With the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) terminated, the Japanese government is expected to put pressure on South Korean industries by slightly increasing the number of items subject to export restrictions or delaying export inspection procedures rather than coming up wit
Approximately 250 Kia Motors employees converted into production workers from sales workers are currently waiting to be assigned for a month. This is because the Kia Motors labor union overturned its previous agreement with the management. The assignment is likely to be handled after this year’s wag
Japan and China are taking action to keep the Korean shipbuilding industry in check.The Japanese government, condemning Korea Development Bank’s injection of public funds into Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) as an unfair trade practice (an illegal subsidy), has decided to take the
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Korean business leaders during his visit to Korea from June 29 to 30. They will include Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, Chung Eui-sun, senior vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Koo Kwa
The South Korean government is working on a contingency plan with the U.S.-China trade war having developed into a technology war involving national security. This is to be prepared for a possible collapse of the global value chain.The South Korean government is assuming the worst-case scenario on a
The domestic market for eco-friendly cars such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen cars is expanding rapidly. Market watchers say that it is necessary to improve Korea’s electric car subsidy policy in order to boost the competitiveness of Korean green cars as sales of imported eco-friendly cars
Kolon Group is in the biggest crisis since its foundation as the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has revoked the license of Kolon Life Science's Invossa-KInj. Invossa has been regarded as the biggest achievement of the former group chairman Lee Woong-yeul, who used to say that he invested a thi
The South Korean government is planning to move ahead with ILO core convention ratification and labor law revision at the same time in order to strengthen workers’ rights to organize.Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jae-kap held a press conference on May 22 and said that the government is making pr
Financial Services Commission (FSC) Vice Chairman Kim Yong-beom said on May 20 that now is the time to improve the so-called 5 percent rule in step with the times. Companies expressed their objection to FSC's move to strengthen institutional investors’ shareholder rights and facilitate their par
Unionized Hyundai Motor workers are calling on the company to hire at least 10,000 full-time workers until 2025 as a large number of worker will soon reach their retirement age. The company is refusing to accept the demand, claiming that green cars, which require fewer components than internal combu
Naver has thrown down the gauntlet to global IT giants increasingly penetrating the South Korean cloud service market.“South Korea has always been a test bed for new information technologies, which means competition has always been there,” said Park Won-ki, head of Naver Business Platform Corp. in a
Korean manufacturers that need to secure excess carbon credits are in trouble as the trading volume of carbon emission has plummeted amid skyrocketing emission permit prices.The market price of the carbon emission permit hit an all-time high at 26,500 won (US$23.31) per ton on March 26. The average
Despite Asiana Airlines’ efforts to improve its financial structure, an accounting firm has called its management sustainability into question. The company’s net loss in 2018 increased by as much as 10 times from the preliminary estimate of 10.40 billion won (US$9.17 million) to 105 billion won (US$
Mercedes-Benz Korea has become the last importer of foreign cars in Korea to join the Takata airbag recall movement. The company has decided to carry out the first recall for Takata airbags, yet market experts point out that it is still slow to respond as it is recalling only 742 out of the 18,274 c
Shareholder activism is changing the corporate landscape in Korea. It has triggered the introduction of a stewardship code by the National Pension Service, Korea Corporate Governance Improvement (KCGI)’s attempt to participate in the management of Hanjin KAL, and the abolishment of the shadow voting
A fierce battle is likely to start in the market for cordless earphones in the first half of this year. In particular, Samsung Electronics and Apple, the two top players in the smartphone industry, are expected to collide head on in this segment.Samsung Electronics launched the Galaxy S10 with a cor
Short sellers are hit hard by a “surprise rally” in the South Korean stock market this year. They are making a huge loss this year, unlike last year when they made a big gain from the slump in stock prices.The prices of 14 out of the 20 most shorted stocks in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets rose higher
Opposition parties and civic organizations opposed to the South Korean government’s nuclear phase-out policy are putting pressure on it by collecting signatures from more than 330,000 people.The ill-advised policy is increasingly becoming untenable as it will lead to a lack of new work for more than
Iranian crude oil export to South Korea has been resumed in six months after the U.S. economic sanctions. South Korean oil refining companies’ profitability is expected to improve as the Iranian crude oil is not only cheaper than the crude oil from the other Middle Eastern countries but is mostly co
Security token offerings (STOs) have become the talk of the town in the cryptocurrency industry, following initial coin offerings (ICOs) which attract investment by issuing cryptocurrencies.Issuing a security token means converting assets into a form of cryptocurrencies offer them to invetors. These