South Korea’s exports have declined for the 11th consecutive month due mainly to a slowdown in demand for chips and the weak global economy, data showed Friday. According to the Trade Ministry, the nation’s exports stood at $46.7 billion last month, down 14.7 percent on-year, the biggest decline this year. Exports have fallen since December last year, and the decline has been double-digit for five months since June this year. By product, exports of chips shrank 32.1 percent, whi

South Korea is seeking to reduce travel time in heavily congested metropolitan areas by building deep underground roads and adding new high-speed train services by 2030, officials said Thursday.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced its vision for “metropolitan transportation 2030,” presenting three goals: to shorten travel time in major regional hubs to 30 minutes, cut down travel costs by up to 30 percent, and reduce by 30 percent the time people spend transfe

South Korea has embarked on an autonomous ship project by investing 160 billion won ($130 million), seeking to boost the domestic eco-friendly and smart shipping industry and achieve a 50 percent global market share by 2030.The Industry Ministry and the Oceans Ministry announced Wednesday that the project they are jointly pursing has passed the preliminary feasibility studies.The project aims to develop key technologies related to autonomous navigation and system autonomy while laying the founda

Kazakhstan’s competition authority has recently notified its approval of the merger between the world’s two largest shipbuilders, said Hyundai Heavy Industries on Tuesday. According to HHI, the Kazakhstan government approved the tie-up with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering after comprehensively reviewing the definition of related markets and evaluating competition limitations.This is the first approval for the tie-up as the plan is currently undergoing a review in five ot

South Korea’s largest companies, including Samsung, Hyundai and LG, spent more on research and development and earned more in 2018 compared to the previous year, despite growing concerns about the slowing global economy, according to a local public institute on Monday. According to a new report released by the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology under the Industry Ministry, the combined investment on research and development of 1,000 companies amounted to 49.7 trillion won ($42.5

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog is probing the US franchise Subway over an allegation that it forced a local franchisee to shut down his shop without a proper reason, said officials and local news reports Sunday.　The Fair Trade Commission’s Seoul office recently concluded in its preliminary investigation that the American franchise might have violated the local franchise business law and filed the case to an in-house judging committee.The probe began as one store owner of Subway cha

South Korea’s declining exports are predicted to turn around in the first quarter of next year on the back of rising demand for chips and recovery in the global economy, a trade association said Sunday. “The nation’s exports are expected to bottom out this month and turn positive from the first quarter of next year due to the recovery in chip unit prices,” said Moon Byung-ki, a senior researcher at the Korea International Trade Association’s trend analysis division,

The Korea International Trade Association held the first Korea-Turkmenistan business council with the Turkmenistan Chamber of Commerce on Thursday in Seoul as a follow-up to the summit between the two nations held in April. The council was held to discuss how Korean companies can enter into promising fields in Turkmenistan such as energy, transportation, water environment and industries, including textiles, information and communications technology and shipbuilding, KITA said. The plenary s

South Korea is hosting an international renewable energy conference this week to discuss the global climate crisis and measures to expand renewable energy use with around 3,500 participants from 108 nations. The International Renewable Energy Conference, which kicked off Wednesday in Seoul, is a biannual energy forum. The three-day event is being attended by government officials from 59 countries, including the US, Germany and China, international organizations, including the International Renew

South Korea’s top antitrust regulator warned Tuesday that unfair intra-trading deals would be closely monitored to see whether they benefit owner families of conglomerates, during a morning meeting attended by company executives, including from Samsung and Hyundai. “The Fair Trade Commission does not currently impose any specific sanctions or directly intervene in the operations of conglomerates for their high economic concentration or influence of owner families on the entire group

South Korea’s information communications technology exports have declined for 11 straight months due mainly to a slowdown in demand for memory chips, data showed on Monday. According to the Trade Ministry, Korea’s ICT exports stood at $15.8 billion in September, down 22 percent from the same period last year. The on-year decline has continued for 11 consecutive months since November last year. The shipment of chips last month stood at $8.5 billion, a 31.5 percent drop on-year. D

JINCHEON, North Chungcheong Province -- At Hanwha Q Cells’ factory in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, there are hardly any workers. The five assembly lines -- 330 meters wide and 100 meters long -- are run by eight workers each. The high-quality solar cell and module manufacturer claims it is one of the most automated factories in the global industry.  “Automation is important. When an employee touches cells or modules, fingerprints or microcracks can be left on the produc

FOREIGN COMPANY DAY -- Winners pose for a photo on 2018 Foreign Company Day in Seoul on Nov. 5, 2018. This year on Nov. 4, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is hosting 2019 Foreign Company Day at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas. Organized by the Korea Foreign Company Association, the annual event is held to acknowledge foreign-invested companies and related organizations that have contributed to the domestic economy. (FORCA)

SK Global Chemical is set to acquire French chemical firm Arkema’s functional polyolefins business, in the latest move to boost its packaging business, the firm said Tuesday. The acquisition, worth 335 million euros ($369 million), is expected to be finalized by the second quarter of next year. The proposed deal is currently under review by antitrust authorities.“This will give SK Global Chemical the competitive edge in American and European markets, where packaging industries are hi

Samsung SDI said it planned to adopt a special extinguishing system for its energy storage systems to prevent fires at a cost of about 200 billion won ($169 million), the firm said Monday. The special extinguishing system comprised of advanced chemicals and blockers of thermal diffusion can prevent fires from spreading to nearby cells even if a cell ignites, according to the battery maker. The company plans to apply the system to all of its new energy storage systems and also to the existing one