South Korean biotech company Huons Global said Friday that it has signed a technology transfer deal with Russia's sovereign wealth fund to produce a Russian COVID-19 vaccine in South Korea. Under the agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Huons Global-led consortium will manufacture Sputnik V in South Korea. Three other participants in the consortium are two South Korean companies -- Humedix and Boran Pharma -- and Singapore's Prestige BioPharma. Huons Global said it is set to

Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday it will again suspend the Sonata-producing plant in South Korea for two days next week due to an electronic parts shortage. Hyundai will halt the operation of the Asan plant, 100 kilometers south of Seoul, which produces the Grandeur and Sonata sedans, on Monday and Tuesday, a company spokesman said over the phone. The company already suspended the Asan plant on Monday and Tuesday of this week due to the lack of powertrain control units. It expects the four-day s

Namyang Dairy Products, a major dairy producer here, has come under fire for claiming its yogurt drink prevents COVID-19. At a symposium hosted by the Korea Research & Institute of Bio Medical Science on Tuesday, the head of Namyang Dairy’s internal research institute presented the results of its research on Bulgaris, the firm’s yogurt drink. “We’re the first firm in the country that has discovered fermented dairy products are effective in preventing influenza and

Ailing carmaker to submit renewed rehabilitation plan by July 1, find a new investor in meantime

Electronic component maker Samsung Electro-Mechanics has developed an ultrasmall, high-capacity multilayer ceramic capacitor, the company said Thursday. A multilayer ceramic capacitor regulates a current’s flow in a circuit, making it a core component within electric devices, such as smartphones, home appliances, and electronic vehicles.　 Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ new capacitor is 0.4 millimeter long and 0.2 mm wide. The capacitor also has a 1.0 microfarad capacity and 6.3 volta

South Korea will introduce measures to ensure the safety of imported kimchi, such as conducting onsite inspections at around 100 kimchi production facilities overseas by 2025, the Ministry of Food and Drug said Thursday. The move came after a video of a kimchi-processing plant in China went viral in South Korea for exposing its poor hygiene and sanitation conditions. In the clip, a naked man is seen swishing cabbages back and forth through a waist-deep pool of unidentifiable brownish liquid,

Hanwha Solutions will issue its first overseas green bonds worth 1 billion yuan ($152.9 million) starting from Monday, the company said. The yuan-denominated bonds, with a three-year maturity, carries a rate of 3 percent and will be guaranteed 50 percent each by the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea and Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility, a trust fund of the Asian Development Bank. When swapped to the Korean won, the green bonds will offer an annual interest rate of approximately 0

LG Energy Solution and General Motors will build a new electric vehicle battery plant in Tennessee, their second in the US, the US automaker’s South Korean unit confirmed Thursday. The new factory will be similar in scope and scale to their first plant, a $2.3 billion facility currently under construction in Ohio. Set for commercial operation next year, the Ohio plant is designed to churn out enough batteries for 35 gigawatt-hours per year. LG Energy Solution and GM have set up a joint

Cisco exec explains what digitalization really means, how technologies have helped cities recover from COVID-19

LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday it will invest $20.5 million to expand its washing machine factory in the United States in a move to meet growing demand in the country. The home appliance maker said the investment will create 334 new jobs at the plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, bringing its total workers to 1,000. LG has invested $360 million to build the plant, which has been operational since late 2018 and currently has the capacity to produce more than 1 million front- and top-load washer

K-pop juggernaut boy band BTS is the new face of Korean beer brand Kloud, Lotte Chilsung Beverage said Thursday. The South Korean maker of liquor, soft drinks and tea has signed a modeling contract with the septet – RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jin, Jimin, V and Jungkook -- with financials of the deal undisclosed. The first commercial featuring the group will be unveiled Friday, the firm said. The signing of BTS signals a new marketing war among the three major beer makers in Korea – Orient

US electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc.'s sales in South Korea nearly quadrupled last year from a year earlier on rising popularity of its vehicles, its financial statement showed Thursday. Tesla Korea said in a regulatory filing that it logged 716.2 billion won ($640 million) in sales in the Korean market in 2020, up 295 percent from a year earlier. Its annual operating profit soared 429 percent on-year to 10.7 billion won, and its net income skyrocketed 507.7 percent to 7.9 billion won, the com

South Korea said Thursday it will ramp up efforts to promote a homegrown charging technology for electric vehicles (EVs) as an international standard, as the country plans to penetrate deeper into the growing sector. The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards held a virtual meeting with experts from home and abroad to further foster the wireless charging technology for EVs with a capacity of 50 kilowatts, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. South Korea proposed the te

South Korea said Thursday it plans to study deeper into electrofuel, a clean energy source that can be used by internal combustion engine cars, in line with its vision to go carbon neutral. Under the plan, local businesses and institutions launched a research team to carry out research and development projects for the alternative resource, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Electrofuel refers to an environment-friendly energy source that can be used in traditional fossil-

South Korea's three major mobile carriers will share their 5G networks in remote coastal and farm towns in a move to accelerate the rollout of the latest generation networks, the ICT ministry said Thursday. The carriers -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- signed an agreement so that 5G users can have access to the high-speed network regardless of the carrier they are subscribed to in 131 remote locations across the country, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. Under the