Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's No. 2 carmaker, said Friday it will suspend two plants near Seoul until this weekend following the confirmation of COVID-19 cases there days earlier. A total of 13 coronavirus cases have been traced to the plants in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, including four family members of the workers. The plants with a combined workforce of 6,000 remained shuttered Friday for the third consecutive day after the automaker halted their operations late Wednesday in the w

LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean mobile carrier, said Friday it plans to roll out its 5G-powered autonomous robot next year.The robot -- which is being developed in partnership with autonomous mobility firm Unmanned Solution -- has recently demonstrated its abilities at local refiner Hyundai Oilbank Co.'s facility in Seosan, 150 kilometers south of Seoul, LG Uplus said. The robot was able to roam around the compound on its own with a margin of error of 10 centimeters and carry out safety p

Top 10 companies with largest M&A deals combined

South Korea's trade minister returned home Friday after a four-day trip to the United States meant to secure Washington's support for her campaign to become the next leader of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee met with US government and business officials and discussed a wide array of bilateral issues, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. During her stay, Yoo especially focused on winning Washington's support for her bid to become the next he

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong met with Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koji Tomita last week to discuss various topics, including an easing of entry restrictions for businesspeople, diplomatic sources said Thursday. South Korea and Japan have imposed entry curbs over coronavirus concerns, further dampening bilateral exchanges already strained by disputes over wartime forced labor. "Ambassador Tomita is said to have met Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong as part of his diplomatic ac

Before getting my hands on the LG Wing, I had no idea why we would need a screen that spins around. But once I got to swivel the main screen -- with the transition so incredibly suave thanks to the built-in hydraulic damper -- it was, indeed, a whole new experience. With the 6.8-inch P-OLED Full Vision display swiveled 90 degrees to set it horizontally, the LG phone offered the best conditions that vertical square-shape smartphones can offer for watching movies and taking photos or v

Philips stresses importance of ‘health continuum,’ empowering people to stay on top of health

LG Chem to hold 100% stake in LG Energy Solution, time for IPO undecided

SK Holdings has raised 480 billion won ($409 million) by selling shares of logistics operator e-Shang Redwood Group through a block deal, with plans to invest the newly secured capital in its future growth engines, the company said Thursday. The deal saw 140 million shares sold at 22.50 Hong Kong dollars ($2.90) per share, accounting for 4.6 percent of the total stock, as SK Holdings collected the principal. Following the sale, SK Holdings now owns 6.4 percent of stock in the company, a share

Korean Air announced on Thursday it was injecting 1.1 trillion won into its subsidiary company Hanjin International to help pay off its debts and keep the latter’s hotel business afloat. The decision was made during a board of directors meeting on Wednesday, which will help pay back HIC’s debt worth $900 million while $50 million will be used to cover operating expenses for the Wilshire Grand Center in Downtown Los Angeles, a hotel HIC has operated since 2017. The airline said the

Hyundai Glovis said Thursday it partnered with Thailand’s No. 1 business group, Charoen Pokphand Group, to target the country’s logistics market. Under the partnership, the two companies will start a pilot project by the end of this year by injecting electric trucks into the transportation of convenience store 7-Eleven’s products operated by CP Group across Thailand. This is expected to be the first time for an electric truck to be introduced to a Thai logistics site, the Ko

Hyundai Motor said Thursday that it has received 10,842 precontracts on launch day for its new sport utility vehicle, the all-new Tucson, in South Korea. It is the first SUV model to surpass the 10,000 mark on the first day, the automaker said. The New Grandeur, launched last year, sold 17,294 units and the new Avante sold 10,058 units on the day of its release earlier this year. The latest SUV was introduced at an online world premiere event on Tuesday, drawing 410,000 viewers from around

Samsung Biologics signed to contract develop Panolos Bioscience‘s novel anti-cancer drug candidate PB101, the company announced Thursday. Per contract, Samsung Biologics will be responsible for all steps of PB101’s development, including cell line development, preclinical and global clinical trials’ sample manufacturing and investigational new drug applications. Panolos Bioscience’s next-generation anti-cancer pipeline PB101 fights cancer by inhibiting the growth of tum

Prices for server DRAM chips are expected to further decline in the fourth quarter of the year, a report showed Thursday, boding ill for South Korean chipmakers amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Market researcher TrendForce recently revised its server DRAM prices forecast for the last three months of 2020, saying that server manufacturers still hold a relatively high inventory of the product, while the industry is dealing with an oversupply issue. It originally predicted a 10-15 percent

Monthly export of COVID-19 diagnostic kits