POSCO C&C, an affiliate of South Korea's steel giant POSCO Group, said Tuesday it is studying various options to reconsider its business ties with Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL), one of Myanmar's two largest military holding companies. The move by the maker of surface-treatment steel sheets came amid mounting international outcry against Myanmar's military over its bloody crackdown on citizens following a coup in February. POSCO owns a 70 percent stake in Myanmar PO

S-Oil CEO Hussain A. Al-Qahtani (left) delivers 100 million won ($89,129) to Heart-to-Heart Foundation Chairman Oh Ji-chul at S-Oil’s headquarters in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Tuesday.  The money will be used to support the foundation’s orchestra, made up of youngsters with developmental disabilities. (S-Oil) (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

After nearly five years of preparations, budget airline begins service from Cheongju

Financially troubled Eastar Jet aims to select a new investor by early May as several investors have shown an interest in the budget carrier, the company's chief executive officer said Tuesday. Eastar will decide whether to proceed with the investor selection process in the form of a "stalking-horse" bid or an open auction, by the end of this month, Eastar CEO Kim You-sang told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. In the stalking-horse bid, Eastar will select a preliminary preferred

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has decided to fine leading beverage maker Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. and its wine-selling affiliate a combined 1.1 billion won ($978,000) for hampering market competition. Lotte Chilsung unfairly supported its wholly owned unit MJA Wine for 10 years since 2009 in a bid to improve the affiliate's profitability, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). Lotte Chilsung supplied wines to its affiliate at lower prices and shouldered lab

SK Group said Tuesday it will make a strategic investment in VinCommerce, Vietnam's largest retail group, to tap into the fast-growing e-commerce segment in the Southeast Asian market. SK said its Southeast Asian investment arm signed a deal to buy a 16.3 percent share in VinCommerce for 460 billion won ($410 million). VinCommerce, a retail subsidiary of Masan Group, operates about 2,300 convenience stores and supermarkets in Vietnam, taking about 50 percent of the nation's retail sector. In

South Korea's wearable device market grew more than 50 percent last year, industry data showed Tuesday, due to rising demand for IT products amid the pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend.  Domestic shipments of wearable products, including smartwatches, wireless earphones and electronic wristbands, totaled 12.76 million units in 2020, up 50.7 percent from a year ago, according to the data from market researcher IDC Korea. Wireless earphones accounted for 74 percent of the market with 9.39

LG Innotek Co., a major electronics parts maker in South Korea, said Tuesday it has established an artificial intelligence (AI) powered patent search and analysis system to beef up its research and development (R&D) efforts. With its deep learning technology, the affiliate of LG Electronics Co. said the system leverages sentence recognition algorithms which it developed with LG AI Research, an AI technology research hub for LG Group. Its solution can execute real-time analysis of context a

　South Korea said it will seek to expand the size of the local pet fish market by 35 percent through 2025 by developing more homegrown species while encouraging the public to adopt them. 　Under the goal, the size of the local pet fish market will reach 657 billion won ($581 million) in 2025, up 35 percent from 487.3 billion won tallied in 2020, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. 　Over the period, the number of farms raising pet fish will increase to 186 from the current 151

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it plans to develop cross-platform artificial intelligence (AI)-powered services with KT Corp., South Korea's major telecom operator, to expand use of its human-like algorithm. LG and KT plan to commercialize services that support AI platforms from both companies after developing a joint interface. The two companies recently verified compatibility between LG's ThinQ and KT's GiGA Genie AI platforms. The South Korean tech giant tested its smart mirror to find

In order to help out small and medium-sized exporters in the global market, the Korea International Trade Association and its business consultants have met to share successful case studies on the trade front, officials said Monday. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has faced a shift into a digital era and a new value chain,” said KITA Chairman Koo Ja-yeol during a meeting with KITA’s export consultants. “For (Korean) companies to gain momentum in the

Korean shipbuilders account for over half of global orders in Q1

Lee is a 61-year-old taxi driver in Seoul. He takes pride in being able to support his two kids, who both speak four languages, and his wife, who gives piano lessons at an elementary school. But there is also something else he finds satisfaction in -- his car that runs on hydrogen. After spending his whole life working for Hyundai Mobis, an auto parts arm of Hyundai Motor Group, the retiree now drives a Nexo -- Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell powered SUV. Lee, who preferred not to give his

Posco Chemical said Monday it would supply anodes to Ultium Cells, a joint venture established by LG Energy Solution and General Motors in 2019. The refractory and secondary battery materials arm of South Korean steel giant Posco, it will provide anodes to Ultium Cells’ electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Ohio, which is set to begin the mass production of NCMA (nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum) batteries that contain 90 percent nickel starting this year. “Thanks

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of South Korea announced Monday that it has minimized the steps required for the import of new biologic agents, such as COVID-19 vaccines. According to the revised rules, the government will no longer require foreign drug developers wishing to export their products to Korea to present certificates from their respective country. This would speed up the approval process here for foreign-developed biologic agents that are urgently needed to counter public h