The future of LG Electronics’ next generation smartphone model with a rollable OLED display hangs in the air as the tech giant seeks to sell its money-losing mobile business unit. The company said Friday that it was still developing the Rollable, but added that detailed plans for its launch had not been decided, and that the company was “open to every possibility.” During this year’s CES, LG teased the model with a 10-second clip, grabbing global media attention as the

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., a major South Korean builder, said Friday it shifted to a net loss in the fourth quarter from a year earlier due to currency-related losses. For the three months that ended in December, Hyundai E&C swung to a net loss of 122 billion won ($110.6 million) from a net profit of 6.9 billion won in the same period of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company said the US dollar's strength against the won mainly contributed to the l

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Friday it will raise a higher than previously planned amount by selling stocks for its planned acquisition of smaller rival Asiana Airlines Inc. Korean Air plans to sell 3.3 trillion won ($3 billion) worth of new stocks, which is higher than the originally planned 2.5 trillion won to finance the acquisition of debt-laden Asiana, due to its soaring stock price, the company said in a regulatory filing. The national flag carrier plans to i

South Korea’s ICT Ministry said Friday it has dispatched the country’s new mid-sized satellite to Kazakhstan for a March launch. The 500-kilogram low Earth orbit satellite will arrive at Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sunday, where it will go through a series of steps before the March 20 launch, according to the ministry. From there, the mid-sized satellite will be flown into a 500-kilometer-high orbit by a Russian Soyuz rocket. When in orbit, the satellite, which is

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Friday it will seek to take punitive actions against unfair business activity by online platform operators in a bid to protect contractors and consumers. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) plans to submit a bill designed to prevent unfair business activity by online platform operators to the National Assembly next week, the regulator said in its 2021 policy plan. Under the bill, online platform operators will be levied with a hefty fine if they conduc

South Korea said Friday it plans to deploy at least five vessels by the end of February to support exporters facing troubles from a hike in freight costs amid soaring demand. Under the plan, HMM Co., the country's leading shipper, will operate a ship with a capacity of 4,600 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) on the American route in January, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. TEU is a measure used for the capacity of container transportation. SM Line Corp., another loca

Public transportation in urban cities has been one of the central places of anxiety and fear amidst the COVID-19 era, since physical contact with other people is unavoidable, especially during rush hours. Korea Smart Card says it is trying to reduce these concerns with a “face recognition payment system” that eliminates the need to tap in with a card or a phone. This pilot scheme of instant tag-less payment introduces a safer and more efficient non-contact payment method, it said.

Samsung Electronics stands to benefit from US tech giant Intel’s chip outsourcing plan, industry sources said Friday. Intel’s incoming CEO Pat Gelsinger said during an earnings call Thursday that the company is likely to increase use of outside chip factories “for certain technologies and products.” The CEO’s remarks came after a news report that Samsung had bagged an order to produce Intel’s Southbridge chipset, one of two controlling chips in the core lo

South Korea's science ministry said Friday its new midsized satellite has started traveling to Kazakhstan for a launch this year as the country seeks to develop homegrown space technology. The 500-kilogram low Earth orbit satellite is scheduled to be launched into space on Russia's Soyuz 2.1a rocket from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 20, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. Once in orbit, the satellite, equipped with an imaging sensor system developed by South Korean resea

ULikeKorea on Thursday announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Sumitomo Corporation Korea to develop a health care tracker chip for pets in Japan. While existing microchip implants for dogs and cats reveal their identification serial numbers and can be used to trace lost animals back to their families, the proposed new product could enable real-time monitoring of an animal’s body temperature and activity levels through a mobile application. With this information, p

Gopizza, a Korean pizza franchise specializing in single servings, saw sales break past SG$100,000 ($75,000) in Singapore in December, eight months after its first launch in the country, the company said Thursday. The pizza franchise tapped into the Singaporean market in April 2020, and has been seeing its monthly sales rise steadily, with an increase rate of 20 percent in average following the opening of new outlets, the company said. With December sales of SG$110,000, Gopizza attributed i

Samyang Foods on Thursday unveiled a new corporate management vision that focuses on environment, society and improved corporate governance. The company, known globally for its popular Buldak Spicy Chicken noodles, said it plans to launch an audit committee and a compensation committee in March to actively promote transparency and environment-friendly values in business management. “This year, we will create social values by actively promoting ESG management,” Samyang Foods Pres

Hanwha Solutions to inject $1b to transform into a leading solar-to-hydrogen company

Nation’s superrich group comprises both chaebol members and new business figures

From a wartime gunpowder supplier to a retail-to-finance conglomerate, Hanwha Group has made quite a transformation in its near seven-decade history. Yet, its change from now on may be even more dramatic, as the group with 86 affiliates and total assets of 71 trillion won redefines its core to future-leading technologies such as solar power and hydrogen. At the very center of this ongoing shift in Hanwha’s identity stands Kim Dong-kwan, the eldest son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seun