South Korea is expected to record this year its first annual trade deficit since the global financial crisis in 2008, the Korea International Trade Association said in a report released on Wednesday. The country is projected to post an annual trade deficit of $14.7 billion due to high oil prices, with $703.9 billion in exports and $718.5 billion in imports, KITA’s Institute for International Trade said. Exports are likely to rise above $700 billion for the first time ever, or up 9.2 perc

South Korean retail giant Lotte Mart said Wednesday it has adopted an artificial intelligence-based screening system for better quality control of fruit products, an industry first here. The AI screening system, using near-infrared light, collects and analyzes data from fruits ranging from weight and sugar content to water content and ripeness. The new technology also allows to detect internal defects such as browning, overripening or cracked seeds that could speed up the fruit rotting. Curr

INCHEON -- GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Wednesday it will launch the GMC brand in the second half, with the Sierra Denali set to be released as the brand's launch model in the Korean market. GM's decision to launch the GMC brand is part of the Detroit carmaker's multi-brand strategy in which the Korean unit produces compact SUVs in Korea and brings in large-sized SUVs and pickups from the United States. GMC is GM's premium SUV and pickup tru

Line Plus, the global arm of messaging app provider Line Corp., said Monday that it will implement a new work system called “Line Hybrid Work 2.0” in July, which includes guidelines on working remotely from abroad. Starting July 1, Line Plus employees will be able to work remotely from anywhere in the world that has a time difference of less than four hours with Korea, for up to 90 days. This will allow employees to work from the company’s major markets including Japan, Taiw

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to announce mass production of 3-nanometer semiconductors next week, sources said Wednesday, beating its foundry rival TSMC in advanced chipmaking process. The next-generation 3nm chips will be built on the Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology, which Samsung said will allow up to 45 percent area reduction while providing 30 percent higher performance and 50 percent lower power consumption, compared with the existing FinFET process. The South Korean tech giant show

GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province -- In its second attempt, South Korea successfully launched the nation’s first domestic rocket into orbit on Tuesday, a landmark step that opens a new era of homegrown space technology and lays the foundation for outer space excursion. After spending eight months on improving technical problems that caused an early shutdown of the third-stage rocket engine, the Nuri rocket (KSLV-II), weighing 200 metric tons, once again flew to outer space at the state-run

Tight collaboration of all parties concerned is key to a rocket launch, as a minor technical glitch could botch years of efforts. Behind Tuesday’s successful launch of South Korea’s first homegrown rocket Nuri were the joint efforts of over 300 companies at home. Korea Aerospace Industries, based in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, was the effective leader of the pack. KAI has been in charge of the assembly of all rocket parts supplied since joining the Nuri project in 2014. K

The successful launch of South Korea’s homegrown space rocket Nuri, officially the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II, on Tuesday added the country as the seventh nation in the world to have developed a space launch vehicle that can carry a satellite of more than 1 ton. The list begins with Russia, the US and France. China, Japan and India later joined the exclusive club of spacefaring nations. Since initiating its first space rocket development mission in the early 1990s, it took nearly 30 y

Samsung holds first CEO meeting in 5 years amid widespread fears of economic downturn

South Korea’s homegrown space rocket Nuri is erected at the launch pad at Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, Tuesday morning, waiting for its second launch trial in the afternoon. Nuri’s first attempt in October last year had ended in failure as it failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit.

LS Cable & System Asia, LS Group’s cable manufacturing unit, said Tuesday that it has delivered fiber optic cables manufactured in Vietnam to the country’s largest telecommunications operator Viettel.  The latest deal with state-run Viettel comes amid soaring demand. LSCV had set up infrastructure and facilities for producing optical cables in Vietnam in 2015. Fiber optic cables, network cables which contain strands of glass fibers inside insulated casing, are designed for

A sketch released on Tuesday shows the design concept of Hyundai Motor’s new electric vehicle Ioniq 6.  Hyundai Motor said Ioniq 6 will have streamliner design typology called Electrified Streamliner, with simple lines and aerodynamic form, reflecting its commitment to fulfill both aesthetic and functional aspects of an EV. Built on the carmaker’s Electric Global Modular Platform which is developed to provide an optimized wheelbase and interior design, Ioniq 6’s full de

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won is to be awarded the French Legion of Honor, France‘s highest civilian order of merit, during his trip to Paris later this week, according to news reports Tuesday. Chey, who has spearheaded South Korean capital investment in France, was reportedly recognized for his contributions to French-Korean economic cooperation. A week prior, SK Group’s subsidiary SK Geo Centric announced plans to partner with French environmental service provider Suez and Canadian

South Korean petrochemical company SK Geo Centric said Monday that it has started exporting renewable benzene from last week, as part of its cooperation with European firms in creating a regional value chain for renewable chemicals. Benzene is an organic compound used to make plastic, resin and synthetic fiber. It is traditionally produced by processing fossil fuel-based feedstocks. Finnish oil company Neste Corp. provided its Korean counterpart with feedstock made from recycled materials. S

Inspire Entertainment Resort said Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Futurenet to build a high-end LED signage system in its resort under construction in Incheon, South Korea. The agreement established a consortium between Samsung and the Hyundai Department Store Group’s ICT platform unit, Hyundai Futurenet, on Monday to offer dynamic and futuristic ICT experiences for vacationers. As part of the consortium, Samsung Electronics