The Korea Times

Special day for Hyundai chairman

President Park Geun-hye waves while test-riding a self-driving vehicle, developed by Hyundai Motor, at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute in Deajeon, Friday. / YonhapBy Lee Hyo-sikHyundai Automotive Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo smiles after receiving an honorary degree for his contribution to the development of Korea’s automobile industry. / Courtesy of Hyundai Automotive GroupHyundai Automotive Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo had a special day Friday for two reasons.The 77-year-old tycoon, son of the late group founder Chung Ju-yung, received an honorary doctorate in engineering from his alma mater Hanyang University for his contribution to the nation’s auto industry.He also participated in a ceremony to open a research center inside the college for eco-friendly and intelligent vehicles for the future.The Chung Mong-Koo Automotive Research Center sits on a 12,724 square meter site on the school’s campus.He was accompanied by his son and Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun, and Kim Jong-ryang, chairman of board of directors at Hanyang Un

May 29, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

Daewoo Shipbuilding to sell non-core affiliates

By Lee Hyo-sikDaewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) will dispose of non-core, loss-making affiliates to focus on shipbuilding and offshore plant construction businesses, company officials said Friday.The shipbuilder has 10 affiliates and plans to unload up to six to raise funds.The company said it would overhaul its organizational structure to become a more efficient and agile entity as it has struggled with fierce competition for contracts amid a sluggish global market.These moves have been spearheaded by new company CEO Jung Sung-leep, who officially took the helm of Korea’s third-largest shipbuilder on Friday.In an inaugural speech, Jung said DSME will spend its resources on core businesses, stressing that it will focus on building commercial vessels and offshore plants.“Besides our core units, we will dispose of all other businesses,” Jung said. “We will keep the costs of doing business down. I think the company has been unnecessarily overspending on its operations. I will do my best to overhaul the firm’s current high-cost, low-efficie

May 29, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

People & Events

Hyundai Capital CEO promoted

Ted ChungBy Lee Hyo-sikTed Chung, CEO of Hyundai Card and Hyundai Capital Services, was promoted to vice chairman for successfully managing the financial units of Hyundai Automotive Group, the automaker said Friday.“For the past 11 years, Chung has been serving as the head of Hyundai Card and Hyundai Capital, and turned them into competitive financial services firms,” the group said. “For that, the group decided to promote him to vice chairman.”Born in 1960, he graduated from Seoul National University with a bachelor’s degree in French. Chung also received a master of business administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

May 29, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

Home plus offers high-quality, fresh groceries at low prices

A grocery section at a Home plus store in Seoul. / Courtesy of Home plusBy Lee Hyo-sikHome plus, one of Korea’s three largest discount store chains, has been receiving favorable responses from consumers for its sales campaign to offer fresh groceries at low prices. The company owned by British retailer Tesco has also been renovating its stores across the country to create a more shopper-friendly environment.Its sale of fruits, vegetables and other fresh goods has jumped at a double-digit pace since March when the retailer began offering consumers high-quality goods at lower prices, sharing growth with its small business partners and boosting its community service programs, the company said.Its sales of 500 fresh goods, including vegetables, fruits, livestock and fisheries, rose 22 percent from March 12-May 11 from the same period last year. In particular, Home plus earned 53 percent more from selling hanwoo, home-grown beef, during that two-month period.“We have seen a sales surge in every grocery item since we began offering up to 30 percent discounts on agricultural and

May 28, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Home plus offers high-quality, fresh groceries at low prices

Companies

Jessica Alba to sell baby products through Coupang

Coupang CEO Kim Bom, right, raises a glass with Jessica Alba, center, Hollywood actress and co-founder of The Honest Company, and Christopher Gavigan, chief product officer of the Honest Company, during a press conference at the Grand InterContinental Hotel in southern Seoul, Thursday. Coupang, Korea’s leading e-commerce site, signed an exclusive agreement with the Honest Company, a U.S. baby product maker, to sell the latter’s goods in Korea. / Courtesy of CoupangBy Lee Hyo-sikCoupang, Korea’s leading e-commerce site, said Thursday that it signed an exclusive agreement with The Honest Company, a U.S. baby product and household goods maker founded by Hollywood actress Jessica Alba, to market the latter’s goods in Korea.At a press conference, Alba, the co-founder and creative director of the Honest Company, said that the U.S. company will offer more than 150 products here, including baby formula, diapers and personal care products, through Coupang. Coupang began selling the products on Tuesday.“We are glad that we are able to provide a wide range of our p

