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Nam Hyun-woo

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.

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Companies

Hyundai Steel collaborates with Star Wars franchise to promote carbon-reduced plates

Hyundai Steel has collaborated with the Star Wars franchise to promote its carbon-reduced steelmaking process through an advertisement for the film “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” The steelmaker said Friday that the collaborative video has been airing since Monday through the company’s official YouTube channel and advertisements shown at multiplex theaters. “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is an adventure film set in the "Star Wars" universe, and follows legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and his young apprentice Grogu on their journey to change the fate of the galaxy. The film was released in the United States on Friday and is scheduled to open in Korea on Wednesday. In the video, Hyundai Steel compares the teamwork of Din Djarin and Grogu to the company’s operation of a hybrid process combining an electric furnace and blast furnace. The company also borrowed the film’s iconic phrase, “This is the way,” to connect it with Hyundai Steel’s efforts to pioneer the market through the carbon-reducing production processes. “Through the video, we tried to expand our com

May 22, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Hyundai Steel collaborates with Star Wars franchise to promote carbon-reduced plates
Companies

SK On completes BlueOval SK restructuring, takes full control of Tennessee plant

SK On has completed the restructuring of its battery joint venture with Ford Motor, BlueOval SK, converting its Tennessee plant in the United States into a standalone entity, the company said Thursday. By unwinding the joint venture structure, the company aims to strengthen its financial position while increasing operational autonomy over its U.S. production base. According to SK On, the existing BlueOval SK Tennessee plant has been renamed “SK On Tennessee” and has begun operating as a fully independent facility. Under the new structure, SK On will fully own and operate the Tennessee plant, while the two Kentucky plants previously under BlueOval SK will be owned and operated by Ford. The restructuring follows an agreement reached in December 2025 between SK On and Ford to end their three-year joint operation of BlueOval SK, a move intended to strategically realign assets and production capacity to improve operational efficiency and better respond to evolving market dynamics and customer needs. SK On expects the termination of the joint venture structure to reduce its debt burden by a

May 21, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
SK On completes BlueOval SK restructuring, takes full control of Tennessee plant
Companies

Samsung agreement expected to trigger other unions' demands for profit sharing

Samsung Electronics' labor and management reached a last-minute agreement on a bonus system just hours before the company’s labor unions were set to stage a massive strike. But the deal is expected to create ripple effects across industries, with unions at other companies likely to raise similar demands for sharing operating profit. The two sides signed a tentative agreement Wednesday night institutionalizing a "special performance bonus system” for the chip-making Device Solutions division, funded with 10.5 percent of “a jointly selected business performance indicator.” The agreement did not clarify what the jointly selected business performance indicator would be, and the two sides have yet to disclose details. However, sources said it is expected to be based on operating profit or a similar indicator. They added that it is unlikely to rely on the company’s existing formula based on added economic value, which the unions have criticized for lacking transparency. Although the agreement includes several conditions, the two sides fundamentally agreed to institutionalize the sch

May 21, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung agreement expected to trigger other unions' demands for profit sharing
Companies

Samsung Electronics labor unions put off strike plan, set to hold members’ vote

Samsung Electronics labor unions said Wednesday they decided to suspend their plan to go on strike for 18 days scheduled for Thursday. They will launch a vote by union members on their tentative agreement reached with the company’s management over the bonus payment system. The unions said members will cast their votes from 2 p.m. on Friday through 10 a.m. on May 27. The decision came about six hours after the unions and management of the company resumed talks over performance-based bonus payment systems, with Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon attending the negotiation session. The two sides reached the tentative agreement after long-stalled negotiations that had continued since November last year. The likelihood of a strike had surged after a mediation session hosted by the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) ended without an agreement just one day before the planned walkout. However, the government, labor and management continued negotiations in an extra session and ultimately reached a tentative deal. “We apologize to the public for causing concern,” Samsung Electronics Labor U

May 20, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Electronics labor unions put off strike plan, set to hold members’ vote
Companies

Samsung Bioepis launches Ustekinumab biosimilar in Japan with Nipro

Samsung Bioepis announced Wednesday the launch of its Ustekinumab biosimilar in Japan, marking the company’s first product debut in the country under a partnership with NIPRO Corp. The product, Ustekinumab BS 45 mg Syringe for S.C. Injection “NIPRO,” was listed under Japan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) drug price standard following an Official Gazette announcement on Tuesday, becoming effective the same day. The launch represents Samsung Bioepis’ entry into the Japanese biosimilars market through its collaboration with Nipro. “We are thrilled to announce the launch of our first biosimilar product in Japan in partnership with Nipro,” said Chung Jin-han, vice president and head of commercial strategy for international markets at Samsung Bioepis. “Together with our partner, we look forward to supporting patients living with autoimmune diseases and contributing to the sustainability of Japan’s health care system by providing quality-assured, safe and effective biosimilar options.” Ustekinumab is a human immunoglobulin G1 kappa monoclonal antibody designed to inhibit th

May 20, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Bioepis launches Ustekinumab biosimilar in Japan with Nipro
Companies

