Hankook Tire and Technology said it would unveil the world’s first full lineup of tires s for electric vehicles in May. The world’s sixth-biggest tiremaker by sales said it will launch the iON tire brand for EVs in the European market first, and then in South Korea in August. The iON will come in six products from 18-inch to 22-inch summer, winter and all-season tires for both passenger cars an...

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval ratings have continued to fall since the election, with the figure hitting the lowest for president-elects in recent history. Yoon’s push for relocation of the presidential office and repeated conflicts with the Moon Jae-in administration seem to have negatively affected public opinion. The poll results on Monday showed that the negative outlook for Yoon...

Embarking on changes ranging from management to business strategy, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group on Monday deployed a new corporate name and appointed a grandson of the founder as its new chief executive officer. In a widely anticipated move, Chung Ki-sun, grandson of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-young, was appointed as CEO of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group at the shareholders meeting, comple...

The number of severe COVID-19 cases in South Korea hit another record high during the 24 hours of Sunday, the country’s health authorities said Monday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country’s severe cases reached an all-time high of 1,273, increasing 57 from the previous day’s 1,216. The bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients also reached 70 percent, up 2.2...

Three Korean actors -- Park Yu-rim, Jin Dae-yeon and Ahn Hwi-tae -- attended the 94th Academy Awards ceremony Monday and celebrated the Japanese film “Drive My Car” directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi winning the best international feature film award. During Hamaguchi’s acceptance speech, the director expressed his gratitude toward the actors, including the three Korean actors. “I also would like to ...

South Korean mid-sized automaker Edison Motors’ proposed acquisition of SsangYong Motor has been cancelled due to payment failure, putting the debt-laden SUV maker’s journey to search for new owner back to starting line. According to SsangYong Motor on Monday, its acquisition contract with a consortium led by Edison Motors was terminated after the buyer failed to pay 274.3 billion won ($223.7 ...

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday that its flagship electric vehicle Ioniq 5 has ranked top in German automotive magazine Auto Bild’s EV test, beating other European rivals such as Audi Q4 e-tron and Polestar 2. In the latest edition of Auto Bild, the vehicles were tested and evaluated based on seven categories including performance of powertrain, driving comfort, connectivity, eco-friendliness an...

SK Square, an investment arm of South Korea‘s third-largest conglomerate, said Monday it plans to spend at least 2 trillion won ($1.6 billion) over the next three years in the field of semiconductor chips and blockchain technology. It is the first time SK Square unveiled its investment roadmap since November, when it spun off from telecommunication affiliate SK Telecom. Under the plan, announce...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the country will develop and deploy more powerful means of attack, while seeking to bolster up its “nuclear war deterrent more expeditiously,” according to state media Monday. In an article published in Monday’s edition of the Rodong Sinmun, Kim stressed that “genuine defense capability equates to powerful attack capability” while taking a group photograph wi...

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday called for the need to restore ties with Tokyo at the earliest in a future-oriented way, in his meeting with Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Koichi Aiboshi. The two meet at Yoon’s office in Seoul, with the president-elect stressing the need for communication between the two countries to resolve sticking points. “If the two countries’ political ...

US tech giant Dell Technologies and South Korean mobile carrier SK Telecom said Monday they would forge a multi-access edge computing alliance to expand its global 5G footprint targeting enterprise and government clients. Under the plan, SK Telecom’s 5G MEC solutions -- ranging from network virtualization to MEC application for operation and user experience optimization -- will be mounted on Del...

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the world’s top two memory chip makers, are projected to post record first-quarter earnings this year over rising chip prices and robust demand, Yonhap Infomax, a local financial data tracker, said Monday. According to earnings consensus among securities firms here, Samsung, the No. 1 producer of memory chips, is forecast to record 75.21 trillion won ($61.34 bil...

South Korean banks have started raising the maximum amount consumers can borrow under a loan to the level before financial regulators intervened to curb the nation’s household debt growth. The move comes as the nation’s household debt growth has recently shown signs of slowing down. As of Monday, the top four banks here – KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori – have either started raising the lim...

“Dotori was used by nearly 32 million users as a cybercurrency on the Cyworld platform. The new Cyworld will be back as a social networking service with the compatibility of dotori and DTR tokens, which will allow users to play an active role in financial activities,” the company said. News about Cyworld’s return has been tugging on the heartstrings of Koreans, but the Cyworld operator is not re...

Controversy is brewing over first lady Kim Jung-sook’s expenses over the past five years, particularly over the cost of her clothes, shoes, jewelry and accessories. Some have accused Kim and the presidential office of abusing their power and spending billions of won of taxpayer money on rare and fashionable items for Kim during President Moon Jae-in's five-year term, requesting Cheong Wa Dae to ...