May 28, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

People & Events

Booyoung CEO donates history book

Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun, left, poses with Shim Yoon-chong, chairman of the Korea Saemaul Undong Center, at the Bankers’ Club in downtown Seoul, Wednesday, after signing an agreement to donate 1 million copies of a history book titled “The Korean War 1,129 Days” to the center. Lee authored the book detailing major events during the 1950-53 Korean War. /  Courtesy of Booyoung GroBy Lee Hyo-sikBooyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun has donated 1 million copies of the history book “The Korean War 1,129 Days,” published in 2013, to the Korea Saemaul Undong Center (KSUC), the group said Thursday.The Korea Saemaul Undong Center promotes the “Saemaul Movement,” an agricultural and rural reform campaign that began in the early 1970s.During a ceremony on Wednesday, Lee signed an agreement with KSUC Chairman Shim Yoon-chong to donate the book to the organization. The Booyoung chairman also pledged to support the center’s various community improvement projects at home and abroad.KSUC plans to use the book as a history

May 28, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Economy

Kumho Tire hosts KLPGA tourney in China

The par-3 fourth hole at the Weihai Point Hotel & Golf Resort. Kumho Tire will host the KLPGA tournament on the course from July 3 to 5./ Courtesy of Kumho TireBy Lee Hyo-sikKumho Tire, Korea’s leading tire maker, will sponsor the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) tournament in Weihai, Shandong Province, July 3-5 to promote exchanges in golf between Korea and China.The event will be held at the Weihai Point Hotel & Golf Resort and feature top players from both the KLPGA and China Ladies Professional Golf Association (CLPGA). Kumho Tire has been sponsoring the tournament since 2013. The prize money totals 500 million won ($455,000) and the winner will receive 100 million won.A total of 120 Korean and Chinese golfers, including Kim Hyo-joo, Jang Ha-na and Feng Shanshan, who all play on the LPGA, are expected to take part in the KLPGA 2015 Kumho Tire Women’s Open, the company said.“It will be our third event this year since we began organizing the competition in 2013,” a Kumho Tire spokesman said. “We expect top KLPGA and

May 28, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

Will POSCO sell Myanmar gas ownership?

By Lee Hyo-sikWhether POSCO will dispose of Daewoo International’s natural resources businesses is drawing keen attention from investors and business circles.The world’s fourth-largest steelmaker holds a 60.31 percent stake in Korea’s largest trading firm, which has successfully been producing natural gas in the waters off Myanmar since June 2013.POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon, who took over the struggling steel giant from his predecessor Chung Joon-yang in March 2014, has been spearheading the group-wide restructuring campaign. Kwon said that all POSCO subsidiaries are subject to restructuring and some of them could be sold to third parties if necessary.On a flurry of reports that POSCO would sell Daewoo’s stake in the natural gas business, POSCO officials say nothing has been decided.“We have been studying diverse ways to overhaul our affiliates since Kwon took office,” a POSCO spokesman said. “Disposing of Daewoo International’s natural resources division has been one of many items on the table. But nothing has been decided yet.”W

May 27, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

GM Korea faces bumpy road in wage negotiations

By Lee Hyo-sikGM Korea, a local unit of U.S. automotive giant General Motors (GM), will face an uphill battle with its hard-line labor union in wage and collective bargaining negotiations in June.The union is demanding Korea’s third-largest automaker raise salaries and pay hefty lump sum bonuses. But management is appealing to unionized workers that they should refrain from making “excessive” demands when the company is losing money.According to GM Korea, Tuesday, the union is asking the company to increase workers’ base salary by 159,900 won ($145) and pay a one-time bonus worth 5 times workers’ base salaries.In 2014, GM Korea hiked the base salary by 63,000 won and paid each worker a 10.5 million won bonus. The carmaker also included all regularly paid allowances in base salary in accordance with a court’s decision to avert a workers’ strike.Unlike Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, whose employees staged a walkout over an “ordinary wage” issue last year, GM did not face such a strike.However, things may be different in 2015 as manag

May 26, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Companies

Luxury brands opt to keep things secret

By Lee Hyo-sikLouis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel and other foreign luxury goods makers are seeking to keep the lid on their corporate information here by converting the structure of their Korean units into limited liability companies.According to fashion industry sources Monday, Gucci Korea, founded in 1998, transformed its corporate structure into a private limited company in December.Louis Vuitton Korea, Chanel Korea and Hermes Korea have all become limited liability companies over the past few years in an apparent bid to bypass public disclosure rules here which require companies to publicly disclose key corporate information.Many other Korean units of multinational companies, including Pizza Hut Korea, Coca Cola Korea, Google Korea and Microsoft Korea, operate here in similar forms.A corporation and a private limited company are similar in many aspects in that the liability of the shareholders of the company is limited to the capital invested. But a corporation can make rights offers or issue corporate bonds to raise fresh funds, while a private limited company cannot easily do so.More

May 25, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

Lee Hyo-sik

Read more

Special day for Hyundai chairman

Daewoo Shipbuilding to sell non-core affiliates

Hyundai Capital CEO promoted

Home plus offers high-quality, fresh groceries at low prices

Jessica Alba to sell baby products through Coupang

Booyoung CEO donates history book

Kumho Tire hosts KLPGA tourney in China

Will POSCO sell Myanmar gas ownership?

GM Korea faces bumpy road in wage negotiations

Luxury brands opt to keep things secret

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