Samsung Electronics union, management resume talks with labor minister present

Samsung Electronics' labor and management resumed talks over performance-based bonus payment systems at 4 p.m. Wednesday, with Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon attending the negotiation session. This came about four hours after the two sides failed to reach an agreement in their talks mediated by the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), and the company’s labor unions said they would proceed with an 18-day strike on Thursday as planned. The latest talks were not mediated by the NLRC, and the minister was attending to assist the talks, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The talks' outcome was not announced as of 10 p.m. At around 11 a.m., the company’s labor and management ended their negotiations without an agreement despite extended talks in the NLRC-arranged mediation session that began Monday. Union leader Choi Seung-ho claimed that the unions had agreed to the mediation proposal presented by the NLRC, but the company continued to stick to its position, prompting the NLRC to eventually end the session. The unions expressed their intention to go ahead with the str

May 20, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Electronics union, management resume talks with labor minister present
Companies

Musinsa’s 2019 ad controversy resurfaces amid Starbucks' ‘Tank Day’ backlash

After expressing his anger over Starbucks Korea’s controversial "Tank Day" promotion for insulting victims of the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, President Lee Jae Myung slammed Musinsa for the fashion platform’s 2019 promotion, which also used the same phrase insulting a student activist. On Wednesday, Lee posted a screen grab of Musinsa’s advertisement on X (formerly Twitter), saying the ad “mocks and ridicules the torture and death of democracy activist Park Jong-chul and the Democratic Uprising that followed.” “This is truly a serious issue,” he wrote. “Money may be the root of all evil, but how could anyone do something inhumane like this? We need to verify whether this is real.” The ad was posted on Musinsa’s official Instagram account on July 2, 2019, to promote quick-drying socks. The ad used a phrase that roughly translates into English as “hitting the desk with a sound of ‘tak!’ and the socks drying with a sound of ‘eok!’” The phrase references the infamous explanation given by police in the 1987 torture death of Park, claiming that “he die

May 20, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Musinsa’s 2019 ad controversy resurfaces amid Starbucks' ‘Tank Day’ backlash
Companies

Samsung Electronics unions plan to go on strike Thursday as talks collapse again

Samsung Electronics’ labor and management on Wednesday failed to reach an agreement in their last-ditch talks, and the company’s labor unions said they will launch an 18-day strike on Thursday. Attention is now on the government, which has suggested it could invoke compulsory arbitration measures to contain fallout to the national economy. According to union leader Choi Seung-ho, the company’s labor and management ended their negotiations at around 11 a.m., Wednesday, despite extended talks in a government-arranged mediation session that began Monday. Choi claimed that the unions "had agreed to the mediation proposal presented by the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC)" on Wednesday night, but the company requested more time, leading the two sides to continue negotiations into Wednesday. He added that the NLRC eventually ended the session as the company continued to withhold its position. The unions said they will proceed with the general strike as planned. “The unions will lawfully enter a general strike tomorrow as scheduled,” he said. “We also make clear that we wi

May 20, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung Electronics unions plan to go on strike Thursday as talks collapse again
Tech & Science

LG Innotek teams up with Kakao Mobility for self-driving solutions

LG Innotek has partnered with Kakao Mobility to develop autonomous driving solutions, expanding their presence in sensing modules for physical artificial intelligence (AI) and self-driving data. The companies announced Wednesday that they signed a memorandum of understanding to develop self-driving solutions, combining LG Innotek’s sensing modules such as cameras, radar and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) with Kakao Mobility’s driving data and software technologies. Under the partnership, LG Innotek plans to obtain real-world driving data from Kakao Mobility to further improve the performance and quality of its sensing modules. Kakao Mobility plans to apply LG Innotek’s sensing technologies to its autonomous driving data management system, which automates the entire process from data collection to training and deployment. “Through the partnership, we will accelerate our efforts to secure and internalize high-quality driving data and end-to-end autonomous driving technologies,” Ryu Gung-seon said. “We will continue to enhance the competitiveness of Korea’s autonomous dri

May 20, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
LG Innotek teams up with Kakao Mobility for self-driving solutions
Companies

Samsung union, management to continue talks Wednesday in last-ditch effort to avert strike

Samsung Electronics’ labor and management will continue their negotiations in a government-arranged mediation session on Wednesday, which could be the last chance for a wage agreement before union members stage an 18-day strike on Thursday. With the government poised to invoke a compulsory arbitration measure that could suspend the strike, labor, management and the government were exploring a compromise plan, with the allocation of the semiconductor division’s performance bonuses between the memory and foundry businesses remaining a key point of contention. The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) said it adjourned the mediation session after midnight Tuesday and will continue discussions from 10 a.m. Wednesday. The two sides had been negotiating through the NLRC-arranged session since Monday, but failed to conclude the talks by Tuesday as initially planned, despite overnight negotiations. Earlier Tuesday evening, NLRC Commissioner Park Su-keun told reporters that the talks were making progress and that an outcome could be expected around 10 p.m. However, the two sides struggle

May 19, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
Samsung union, management to continue talks Wednesday in last-ditch effort to avert strike
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