LG Group, the fourth-largest conglomerate in South Korea, on Thursday pledged to create a total of 39,000 new jobs over the next three years. The group’s Chairman and CEO Koo Kwang-mo unveiled the plan during a meeting with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum at LG Science Park in Magok, western Seoul. The meeting was attended by the top brass of LG Group, including Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo and President Lee Bang-soo. The meeting was part of the Korean government’s youth employment p

Nuri, South Korea’s first domestically made satellite launch vehicle, lifted off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, at 5 p.m. Thursday. The launch vehicle, weighing 200 metric tons, is now on its maiden flight to put a 1.5-ton dummy into low orbit some 600-800 kilometers above the Earth. Korea Aerospace Research Institute says it will know if the launch is a success around 30 minutes after liftoff. Designed and built entirely using Korean technology and

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s leading maker of smartphones and memory chips, was ranked fifth among the world’s top 100 corporate brands for the second year in a row, according to a consulting firm Thursday. The brand value of South Korea’s IT giant was estimated at $74.6 billion this year, increasing 20 percent from $62.3 billion last year, according to the list of 100 Best Global Brands announced by US-based Interbrand. This is the highest gain observed since 2013 an

South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI Co. said Thursday it has began its test run of a cathode-producing factory, jointly set up with a local cathode manufacturer. The EcoPro EM factory, located in Pohang, 374 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will conduct the test run until the end of this year before starting the mass-production of cathode from the first half of next year. Cathode is a key component that determines the capacity and average voltage of a lithium-ion battery. Samsung SDI and E

Merck, the German science and technology group, on Thursday celebrated the fifth anniversary of its M Lab Collaboration Center in Songdo, Incheon. The M Lab Collaboration Center is a research facility established to support local pharmaceutical and bio industry experts with hands-on and virtual training. “Since its establishment in 2016, our Songdo M Lab Collaboration Center has supported more than 100 biopharmaceutical and biotech customers including Samsung Biologics, Celltrion and SK

Seven out of 10 restaurants in South Korea serve kimchi made in another country, said a local research institute in a report released Thursday. According to the Korea Foodservice Research Institute, which looked into the country of origin of food ingredients used at 976 restaurants across the country, 40 percent of the surveyed use kimchi made outside of Korea. Another 28 percent use both locally made and imported kimchi while 31.2 percent stick to Korean made kimchi. Most of the imported

SK Plasma, a subsidiary of SK Discovery, said on Thursday it has been selected as the provider of blood products to Singapore for six years from 2023. As the first South Korean pharmaceutical company to win an order in Singapore’s state-run blood product project, SK Plasma will sign a contract with the Southeast Asian country this year, and produce albumin and human immunoglobulin using blood plasma from Singapore. Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority is known for having high qual

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Thursday it has won an approval in principle (AIP) for the conceptual design of a storage tank and carrier to transport liquefied hydrogen, from Lloyd's Register, a British ship quality assurance and risk management company. AIP for the conceptual design means a certification agency has reviewed it and confirmed it meets the agency's technical requirements and standards for safety. The conceptual design of a membrane-type storage tank and 160,000-cubic meter

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Thursday that it has bagged a 232.2 billion won ($197.6 million) deal to build a LNG carrier. The deal, signed with an Oceanian company, calls for DSME to deliver the vessel by September 2024, the shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing. Not including the latest deal, DSME has won $8.58 billion worth of orders so far this year for 46 ships, one wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV), one submarine and two offshore facilities, alrea

South Korean power plant builder Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Thursday it has signed a maintenance service deal for a reactor at the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the deal with Nawah Energy Co., the operator of the nuclear power plant, Doosan Heavy will conduct maintenance services for turbines, generators and parts related to the nuclear reactor of the nuclear power plant for three months beginning in April 2022, it said in an emai

POSCO Chemical Co. on Thursday reported its third-quarter net income of 40.9 billion won ($34.8 million), up 496.6 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 31.5 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 19.4 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 29.9 percent to 505 billion won. The operating profit was 9.4 percent lower than the average estimate, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency

Naver Corp. said Thursday its net profit jumped 37.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier largely due to a stellar performance of its content businesses amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Net profit reached 322.7 billion won ($274.8 million) in the July-September period, compared with a profit of 235.3 billion won a year earlier, South Korea's top internet portal operator said in a press release. Operating income reached a quarterly high of 349.8 billion won during the cited period

Ford Sales & Service Korea, Hyundai Motor Co. and three other companies will voluntarily recall more than 19,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Thursday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The three other companies are Porsche, Honda Motor Korea and Tera Motors which sells electric two-wheelers, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a state

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled the Bespoke edition of its Galaxy Z Flip3, offering as many as 49 new color choices for the clamshell-type foldable smartphone. Samsung presented the new edition on its YouTube channel at 11 p.m. at an event called Galaxy Unpacked, Part 2. The frames come in two colors, black and silver, and customers can choose from five Bespoke colors for the front and rear of the device: blue, yellow, pink, white and black. A total of 49 new combinations are a

Edison Motors, a little-known electric bus manufacturer, seems likely to emerge as the preferred bidder for SsangYong Motor, South Korea’s longest-running car brand, which has experienced debt troubles in recent years. The Seoul Bankruptcy Court said a consortium led by Edison Motors is the only remaining bidder, effectively making it the preferred buyer. Its competitor, another consortium led by EV firm Electrical Life Business and Technology, was excluded from the list as it failed