Shareholders of Hyundai Motor Co. have reelected Chairman Euisun Chung as executive director for another three years, the company said Thursday. Chung will begin his extended director role on April 1 to lead the South Korean automotive group's transition into the provider of future mobility solutions, such as autonomous driving and electric vehicles, Hyundai said. The chairman's three-year directorship at Hyundai Mobis Co. ends in February 2023. He is expected to be reelected as executive direct

South Korean steel giant Posco said Thursday it has broken ground on a lithium hydroxide plant in Argentina. The $830 million project calls for the establishment of the plant near the Salar del Hombre Muerto salt lake in northern Argentina, with an annual production capacity of 25,000 tons of lithium hydroxide. The plant is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024, and the capacity is enough to meet demand from 600,000 electric vehicles, according to Posco. The annual output will be ex

South Korea's exports of snacks hit a record high last year on the back of demand by stay-at-home consumers amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the popularity of the Korean pop culture, customs data showed Thursday. Exports of snacks came to an all-time high of $466 million last year, up 13.1 percent from a year earlier and extending their gains to the second straight year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Snack shipments also rose 16.6 percent to $75 million in the first tw

　South Korea’s import prices of grain has jumped nearly 50 percent over the past two years to a near nine-year high amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　Prices of imported grains came to $386 per ton in February, up 26 percent from a year earlier and 47.4 percent from two years earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. 　The February per-ton import price represented the highest level since it reached $388 in May 2013. 　Last mon

SK E&S Co., the natural gas provider under South Korean conglomerate SK Group, said Thursday it has acquired a US electric vehicle (EV) charging platform operator as part of its push for green energy business. The acquisition of EverCharge Inc., a California-based startup, also included the takeover of its management, the company said in a release, without disclosing the details of the transaction. SK E&S said in a regulatory filing that it is investing $400 million in its US subsidiary

Nearly 7 in 10 foreign buyers think that South Korea's national brand is having a positive impact on their purchases of products from Asia's fourth-largest economy, a poll showed Thursday. According to the survey of 213 foreign buyers, 72.9 percent of the respondents replied that their imports of South Korean goods have been affected positively by the country's national brand. Slightly over 25.4 percent said South Korean products remind them of high quality, followed by reasonable prices with 16

Biggest mission for Hanwha Systems' air taxi business is to understand airspace of Seoul, says UAM chief

Dongnae, Korea’s real estate startup platform, said Wednesday it has raised 25 billion won ($21 million) in Series A funding from US and Korean investors. Key investors include NFX, Daol Investment, Hana-Magna, Hana Financial Group, MetaProp, Fursys, Han River Partners, Flybridge, Maple, and WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey. “We plan to expand Dongnae branches in Seoul and in the Seoul metropolitan area, like the Pangyo office in Gyeonggi Province,” a Dongnae official said.

SK Trading International, a subsidiary of South Korean refiner SK Innovation, announced Wednesday plans to purchase up to 200,000 barrels of “net-zero oil” each year for five years from US-based Occidental Petroleum Corp., in a move to use the sustainable commodity for commercial products. The affiliates of SK Group, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate by assets, will use the oil for products including eco-friendly aviation fuel. SK’s purchase of net-zero oil will b

LG Energy Solution and SK On, two Korean battery makers that are increasingly expanding their production base in key markets for electric vehicles, have recently won hefty incentives in the US and Europe, respectively. On Tuesday, the state of Michigan approved a package of incentives worth about $600 million for LG Energy Solution, including $565 million in government subsidies and $132.6 million in tax cuts. The incentives come after the battery maker announced a new investment of $1.7 bil

Gaming giant looks to improve mobile games performance on the back of 850m players

The Export-Import Bank of Korea said it provided 600 million euros ($661.6 million) in financial support for the construction of the world’s longest suspension bridge, which opened last week in Turkey. The 2,023-meter Canakkale Bridge, built by a consortium of South Korea’s DL E&C and SK ecoplant, and Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi and Limak, connects Europe and Asia over the Dardanelle Strait. The 3.13 billion-euro project to build and operate the bridge and an 88.4-kilometer hig

LG AI Research, an in-house research hub of South Korea‘s fourth-largest conglomerate, said Wednesday it has opened a new research center in the United States. The center is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, near the University of Michigan. It is LG AI Research’s first overseas location. The new facility will be led by Lee Hong-lak, chief scientist of AI and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan. The center’s fundamental researc

Viable tourist destinations include the US, Europe and Thailand, while Japan and China remain effectively closed to tourists

　Nearly 7 in 10 South Koreans saw their income fall in the wake of COVID-19, a survey showed.  　In an online survey of 2,016 people aged 18 or above by the Korea Institute of Public Administration from Nov. 15-22, 68 percent said their average monthly income was lower in 2021 than in 2019 before the pandemic struck.  　Only 30 percent said their income rose, while the remaining 2 percent said it remains unchanged.  　Those who earned less lost 1.25 million won ($1,038) per month