The Export-Import Bank of Korea said Wednesday it is offering a $100 million funding, consisting of a $55 million loan and a $45 million loan guarantee, to a Chilean mineral producer in efforts to help local companies secure a stable supply of lithium, a key material for batteries. SQM or Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile is the second-largest lithium-producing company in the world that operates lithium mines in Chile and Australia. The company’s production capacity makes up almost 19 pe

LG Innotek was acknowledged for its quality of automotive components provided to General Motors for five consecutive years, the company said Wednesday. The South Korean major electronics parts maker won the 2021 GM Supplier Quality Excellence Award, marking its fifth consecutive win since 2017. The award is given by GM every year to its partners whose supplies meet GM’s standard of zero quality defects. The auto parts go through strict quality control, as they are directly connected to t

Hyundai Motor Group has teamed up with Hanjin KAL, the parent firm of national flag carrier Korean Air, and Incheon International Airport Corp. on Tuesday to jointly develop automation technology for Incheon Airport's smart cargo terminal infrastructure. The technology will be applied to Incheon Airport’s airsides, the aircraft take-off and landing areas such as runways. This business agreement is part of the IIAC’s project, initiated in April, last year, to prepare infrastructure fo

HAMYANG, South Gyeongsang Province – A week before Chuseok, the sounds of a combine harvester's revving engine echoed in Gi-dong village of Hamyang, some 240 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The sound is not an unfamiliar one at any farm during harvest season around the country, but the scene was different as the machine cut and threshed grains underneath solar panels. Sleek, rectangular panels are placed on poles five meters above the ground at an agrivoltaic demostration complex in the vil

Steel giant Posco Group’s Representative Director and President Jeong Tak visited the Argentinian government Thursday to ask for the country’s support on South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 Busan Expo, the company said Sunday. Jeong met with Santiago Cafiero, the Argentinian Minister of Foreign Affairs, to promote Busan as the No.1 port city that is most optimized to host a global exhibition. Jang Myung-soo, South Korean Ambassador to Argentina, was also present at the meeting.

Business leaders and experts gathered in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province on Friday to discuss ways to create a globally connected hydrogen ecosystem amid growing geographical uncertainties stemming from Russia's attack on Ukraine and worsening climate change. Jeong Marn-ki, president and CEO of the Korea Automobile Manufacture Association, called hydrogen a carbon-free alternative to fossil fuels at the International H2 Conference. Hydrogen can prevent such uncertainties in the future, but its commer

The world’s largest exhibition exploring the potential of hydrogen in the field of mobility kicked off in Korea on Wednesday, bringing industrial giants from in and out of the country with their latest technological achievements. H2 Mobility Energy Environment Technology, or H2 Meet in short, is the world’s only hydrogen industry exhibition. It was organized to bolster the country’s technological innovation in the hydrogen sector ranging from the energy’s production, stor

South Korean chemical company LG Chem said Tuesday it is building its fourth carbon nanotube manufacturing plant to bolster its responsiveness to the rapidly growing demand globally, especially for electric vehicle batteries. Carbon nanotube, widely called CNT, is considered a next-generation material that offers equivalent level of electricity and thermal conductivity as copper and diamond, and has 100 times the strength of steel. Demand for the material has surged recently as it is used as con

Executives from financial firms were reaping astronomical salaries and bonuses amid increasing embezzlement, a lawmaker said Monday, quoting data. Data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Rep. Yang Jung-suk showed that a total of 327 embezzlement cases worth a total of 170 billion won ($126 million) had occurred at 78 financial firms from 2017 to August this year. According to the data, the amount of damage caused by embezzlements in the financial sector was increasing every yea

While touting South Korea’s unrivaled position as a digital hub in the Asia-Pacific region, foreign executives and experts called for a need to create sustainable regulatory environment to foster the country‘s digital prowess at a forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce on Friday. “Korea is a optimal place for digital transformation, and will rise as a regional digital hub for Asia Pacific,“ said James Kim AMCHAM Chairman & CEO, at the Digital Innovation For

A global healthcare exhibition kicked off in Busan on Thursday to test the southeastern port city’s potential of becoming a healthcare hub in Northeast Asia, organizers said. The three-day 2022 Global Healthcare Week, which is taking place at BEXCO, brings experts, companies and hospitals specializing in senior care, beauty, bio, food and fitness together to provide the latest information, products and services on how to live well and happy, they said. A total of 145 organizations are par

A bank employee in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, was forced to cook, wash dishes and clean clothes at her workplace over the last two years, a civic group said while filing the case to anti-corruption and labor dispute agencies. According to Gapjil 119, a civic group that campaigns against workplace abuses, one of the female employees working at MG Community Credit Cooperatives said she had to cook rice at 11 a.m. and report to her branch manager how well the rice was done. She also claims sh

Kyobo Life Insurance Co., a South Korean life insurer, said on Thursday it has established the Cia-Cia Hangeul School on Buton Island, Indonesia, in partnership with the Korea Cia-Cia Cultural Exchange Association. The Cia-Cia are one of Indonesia’s 350 minorities who in 2009 officially chose to use the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, to preserve its fading language. The Cia-Cia local language, also known as Butonese, does not have its own writing system. They use Hangeul to mimic the pronuncia

South Korea’s largest beer maker Oriental Brewery introduced its climate change-tackling technology at the Conference of Global Climate Action Fund, according to the company on Wednesday. The conference, initiated for the first time and scheduled to be held from Monday to Friday, was co-hosted by the W Foundation and United Nations Climate Change Convention. It was designed to support private sector efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. At the conference, Nataly Borges, vice president o

Hyundai Motor Group said on Tuesday it has decided to invest in Bos Semiconductors, an automotive semiconductor startup. Bos Semiconductor is a fabless startup which specializes in manufacturing system semiconductors used in automotive software. The startup aims to design high-performance semiconductors that consume low amounts of power. It also aims to manufacture central processing units and high-speed interfaces that are essential for automotive semiconductors. Hyundai Motor’s inv