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Park Jin-hai

Korea Times K-Culture Reporter

Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.

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Kia Sorento, Volkswagen Passat most prone to ignition failure

Kia Motors’ SorentoBy Park Jin-haiKia Motors’ SUV Sorento and Volkswagen’s Passat sedan received the most complaints about critical ignition failures in local and imported cars, figures show.Out of 702 such complaints to the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) between 2010 and 2013, most were about the Kia Sorento R (69), followed by the Hyundai Santa Fe (52) and the Renault Samsung (39).Overall, most complaints were about Kia cars (243), followed by Hyundai Motor (186) and GM Korea (116).There were 64 complaints about imported cars. BMW (15) and Volkswagen (14) topped the list, followed by Mercedes-Benz (nine), Land Rover (five) and Volvo (five).By model, Volkswagen Passat received the most complains (six), while BMW Cooper and Mercedes-Benz ML280 received four complaints each.About 80 percent of complainants said the ignition stopped while they were driving. Sixty percent said the failure happened when they accelerated.“When ignition goes wrong while someone is driving, it poses a tremendous safety risk to drivers because it affects the steering and brakes,” a

Dec 23, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Companies

Hyundai Motor expected to increase dividends sharply

By Park Jin-haiHyundai Motor Group is expected to raise dividend payouts by a large margin, following Samsung Electronics which announced it was considering a 50 percent dividend hike from last year, analysts said Monday.“For Hyundai Motor, there are expectations in the market for higher dividend payouts of over 3,000 won per share. Last year, it paid 1,950 won for each share, which was much lower in comparison to other companies,” said Kim Jin-seong, an analyst at Meritz Securities.Hyundai Motor Group’s dividends payout, with the exception of its affiliates that recorded deficits, was 5.96 percent last year, while Samsung Group’s was 8.47 percent.Hyundai Motor’s ratio of dividend to profit marked 5.94 percent, while its smaller sister firm Kia Motors and automotive parts maker Hyundai Mobis reached 7.43 and 5.49 percent, respectively.Shin Chung-kwan, an analyst at KB Investment and Securities, also predicted that the dividend payout for Hyundai Motor will be more than 3,000 won this year, being the first in line among Hyundai Motor Group affiliates.&ldq

Dec 22, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Companies

Hankook Tire decides to buy 19.5% of Halla Visteon

By Park Jin-haiLeading local tire maker Hankook Tire has decided to buy a 19.49 percent stake in Halla Visteon Climate Control Corp. (HVCC) for 1.08 trillion won from  Visteon Corp., the company said Friday.Meanwhile, a local private equity fund, Hahn & Company, will buy a 50.5 percent stake in HVCC.  Through the stock purchase agreement, Hankook Tire has become the second-largest shareholder of HVCC, the world's second-biggest producer of air-conditioning and heating systems for vehicles.The U.S. automotive parts supplier Visteon Corp., HVCC’s biggest shareholder, has put its 69.99 percent stake in HVCC on the market, worth 3.9 trillion won.Hankook Tire has also secured the preemption right, so when HVCC’s largest stakeholder Hahn & Company resells the shares, it will have the right to acquire those shares ahead of other competitors.The deal will be completed in the first half of next year after the approval of the relevant authority and shareholders.The tire maker has long been interested in mergers and acquisitions as a way of expanding its tire busin

Dec 18, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Companies

Hyundai's Genesis named safest car of the year

Hyundai Motor’s luxury Genesis sedanBy Park Jin-haiHyundai Motor’s luxury Genesis sedan has been named the safest car of the year by the government.In vehicle safety tests carried out by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Genesis scored 96.6 points out of 100.The test evaluated 13 domestically sold cars from nine carmakers and announced the 10 safest vehicles Wednesday by totaling the scores of each vehicle in four safety tests including, crash and pedestrian safety experiments.The Genesis received perfect scores in the frontal and side-impact tests, and also topped the pedestrian safety test with 25.6 points.The safety tests were conducted on seven locally produced vehicles, including the Hyundai Sonata, the Spark EV and the Cruze of GM Korea, a local unit of U.S. automaker General Motors, and Kia's Soul and Sorento.The ministry also tested six imported vehicles, including the Volkswagen Golf, the E300 of Mercedes-Benz, the Lexus ES350 and the QM3, an SUV imported and distributed by Renault Samsung, the local unit of the French automaker Renault.Kia&

Dec 17, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Companies

Hanwha not to fire Samsung employees

By Park Jin-haiShim Kyung-seb, representativedirector of Hanwha Corporations’explosive divisionKim Hee-cheul, Hanwha Q CELLSCEOHanwha Group announced Sunday that it will guarantee the job status of employees of four Samsung affiliates, which will be acquired in a mega deal.To oversee the commitment, Hanwha, which is the nation’s tenth-largest conglomerate, has created a special task force, said a spokesman at Hanwha.The taskforce will be comprised of two teams divided into the machinery/defense industry sector and petrochemical sector.The former will be headed by Shim Kyung-seb, representative director of Hanwha Corporations’ explosives division, while the latter will be under the control of Kim Hee-cheul, Hanwha Q CELLS CEO.Hanwha stressed that the launch of the task force is mostly aimed at absorbing Samsung employees with ease.“The Samsung workers affected because of the deal won’t be fired and the acquired four affiliates will be under independent management from the rest of the Hanwha affiliates,” said the spokesman.It also added that various

