Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings on Wednesday lowered its 2022 growth outlook for the South Korean economy to 2.4 percent, citing the fallout of the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine and China's economic slowdown. The latest outlook is a 0.3 percentage-point drop from its March estimate of 2.7 percent growth for Asia's fourth-largest economy. Fitch said slower global growth and China's economic slowdown are posing "external challenges" to the South Korean ec

Cryptocurrency prices displayed at a Bithumb customer service center in Seoul on Wednesday shows bitcoin‘s price dropping below 30 million won ($23,335) for the first time in 1 1/2 years.

Bio firm weighs California, North Carolina, Washington and Texas

Over 250 Korean companies participate in the world’s largest biotech industry exhibition

Protracted sit-in protest to impose heavier burden on SMEs, trade group says

Air carriers to end ‘no-landing’ flight services

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has decided to impose a combined 6.53 billion-won ($5.06 million) fine on six logistics firms for fixing prices. Industry leader CJ Logistics Corp., Dongbang Transport Logistics and four others colluded to fix price quotes in order to win bids for loading and unloading work at ports that was offered by top steelmaker POSCO between 2016 and 2018, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). They colluded to divide volumes of work in advance

Honorary Chairman Cho Seok-rae of South Korean conglomerate Hyosung Group was awarded the 2022 14th YoungSan Diplomat Award on Tuesday for leading economic cooperation between South Korea, Japan and China. 　　 The nonprofit Seoul Forum for International Affairs presents the YoungSan Diplomat Award each year to individuals who have contributed in improving Korea’s image and national interests on the international stage. 　 “As a leader of the business sector and a graduate of engineer

LG Group’s IT solutions unit LG CNS said Tuesday it has been named as a Premier Tier Partner for US cloud giant Amazon Web Services, a recognition given to the most experienced partners representing their respective markets. AWS offers tiers – select, advanced and premier – to recognize its partners that have proven technical expertise and demonstrated customer experience and the highest premier tier is offered to leaders in their markets in terms of the number of clients and

SK Innovation said on Tuesday it is investing $30 million in a US ammonia-based fuel cell startup for technological cooperation as it taps into new businesses to establish a “green portfolio.” SK Innovation and Amogy signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday in San Jose, California, to work together to develop ammonia-based fuel cell system technology and expand markets. Founded in 2020 by four MIT Ph.D. alumni, Amogy focuses on research and development to produce compact ammo

Air Busan Co., a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Tuesday it will open more international flight routes next month in response to eased travel restrictions. In July, Air Busan will newly open three international routes -- Busan-Nah Trang, Incheon-Da Nang, and Incheon-Fukuoka routes -- and reopen the previously suspended five routes from Busan to Ulan Bator, Osaka, Sapporo, Cebu, and Kota Kinabalu of Malaysia, the company said in a statement. The carrier aims to operate a total o

Samsung Electronics Co. plans to move around 300 workers from its display business' liquid crystal display (LCD) division to the company's semiconductor unit, sources said Tuesday. The plan comes after Samsung Display, a unit of the tech giant, stopped producing LCD panels for TVs this month due to falling prices, and a supply glut due to competition from Chinese panel makers. Samsung Display has scaled down its TV LCD business since mid-2010. In 2020, the panel maker said it would end

LG Energy Solution has continued to use its eco-friendly projects to enact positive social change. In late 2020, the company completed the construction of its 410-kilowatt solar power plant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. The profit from this plant is expected to be 40 million won ($31,000), which the company plans to donate to underprivileged people in the region LG Energy Solution’s team of volunteers at its Ochang plant run a Twin Angel Fund to help those in financial need. S

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday appointed Kim Chang-ki, former head of the tax agency in Busan, as the new commissioner of the National Tax Service, by skipping a confirmation hearing that had been delayed for days. After nominating Kim for the top tax office on May 13, President Yoon submitted a motion to seek parliamentary approval on appointing a new tax chief three days later. Hearings for Kim and other officials have been delayed with two parties locking horns over who should sit on com

South Korean lithium-ion battery cell maker LG Energy Solution on Monday unveiled a 730 billion won ($567 million) plan to expand production of batteries for electric vehicles here, including the next-generation 4680-type cylindrical batteries, which are bigger than current conventional designs. In an apparent bid to supply to carmakers like US electric vehicle giant Tesla, the company will pour in 581.8 billion won from June 2022 until October 2023 by adding a 9 gigawatt-hour pr