Top businessman marks first ‘non-bureaucrat’ chief for trade organization in 15 years

Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday that it has hired a high-profile aerospace professional from the United States in line with its continued effort to promote urban air mobility, or UAM, as a future growth engine. The South Korean auto group has appointed Ben Diachun, former CEO of the California-based aerospace startup Opener, as the chief technology officer for the UAM division. “His years of experience in developing innovative aerospace vehicles will greatly contribute to our business

Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it will replace batteries in some 82,000 Kona EV and two other electric vehicles sold globally due to potential fire risks, which could cost about 1 trillion won ($899.7 million). Hyundai will begin the replacement of the battery management system (BMS) in 75,680 Kona EVs, 5,716 IONIQ EV and 305 Elec City buses from March 29 in the domestic market and from April in overseas markets, the company said in a statement. The battery system subject to the replacement

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has decided to fine top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. and its internet protocol TV subsidiary a combined 6.4 billion won ($5.7 million) for hampering market competition. SKT unfairly supported SK Broadband Co. between 2016-2019 when its subsidiary sold the IPTV service program through the top carrier's distribution channels, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). SKT paid part of sales fees totaling about 19.9 billion won to ret

South Korea's ICT ministry said Wednesday it made over 15,000 new public Wi-Fi service zones available across the country and in buses last year, bringing the total locations with free public Wi-Fi to over 57,000. The Ministry of Science and ICT said the public can access free Wi-Fi in 28,132 public locations, such as bus stations, public facilities and parks, and also in 29,100 buses. By region, there are 2,529 public Wi-Fi locations in Seoul, with 4,358 locations in the surrounding Gyeonggi

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Wednesday that it has secured a 570 billion won ($514 million) order from a European company. Under the deal to build six 45,700-ton ConRo vessels, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. will deliver the ships starting in the first half of 2023, Korea Shipbuilding said. The ConRo vessel refers to a hybrid of a car carrier and a container carrier. Hyundai Mipo Dockyard has been leading the global ConRo ship market, building 19 ConRo ships, or 40 percen

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it has started mass-production of a power-efficient solid state drive (SSD) for data centers that also boasts enhanced security solutions. The South Korean tech giant said PM9A3E1.S is the industry's first data center-use SSD product based on sixth-generation V-NAND chips. It supports the standards of Open Compute Project (OCP), an organization that sets hardware and software standards in data centers. Samsung, the world's leading memory chip producer, sa

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its smart TV platform will be used by other TV makers this year as the company eyes boosting its software capability. LG said some 20 TV manufacturers, including RCA, Konka and Ayonz, will release TVs installed with its webOS platform. To attract more TV brands using its smart TV platform, LG said it has also signed partnerships with streaming giants like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon, as well as remote controls solution provider Universal Electronics Inc. The

Samsung Electronics Co. remained the world's leading TV vendor for the 15th straight year in 2020 on the back of its QLED and large TVs, a report showed Wednesday. The South Korean tech giant had a market share of a record 31.9 percent in terms of sales revenue last year, up from 30.9 percent a year earlier, according to data from industry researcher Omdia, extending its lead in the global TV market for the 15th consecutive year. Samsung was followed by its South Korean rival LG Electronics In

South Korean steelmakers are rushing to ramp up capacity utilization in an effort to meet rising demand at home and abroad, industry sources said Wednesday. The move comes amid stabilizing international steel prices due to a drop in China's steel exports, and expectations for an increase in domestic demand for steel used in construction. According to the sources, leading steelmaker Posco has decided to postpone repair work on a cold-rolled steel plant in Gwangyang on the south coast, originall

South Korean listed companies' dividend payouts soared nearly 47 percent in 2020 from a year earlier thanks to a jump in payments by top-cap Samsung Electronics Co., a corporate tracker said Wednesday. According to CEO Score, 613 firms listed on the main stock market paid out a combined 37.34 trillion won ($33.6 billion) last year, up 46.7 percent from the previous year. The businesses cover those which have so far put out their dividend payouts for fiscal 2020. The jump came as Samsung Elect

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with Brazilian state prosecutors and auditors over a graft probe surrounding drillship orders by the company. The company said in a regulatory filing that it has agreed to pay 812 million reais ($149 million) in a leniency deal with Brazil’s Office of the Comptroller General, Office of the Attorney General and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, accepting the results of an investigation into a criminal case inv

Samsung SDI said Tuesday it will inject 1 trillion won ($900 million) into its battery plant in Goed, 30 kilometers north of Budapest, Hungary. In a regulatory filing, the battery maker said its European subsidiary Samsung SDI Hungary issued rights worth 403.8 billion won. Samsung SDI will also guarantee debt worth 538.4 billion won for the subsidiary, the company said. Samsung SDI explained that the rights offering is intended to shore up funds for expansion, including the construction of t

The first of the three-part evaluation of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine here has shown the vaccine to be 95 percent effective and eligible for use on those aged 16 and older, South Korea’s Drug Ministry announced Tuesday. The panel of seven, comprising virologists, medical professionals and statistics experts, confirmed that all 36,523 candidates given two shots of the Pfizer vaccine in clinical trials experienced quadrupled antibodies in their system. The panel assessed that the tria

Incheon Airport will roll out speedy coronavirus tests from next month, cutting down the process from seven hours to two or four hours. The new loop-mediated isothermal amplification -- or LAMP-type -- rapid PCR tests, which have been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, can take as little as two hours to show the result and have been recommended for passengers with no symptoms traveling abroad, the Incheon International Airport Corp. said Tuesday. Negative results from rapid PCR