The Korea Times

Self-commissioned study exonerates Samsung in multiple leukemia cases

By Kim Yoo-chul YONGIN, Gyeonggi Province — A U.S. environmental specialist Thursday claimed no link was found between six leukemia-stricken former Samsung Electronics employees and their working conditions. “We found that occupational exposure in manufacturing areas evaluated are significantly below levels developed by the scientific community,” said Paul Harper of Environ International. Environ was commissioned last July by Samsung to improve the safety of its factories. “But Environ didn’t find a link between exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and the health conditions of six employees,” the Environ executive told reporters. Environ has inspected three Samsung chip plants — Line 5 in Giheung, Line 12 in Hawseong and Line 1 in Onyang — and looked at medical records of six Samsung employees to find out if there was any firm evidence of cancer-causing chemicals. The rebuttal came weeks after a court ruled that two of the six plaintiffs had cancer following exposure to hazardous materials while working at Samsung factories. The ruling came with an o

Jul 14, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Hynix, Toshiba to tie up for joint venture

By Kim Yoo-chul Hynix Semiconductor and Toshiba plan to create a joint venture jointly develop magnetoresistive random access memory or MRAM products. The tie-up of the semiconductor industry's No. 2 and No. 3 comes at a time when the nation's top mobile carrier SK Telecom and mid-tier conglomerate STX have filed to acquire a controlling 15.1 percent stake in Hynix owned by nine key shareholders. "It is good news to shareholders and bidders because the Icheon, Gyeonggi Province-based Hynix will keep its status as a leader in the industry in advanced memory chips via the partnership," said an official at one of the firm's creditor banks, asking not to be identified, Wednesday. "SK Telecom and STX are being pressurized to pay more premium to Hynix' shareholders," added the official. The 15.1 percent stake is currently valued at $2.4 billion. Hynix is only trailing market leader Samsung Electronics in the global computer memory chip market by revenue; while Toshiba is the world’s third-biggest. The announcement could be enough to threaten Samsung’s lead in the sector,

Jul 13, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung to pass Nokia, fight Apple but hit China wall

Not Apple but China emerges as bigger concern By Kim Yoo-chul By the end of the year at the earliest, Samsung Electronics is set to replace Nokia as the No. 1 mobile handset maker in terms of total shipments, industry sources and Samsung officials said Tuesday. This means that in spite of Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s clean-up efforts, mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun will retain his current post at any year-end reshuffle. ``Samsung has the chance to become the world’s biggest handset maker beating out the Finland-based phone maker,’’ one official said. ``Samsung’s product portfolios are balanced thanks to its early response in releasing the Galaxy series. In 2G-based phones, which are outdated, consumers in Africa, South America and some Asian countries are still buying at discounted prices,’’ he added. Samsung plans to sell over 330 million phones throughout this year including 100 million smartphones. ``It’s true that Nokia is in sight,’’ said another senior Samsung official. Nokia is also one of Samsung’s top clients as the Finnish firm buys flat-screens and

Jul 12, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Will Samsung-Apple reconciliation be at hand?

By Kim Yoo-chul Can Samsung and Apple reach an amicable solution to their cross-patent lawsuits? The two just may, according to sources directly involved in the process. But neither will likely offer an olive branch anytime soon, meaning lawyers from both sides will jockey for a better position for some time to come. Eventually a cross-licensing deal could be reached in which the two sides will be able to settle what they owe each other and pave the way for closer cooperation, the sources said. In the negotiations are wireless-related techs, handset design, user-interface and other software-centric services. ``Quite possibly, Samsung Electronics and Apple will end the ongoing lawsuits by signing a cross-licensing agreement on various techs,’’ said one legal source, Monday. Samsung is fighting Apple in eight different courts in six countries, although it partially dropped the lawsuit against Apple in California. Apple had sued Samsung in April, alleging that Samsung had copied the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad. The iPhone maker had also filed f

Jul 11, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung to speed up reshuffle, Lee says

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics is planning to speed up its ongoing reshuffle of top management, its chairman said Friday. ``No fixed dates have been set for a shake-up of top Samsung executives because any possible changes depend on the situation,’’ said Lee Kun-hee in a meeting with reporters at Gimpo Airport. Lee arrived from Durban, South Africa, where he was sponsoring PyeongChang’s third and ultimately successful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. His remarks came a few days after the world’s biggest technology company by revenue created a so-called ``device solutions’’ unit, encompassing its flat-screen and semiconductor businesses. Chang Won-kie, the chief of Samsung’s LCD business was placed in an advisory role, taking responsibility for the division’s sluggish performance in the rare mid-year reshuffle. Samsung Electronics is being challenged to revive its traditionally-strong component-related businesses amid the slower global economic recovery and weak demand for consumer electronics in the United States and Europe. Samsung estimated that its

