Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings has signed an agreement with German robotics maker Kuka with the aim of selling Kuka’s products to large Korean manufacturing firms, the company said Monday. The agreement was signed on the same day by Kuka chief Till Reuter and Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings’ management support division head Chung Ki-seon in Germany. Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings’ management support division head Chung Ki-seo (fourth from left) and Kuka chief Till Reuter (fifth from left

A bilateral event called the “Korean-German Energy Day” took place in Songdo on Wednesday with the theme of cooperation in energy efficiency and energy transformation between the two nations, according to its organizer, the Korean German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.Participants including Thorsten Herdan (fifth from right), director-general of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and Barbara Zollmann (fourth from left), president of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and

The Korea Fair Trade Commission designated Lee Jae-yong as head of Samsung Group as his father and bedridden Chairman Lee Kun-hee is judged as being incapable of doing business management independently. The designation does not force Samsung to make any formal changes to its management, but means that the FTC will now treat Lee Jae-yong as the head of the group when applying regulations. That means Lee can be held responsible for FTC rule violations Samsung commits in cases where his father prev

The inter-Korean summit livestreamed Friday on Twitter attracted around 2.5 million viewers, according to the social networking service firm on Monday. Around 1.6 million tweets related to the summit were also posted globally on Friday. The most tweeted moment based on tweets per minute was around 6:30 p.m. when the two sides announced a “common goal of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula,” generating around 3,100 tweets per minute, Twitter Korea said. The second-most tweeted moment took p

Although the Panmunjeom Declaration signed between the two Koreas on Friday minimized economic cooperation, it still left ample room for the possibility of future cooperation between the two nations in resource development, infrastructure investment and the resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The Panmunjeom Declaration included the phrase “actively pushing for the businesses agreed in the declaration on Oct. 4 in 2007” between former president Roh Moo-hyun and former leader Kim Jong-il

The chief of the Korea Fair Trade Commission said Thursday that a recent demand made by US activist hedge fund Elliott to Hyundai Motor Group to create a holding company by merging Hyundai Motor and its parts making affiliate Hyundai Mobis would be in violation of Korea’s fair trade law.“Elliott’s call to create a holding firm could violate the law that separates industrial and financial capital,” Kim Sang-jo told reporters before his opening speech at a local business conference. “I explained t

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of features and interviews on South Korea’s business environment for foreign companies and investors. This is the sixth installment. -- Ed.South Korea should get rid of “too many pure Korea regulations” that hamper trade, and fully utilize the benefits of its free trade deals, according to the president of the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea. “Sometimes, European companies hesitate to launch their new products here because there are too many ‘pure Ko

The scandal at the embattled Korean Air has spread into an investigation by the nation’s antitrust watchdog into the group’s alleged unfair business practices. It is the latest line of investigations by the authorities sparked by allegations that Cho Hyun-min, a senior vice president at the airline, threw water in an advertising agency employee’s face at a business meeting. “We started an investigation (into Korean Air) on Friday,” the Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday. “A total of 30 investiga

The long-awaited Asian Forest Cooperation Organization will be officially launched on Friday as an intergovernmental regional organization with the aim of strengthening regional forest cooperation to address the impact of climate change, according to ASEAN-Korea Forest Cooperation Secretariat on Monday. The AFoCO will be established to strengthen regional forest cooperation in Asia which is vulnerable to forest degradation and climate change and to contribute to achieving the sustainable develop

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Friday it had signed a partnership agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank for establishing new energy infrastructure in Central and South America. The Minister Paik Un-gyu met with Luis Alberto Moreno, President of IADB, in Washington DC on Thursday and they agreed to cooperate on the areas of smart buildings, energy storage systems and energy efficiency in the region. Industry Minister Paik Un-gyu (right) shakes hands with Luis Alberto

BMW Korea chief Kim Hyo-joon was elected as the new chairman of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to the organization on Thursday. Kim Hyo-joon, new chairman of the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI)He is succeeding Kim Jong-kap, former CEO of Siemens, who was recently elected as President of Korea Electric Power Corporation.The KGCCI is now run by two co-chairmen, Ingrid Drechsel, president of Bayer Korea, for the German side and newly elected Kim

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of features and interviews on South Korea’s business environment for foreign companies and investors. This is the fifth installment. -- Ed.While operating in the volatile market of South Korea comes with many challenges, the trendsetting consumer base highly responsive and loyal to global brands have also created a different kind of phenomenon – “gapjil” of multinational firms.Gapjil is a Korean term which refers to the abuse of power by someone against a

GS Chairman Huh Chang-soo urged the firm’s executives to create an environment where new challenges and innovation are encouraged at a management meeting held on Wednesday. For the future growth of GS, Huh encouraged the affiliates’ new businesses, including GS Caltex‘s new investment in olefin business, GS Retail’s move into Vietnam with its convenient store GS25 and GS Power‘s building additional power plant and adoption of liquefied natural gas.GS Chairman Huh Chang-sooGS Caltex invested arou

Companies will face harsher punishment if they are found to have stolen ideas from smaller companies, according to the government on Tuesday, amid growing calls from startups to protect their ideas and technologies. The Korean Intellectual Property Office announced Tuesday the revised law to prohibit unfair competition practices and to protect confidential business information. It is to take effect on July 18. Unfair competition practices include using without permission ideas shared in business

A business delegation led by the chief of the Korea International Trade Association met with the deputy US trade representative in Washington on Monday to convey the concerns of Korean steel exporters amid growing uncertainty over the export landscape in the US. The delegation included representatives of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors, Posco, Mando, Hyundai Steel, Hanwha Q Cells and SK Gas. “An amicable settlement in the trade deal between Korea and the US allows companies from both nations