Employment restrictions have been imposed on the jailed Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong following his conviction for bribery. Observers said, however, that since Lee is not employed by Samsung and holds only a symbolic title, the ban wouldn’t change the conglomerate’s top leadership. According to local reports Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice notified the Samsung Group’s de facto chief of the employment ban against him and the procedures required to gain appr

Firm’s not yet profitable battery division compounded by settlement money

LG Energy Solution said it had invested 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in battery research and development over the past six years, allocating 5-6 percent of its revenue every year. According to the South Korean battery giant, it held the highest number of battery patents as of late last year -- 23,610, which is at least 10 times as many as of a leading Chinese battery firm that joined the global race recently. LG Energy Solution’s battery research has continued for about three decade

South Korean online game publisher Neowiz said Wednesday it has acquired a 60 percent stake in a local mobile game company Sticky Hands. “The acquisition will give Neowiz the business management rights over Sticky Hands and allow the company to boost its competitiveness in the global casual game market,” a Neowiz official said. Launched in 2016, Sticky Hands specializes in solitaire, a tabletop game which one can play by oneself, usually with cards. Its solitaire game series rec

Hanwha Q Cells said Wednesday that more than 100,000 households in Germany have joined its Q.Energy service so far, which allows customers to buy and consume electricity generated 100 percent by renewables. According to the solar power unit of Hanwha Solutions, the Q.Energy service sources the electricity from renewable-energy power plants in Germany and Austria and delivers the energy to the German households. “The Q.Energy service, which garnered more than 100,000 household subscri

Transport Ministry‘s new move allows Air Premia, Aero K to fly inaugural flights by end of year

Shoppers in South Korea spent some 2.4 trillion won on fast-growing e-commerce giant Coupang and its food delivery app Coupang Eats last month, according to data released from industry tracker WiseApp on Wednesday. The latest data showed some 20 million people spent a total of 2.4 trillion won during the month of January, with each spending a total of 144,000 won per month on average on both apps. The data is based on credit card and debit card transactions and bank transfers of South Koreans

Samsung Electronics Co. was the second-largest vendor in Russia's online smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2020, a report showed Wednesday, amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. The South Korean tech giant accounted for 27 percent of online smartphone shipments in Russia in the last three months of 2020, up from 24.9 percent a year ago, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. Samsung was the top brand in the overall Russian smartphone market in the October-Decemb

Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday said it has launched a kiosk machine in South Korea that highlights advanced security and hygiene features as the South Korean tech giant enters the self-service machine business amid the pandemic-induced contactless trend. Samsung Kiosk is an all-in-one self-service machine that allows consumers to select, order and pay for services and products at restaurants, marts and pharmacies. Samsung said its first-ever kiosk machine will be globally available in th

Kia Corp. South Korea's No. 2 carmaker, on Wednesday revealed the exterior design of the new large sedan K8, the first model that bears its new brand logo. The K8 is a successor of K7, better known as Cadenza in the United States, which has sold over 500,000 units globally since its launch in 2009. Its new corporate image features elongated 5,015 mm body with a low roofline, which combines sportiness and sleek exterior design. At the front sits a new signature frameless tiger nose grille that

SK Telecom Co., the country's largest mobile carrier, said Wednesday it joined hands with its security subsidiary ADT Caps Co. and local video management solution company Innodep Inc. to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-based video analysis services. Under an agreement, the three companies will develop such services to effectively manage video surveillance systems in the growing local market in the private and public sectors, according to SK Telecom. The mobile carrier said it will optimiz

Unionized workers at Kumho Tire have voted to accept a wage deal for the year of 2020 amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, the union said Tuesday. The management and labor union reached an agreement early this month on a wage freeze and a cash bonus worth 1 million won ($900) per worker plus a contract to guarantee job security. Its 2,700-strong union approved the deal in a vote held from Monday to Tuesday, union spokesman Kim Seong-jin said. Kumho Tire didn't raise wages for 2018 and

Following Celltrion’s antibody therapy, GC Pharma’s blood plasma-derived therapy and more on the way

South Korean vaccine-maker SK Bioscience will manufacture 40 million doses of US’ Novavax vaccines, enough to inoculate 20 million people. Under the agreement signed by SK Bioscience, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and Novavax on Tuesday, Novavax will license out its NVX-CoV2373 vaccine technology to SK Bioscience for contract manufacturing purposes. As per this deal, South Korea will have the means to stably secure COVID-19 vaccines domestically, without having to rely on

Bearing the brunt of a prolonged COVID-19 fallout, South Korea saw the employment gap widen between top-tier businesses and smaller ones last year, data showed Tuesday. The number of employed people here stood at 25.81 million in January, down 982,000 from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea and Korea Small Business Institute. The steepest dip was observed in small and medium-sized businesses with less than 300 employees, where the employed population contracted by