South Korean steelmaker Posco has been recognized for its sustainability efforts by the World Steel Association, the company said Sunday. The World Steel Association, also known as worldsteel, has picked as Posco as one of the 39 sustainability charter members which proactively embraces the sustainability principles of the steel industry, according to the South Korean steel giant. A total of 142 companies and associations across the world are members of worldsteel. The recognition of the sus

The share price of South Korean telecommunications firm KT hit the highest level in a year on Friday, as its shareholder meeting and a carve-out of its key business is drawing to a close next week. A KT common share, which trades on the Korea Exchange, hit the 52-week high at 35,300 won ($28.84) during the intraday trade Friday. The closing price came to 35,000 won apiece, up 1.2 percent from Thursday. KT’s market cap on Thursday exceeded 9 trillion won for the first time in seven months

South Korean hair care brand Moda Moda said Friday it is considering relocating its core business to the US in the face of a sales ban of its popular hair coloring shampoo by the nation’s drug agency. “If the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety sticks to sales ban on our coloring shampoos, we have no choice but to moving our business to the US,” a Moda Moda official said. The official added the company’s US headquarters is currently located in New York but there are pla

The South Korean government on Friday lifted an overseas travel ban on GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem, almost 16 months after the Australian GM executive was barred from leaving the country on charges of illegally outsourcing labor. Kazen is currently standing trial for violating labor laws after the carmaker was found to have hired some 1,719 workers from 24 subcontractors to work at its local plants between September 2017 and December 2020. The Seoul headquarters is suspected to have directly inst

Posco Chemical Co., a unit under South Korean steel giant Posco, said Friday it expects to be able to secure more than 90,000 tons of lithium through in-house supply, backed by the parent firm's aggressive investment in the key material for rechargeable batteries. By 2024, Posco Chemical will procure from Posco Group all 91,000 tons of lithium it needs to make 225,000 tons of cathode materials annually, the chemical company said. Its self-sufficiency rate is forecast to reach 102 percent, it sai

South Korea's deficit in the trade of intellectual property rights touched a record low in 2021 on increased exports of cultural content, central bank data showed Friday. The nation's deficit in the intellectual property account stood at $30 million last year, compared with a $2.02 billion shortfall in 2020, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Exports of products and services subject to intellectual property right payments came to $20.86 billion, up from $15.42 billion fr

Kia Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, said Friday it will build a purpose-built vehicle (PBV) plant in one of its domestic plants, as it strives to become a future mobility solutions provider. Kia plans to complete the PBV plant by the end of 2024 and start operations in 2025, according to media reports. "A building in (the company's) Hwaseong plant will be converted into a PBV plant. The timeframe for the plant's construction and production in Hwaseong has yet to be decided,&qu

South Korean energy-to-material firm Hanwha Solutions plans to acquire a 4.67 percent stake in Norway-based polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon for $44 million to achieve a full-fledged US solar supply chain, the company said Thursday. Hanwha will buy the stake from Norwegian renewable energy investment firm Aker Horizons. With the deal, Hanwha will become the largest shareholder of REC Silicon that is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Earlier in January, Hanwha bought a 16.67 percent stak

SK chairman urges government incentives, not punitive measures, to bolster responsiveness to carbon neutrality goals

Posco Holdings said Thursday that construction of a plant in Argentina kicked off to commercialize lithium, a key material for electric vehicle battery production.  With the lithium extraction plant in Argentina and Posco’s mining rights in the South American country, the company will be able to entirely manage production of lithium hydroxide, which is used in the production of cathode material for lithium-ion EV batteries. Lithium is extracted from brine or seawater, which is rich

‘You don’t feel special when everyone around you carries Chanel’

Company aims to sell W160b worth of epilepsy drug Cenobamate in the US this year

SK ecoplant, the construction arm under SK Group, will kick off a $2.2 billion road construction project in Norway this year, becoming the first South Korean builder to enter the Nordic market. The company said Thursday it has recently signed a financial close and a concession agreement with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration for building the Rv555 Sotra Connection, a four-lane road that connects Bergen and Oygarden. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal marks the largest single con

SPC Group said on Thursday it has opened its third Paris Baguette store in Jakarta, Indonesia, and will open a fourth one in nearby Bekasi later this month. The latest bakery cafe opening comes just four months after the South Korean bakery giant opened its first Paris Baguette store in Indonesia in November last year in Jakarta’s Ashta District 8 shopping mall. The third store is located in the center of the ground floor of Pondok Indah Mall, one of Jakarta’s five largest premium

LG Energy Solution unveils JV with Stellantis in Canada, 1st cylindrical battery plant in US