Korea Times Business Reporter
Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
KT employees participate in a hackathon with Palantir at KT office's in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in this handout photo released Thursday. During the event held from Monday to Wednesday, KT employees developed artificial intelligence agents for potential deployment across the company's core business areas using Palantir's platforms. Courtesy of KT
![[PHOTO] KT-Palantir hackathon](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Hyundai Motor Group will take full ownership of Boston Dynamics by acquiring a 9.65 percent stake held by Japan's SoftBank. Through the acquisition, the group will accelerate its expansion into the robotics business while speeding up preparations for an anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of the robotics affiliate. The group said Thursday that SoftBank had exercised its put option to sell its remaining 9.65 percent stake in Boston Dynamics under their sale and purchase agreement signed in 2020. Hyundai Motor Group acquired an 80 percent stake in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank at around 1 trillion won ($674 million) in 2020. Under the deal, SoftBank had the right to sell its remaining stake to Hyundai Motor Group if Boston Dynamics was not listed in the United States. The option is set to expire on July 20. SoftBank's stake was later diluted to 9.65 percent through capital increases and additional investments by Hyundai Motor Group. Excluding SoftBank, HMG Global, a joint investment firm between Hyundai Motor, Kia and Hyundai Mobis, held a 56.3 percent stake in Boston Dynamics, foll
Samsung Group said Thursday it will contribute 200 billion won ($134.4 million) to the Samsung Miso Financial Foundation to support vulnerable households, as part of its earlier pledge to commit 5 trillion won to social contribution initiatives over the next five years. Of the 200 billion won, Samsung Electronics will contribute 150 billion won, while Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Securities and other financial affiliates will contribute the remaining 50 billion won. With the contribution, the foundation will provide unsecured and nonguaranteed loans to financially vulnerable households, small business owners and startups. The loans will be provided at interest rates of up to 4.5 percent annually and are expected to benefit about 40,000 people. The contribution is part of Samsung Electronics pledge to expand its social contributions after reaching a wage agreement with its labor union in May. At the time, the company pledged to commit 5 trillion won to social contribution initiatives over the next five years, saying it would ensure that “the company'
Novelis Korea Director of Government Affairs Choi Min-young was appointed as the inaugural chair of the Aluminum Committee of the Korea Nonferrous Metals Association (KONMA), the aluminum rolling and recycling company said Thursday. KONMA is an industry association established to promote the development of Korea’s nonferrous metals industry and strengthen the competitiveness of its member companies. The Aluminum Committee was newly established this year to support the sustainable development of the aluminum industry and address shared priorities among member companies. The committee will advance government policy recommendations, support supply chain stabilization and respond to evolving global trade and environmental regulations. These efforts aim to enhance the competitiveness of the aluminum industry and promote a circular economy through the expanded use of recycled aluminum, Novelis said. “Aluminum is a key material driving the era of carbon neutrality and the circular economy,” Choi said. “I will do my utmost to bring together the diverse voices of the industry and contrib
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that the inspection findings behind its rejection of HLB's liver cancer drug Rivoceranib can be addressed through voluntary corrective actions, easing market concerns over the treatment. HLB said Wednesday that its U.S. subsidiary Elevar Therapeutics has received a close-out letter regarding the FDA's current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) inspection of a facility operated by its Chinese partner Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals that produces the drug substance for Rivoceranib. In the letter, the FDA said the facility was generally in compliance with cGMP requirements and classified the inspection findings as Voluntary Action Indicated (VAI). VAI is an inspection classification indicating that the FDA identified issues at a facility but did not consider them serious enough to force regulatory action. HLB said the letter also stated that the VAI classification itself would not affect the FDA's review of the pending application related with the facility. HLB has received three Complete Response Letters (CRLs) from the FDA regardi
