The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy held a meeting on December 26 and gave a conditional approval for LG Display’s OLED TV panel plant construction in Guangzhou, China.“We approved the construction of the plant in view of market expansion, job creation and partner firms’ exports,” the ministry
While the United States is highly likely to mount its pressure on South Korea by way of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, major steel importing countries such as Canada, India and Japan are joining the US in bashing Korea. Korea’s steel export environment is also expected to get toughe
The South Korean government refuted, on December 25, the recent media report that South Korea has to pay a huge compensation for a delay of its nuclear power plant construction project in the UAE.“The report about the compensation is not true and no South Korean company has withdrawn from the projec
The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) of the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy decided on December 21 to initiate an investigation on unfair trade with regard to FinFET patent infringement by Apple Korea.The FinFET technology is one of the most advanced technologies in the semiconductor industry and i
Hanwha Land Systems, a defense subsidiary of the Hanwha Group, announced on December 21 that the company inked a contract to export 24 K9 Self-Propelled Guns and six K10 Ammunition Resupply Armored Vehicles by 2020 with the NDMA at the Norwegian Ministry of Defense on December 20 (local time). The t
As the “Bill on the Establishment of the Korea Maritime Corporation (KMC),” which was proposed by Rep. Lee Gae-ho of the ruling Minjoo Party of Korea, passed the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on December 20, South Korean flag carrying ocean-going shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM)
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of Korea announced on December 20 that a total of 12 billion won (US$10.8 million) will be invested for three years to come in research on the commercial production of bio-hydrogen based on marine microbes and by-product gas from power plants.The ministry and the
Amid local bio pharmaceutical companies’ active development of new drug technologies, the Korean bio pharmaceutical industry shows mixed results in new technology exportation. The technology export of Kolon Life Science’s degenerative arthritis drug “Invossa” worth 440 billion won (US$407.11 million
The sales of South Korea’s content industry reached 110.4 trillion won (US$101.75 billion) this year. This is the similar level of memory chips, a major export item of the country. According to the 2017 edition of the McClean Report, the combined sales estimates of the semiconductor division of Sams
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy announced on December 19 that the volume of bilateral trade between South Korea and China totaled US$217.5 billion from January to November this year, up 13.6% from a year ago despite the THAAD conflict, and South Korea’s exports to China increased 14.1% year
Korea's leading defense exporters such as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Hanwha Land Systems and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) have hit a snag due to the wall of "offset trade," seeing their export blocked. Offset trade, a common practice in international arms deals, means that
The Korean government will start taxation on cryptocurrencies on a full scale. It is said that the government does not regard virtual money as currencies or financial products subject to value added Tax (VAT) exemption but is positively considering imposing transfer tax or transaction tax on crytocu
The Ministry of Science and ICT released the South Korean government’s nuclear technology development plan for next year on December 18.According to the plan, a total of 203.6 billion won (US$183 million) will be invested for R&D in the nuclear industry next year and approximately one-third of the
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported the direction of the government’s industrial policy to the National Assembly on December 18.According to the policy, electric and autonomous vehicle, IoT home appliances, alternative energy, biotech and healthcare, and semiconductor and display are
About 1 in 10 affiliates of South Korea's top 10 business groups are listed as companies invested by foreigners or foreign corporations that are eligible for tax and other benefits.Under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act, foreign-invested companies refer to those in which offshore investors have
The abolition of net neutrality in the United States is strengthening the claims of Korean telecom operators’ request to scrap the principle of network neutrality in Korea, fueling the worries of Internet and content providers.“The principle of network neutrality in Korea should be maintained and st
The Ministry of Science and ICT said on December 14 that South Korea’s telecommunications policy is unlikely to change although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the U.S. repealed net neutrality rules.According to the ministry, Internet service providers in the United States are not com
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of Korea announced that it reported its eighth national electric power supply plan for 2017 to 2031 to the National Assembly on December 14.According to the plan, the South Korean government is going to minimize an increase in the price of electricity while r
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of Korea and the Korea Customs Service conducted a preliminary evaluation as of 2:20 pm on December 14 and found that Korea successfully re-entered US$1 trillion in trade territory in three years. Korea stood sixth in world export up two notches fro
The self-driving in downtown is expected to kick into high gear from next year. Local ICT companies and automakers have been jumping into the competition to gather the running data in the urban areas ahead of commercialization of self-driving cars (level 4 automation).According to the transport mini