Hanwha Group, the nation’s 10th-largest conglomerate by assets, is to step up its penetration into the growing Japanese solar power market by establishing its second sales office in Osaka within the month, the company said on Thursday. The group’s first Japanese sales office opened in Fukuoka in 2012.In August last year, Hanwha Group signed a deal with Japanese trading firm Marubeni to supply solar modules by 2016 that generate about 500 megawatts.“The group will also set up the first after-sale

Human error is one of the main causes of malfunctions at nuclear power plants in Korea, a survey showed on Tuesday. According to the state-run Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, 672 breakdowns or accidents at nuclear plants were reported over the past 36 years between 1978 and April 2013, and 18.3 percent of them were caused by human error. The latest breakdowns of two nuclear reactors, caused by the use of substandard parts, were not reflected in the data.“Twenty percent of breakdowns occurred

Doubts about whether Thailand’s $12 billion water-related project will proceed as planned are rising among Korean builders.The Thai government is scheduled to select preferred bidders for the nine project modules on Tuesday, but Korean participating firms believe that the announcement will be delayed without a fixed deadline due to differences over price. “We expect the announcement to be made around June 11, but we haven’t received any official notice from the Thai government on the adjusted ti

The government’s decision to cut its budget for infrastructure construction by 11.6 trillion won ($10.3 billion) for the next four years is prompting concerns that it would aggravate financial woes facing some builders and their creditor banks.Under the plan, the budget for road construction projects will drop the most, with a 4.5 trillion won ($4.billion) reduction, followed by railroads with a 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion) cut. The cuts for infrastructure make up about 13.8 percent of the over

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Friday it has intensified inspections and quarantines on U.S. wheat as some genetically modified wheat was recently found at a farm in Oregon. U.S. authorities said the genetically engineered wheat found in Oregon was of the type developed by Monsanto to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup. It added that the wheat was not harmful to public health, but was not approved for commercial use. “We are investigating into not only U.S. wheat imp

The government decided to reduce the electricity consumption of its offices and public organizations during peak hours by at least 20 percent.It also plans to control the use of electric power by such heavy consumers as conglomerates which use more than 5,000 kilowatts.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced these and others measures to reduce electricity consumption in the summer amid rising concerns of a power outage in the wake of the recent shutdown of two more nuclear reactors.

The state-run Korea Trade Insurance Corp., known as K-sure, and Korea Export-Import Bank will offer $1.5 billion in loans to the “Sabine Pass” liquefied natural gas project in the U.S., K-sure said on Monday.The LNG project refers to the LNG-related facility expansion project at Sabine Pass in the state of Louisiana, which will allow the U.S. to export LNG for the first time in its history. The U.S. government has stepped up lifting a ban on LNG exports in line with the rising supply of natural