Global shipments of foldable smartphones shot up more than 60 percent in the third quarter this year, despite the stagnant smartphone market, owing to high sales of Samsung Electronics’ foldable devices, according to industry tracker Counterpoint Research on Tuesday. From July to September, foldable smartphone shipments worldwide surged about 63 percent on-year to 6.08 million units. Although the global smartphone market posted stagnant sales, foldable items accounted for 2 percent of th

The South Korean government will consider increasing public utility fees for the following year to offset widening deficits in the electricity, gas and subway sectors. While the government is set to announce its plan on raising utility prices on electricity and gas within this week, Seoul subway fares are also expected to go up after a yearslong freeze. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday, the two government bodies are at the

Faced with faltering subscriber counts and deteriorating profitability, South Korea's over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services, are making seismic changes as they seek strategies to achieve sustainable business growth. Despite the growing popularity of streaming services worldwide, local firms’ profits have worsened due to their heavy investment in content. The three major domestic streaming services -- Tving, Watcha and Wavve -- have logged an accumulated deficit of 157

Huawei Technologies Korea will continuously stay committed to working with its partners to develop green and low-carbon technologies to attain carbon neutral goals, its top executive said Thursday. “We promise to cooperate with South Korean partners to build a better green digital life in the following year,” Sun Luyuan, the chief executive officer of the Chinese tech giant's Korean unit said in a year-end press conference at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul. Huawei's green

South Korean steel giant Posco said Tuesday it was named the world’s most competitive steelmaker for the 13th consecutive year. In an annual global industry assessment of 35 steelmakers from around the world, steel information service provider World Steel Dynamics (WSD) gave Posco an average score of 8.5 points out of 10, according to the Korean company. Established in 1999, the WSD is the only organization to announce the competitiveness index among the world's steelmakers. Based o

LG Uplus Chief Executive Officer Hwang Hyun-sik, dressed as Santa Claus, delivers a gift to a boy at a Christmas party at an orphanage in Yongsan, central Seoul, Monday afternoon. As part of the telecom carrier's social contribution program that started in 2017, company executives visit welfare facilities every year to donate goods and spend time with children there.

Samsung Electronics, which completed its annual executive reshuffle Friday, will embark on a global strategy meeting starting this week to establish business strategies for next year amid persistent uncertainties over the macroeconomic environment. Samsung’s global strategy meeting, which is held biannually in June and December, is a venue where executives at local and global units gather to review business conditions of each sector and discuss new growth engine plans for the upcoming ye

LG Group said Sunday it has donated 12 billion won ($9.2 million) to the Community Chest of Korea as part of its year-end charitable giving. LG Corp. President Ha Beom-jong (center left) and Cho Heung-sik (center right), chairman of the Community Chest of Korea, pose for a photo during the ceremony held at the charity’s Seoul office Friday.

South Korea’s intellectual property agency chief has been chosen as one of the 50 most influential people from the intellectual property industry this year by UK magazine Managing IP. Korean Intellectual Property Office Commissioner Lee Insil was named on the list released Tuesday, which also included US President Joe Biden and World Trade Organization Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Lee was the only Korean IP expert to win the feat this year. The IP chief has been recognized for her

A total of 24 Korean companies have been added to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) this year, the Korea Productivity Center said Sunday. The selected domestic companies include SK Telecom, LG Electronics, Kia, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, S-Oil, Shinhan Financial Group, KB Financial Group and Samsung SDI, according to the public institution. The DJSI World is part of a larger family of Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) launched in 1999 as the first global sustai

South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Friday that it would deal sternly with the nation’s unionized cargo truckers for hindering an on-site probe into its head offices as their walkout continues over a week. Investigators of Fair Trade Commission visited the union's headquarters in Seoul and Busan to see whether its members had forced other workers to stop their transport duties or join the strike. Deterred by union members to enter the offices, the FTC Chairman Han Ki-jeong

Korean dating reality show “Ramyun & Chill” is gaining global attention following its launch on the official YouTube channel of DKDKTV earlier last month. “Ramyun & Chill” is a five-episode show that features five Korean male participants and five female participants from the US, Hong Kong, Belgium, South Africa and Malaysia, dating each other for four days and three nights to find true love while overcoming language and cultural barriers. “The biggest cha

South Korea’s largest private equity firm Hahn & Company said Friday it has completed the acquisition of the industrial film business of SK Group affiliate SKC in a deal worth 1.6 trillion won ($1.2 billion). The latest deal is the largest merger and acquisition closed in the country this year amid M&A jitters globally. The company said SKC’s industrial film business has full potential as its products are widely used in advanced technologies for the display, mobile and se

SK Group, the nation’s second-largest conglomerate, appears to be seeking stability rather than drastic changes in the face of economic uncertainty, as it carried out a modest year-end leadership reshuffle across affiliates. SK Supex Council, the group’s top decision-making body, said its Chairman Cho Dae-sik will extend his two-year term again for a fourth time since he took the post in a unanimous vote among council members in 2017. The council, however, replaced the heads of the f

One month after Lee Jae-yong was promoted to the top post at Samsung Electronics, South Koreans are found to have a more favorable view of him than before, data showed Thursday. According to research firm Data&Research, a total of 18,335 online posts, excluding news reports, featuring the phrase “Chairman Lee Jae-yong” have been published in the month since his promotion to chairman on Oct. 27. The figure almost doubled from 9,764 posts a month earlier. During the same period, Le