Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Monday it will consider rerouting flights to avoid Afghanistan's airspace following the Taliban's takeover of Kabul. Korean Air said some of its cargo flights have used the Afghan airspace at high altitudes, though its passenger flights have not. "We are closely monitoring the (political) situation in Afghanistan and may change our routes if necessary," a company spokeswoman said over the phone. The move is in line with majo

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Lotte Engineering & Construction has been chosen as the preferred bidder to build a general hospital in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, as part of the city’s urban development project. According to the construction arm of Lotte Group, a consortium consisting of seven companies, including Lotte E&C, has been chosen for the H2 Project. Other companies participating in the consortium include Kumho Engineering & Construction and the Industrial Bank of Korea. Following the selection,

Kakao Group, which operates messenger app KakaoTalk, has established two new blockchain entities in Singapore in an effort to expand its blockchain platform abroad and chase after its biggest competitor, Naver. According to local media reports Monday, Kakao recently founded the nonprofit Klaytn Foundation and global accelerator unit Krust in the city-state. With the two at the forefront, the South Korean internet giant will pursue the globalization of its public blockchain project, Klaytn,

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group is to complete payment for the acquisition of Doosan Infracore this week, in a deal that would put the ship-focused group atop of the country’s construction equipment industry, according to industry officials Monday. In February, the group’s holdings company formed a consortium with KDB Investment and signed a contract to buy a controlling 34 percent stake in Doosan Infracore, held by Doosan Heavy Industries. It agreed to pay 850 billion won ($730 mi

The consortium formed by Doosan Heavy Industries's British unit and a British firm has received a 180 billion-won ($155 million) water treatment deal, Doosan said Monday. Doosan Heavy's wholly owned Doosan Enpure joined hands with BAM Nuttall to obtain the deal for the relocation of the Guildford sewage treatment facility from Thames Water, Britain's largest water and wastewater services company, the company said in a statement. "We will complete the construction of a new sewage treatme

LG Energy Solution Ltd., South Korea's leading battery company, said Monday it has signed a six-year deal with Australian Mines Ltd. for a stable supply of key battery materials. In the deal that will begin at the end of 2024, LG Energy Solution will receive 71,000 tons of nickel and 7,000 tons of cobalt from the Australian company over six years, the South Korean firm said in a statement. "Securing key raw materials and a responsible battery supply chain has become a critical element i

South Korean exporters faced a total of 225 trade-restrictive measures in 28 countries as of June this year, amid a continued hold of protectionism, the state-run trade promotion agency said Sunday. In its report assessing global trade environments for local firms in the first six months of this year, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency counted 225 measures in place at 28 countries around the world that target imports of Korean goods. The measures include anti-dumping, countervailin

Foreign companies doing business in South Korea fared well amid the pandemic last year, with electric carmaker Tesla reporting a whopping 300 percent increase in sales, a report showed Sunday. According to data compiled and released by CEO Score, a local market researcher, the aggregate sales of the top 50 foreign-owned companies in Korea reached 21.8 trillion won ($18.76 billion) in 2020, up 15 percent from the previous year. Operating profits rose 42.2 percent to 1.2 trillion won. The data

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The Fair Trade Commission is expected to decide next month on punitive actions against major shippers following allegations that shipping lines from both home and abroad have rigged freight charges. According to government sources on Sunday, the FTC plans to hold a full-member meeting to discuss whether the accused 23 companies colluded to raise shipping costs for service on a Southeast Asian sea route. The allegation was first reported to the FTC by importers in the timber industry in 2018.

Giant chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co. saw its presence on the main bourse drop to the lowest in 23 months in terms of market capitalization amid a sharp drop, data showed Sunday. The tech behemoth's value stood at some 444 trillion won ($400 billion) as of Friday, or 19.43 percent of the KOSPI's total market value of 2,285 trillion won. It is the first time that the bellwether's weighting against the total market cap fell below the 20-percent mark since September, 2019. The figure marks a s

A consortium led by GS Retail Co., the supermarket operating unit of GS Group, has acquired Yogiyo, the No. 2 online food delivery app in South Korea, for 800 billion won ($684.3 million), the retailer said Friday. The consortium, including Affinity Equity Partners and Permira, has reached the deal with Germany's Delivery Hero for the acquisition of a 100 percent stake in Yogiyo, according to the retailer. GS Retail said it will take over 30 percent of the share worth 240 billion won and pay

South Korea’s top shipping company HMM’s operating profit rose to a record high during the second quarter on the back of growing shipping costs and strong demand. The company racked up 1.38 trillion won in operating profit, a regulatory filing released on Friday revealed, up over 900 percent compared to the same time one year ago. The figure also surpasses its performance during the first quarter, which stood at 1.19 trillion won in operating profit. Revenue rose 111 percent to 2.