The South Korean government said Monday that it was taking measures to cope with any potential disruptions in maritime shipping as a labor strike loomed at the country’s largest shipper, HMM. Earlier in the day, nearly 88 percent of the 453 unionized longshore workers at HMM voted in favor of the collective action, as their wage negotiations with the company management remained deadlocked. If realized, it would be the first labor strike at the company. It is unclear when the union pl

China has been outperforming South Korea in several competitiveness rankings, a report published by the Federation of Korea Industries showed Monday, having already overtaken its neighbor in several other measures. In the 2021 IMD Competitiveness Ranking. South Korea rose nine ranks from 32nd place in 1994 to 23rd in 2021, while China shot up from 34th in 1994 to 16th this year. In the Competitive Industrial Performance list, created by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization

As climate change requires attention both locally and globally, green and healthy forests have proven to be beneficial not just in the immediate areas where they are located, but also entire regions and across the whole planet. The Korea Forest Service’s work, therefore, goes beyond the country’s borders. It has for years been making efforts to enhance sustainable management of forests in developing countries, the state-run agency said Monday. Such efforts are in line with the

Korea’s two major chipmakers grapple with sell-offs by foreign investors amid conflicting prospects for growth of memory chips

Celltrion’s COVID-19 antibody treatment, the world’s third therapy to be developed for the coronavirus, is likely to enter the US and European markets later this year, a local brokerage said in a report Monday. According to Lee Dong-geon of Shinhan Investment, the South Korean pharmaceutical firm is likely to soon apply for the US Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization for Regkirona, or CT-P59, based on the advisory meetings that the firm previously had w

Unionized sailors and other sea-based workers of South Korea's largest shipper HMM Co. have voted in favor of staging their first-ever strike after wage negotiations with the company reached a deadlock, industry sources said Monday. Around 92 percent of the seafarers who have participated in the vote supported the proposed walkout, and they plan to hand in letters of resignation to the management Wednesday, according to the sources. The union added it is still open to reach a last-minute agree

A rapidly aging population is a cause of great concern for South Korea already, but a report released Monday gave another reason to worry about: It would hurt the locomotive of the local economy -- manufacturing. According to the Seoul-based Korea Economic Research Institute, the sector will suffer a severe blow from the graying of the workforce. Its analysis of the demographic trends of the manufacturing workforce over the last 10 years shows that the proportion of workers in their 50s and a

South Korean biopharmaceutical firm Samsung Bioepis Co. said Monday it has won approval from European authorities for the sale of its ophthalmology biosimilar, Byooviz. The European Commission granted the marketing authorization on ranibizumab biosimilar, previously known as SB11, which references Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis' blockbuster medication Lucentis. It is the first biosimilar referencing Lucentis to be commercialized in the European Union. The Novartis product registered $1.93

Shares of South Korean chemical firm LG Chem Ltd. plunged in the Seoul bourse Monday, following American automaker General Motors' decision to additionally recall Bolt electric vehicles equipped with its subsidiary's batteries over fire risks. LG Chem, which wholly owns battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd., saw its shares tumble about 10 percent as of 2 p.m., after GM said Friday it will recall about 73,000 Bolt EVs from model years 2019 through 2022, which is expected to cost about US$1 billi

Accommodation booking app Yanolja won a compensation suit it filed against a local rival for stealing confidential company information, according to a regional court Monday. The Seoul Central District Court ordered Good Choice Company, the firm behind the accommodation booking platform of the same name, to pay 1 billion won ($852,300) to Yanolja as compensation for its theft of Yanolja’s business data. The court said Good Choice gained profit from using information gathered from Yanol

Homegrown app market forms alliance with Blizzard, Microsoft, Tencent to challenge monopoly

Han Sung Motor has donated 20 million won ($17,028) earned from running Dream Gream online merch store and more to 10 youth shelters around the country, the official Mercedes-Benz dealer said Monday. The auto dealership opened the online store offering merchandise made by students participating in its Dream Gream art scholarship program in June. As part of its social outreach efforts, Han Sung Motor has been supporting middle and high school students with artistic talents through the progra

Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., a major electronics parts maker in South Korea, is seeking to sell its Wi-Fi module business again, a company official said Monday, after its previous deal collapsed in May. "We are in talks with a potential buyer over the sale of our Wi-Fi module business," the official said on condition of anonymity. "The Wi-Fi module business is operating normally. So far, nothing has been confirmed about the deal." Samsung Electro-Mechanics reportedly put

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co.'s electric vehicle (EV) sales increased in the first half of the year compared with a year ago, but its global market share fell in the face of toughening competitions with Chinese rivals, industry data showed Monday. Hyundai Motor was in sixth place in terms of global EVs sales in the January-June period, one notch down from the fifth position a year ago, according to the data by industry tracker SNE Research. The automaker's global EV sales jumped 75.

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Monday it has signed a 461 billion won ($392 million) order to construct two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. Under the deal with an Oceanian shipper, Samsung Heavy will deliver the vessels by September 2024, the shipbuilder said. With the latest order, the shipbuilder has attained 78 percent of its annual order target of $9.1 billion won, winning orders for 54 ships worth $7.1 billion won. The shipbuilder narrowed its net loss in the second quarter from