Hanwha Group, the seventh-largest conglomerate in South Korea, said Friday that its operating profit for the first quarter spiked to 848.5 billion won ($751.6 million), up 186 percent on-year. The net profit also soared 343.94 percent during the same period to 819.9 billion won, largely on the back of the group’s disposal of unprofitable businesses. Its revenue slipped 11.23 percent to 12.8 trillion won. Hanwha Group’s better-than-expected performance was propelled by key affiliat

South Korea‘s food and entertainment conglomerate CJ Group said Friday it will start offering paid leave of up to three days to employees who get vaccinated for COVID-19. Including the day of vaccination, two more paid days off will be provided for each of the two shots and an additional day to those who experience symptoms from vaccination. “After a staff meeting last week where opinions on vaccine leave were heard, we decided to take on board those that are in the best interests

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Friday they will suspend some of their assembly lines for several days next week due to semiconductor shortages. Hyundai Motor plans to halt the No. 5 Ulsan plant, which produces the Tucson sport utility vehicle and the Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle, from Monday to Tuesday and the No. 3 Ulsan plant that produces the Avante compact and the Venue subcompact on Tuesday, a company spokesman said. Hyundai suspended the No. 1 Ulsan plant

Samsung Biologics, a biopharmaceutical unit of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, said Friday that it has not been decided yet whether it will manufacture Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccines here. A slew of local newspapers reported that Samsung Biologics is close to signing a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) contract to manufacture the US drug firm's mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus at plants in Songdo, west of Incheon. "Nothing has been decided yet," Sams

South Korea's capacity share in the advanced logic chip market is likely to decline further down the road, a report showed Friday, as the United States pushes to beef up its presence by attracting more global semiconductor firms to build factories on its turf. South Korea was expected to represent 20 percent of global wafer capacity of 10-nanometer (nm) and below nodes this year to rank second in the sector, but its share was projected to decline to 19 percent in 2025 and 17 percent in 2027 to

　Consumption expenditures in South Korea's tourism and leisure sector decreased by more than 20 percent last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a state-funded think tank said . 　In particular, foreigners’ spending in the domestic tourism and leisure sector plunged by nearly 80 percent and the travel industry was hit hardest among the relevant industries, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute said. 　Last year, consumption expenditures in the nation's tourism and leisure industrie

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it has expanded support for blockchain users trading virtual assets on its Galaxy smartphones amid rising interest in cryptocurrencies. The South Korean tech said its latest update will allow users to easily manage their transactions by importing their virtual assets stored on select cold hardware wallets to the Samsung Blockchain Wallet available on most Galaxy smartphones. "Support for hardware wallets provides Galaxy blockchain with a consistent user

Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it will invest 8.1 trillion won ($7.4 billion) in the United States by 2025 to produce electric vehicles, improve production facilities and increase its presence in the smart mobility solutions area. Hyundai Motor Co., the flagship of the country's top automaking group, plans to produce EVs in its Alabama plant starting next year and its affiliate Kia Corp. also has a plan to roll out EVs in its Georgia plant, Hyundai Motor America said in a statement. Hyundai a

David Doyeon Kim, CEO of MetaverseSociety, has announced the MarX project amid the increasing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology boom. The project aims to remove the unfair intermediate distribution system and build a virtual ecosystem through the DeFi-NFT platform for a direct trade between value generators and value customers. Although there were similar projects before, they failed to create a business ecosystem. MarX Project, on the other hand, began with a basic structure that can u

South Korean biotech and pharmaceutical companies could expand their partnerships with COVID-19 vaccine providers in the US, as an upcoming bilateral summit between leaders of the two countries could serve as a meeting ground, according to local news reports on Thursday. The reports said executive members of Samsung Group and SK Group could meet with Moderna and Novavax to discuss potential contract manufacturing deals, when they visit the US as part of a large-scale delegate that would join P

Less than five months since launch, Porsche Korea sells nearly 500 of its first electric sports car

Leaders of South Korea’s major conglomerates will accompany President Moon Jae-in on his trip to the United States for his first summit with US President Joe Biden, industry sources said Thursday. Unlike previous presidential visits, this one will not include an official business delegation due to safety concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the government has reportedly asked select companies in the fields of semiconductors, biopharmaceuticals and batteries to join Moon, as wel

Market divided on how long current bullish run will last

Samsung SDS on Thursday introduced Cello Square 4.0, a digital logistics platform that makes air and ocean freight shipping as easy as online shopping. According to the IT solutions unit of Samsung Group, the new platform, set for launch in August, is designed to support export activities of small and mid-sized companies who lack experience in large-scale shipping. “When clients export big cargo or a large amount of goods from point A to point Z, they have difficulties in finding the r

The United Nations on Thursday accused South Korean companies, including Samsung and LG, to have allegedly sourced items from factories in China’s Xinjiang region that has been embroiled in forced labor allegations. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, its special rapporteurs dealing with issues including slavery, torture and human trafficking sent a letter to the Korean government on Wednesday demanding explanations on the case. “We note that the