The feud between Samsung Electronics' device-making and chipmaking divisions is deepening, as employees in the smartphone and home appliance businesses are expressing anger over a nearly 100-fold compensation gap between them and employees in the chipmaking division. Samsung Electronics Company Union (SECU), which is mostly comprised of employees in the appliance-making Device Experience (DX) division, will hold a rally under a "same company, same rights" slogan at the company’s plant in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday to protest the compensation gap between the divisions and urge management to address the issue. SECU became the company's second-largest labor union after a large number of DX division employees joined in protest against a wage agreement reached in May, under which only employees in the chipmaking Device Solutions (DS) division were granted performance incentives of up to 600 million won ($402,900). As of Wednesday morning, the union had 28,569 members, accounting for roughly 55 percent of the DX division's workforce of 51,700. A day earlier, the National Samsung E
The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) celebrated its 80th founding anniversary on Tuesday, honoring its contributions to the country's trade and economic growth as a private organization. KITA held a 80th anniversary ceremony at the Coex exhibition center in southern Seoul, attended by more than 1,000 government officials, foreign envoys and business leaders, including Prime Minister Han Seong-sook and Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo. "Having grown over the past 80 years with the trust and support of the government and the trade community, we will repay that trust with even greater responsibility and contributions," KITA Chairman Yoon Jin-sik said. "Based on the private sector's creativity and a strong sense of public responsibility, we will stand alongside Korean businesses in their global ambitions and serve as their most trusted partner as they expand into markets around the world." Founded in 1946 with 105 member companies, KITA has grown into one of Korea's leading business organizations, now representing more than 80,000 member firms. The ceremony also featured the unveili
Google unveiled its vision to expand the presence of its Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) in Korea's enterprise AI market on Tuesday, highlighting its strengths as a full-stack AI company spanning infrastructure, models and platforms. During a press conference on the sidelines of the Google AI for Business 2026 event in Seoul, Google Korea Country Managing Director Yoon Koo and Google Cloud Korea Country Head Ruth Sun stressed that Korea is one of the world's most competitive AI markets and a key strategic partner for Google. “When the world was transitioning to the mobile era, Korea was often described as a global test bed,” Yoon said. “But Korea is no longer just a place where technologies are tested. It has become a fiercely competitive arena where all the key players driving global AI innovation come together and compete head-on. The competition here is so intense that nearly every AI use case developed in Korea goes on to become a global reference case for innovation.” Yoon and Sun emphasized that forging partnerships with Korean companies at the center of that competitio
As the Korean government pushes to complete a new 800 trillion won ($532 billion) semiconductor cluster in the country's southwestern region and begin mass production there by 2030 — within President Lee Jae Myung's single five-year term — concerns are growing that the tight timeline could put the entire project at risk. The government stresses that the target is achievable by rolling out measures to address concerns raised by experts over securing sufficient industrial water, power supply, workforce and land, but industry officials argue the timeline is based on the optimistic assumption that every step will proceed without delays. Given that the downside risks are as significant as the scale of the investment, they say the government should allow for greater flexibility rather than becoming overly fixated on its political timetable. According to government officials, the central government is accelerating plans to relocate facilities at Gwangju Military Air Base, the site selected for the semiconductor cluster, to nearby Muan County, South Jeolla Province. It aims to begin the rel
The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) has launched "K-Doorknock," a new advocacy program aimed at helping Korean companies strengthen their business and investment presence in the United States. The initiative will debut Monday (local time) in Washington, D.C., as part of AMCHAM's annual Washington Doorknock mission, which runs through Thursday. Washington Doorknock has long served as AMCHAM's flagship advocacy program, bringing business leaders to the U.S. capital to meet policymakers and opinion leaders on issues affecting bilateral economic ties. The newly introduced K-Doorknock expands that effort by providing a dedicated platform for Korean companies to engage directly with U.S. government officials and business leaders as they expand operations and investments in the U.S. AMCHAM said the new initiative reflects the increasingly two-way nature of the Korea-U.S. economic partnership, with the chamber seeking to support not only U.S. companies operating in Korea but also Korean companies investing and creating jobs in the United States. The inaugural K-Doorknock delegation