South Korean automaker Kia Corp. and its labor union on Tuesday reached a tentative wage deal without strikes for the first time in a decade amid the extended COVID-19 pandemic. The deal includes an increase of 75,000 won ($64.30) in monthly base pay, a bonus of 200 percent of monthly salary plus 3.5 million won, and a one-off special bonus of 2.3 million won. The wage agreement is subject to a vote by union members on Friday, the union said. Last month, its bigger affiliate Hyundai Motor

South Korea’s largest shipper HMM may be headed for its first labor strike, stoking fears of a major disruption in maritime shipping. Following a vote by longshore workers in favor of a walkout on Tuesday, remaining staff at the company will decide whether to join the collective action in a poll next Monday.  Demanding steeper pay raises, the unionized workers say they will not just stay away from work, but may just quit the company en masse if their demands are not met. On Tues

Tech giants, startups see robots as driver of future growth

HanmiGlobal, a South Korean construction project management service provider, has been named one of the world’s top 10 players in the field in a global survey, the company said Tuesday. It ranked 10th in the top 20 non-US firms in total global CM/PM fees in the 2021 ENR Top International Survey, released by Engineering News Record. CM refers to construction management and PM, project management. It climbed up a notch in the ranking from the previous year, as it achieved a combined $24

South Korean biotech firm Seegene has cleared the final hurdle to market in Europe its new sample collection device for COVID-19 diagnostic tests. According to the firm Tuesday, the product, called Combo Swab, has received a CE mark and can be legally commercialized in the EU. A CE mark, required on most goods sold in Europe, shows a product’s conformity to EU’s health, safety and environmental standards. According to Seegene, the sample collection device can be used for its fou

DataStreams, a local big data and cloud solutions provider, said Tuesday that CEO Lee Young-sang has joined the Children’s Traffic Safety Relay Challenge. The road safety campaign was launched on social media in December last year by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in a bid to raise awareness of children’s road and traffic safety. DataStreams’ chief, as well as four executive members and employees, have joined the relay campaign following an invitation from TSE CEO

South Korean drugmaker Medytox said Tuesday that it has hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a top international law firms, to better respond to intellectual property infringements and misappropriations of the company’s botulinum toxin product. Quinn Emanuel is a law firm specializing in intellectual property litigations, and they are widely known here for representing Samsung Electronics in the company‘s lawsuits against Apple and Huawei. “The US International Trad

South Korea will launch a new public agency to oversee metals, minerals and mining affairs next month, amid growing concerns over the future availability of raw materials critical to the country’s backbone industries, the government said Tuesday. The new entity, Korea Mine Rehabilitation & Mineral Resources Corp., will be officially formed on Sept. 10 by combining two existing bodies -- Korea Resources Corp. and Mine Reclamation Corp. Its launch received final approval from the Ca

Tech giant says biopharmaceuticals will be next flagship biz after semiconductors

Kyochon F&B, the firm behind South Korea’s biggest fried chicken franchise Kyochon Chicken, is deploying chicken-frying robots, the company said Tuesday. According to Kyochon, the first such machine has started work at one of its franchise stores in Songdo, Incheon. Kyochon double fries its chicken to create a unique crisp texture, and the robots will take charge of the second act, the firm said. Developed jointly with Doosan Robotics, the machine is a cooperative robot that can

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has granted conditional approval for a deal by KT Skylife Co. to buy cable TV operator Hyundai HCN Co. on concerns that the takeover could partially hamper market competition. In October last year, KT Skylife Co., a satellite broadcasting affiliate of local telecom giant KT Corp., signed a deal to acquire Hyundai HCN Co.'s broadcasting business for 491.1 billion won ($420 million). The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it has given the gr

South Korea's two largest display makers -- Samsung Display Co. and LG Display Co. -- on Tuesday said they will showcase their latest innovations at the country's leading exhibition for display panels this week. The two companies will take part in the International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) 2021, which runs from Wednesday to Friday in Seoul. Samsung Display, the world's top mobile display panel maker, said its exhibitions will focus on OLED technologies used in Samsung Electronics

Preorders for Samsung Electronics Co.'s new foldable smartphones have topped 800,000 units in South Korea, industry sources Tuesday, as the tech giant eyes to mainstream the foldable category with lower prices. An estimated 600,000 units of the Galaxy Z Fold3 and the Galaxy Z Flip3 were preordered through local mobile carriers, while some 200,000 units of unlocked third-generation Galaxy Z foldable devices were purchased by consumers during the one-week preorder period that ended Monday, the s

Samsung Electronics Co. expanded its dominance in the global DRAM market in the second quarter of the year, a report showed Tuesday, thanks to bullish demand and chip price hikes. The South Korean tech giant registered a 43.6 percent share of the global DRAM flash market in terms of revenue in the April-June period, up 1.6 percentage points from a quarter earlier, according to market tracker TrendForce. Samsung's revenue came to $10.51 billion in the second quarter, up 30.2 percent from a qua

Forestry body chief talks multiple green projects and goals during his tenure Amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, more South Koreans are rediscovering the joy of immersing themselves in nature, heading out to rugged mountains away from crowded cities. With some 63 percent of its land covered in forest, as opposed to the global average of 30 percent, Korea is indeed a country for hikers, with mountaineering being one of the favorite hobbies of many. While more people are reconnecting