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Lee Min-hyung

Korea Times Business Reporter

Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.

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Hyundai Motor salesperson achieves milestone with customer-centric mindset

Kang Byung-chul, a sales director for Hyundai Motor’s commercial vehicles, cites his unwavering focus on a customer-centric mindset as the key driving force for his surprising sales milestone. He earned the recognition as the carmaker’s second salesperson to achieve a cumulative total of 3,000 commercial vehicle sales. The figure is noteworthy in that all the sales were from commercial cars, such as large trucks for transportation of equipment. Commercial cars refer to specially-designed vehicles, such as buses, vans and concrete trucks known in Korea as "remicon." Kang joined the automaker in 1997 and achieved robust sales over his 28 years with the company. In 2022, he also received the title of sales master after reaching a milestone of more than 2,500 vehicles sold. Kang said he has not hesitated to travel to meet interested customers. “There is no special secret for my sales,” he said during a telephone interview. “I travel all around the country when customers contact me. I always make it a rule to listen to the voice of customers with sincerity and empathy.” The sales ac

Jun 9, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Hyundai Motor salesperson achieves milestone with customer-centric mindset
Companies

Korean Air faces internal complaints over Asiana merger

Korean Air faces internal complaints over concerns that employees may have to share welfare benefits with incoming Asiana Airlines staff amid the high-stakes takeover. The flag carrier, which completed its legal procedure for the acquisition of the cash-strapped Asiana last year, plans to launch and operate a converged single Korean Air brand by the end of October 2026. Currently, it runs Asiana as a subsidiary. Korean Air seeks to minimize potential backlash from both sides by undertaking a two-year integration of corporate culture with Asiana Airlines. However, employees from Korean Air still remain skeptical about whether management's plan will proceed as expected amid concerns that they may receive fewer benefits from their current welfare programs due to the acquisition. One of Korean Air's flagship welfare programs is the zonal employee discount (ZED) tickets. The airline offers some 25 ZED tickets annually to its employees at discounts of up to 90 percent. The airline’s employees and their lineal family members are eligible to enjoy the benefit. Given the considerable discount ra

Jun 9, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Korean Air faces internal complaints over Asiana merger
Companies

Conglomerates in dilemma over manpower expansion

Major conglomerates are facing a dilemma over President Lee Jae-myung’s pro-labor policy of raising the legal retirement age, as it could prevent job creation for the younger generation, industry officials said Thursday. Lee’s major policies include the gradual extension of the retirement age from 60 to 65, along with introducing a 4.5-day workweek system. Both are drawing concerns from major business groups, as they are expected to increase labor costs and make it tough to ensure productivity under possibly reduced working hours. However, his proposals seem highly feasible thanks to the parliamentary majority of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). The ruling bloc holds 167 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly. If both pledges pass the National Assembly, industry officials argue they will have to tighten their belts either by reducing recruitment of new employees or shrinking investment. “If the policies are realized, companies will have to cover more labor costs to pay for the experienced older workers for a longer period of time,” an official from a conglomerate said.

Jun 6, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Conglomerates in dilemma over manpower expansion
Companies

ChatGPT sees sharp drop in Korean users in May

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is losing steam in Korea, with its user numbers reporting a sharp decline in May, data showed Thursday. According to data from market tracker IGAWorks, ChatGPT reported 10.17 million monthly active users (MAUs) last month, a drop of more than 500,000 from a month earlier. This is the second time that the figure has declined in Korea since February 2024. Given the consistently strong use of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot service, the latest decline suggests that it has entered a phase of growth slowdown in the Korean market. The service showed a solid growth pattern for the past few months. The MAU for ChatGPT topped five million for the first time in March, and the figure doubled the following month to more than 10 million. This boom was due to the viral popularity of an image-generation feature in OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o. The service transforms ordinary user photos into the distinctive artistic style of Studio Ghibli animations. However, the latest fall in its MAU shows the boom came to an end. In May, the number of new downloads for ChatGPT displayed a sharp d

Jun 5, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
ChatGPT sees sharp drop in Korean users in May
Companies

Stellantis Korea hit by excessive sales intervention amid falling revenue

Stellantis Korea was ordered Wednesday to rectify its inadequate sales intervention on its retail stores, taking another hit from its steep sales fall here, the antitrust watchdog said. According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), a sanction was imposed on the local subsidiary of the global carmaker for violating fair trade rules by coercing its retail stores into submitting confidential sales data. Stellantis Korea sells vehicles from two major overseas auto brands — Jeep and Peugeot. The FTC investigation found that the carmaker had demanded that its retail stores provide documents containing their specific revenue data. Unless the carmaker’s affiliated retail stores submitted them by the deadline, Stellantis Korea cut incentives by 0.2 percent from employees in the stores. The submitted data is seen as confidential, so the stores do not necessarily have to provide them, according to the antitrust watchdog. “Stellantis Korea abused its power to intervene in sales activities from its retail stores,” an FTC official said. The authority said any corporate headquarters should protec

Jun 4, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Stellantis Korea hit by excessive sales intervention amid falling revenue
Companies