Dec 14, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Hanwha not to fire Samsung employees
Companies

QM3 jumpstarts Renault Samsung

Renault Samsung’s compact SUV new QM3 is displayed outside a cafe, marking the one year anniversary of the car. The vehicle’s iconic duel-tone roof and body as well as the fuel efficiency of the 18.5 kilometers per liter triggered the compact diesel SUV craze in Korea. / Courtesy of Renault Samsung MotorsBy Park Jin-haiRenault Samsung Motors is expected to continue its bullish business momentum through next year on the back of sales of its latest QM3 sport utility vehicle (SUV), said a top company executive. “This car is clearly a segment breaker and big success in Korea,” said Francois Provost, Renault Samsung Motors CEO, during a recent one year anniversary event for the popular QM3.“QM3 had an initial annual sales target of 8,000. But, this year we expect its sales will surpass 18,000, or 230 percent over the target,” said Park Dong-hoon, the company’s executive vice president.Since its launch last year, it has attracted huge initial demand in pre-orders. It sold all 1,000 QM3s allocated for the country that y

Dec 14, 2014By Park Jin-hai
QM3 jumpstarts Renault Samsung
Companies

Hanwha launches world's largest solar company

By Park Jin-haiNam Seong-woo, Hanwha SolarOne CEO, speaks at a press conference at the 63 Convention Center, in Seoul, Thursday./ Courtesy of Hanwha GroupHanwha Group aims to be the world’ leading solar energy company in terms of cell production, sales and profit by 2020 with the merger of its two foreign-based solar companies Hanwha SolarOne and Hanwah Q CELLS.“Through the merger, we will become the top company in terms of the volume of cell production,” Nam Seong-woo, CEO of China-based Hanwha SolarOne, who will lead of the merged company, told a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. “We will not spare our efforts to take another step and be the top solar energy firm in terms of sales, profitability and market share as well. By 2020, we believe that we could achieve our goal, taking 10 percent of the global market share.”Nam said the merged solar company aimed to post $3 billion in sales next year. But he did not specify estimated sales for the target year 2020.The company announced the merger on Monday. As part of a group-wide restructuring plan to f

Dec 11, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Hanwha launches world's largest solar company
Companies

2015 all-new Camry became sharper, smarter

Toyota Motor’s 2015 Smart Camry / Courtesy of ToyotaBy Park Jin-haiToyota Motor Korea has rolled out its long-time best-selling family sedan Camry with all new futuristic looks.The 2015 All-new Smart Camry’s design change is almost radical after the seventh Camry hit the local market in 2012.Its overall driving dynamics, noise insulation and safety have been handsomely upgraded as well and became more “Toyota-like.”The Camry adopted Avalon’s family look.Its longer bodyline has been devoted to its sharp and dynamic image, with more aggressively looking bumper and grill. Its LED front running lamps, LED auto-leveling lamps for the low and high beams complete the new look. The design for the new Camry, since it debuted in April New York Auto Show, has been appraised as the most “sweeping” inside and outside. Toyota says that everything is new except the roof. In comparison to its 2014 model, more than 2,000 parts out of some 6,000 have been replaced or redesigned for the new car.Its body added sturdiness with more extensive use of high

Dec 11, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Companies

Halla Visteon's stake sellout raises concerns for tech leak

By Park Jin-haiA local private equity fund’s (PEF) planned acquisition of a controlling stake in Halla Visteon Climate Control, a major auto parts maker, is drawing protests from the union amid concerns about a possible technology leak.Visteon, a U.S. auto parts maker which owns a 70 percent stake in Halla Visteon Climate Control, will hold a board meeting on Dec. 12 and finalize the deal to sell its stakes to Hahn & Company, a local PEF.  The U.S. automotive parts maker already signed a preliminary deal with the private equity firm to sell its entire stake in Halla Visteon for 3.5 trillion won ($3.6 billion).Industry insiders say that the U.S. firm will likely close the deal because the suggested price is way above the estimated market value of 2.5 trillion won.“Visteon is likely to hand over of its stake in Halla Visteon to the equity firm,” said Shin Chung-kwan, an analyst at KB Investment and Securities.PEFs usually resell their target companies one or two years after acquisition by nature, after raking in profits.The local auto industry is more interes

Dec 10, 2014By Park Jin-hai
Companies

Hanwha to merge two solar affiliates

By Park Jin-haiHanwha Group said it has decided to merge Hanwha SolarOne, its China based solar panel maker, and Hanwha Q CELLS, a photovoltaic cell maker in Germany.It is part of the group-wise restructuring that focuses more on its core businesses.Hanwha SolarOne is a Nasdaq-listed company.It said the merged entity will become the world’s largest solar cell maker.The merger will take place in the form of Hanwha SolarOne issuing American depositary shares and swapping them with shares of Hanwha Q CELLS.Hanwha SolarOne was established in 2010 when Kim Dong-kwan, first son of its Group Chaiman Kim Seung-youn, acquired China’s Solarfun Power Holdings.SolarOne posted 194 billion won in operating profit in 2010, but recorded 72.8 billion won loss last year.Hanwha acquired bankrupt German solar energy company Q-Cells in 2012 and focused more on solar energy business.Hanwha recently announced that it will buy Samsung’s defense unit Samsung Techwin and three other affiliates.

Dec 8, 2014By Park Jin-hai
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