Up to 1.6 trillion won ($1.5 billion) is about to go down the drain for SK, and the company is not going to stand for it. SK Incheon Petrochem, which was spun off from SK Energy last May, is considering taking legal action against the Seo-gu Office of Incheon City to rescue its faltering 1.6 trillion won investment project, SK Innovation, said the holding company of SK Group’s energy businesses. “The company will take all types of measures, including legal action, to put the investment project b

Land, housing, infrastructure and transport-related public enterprises, including the Land and Housing Corp., Korea Railroad Corp. and K-water, were urged to launch aggressive reform plan to improve their financial health and management efficiency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Monday. The request was made during a meeting on normalizing operations of 14 public firms under the ministry. The meeting, presided over by Minister Seo Seoung-hwan at the Sejong government comp

Despite sharp falls in the first week of the year, the country’s stock market may gain ground this week on the back of optimism for a global recovery, stock market analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or KOSPI, finished at 1,946.14 last week, down 2.1 percent from a week earlier. The KOSPI declined for the second straight session on last Friday as the local currency’s rise against the dollar and the yen raised fears of a negative impact on exporters. Foreign investors u

Samsung Group, the nation’s top conglomerate, is expected to make aggressive investments in its mainstay businesses this year, industry sources said on Sunday, adding its increased investments will be put on new growth engines. The group’s investments are poised to top 50 trillion won ($47.4 billion) this year, up from 49 trillion won last year.Samsung Electronics, the flagship company of the group, and Samsung Everland, the group’s de facto holding company, will each spend 84.7 billion won to b

More local manufacturers are pessimistic about their business conditions in January-March than the past quarter, due to the planned U.S. monetary stimulus cuts and local currency‘s volatility, a poll showed Sunday.The survey of 426 companies by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade showed the Business Survey Index at 93 for the first quarter of the year, down 8 points from 101 for the October-December period of last year.The index g

A jolting tumble in South Korean stocks in the first two trading days of the year has wiped out nearly 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) in the value of stocks owned by chiefs of top 10 business groups, according to the data compiled by Chaebul.com, a chaebol research firm.The combined value of stocks held by the top 10 chiefs, including Lee Kun-hee of Samsung Group, reached 26.29 trillion won at the market closing on Jan. 3, down 4.2 percent from 27.44 trillion won on Dec. 30, the last session of 2

About 90 of fines levied on conglomerates by the financial regulator were later canceled by the courts last year despite initial rulings that sided with the regulator, data compiled by the Fair Trade Commission showed Sunday.The FTC’s records showed it has won 14 of the 21 lower court cases on corporate fines last year, a success rate in the upper 60 percent. The results are better, at over 80 percent, when smaller companies and individuals are also considered.“The FTC fines amounted to 4 trilli

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., the nation’s monopoly power grid company, is making all-out efforts to reduce its 55 trillion won ($52 billion) in debt. “The efforts include sales of not only non-core but also core assets at home and abroad,’’ a KEPCO official said Monday. The move came after the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in early December called on companies including KEPCO to take bold measures to reduce their debt. The ministry is responsible for the structural reform of stat

The nation’s shipbuilding industry, which has struggled for years since its peak in 2007, is on track for a recovery next year, boosted by a rebound in new orders, a report by the Woori Investment & Securities said. “The top three shipbuilders ― Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries ― are expected to raise their annual order target by 12 percent on average next year, compared with that of 2013,’’ the report said. Growing demand for liquef