After the British parliament overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal on Jan. 15 (local time), the United Kingdom is poised for a “no-deal” Brexit on March 29. Accordingly, the South Korean government has decided to accelerate the conclusion of a free trade agreement (FTA) wi
South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) will actively exercise its shareholders’ rights over Korean Air Lines Co. and its holding company Hanjin KAL Corp. It is expected to wield power against conglomerates and state-run companies before the proxy season in March.As the NPS will decide if it wi
Bank KEB Hana Indonesia, a subsidiary of KEB Hana Bank set up in Indonesia, is facing allegations that it sold a financial product to its customers without giving accurate information about it.The bank sold the product to more than 1,600 customers, with 474 of them being Korean residents in Indonesi
The domestic biotech industry has been growing rapidly in recent years. Since 2016, Korea's biopharmaceuticals exports have surpassed imports. Biopharmaceuticals are pharmaceuticals made from materials derived from human or other organisms. Examples are biologics, genetically modified drugs, cel
Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors had their presence felt at the 2019 North American International Auto Show by unveiling strategic new models. After the “Genesis G70” and the small SUV “Kona” were selected as the North American Cars of the Year on Jan. 14, the automakers added new SUVs and high-performa
Kakao Mobility will stop its pilot carpool service that has been provided since December 2018."We have decided to bring a halt to our pilot carpool service," Kakao Mobility said on Jan. 15. "The decision was made in order to create a channel for communications needed to build a social consensus and
The controversy over the Korean government’s nuclear phase-out policy has been rekindled by ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Song Young-gil who recently called for resumption of the construction of Shin Hanul Nuclear Reactors No. 3 and No. 4.“Climate change threatens the existence of humankind more
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has embarked on an investigation into POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. (E&C) for alleged irregularities in overseas operations. This inquiry comes three months after Justice Party spokesperson Choo Hye-sun called for an FSS probe into dubious investments o
Sun-in Co., a leading Korean specialty food ingredient manufacturer and distributor, and Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank and investor in Sun-in, announced on Jan. 15 the launch of the “Breaking Bread Together” campaign with the Korean Red Cross to provide freshly baked bread to child
Global auto component producer Mando Corp. will spin off its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) division, which is in charge of developing core technologies for future cars, in order to strengthen its research and development (R&D) capabilities.The company announced on Jan. 14 that it will st
The Korean government’s labor policy is threatening to undermine the ecosystem of the domestic shipbuilding industry, which is beginning to show a recovery sign after a long slump.Although the Korean shipbuilding industry recovered the first place in new order receipts last year after ceding it to C
The fear of being held responsible for accidents prevented a South Korean state-run firm from signing a multibillion dollar deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for long-term maintenance of the Barakah nuclear power plant, it was learned belatedly.The UAE intended to sign a private long-term mai
Samsung Electronics will unveil the Galaxy S10 smartphone series in San Francisco on Feb. 20.The company sent an invitation letter to global media outlets and partners on Jan. 11, announcing that it will introduce the Galaxy S10 series in San Francisco, a city close to the corporate headquarters of
“Baby Shark,” a viral children’s song released by a Korean company, debuted at No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 list dated Jan. 12.The addictive song was released by Pinkfong, a South Korea-based educational brand, in 2016. While the origin of the song is known to date back decades, Pinkfong’s versio
SK Telecom has entered into collaboration with domestic and foreign companies, including Harman International Industries, to take the lead in 5G-based autonomous drive vehicle market.SK Telecom signed business agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with domestic and overseas mobility com
KT Corp. has developed a cloud-based blockchain as a service (BaaS) platform in order to provide an environment where Korean companies can easily develop blockchain services. The company plans to apply the KT BaaS platform to in-house services first.The KT BaaS platform allows a user to automaticall
Employees working for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea were paid, on average, 68.6 percent of the wages of their counterparts in large firms in 2017, a report showed on Jan. 10. Their disparity showed a slight improvement compared to a year earlier but there was still the pol
South Korean securities companies are expanding their presence in Vietnam, an emerging market with high growth potential. Vietnam is the only Southeast Asian country where the Big Five of South Korea’s 10 major securities firms run business.Most recently, KB Securities Co. has increased the number o
Global Companies in different business sectors are forging alliances to get a piece of the action in the future car market.LG Electronics announced on Jan. 9 that it signed an agreement with Microsoft to jointly develop software for artificial intelligence (AI)-based autonomous navigation software i
LG Electronics announced on Jan. 7 that it will unveil the world’s first rollable OLED TV at CES 2019, the world's largest information technology (IT) exhibition, which opens in Las Vegas on Jan. 8 (local time).The company said the “LG Signature OLED TV R” is the world's first flexible TV fe