Incheon International Airport Corporation on Tuesday signed a memorandum of agreement with Israel’s state-owned aerospace and aviation manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries, to build an aircraft conversion center at Incheon Airport. The deal will see IIAC begin work on building infrastructure, with production of the first batch of passenger-to-freighter converted aircraft set to begin in 2024 in collaboration with South Korean aviation service company Sharp Technics K. After fending

Small-sized construction equipment maker Doosan Bobcat Inc. said Tuesday that it will spend 77 billion won ($68.6 million) to expand one of its US plants in a bid to meet growing demand. The plant located in Statesville, North Carolina, produces compact tractors and portable power stations, or compact battery-powered generators, Doosan Bobcat said. The expansion is aimed at meeting steadily increasing demands for grounds maintenance equipment (GME), such as ride-on mowers and hedge cutters, th

Kia Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, on Tuesday launched the hybrid version of the K8 sedan in the domestic market, completing a four-model lineup for the vehicle. The K8 hybrid comes with a 1.6-liter gasoline turbo hybrid engine, adding to the lineup of 2.5-liter gasoline, 3.5 gasoline and 3.5 liquefied petroleum injection engine models released last month. The hybrid model is priced at 36.98-42.87 million won ($32,950-$38,000) depending on options, the automaker said. Kia said

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to lose its share in the smartphone chipset market this year, a report showed Tuesday, as Taiwanese and US rivals are to expand their presence with a rise in the 5G device sector. Samsung was estimated to take an 8 percent share in the global smartphone application processor (AP)/System on Chip (SoC) market in 2021, down 11 percent from a year earlier, to take the fourth spot, according to a report from industry tracker Counterpoint Research, The South Korea

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, said Tuesday it has decided to cancel 2.6 trillion won ($2.32 billion) worth of treasury shares, over 10 percent of its total floated stocks, in a move to boost shareholder value amid plans to split into two companies later this year. The telecom operator said in a statement that it would retire 8.69 million treasury stocks, or 10.8 percent of its total issued stocks, by Thursday. The cancellation would reduce SK Telecom's total floated sto

Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp., South Korea's two biggest carmakers, said Tuesday their combined US sales more than doubled in April from a year earlier on robust demand for their SUV models. Hyundai and Kia sold a total 147,700 vehicles in the United States last month from 65,673 units a year ago, according to the companies' sales data. "April 2021 was the second month in a row that we established a new best ever total and retail sales monthly record. As our all-new Tucson beg

Unionized workers at Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Monday they have decided to lay down their tools again to demand a wage hike.  Renault Samsung's 1,900-strong workforce will launch an eight-hour strike at their plant in Busan, around 450 kilometers south of Seoul, on Tuesday as they are not satisfied with the company's wage proposals.  The announcement came as they staged a six-hour strike Monday. They previously launched an eight-hour strike last Friday.  The union and

Samsung Electronics and Seoul National University Hospital agreed on Monday to launch an official team to coordinate a 300 billion won ($267 million) donation from the bereaved family of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee for children with cancer and rare diseases. On behalf of the Lees, Samsung Electronics Presidents Sung In-hee and Rhee In-yong, in charge of social contributions and corporate relations, attended the ceremony with Seoul National University Hospital President Kim Yon-su and

A total of 40 novel drugs were approved by Seoul‘s pharmaceutical authorities in 2020, but none were developed by South Korean companies, according to a survey released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Monday. According to the Korean drug safety agency, local companies failed to introduce novel drugs domestically for the second consecutive year. In 2018, there were two novel drugs developed by local pharmaceutical companies that received approvals from the agency. “Laun

South Korea‘s pharmaceutical giant Celltrion announced Monday that the company has received a conditional approval for its COVID-19 test kit DiaTrust from the country‘s drug safety agency. DiaTrust, developed jointly by Humasis and Celltrion, is an antigen test kit that can detect the most recent COVID-19 variants from the UK and Brazil. The test kit uses a sterile nasal swab which can identify specific antigens of COVID-19 present in specimens collected from the nasal cavity within

New holding group takes first step in phasing out of the LG brand

Lotte Foods will replace all of its company cars used for sales activities with electric vehicles in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the company said on Monday. The South Korean food manufacturing firm will distribute about 380 units of Chevrolet’s Bolt EV for all of its sales employees, who drive over 20,000 kilometers on average per year, the company explained. Lotte Foods said it will be distributing the cars in May and June. Prior to the change, the company installed 90

A blessing in disguise. No other idiom can better describe what the coronavirus outbreak has meant for Lime, the world’s leading operator of rented electric scooters and bikes. When the pandemic first broke out, communities shut down, and so did riders. Lime lost 95 percent of its ridership. But as the weather got nicer, “much of that revenue has come back,” says Lime CEO Wayne Ting. Lime recorded its first profitable quarter in the July-September period last year, as incre

Solus Advanced Materials will increase the capacity of its copper foil plant in Luxembourg to 15,000 metric tons from the current 12,000 tons by the end of this year to meet growing demand for 5G network equipment, the company said Monday. The Luxembourg plant manufactures two types of high-end copper foils. Low-loss copper foils, which minimize signal losses, are used for 5G data centers and satellite communications, while high-frequency copper foils, which offer greater signal speed, are u

Hankook Tire & Technology Co. said Monday its first-quarter net profit jumped 53 percent from a year earlier on a base effect amid the extended COVID-19 pandemic. Net profit jumped to 149.47 billion won ($133 million) for the three months that ended on March 31 from 97.66 billion won in the same period of last year, the company said in a statement. "Corporate taxes were factored in the year-ago quarterly bottom line, but in this past quarter, there was not such a one-off cost factor,&