Big South Korean companies are exiting China one after another. Business uncertainties are being fueled by fiercer competition and declining profitability in the Chinese market coupled with the U.S. government’s checks on China and policy changes by Chinese government authorities.Lotte Chemical sold
On March 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to ban TikTok, a Chinese video platform, from being downloaded in the United States due to security concerns. The bill was approved with an overwhelming majority of 352 votes in favor and 65 against. Europe is also engulfed in national sec
The value of overseas construction orders to Korean contractors exceeded US$30 billion for the fourth year in a row in 2023. Korean builders’ target for 2024 is US$40 billion. They have been looking for opportunities in overseas markets as the Korean real estate market has been slumping for a long t
The United States targeting Chinese-made goods as part of its supply chain localization and trade war strategies is expected to affect China’s shipbuilding industry after the Chinese semiconductor industry.According to the Financial Times (FT) and other foreign media outlets, U.S. President Joe Bide
According to foreign media reports, Samsung Electronics is set to adopt High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) process technology from SK hynix to catch up with its competitors in the HBM market.Reuters reported on March 13, citing multiple sources, that Samsung Electronics has purchased related manufacturing
Chinese TV manufacturers are aggressively targeting the OLED market, dominated by Samsung and LG, with their large LCD products offered at breakthrough prices.During the “Korea Display Conference” hosted by Omdia in the Seocho district of Seoul on March 13, Park Kyung-sun, director at Omdia Korea, s
Even after surpassing the “psychological resistance level” of 100 million won, bitcoin continues its upward trend in the domestic market.In particular, a phenomenon known as the “kimchi premium” is observed, where the price of bitcoin in the domestic market is forming higher than that in the U.S. ma
A medical waste treatment system, which is capable of 99.9999 percent sterilization by using high-temperature and high-pressure steam, has been developed for the first time in the country.The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Seog-Hyeon Ryu, hereinafter referred to as KIMM), an i
As the global semiconductor war has become a hot race among nations, major countries such as the United States, China, and Japan have been providing large cash support to their own companies or foreign companies that make investments in their semiconductor industries to boost the growth of their sem
The number of properties purchased by foreigners exceeded 15,000 in Korea in 2023, marking a new high of foreigner real estate buyers on record.According to the latest data on buyers applying for registrations of ownership transfer after purchases and sale on the court registration information plaza
The number of subscribers to employment insurance increased compared to the same period last year, but the growth was primarily driven by an increase in foreign nationals. As a result of population decline, subscribers in their 20s and 40s have been decreasing for 17 and 4 consecutive months, respec
Incheon Metropolitan City and Shinhan Bank announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the Incheon City Hall meeting room on March 11 to secure the hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea in 2025.At the signing ceremony, Mayor of Inche
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on March 11 that it has selected the JLABS Korea model proposed by Johnson & Johnson as the managing entity for its global accelerator platform project.The project aims to provide full-cycle consulting to support the international expansion of domestic bi
The government is taking steps to solicit opinions from overseas financial institutions and investors regarding measures to improve the foreign exchange market structure and support corporate value-up initiatives.The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) announced on March 10 that Shin Joong-beom,
It has been revealed that the hourly wages of domestic helpers in South Korea are more than four times higher than in neighboring countries such as Hong Kong and Taiwan. In an effort to alleviate the burden of caregiving services, which is considered one of the causes of low birth rates, the Bank of
The government has increased the budget for cash support for foreign investment from 50 billion won (US$37.64 million) last year to 200 billion won this year, marking a fourfold increase.The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) announced that it held the 114th meeting of Foreign Investmen
Lotte Chemical is reportedly considering the sale of its Malaysian subsidiary Lotte Chemical Titan (LC Titan).According to industry sources on Mar. 6, Lotte Chemical is searching for potential buyers for LC Titan, including Korean and foreign petrochemical companies and large private equity funds (P
HLB disclosed on March 4 that its board of directors has approved the issuance of 60 billion won in convertible bonds to domestic private equity funds and others. The primary purpose of this fundraising is to secure operational funds. Although the company currently holds over 65 billion won in cash
The Incheon Port Authority (IPA) announced that foreign shipping firm Maersk has launched the PH5 service at Incheon Port on March 4.PH5 is a weekly service that departs from Incheon Port and travels to Vietnam and Thailand via China. Five vessels ranging from 2,544 to 2,826 TEU will be used, with t
Hanwha Aerospace announced on Feb. 29 that it has submitted a bid proposal on the US Army’s Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (S–MET) Increment II program.An Anduril-led S-MET Project consortium also includes Hanwha Aerospace and Forterra, an unmanned vehicle developer.Anduril is a defense tech