Lee urged not to repeat past eco-mobility failures

President Lee Jae-myung should prevent the recurrence of botched eco-friendly mobility policies pushed by former administrations by mapping out more concrete long-term strategies, experts and industry officials said Wednesday. Lee took office tasked with the revival of the nation’s key industries, as they are at risk of losing growth momentum here and abroad amid unfavorable economic circumstances and increasing trade pressure from the United States. The automobile sector is particularly vulnerable to these risk factors, with most carmakers reporting a drastic drop in auto sales. The industry is in dire need of policy support from the new administration to tackle an escalating set of uncertainties. Auto experts and industry watchers said the government should learn from past mistakes in eco-friendly policies. Lee pledged to make the market share for electric vehicles (EVs) exceed 50 percent by 2030, in line with a global shift towards more eco-friendly forms of mobility. However, experts argued the pledge is unfeasible during his five-year tenure, as infrastructure for the spread of EV

Jun 4, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Lee urged not to repeat past eco-mobility failures
Companies

Korea’s business lobbies urge new president to spur economic recovery

Korea's major business lobbies have urged President Lee Jae-myung to spur economic recovery, as the country struggles to navigate mounting challenges posed by global protectionism and a rapid tech paradigm shift. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea was elected president after defeating Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party, winning 49.42 percent of the vote to Kim’s 41.15 percent. In a statement, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked for the next administration to drive Korea’s economic rebound with strong leadership. “The country faces multiple challenges of low growth, low birthrate and the extinction of small towns,” the business lobby said. “Coupled with the domestic agendas, the president is advised to harness national capabilities to navigate the rapidly changing global environment, represented by growing protectionism and artificial intelligence-driven tech innovation.” The Federation of Korean Industries also called on Lee to build a more business-friendly environment to help the country tackle worsening global trade uncertainty and s

Jun 4, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Korea’s business lobbies urge new president to spur economic recovery
Companies

Carmakers face double whammy of export fall, domestic slump amid leadership vacuum

The nation’s auto industry is trapped in a double whammy of drastic declining exports and a domestic consumption slump amid a prolonged leadership vacuum. The export decline is attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25 percent auto tariff, which is expected to cause serious earnings damage to Hyundai Motor, Kia and General Motors (GM) Korea. The weakening domestic consumption is also cited as another major risk for the major automakers. Data from four major carmakers — Hyundai Motor, Kia, KG Mobility and GM Korea — reported a drop in domestic sales in May. Hyundai Motor’s vehicle sales decreased 5.2 percent last month from a year earlier, while those of Kia also dropped by 2.4 percent during the same period. KG Mobility and GM Korea suffered even bigger declines, with sales falling 11 percent and 39.8 percent, respectively. Renault Korea was the only top-five carmaker to report a sales growth last month. This was triggered by the economy’s continuous exposure to weak demand. Despite the economic slump, Korea has in recent months failed to implement any preemptive policy m

Jun 3, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Carmakers face double whammy of export fall, domestic slump amid leadership vacuum
Companies

Hyundai Motor, GM Korea face union tensions amid US tariff risks

Hyundai Motor and General Motors (GM) Korea are grappling with escalating demands from labor unions for substantial wage increases, compounding challenges posed by auto tariffs from the United States. Unions at both automakers are pressing for significant portions of company profits to be distributed as bonuses, despite mounting business uncertainties stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump's push for a 25 percent tariff on automobile imports. Hyundai Motor’s labor union is demanding that 30 percent of the company’s 2024 net profit be paid as a special bonus to union members — an estimated 4 trillion won ($2.9 billion). However, the likelihood of the automaker accepting the demand appears slim, as the company faces growing external risks from potential tariffs. The U.S. accounted for 54 percent of Hyundai’s total exports last year. On Tuesday, Hyundai Motor reported a 1.7 percent decline in sales for May compared to the same period last year, attributing the drop to weaker consumer spending amid an economic slowdown. Hyundai sold 351,174 vehicles last month, down from 357,099

Jun 3, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Hyundai Motor, GM Korea face union tensions amid US tariff risks
Companies

Antitrust watchdog catches flak for 'reverse discrimination' against Korean firms

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is catching flak for showing a “way too lenient” attitude toward foreign companies while failing to maintain consistent regulatory standards for their Korean counterparts. The antitrust watchdog is often described as a "conglomerate sniper," but its latest sanctions on overseas tech firms are drawing questions over the label. The FTC recently accepted a proposal from Google Korea to rectify its unfair business practice by unbundling YouTube Music from its YouTube Premium subscription service. The company also offered to provide 30 billion won ($21.8 million) as part of its self-correction measure, apparently aimed at avoiding regulatory risks from the FTC. The long-delayed investigation into the unjust business practice appeared to have closed without any punitive measures. However, the leniency has not been extended to local firms. Last year, the watchdog slapped Coupang with massive fines of 162.8 billion won, citing the e-commerce firm’s alleged algorithm manipulation when selling its own private-branded products on its platform. The fines marked

Jun 2, 2025By Lee Min-hyung
Antitrust watchdog catches flak for 'reverse discrimination' against Korean firms
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