SK Innovation Co., a South Korean refinery-to-battery company, plans to issue a green bond worth 1.09 trillion won ($1 billion) to expand its electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing capacity in the United States, officials said Wednesday. SK battery America Inc., the Korean firm's US subsidiary, will issue the green bond, a type of financing for eco-friendly projects, later this month to build its second EV battery plant in Georgia, a company spokesperson said. The new fund will be an exte

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday their US vehicle sales fell 7.3 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hyundai and Kia, South Korea's two biggest carmakers, sold a combined 1,208,374 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market last year, down from 1,304,109 units the previous year, the companies said in separate statements. Hyundai's US sales fell 9.7 percent to 622,269 units last year from 688,771 a year ago, while

Hanmi eyed as potential Moderna vaccine contract manufacturer in Korea, while SK seeks acquisition of French cell and gene CMO Yposkesi

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Tuesday it will change its articles of association to help finance its planned acquisition of smaller rival Asiana Airlines Inc. Korean Air will hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Wednesday to amend its articles of association ahead of its 2.5 trillion-won ($2.3 billion) rights issue plan for March to sell more stocks aimed at funding the acquisition, a company spokeswoman said over the phone. The national flag carrier plans

South Korea’s chip exports are expected to grow 10.2 percent and surpass $100 billion this year, which would be the nation’s second-best performance since 2018, according to the Trade Ministry on Tuesday. Korea will again become the world’s second-largest semiconductor provider this year, following the US, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s first-ever market report focusing solely on semiconductors. The report said Korea’s shipments of chip

South Korean mobile carriers are launching cheap payment plans to woo more 5G subscribers amid accelerating user migration to their high-speed 5G networks. LG Uplus Corp. said Tuesday it will release a new monthly data plan, offering 6 gigabytes of data at 5G speeds for 47,000 won ($43), following rival carrier KT Corp., which also launched late last year a monthly 5G plan at 45,000 won for 5 gigabytes of data. The new data plans are relatively more affordable than most existing 5G data plans

Rival political parties on Tuesday reached an agreement to put the bill on industrial accident to a full parliamentary vote this week, seeking to approve the enhanced regulations for employers as early as within the week. With the apparently accelerated legislative timeline, business groups -- especially those speaking for large-size employers -- reiterated their concerns that the bill is set to exert excessive pressure on business operators. Reps. Kim Tae-nyeon and Joo Ho-young, the respecti

Korea outruns China with last-minute LNG carrier orders, foresees uptrend in 2021 amid growing calls for eco-friendly ships

South Korean game maker NCSoft and entertainment giant CJ ENM said Tuesday they will establish a new entertainment joint venture this year. According to the memorandum of understanding signed Tuesday, the joint venture will combine NCSoft’s advanced information technology and CJ ENM’s expertise in the entertainment business to create new content. Though the exact type of the new content the joint venture will create has not yet been unveiled, this is not the first time the compan

Blending of AI, autonomous driving, 5G to produce contactless technologies

South Koreans’ spending on drinks and cigarettes reached a record high during the third quarter of last year, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday. Households spent 4.3 trillion won ($3.96 billion) on liquor and cigarettes between July and September – a 6.2 percent increase from the same period a year prior, data from the country’s central bank revealed. The figure marks the highest quarterly figure since records began at the central bank in 1970. The year-on-year jump is also th

South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Tuesday that it has signed a 199 billion-won ($183 million) deal to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier for a local shipper. The vessel will be delivered to Pan Ocean Co. by April 2023, Samsung Heavy said in an emailed statement. With the latest order, Samsung Heavy has won orders to build 20 LNG carriers since November. The shipbuilder has yet to announce its order target for 2021. (Yonhap)

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to remain the world's top smartphone producer this year, a report showed Tuesday, though its market share is likely to go down as other brands will ramp up production with the recovery of mobile demand. Global smartphone production was projected to increase 9 percent on-year to 1.36 billion units in 2021, according to market researcher TrendForce, which predicted that device replacement demand and growth in emerging markets will lead to gradual recovery of th

LG Display Co., the world's leading large size OLED panel maker, said Tuesday its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV panel has received an eye protection certification for low blue light emission. Its OLED display became the industry's first TV panel to win an accreditation from Eyesafe, a US-based eye protection certification agency, according to LG Display. Eyesafe developed standards for eye protection in cooperation with TUV Rheinland AG, a German technical test service and certificati

With icy cold weather hitting regions across the country, concerns are rising about increased car accidents on black ice. To be prepared for emergencies, Victorinox presented its Rescue Tool, a continuation of its flagship Swiss Army Knife series that boasts 15 tools useful in such situations. According to the knife manufacturer and luxury watchmaker on Tuesday, among the tools are a one-handed serrated locking blade for precise cutting, a seatbelt cutter in case the user becomes entangled and