Over 1 in 5 vehicles sold by Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Corp. so far this year have been eco-friendly cars, backed by their growing popularity, industry data showed Sunday. The two South Korean automakers sold a combined 64,417 hybrid and electric vehicles in the January-March period, accounting for 23.5 percent of the entire domestic sales of 273,762 vehicles, according to the companies' earnings reports. It marks the first time the proportion of eco-friendly car sales has

　South Korea’s imports of coffee surged more than 24 percent to hit a new all-time high in 2021 on its growing popularity here, data showed. 　The value of the country's coffee imports stood at $916.5 million last year, up 24.2 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. 　It marks the first time that South Korea’s coffee imports have exceeded the 1 trillion-won ($823 million) level in terms of the local currency. 　Last

Ahn Cheol-soo, the chief of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition team, and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun met on Friday to discuss the country’s future mobility outlook as well as measures for nurturing and expanding the industry’s workforce. Ahn and other committee member lawmakers visited Hyundai Motor Group’s R&D center in Namyang, Gyeonggi Province.  “A future mobility industry is the next focus of the country’s strategic busin

Korea’s online luxury sellers who have enjoyed the recent resell market boom are strengthening the counterfeit inspection process amid a scandal involving fashion commercial platform Musinsa, industry sources said Friday. On April 1, Naver’s online reselling platform Kream announced that the Essentials T-shirts sold through Musinsa by the brand operator Fear of God were proven to be fake. Musinsa, which has strongly objected to the counterfeit claims raised by Kream and has warned

South Korea has decided to release 7.23 million barrels of strategic crude reserves, in addition to its recent commitment of 4.42 million barrels, to help bring down high energy prices amid the ongoing Ukraine crisis, the industry ministry said Friday. Last week, 31 member nations of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release 120 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves, following their similar decision last month to release 60 million barrels of oil, in response to the

Posco Chemical, a chemical and battery materials producer under steel giant Posco Group, said Thursday that it had kicked off construction for a new plant that can produce 30,000 metric tons of high-purity nickel cathodes, a key material used in electric vehicle batteries. Targeting to begin operations in 2024, the new factory will be established on over 120,000 square meters of land in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, with an annual production capacity at 30,000 tons.  The firm, which

A majority of American businesses in South Korea were optimistic that investment here will continue over the next two years, and picked Korea as the second most preferred location for regional headquarters in Asia after Singapore, survey results showed on Thursday. In an annual survey of member companies by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, 44 percent of the respondents said they will increase investment in Korea through 2024, while another 42.9 percent said there will be no change to

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it was highly likely to report its best quarterly earnings in the first quarter this year on upbeat sales of memory chips and smartphones. According to its earnings guidance, the tech giant projected its operating profits at 14.1 trillion won ($11.5 billion) for the first three months of the year, a 50.03 percent increase from a year earlier. The figure topped estimates consensus of 13.8 trillion won among local securities firms compiled by market tracker Fn

Kakao Mobility, the country’s leading taxi-hailing service operator, said Thursday it will expand its domestic-focused business, with its next-generation mobility technology and user-friendly service. “This year will be the starting point of Kakao Mobility to enter the global market, as we move ‘Beyond Korea,’” said Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Geung-sun in an online press conference. Ryu said the company will expand its taxi-hailing service -- currently available in s

Global accounting firm Ernst & Young’s Korean member firm Ernst & Young Han Young (EY Korea) on Wednesday handed its top master entrepreneur award to local apparel manufacturer Global Sae-A Chairman Kim Woong-ki, the firm said Thursday. Kim was recognized at the 15th EY Entrepreneur of The Year Award ceremony held at Seoul Shilla Hotel. Ernst & Young’s annual award – currently stretching across 60 countries and 145 cities worldwide -- recognizes busines

Cash-abundant KG Group enters a 1.5 trillion-won takeover battle against Ssangbangwool

Telecom giant seeks to expand presence in burgeoning K-content market

8 Rivers CEO talks about SK’s role as bridge to Asia-Pacific outreach

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea jumped 14.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to reach the highest first-quarter figure ever, data showed Thursday. The country received $5.45 billion worth of FDI commitments in the January-March period, compared with $4.74 billion logged a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The amount of investment that actually arrived in South Korea stood at $4.33 billion, marking a 2.6 percent on-year d

Korea Aerospace Industries Co., South Korea's sole aircraft manufacturer, said Thursday it has received a plane parts order from Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI). KAI obtained an order to supply "future mid cabin fairing package parts" for Israel's largest aerospace and defense company's G280 twin-engine business jet, the company said in a statement. KAI didn't provide the contract's value and other details. KAI received aircraft parts deals for the G280 business jet in 2019 and