billion won. Revenue increased 34.8 percent to 1.82 trillion won. The earnings failed to meet market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 145 billion won, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financi

Six Korean energy companies will join hands with Malaysia’s state-run energy company, Petroliam Nasional Berhad, to launch a cross-border project that transports carbon captured in South Korea to Malaysia for storage, the firms said Wednesday. For the project named Shepherd CCS, the six companies, SK Energy, SK Earthon, Samsung Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries, Lotte Chemical and GS Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding with Petroliam Nasional Berhad, commonly known as Petron

LG Energy Solution said Wednesday it will run its production facilities around the world 100 percent with renewable energy from 2025 as part of efforts to meet its 2050 carbon neutrality goals. The world’s second-largest battery maker for electric vehicles renewed its commitment to the RE100 initiative in its recent report on environment, social and corporate governance. As of 2020, the company’s renewable energy transition rate stood at 33 percent, the highest among a total 14 S

A signboard at a gas station in Seoul shows decreased gasoline and diesel prices on Wednesday. The nationwide barometer fell on Tuesday to 1,881.75 won ($1.44) and 1,969.64 won per liter, respectively, according to data provided on the Korea National Oil Corporation‘s Oil Price Information Network. South Korea saw a 12.2 percent and 9.1 percent decrease in gasoline and diesel prices, respectively, from its peak price of 2,144.90 won and 2,167.66 won in late June.

South Korean car-sharing company SoCar said Wednesday it planned to debut in the nation‘s benchmark Kospi to expand its footing in the mobility industry worth 350 trillion won (267.6 billion) and growing. The company will decide soon whether to float 4.55 million shares or not on Aug. 22 after testing the water with the two-day preliminary proceedings scheduled on Thursday and Friday. The preferred share price is set between 34,000 won and 45,000 won. The main underwriter is Mirae A

Global carmakers are penetrating the electric bicycle market, taking advantage of its value as a test bed for the future technology of electric vehicles while rounding out their e-mobility portfolios. Experts note that both e-bikes and EVs have motors and batteries as their core parts, and also shared parts of their design structure. This gives carmakers a great leg up in the e-bike market, which is still in its nascent stage with no clear market leader.  “When the finished carmake

Memory chip giant Samsung Electronics said Wednesday it unveiled a set of next-generation memory and storage technologies to better address various client demands for handling big data. Choi Jin-hyeok, executive vice president of memory solution and product development at Samsung Electronics, told an audience at the Flash Memory Summit 2022 that the array of technologies, including “perabyte storage,” “memory-semantic solid state drive” and “telemetry” is cru

Samsung Engineering Co. and five other South Korean companies have teamed up with Malaysia's state energy company Petroliam Nasional Berhad to work on a project to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide, an emerging technology for emissions reduction. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in a virtual meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, the companies said they plan to carry out a feasibility study to assess the practicality of the project. The five South Korean companies are SK En

A daughter of late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee was tapped as an advisor to Samsung's global research center, sources said Wednesday. Lee Seo-hyun, Lee Kun-hee's second daughter, will work as an advisor to the corporate social responsibility team at Samsung Global Research. The CSR team is dedicated to developing policies to fulfill Samsung's social responsibilities. She is currently overseeing the Samsung Welfare Foundation, founded by her father, and leads the adviso

　South Korea’s exports of information and communication technology products in the first half of 2022 soared 18.9 percent on-year to set a new semiannual record tally, thanks to brisk overseas demand for chips and computer products, data showed. 　Outbound shipments of ICT products came to $122.6 billion in the January-June period, up from the $103 billion tally a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. 　It marked the highest-ever semiannual tally sin

Hybe Co. on Wednesday reported its second-quarter net profit of 93 billion won ($70.8 million), up 358.1 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 88.3 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 28 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 83.8 percent to 512.2 billion won. The earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 61.7 billion won, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial

LG Energy Solution Ltd. said Wednesday it will run its global production sites only on renewable energy starting in 2025 as part of efforts to achieve the goals for sustainable growth. All battery production facilities in South Korea, North America, Europe and China will operate on 100 percent renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, the world's second-largest battery maker said in the latest report on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). It also plans to turn non-pr

Kakao Bank, a major internet-only lender in South Korea, said Wednesday its earnings shrank 17.7 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, citing an increase in its loan-loss reserves. Net income came to 57 billion won ($43.3 million) in the April-June period, down from a net profit of 69.3 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Operating profit fell 6.8 percent on-year to 74.4 billion won, and its revenue surged 46 percent to 371 billion won over the cited period. The