The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) begun an investigation into Whirlpool's petition for safeguard on Korean washers on June 5, according to the Korean trade ministry on June 14.Whirpool claimed that imported washers of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are hurting domestic manufactur
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of Korea announced on June 13 that the total automobile exports from Korea reached US$3.51 billion and 221,237 units last month, up 3.6% and 2.1% from a year ago, respectively. The amounts increased for the fourth consecutive month, led by green cars such as
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea is planning to respond more actively than before to the trade pressure from the United States.Last month, the U.S. government initiated safeguard investigations with regard to photovoltaic cell and module products imported from South Korea. A p
An aide to South Korean President Moon Jae-in remarked on June 7 that no decision is likely to be made on the deployment of additional THAAD batteries in South Korea until a new environmental impact assessment is completed. He also mentioned that the two THAAD batteries and the X-Band Radar already
Professor Lee Sang-yup and his research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) succeeded, for the first time worldwide, in biosynthesizing terephthalic acid by using E. coli. The project was carried out as a part of the Global Frontier Project of the Ministry of Science
Automakers in Korea expressed their concerns over the government’s plan to turn temporary workers into permanent workers, claiming that the plan will have a negative effect on the flexibility of the local labor market.At present, temporary workers account for 15% to 20% of their total employees. Acc
The Ministry of Strategy & Finance of South Korea announced on May 31 that South Korea ranked 29th out of 63 countries as in the previous year in this year’s International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Yearbook. South Korea’s highest ranking to date in the survey i
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea announced on June 1 that South Korea’s total exports reached US$45 billion last month, up 13.4% from a year ago and a record high since September 2011. The ministry added that a double-digit export growth continued for the fifth consecutive mon
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea, President Moon Jae-in’s policy for reducing the number of nuclear and thermal power plants is predicted to result in the shutdown of and discontinuation of construction projects for power stations with a total power generation cap
The Ministry of Employment & Labor of South Korea announced on May 31 that the average monthly salary of workers at companies in the country hiring at least five employees was 3,393,000 won (US$3,000) in March this year, up 3.4% from a year ago. It added that the average was 3,624,000 won (US$3,200)
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea announced on May 31 that the volume of trade between South Korea and the ASEAN region, exports from the former to the latter and service trade between the two increased at an annual average of 5.7%, 7.5% and 6.6%, respectively, between 2007 and
The Ministry of Employment & Labor of South Korea announced on May 30 that the Minimum Wage Commission (MWC) holds a plenary session on June 1 in order to fix the minimum wage for next year.The MWC consists of 27 members, divided into nine employers, another nine on the employee side and the rest fr
Hyundai Motor is expected to hire more subcontracted workers as regular employees. The company is planning to complete a special agreement to turn 6,000 irregular workers into regular ones, which was signed with the labor union and subcontractor union in 2014, by the end of this year and select more
The Korean government is accelerating the development of LNG-fuelled vessels and establishment of LNG bunkering systems. The LNG bunkering vessel refuels LNG-powered vessels at sea. LNG-fuelled vessels and LNG bunkering systems are considered Blue Ocean in the marine sector.The Korea Research Instit
Chey Tae-won, chairman of the SK Group, is making big moves to find a breakthrough to the group’s Chinese business which has deadlocked since China’s fire storm sparked by South Korea’s decision to deploy the THAAD System.According to industry sources on May 28, Chey finished his business trip to Ch
Incheon Port currently connects the capital areas of South Korea with the world more closely through 46 container line services crossing Asia and Africa as well as the Americas, and the Incheon Port Authority (IPA) is the center of it.The IPA has come up with its strategy to achieve a goal of boosti
The Ministry of Food & Drug Safety of South Korea announced on May 25 that the local medical device output reached 5.6025 trillion won (US$5.0 billion) last year with a year-on-year growth of 12%. For reference, the growth rate of the local manufacturing sector as a whole was 2.3% during the same pe
With global companies fiercely competing to launch mobile commercial 5G services in advance, countries are also seeking to cooperate in secret to dominate the information and communications technology (ICT) convergence industry in advance. They are now trying to jointly set up technical standards an
The Busan Jinhae Free Economic Zone (BJFEZ) Authority ranked No. 1 in the performance evaluation of seven free economic zones (FEZs) across the country for the second straight year.The results were approved in the 91st meeting of the Free Economic Zone Committee under the Ministry of Commerce, Indus
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) pledged to close down its offshore plant business when the debt ridden company received an additional 2.9 trillion won (US$2.58 billion) in emergency funding from the former Park Geun-hye administration and a state-run bank.The shipbuilder, however, th