Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong had a surprise meeting with the heads of Samsung Group’s financial affiliates earlier this month, it was known belatedly.Lee had a meeting with the presidents of the group’s financial affiliates, including Samsung Life Insurance Co., Samsung Fire & Mari

M&A insurance is emerging as a new profit source of non-life insurance companies as the ratio of PEF deals is on the rise in the South Korean M&A market.The size of the local M&A market amounted to US$33 billion last year. The size, which dropped from US$35.5 billion in 2014 to US$19.2 billion in 20

Facebook Korea vice president Park Dae-sung said on Aug. 27 that the South Korean government’s interconnection standards on telecommunications equipment and facilities have created an environment in which data transmitters’ costs cannot but increase and content providers’ burden will be shifted to u

Boryung Pharmaceutical Co. announced on Aug. 27 that it has received approval for Phase 1 clinical studies on its anti-cancer therapy “BR2002” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Phase 1 clinical trial will be conducted on 90 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma tumors. It is d

SK Global Chemical Co. announced on Aug. 27 that Rep. John Moolenaar, who represents the Fourth District of Michigan, visited SK Saran Americas’ facility in Midland, Michigan, on Aug. 26 (local time), accompanied by Jay Kim, president of SK Global Chemical Americas, and Steve Persyn, site leader for

The Bank of Korea announced on Aug. 27 that South Korea’s export volume index reached 113.60 last month with a year-on-year decline of 0.7 percent. The index fell for the third consecutive month after a 7.3 percent decline in June.The continuous decline in export volume index can be attributed to sl

The Japanese government decided to exclude South Korea from its list of trusted trade partners. This means its export restrictions on three semiconductor and display materials can be expanded over time.In the meantime, the U.S. government is likely to put more and more pressure on South Korea regard

American semiconductor foundry GlobalFoundries filed 16 patent infringement lawsuits against TSMC in the United States and Germany. Headquartered in Taiwan, TSMC is the largest company in the industry and is working very closely with Chinese companies such as Huawei, MediaTek and Hisense. GlobalFoun

Daewoo Engineering & Construction (Daewoo E&C) announced on Aug. 26 that it signed a comprehensive business cooperation agreement with CC1, a leading general construction company in Vietnam, at Daewoo E&C’s head office in Seoul on Aug. 23.Through this agreement, Daewoo E&C and CC1 will exchange bidd

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won visited China on Aug. 26 to discuss smart technology-based cooperation with Chinese government officials.Chey has been seeking business opportunities in China under the group’s “China Insider” strategy, which is aimed at building a second SK Group in China. The group h

Samsung Electronics has achieved a nearly 10 percent share in the Japanese smartphone market on the back of the popularity of the Galaxy S10 series.Samsung Electronics ranked second with a 9.8 percent market share (600,000 units) in the Japanese smartphone market in the second quarter of this year,

Samsung Electronics has dismissed as “groundless” a recent report by DigiTimes, a Taiwanese daily newspaper specializing in information technology, that the Korean semiconductor producer is suffering from poor yields in its 7-nano extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process.Samsung responded to the report qui

South Korean life and non-life insurance companies saw their profits fall sharply in the first half of this year due to low interest rates and growing deficits from medical indemnity insurance products.The net profits of the 24 domestic life insurance companies added up to 2.13 trillion won (US$1.75

The debt ratio of South Korea’s companies listed on the main bourse KOSPI has increased by more than 4 percentage points on year in the first half of this year, indicating their weakened financial health. The companies' debts grew faster than their assets.As of late June, the debt ratio of 636 K

The merger plan between Samsung Active Asset Management Co., a wholly owned fund manager subsidiary of Samsung Asset Management, and Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management Co., which is wholly owned by Franklin Templeton Capital Holdings, has ultimately fallen apart.Samsung Active Asset Mana

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong had an executive meeting at Samsung Display’s Asan Plant on Aug. 26, examining the company’s mid- to long-term business strategy and future technology development roadmap.His visit to the plant was to give a pep talk to the Samsung Group subsidiary with

GM Korea president and CEO Kaher Kazem urged unionized GM Korea workers to stop their partial strike and observe their collective agreement with the management.“Last year’s collective agreement led to a large investment from the GM headquarters and Korea Development Bank and the management is keepin

The KOSDAQ market division of Korea Exchange (KRX), South Korea's bourse operator, announced on Aug. 26 that its corporate review board has tentatively decided to delist Kolon TissueGene Inc., an affiliate of Kolon Life Science, as it submitted a false document when it was listed two years ago.H

Hi Investment & Securities Co. said on Aug. 26 that Samsung Heavy Industries Co. achieved more than 71 percent of its order target by winning 2 trillion won (US$1.65 billion) worth of orders over the past week.Choi Gwang-sik, an analyst at the brokerage, said, “Samsung Heavy’s cumulative order recei

The rekindled trade war between the United States and China jolted the foreign exchange market in Seoul on Aug. 26. The U.S. dollar strengthened on investors’ increased preference for risk-free assets.The won-U.S. dollar exchange rate opened at 1,1219.40 won at 9:10 a.m., up 8.80 won from the previo