Jul 10, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

People & Events

Hanjin Shipping CEO cited by Spain

Hanjin Shipping CEO was awarded by the Spanish government. Chairwoman and CEO Choi Eun-young received Thursday the civil medal from Spanish Ambassador to Korea Luis Arias-Romero in the Spanish embassy in downtown Seoul. Hanjin is the nation’s largest shipping firm. ``Choi has helped Korea strengthen ties with Spain and boost the regional economy through the operation of a terminal for containers,’’ said a Hanjin spokeswoman. The medal is given to foreigners and Spanish nationals who have contributed significantly to national interests. Choi is the third Korean to receive the medal after former President Kim Young-sam and the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, the spokeswoman said. Last year, Hanjin opened Total Terminal International Algeciras (TTIA) in Algeciras, Spain. The facility is Spain’s first terminal with an automated yard system. Located in Spain’s largest port, the facility can accommodate super-sized container ships larger than 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). Hanjin is expected to handle 620,000-TEU containers within this year from 15

Jul 8, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Two LG affiliates sue Osram

By Kim Yoo-chul LG Electronics and its affiliate LG Innotek have filed a request to bar the sale of German-based Siemens affiliate Osram products, while suing the German light bulb maker for patent infringement. LG plans to ask U.S. and Chinese authorities to investigate Osram’s light-emitting diode (LED)-related patents. A complaint was already filed with the Korean trade commission to ban imports of LED products. ``LG Electronics and LG Innotek decided to bring Osram to the top local court because the companies believed that Osram’s patent-infringed LED products were hurting the local LED industry,’’ said LG Electronics spokeswoman Lee Ji-eun. But she declined to give comments on the amount of compensation. LG Electronics is the world’s second-biggest TV maker, while LG Innotek produces LED chips. ``We are planning to take the matter to China and the United States in order to protect our patents,’’ said Lee. In the suit filed at the Seoul Central District Court, LG claimed that Osram infringed seven LG patents over packaging and LED chip technologies.

Jul 8, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

LGE boss scores small victory

By Kim Yoo-chul Ask LG Electronics officials about their boss, Koo Bon-joon, often simply referred to as the "vice chairman," about how he is doing lately, and chances are they will answer, "He is in high spirits." Not because there are any signs of improvement to the firm's bottom line on the horizon. As a matter of fact, Koo recently talked grimly about the second quarter. Few analysts disagree that LG's leading affiliate will continue to suffer for the rest of the year not just for its late start in the smartphone race but the dim economic outlook worldwide. Then, what keeps the younger brother of the group Chairman Koo Bon-moo elated? The clue can be found in a newspaper advertisement on a spread page, claiming LG has proved its supremacy in 3D TV together with a graph putting LG ahead of Samsung Electronics and other competitors, copied and blown up. "Look now at who is the sky and who is the earth," the advertisement says, referring to LG as the sky or the winner and to Samsung as the earth. The two rivals have been engaged in a raging 3D TV war, t

Jul 7, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsungs earnings dip in 2nd quarter

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung posted 39 trillion won in sales for the second quarter, with 3.7 trillion won in operating profit. On a year-to-year comparison, sales were up 2.9 percent from a year ago but operating profit was down 26.2 percent. The decline is blamed on poor performances in LCD and semiconductor businesses. Samsung expects improved profit in the second half, as the demand for digital devices makes a seasonal rise. Samsung usually reports stronger profit for the latter half on bigger demands for chip and flat-screen orders from Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP). During the first six months of this year, Samsung reaped 75.99 trillion won. The combined operating profit in the first half was estimated to 6.65 trillion won, a decrease by 29.4 percent from a year earlier, the filing said. ``The estimates fared well considering further weaker expectations in the financial markets,’’ said Song Myung-seop, an analyst at Hi Investment. ``Samsung’s telecommunications division, which handles its smartphones, is looking good. Also, the price of value ad

Jul 7, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Companies

Travel ban slapped on SK vice chairman

Chairman’s kid brother allegedly running slush fund By Kim Yoo-chul Choi Jae-won, co-chief executive of SK Holdings, was slapped with an overseas travel ban for creating slush funds amounting to millions of dollars. Jae-won is the younger brother of SK Chairman Chey Tae-won and is concurrently serving as a senior vice chairman and CEO at SK E&S and SK Gas. ``The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating and as part of its probe a travel ban was placed on Jae-won early this week,’’ a source said. An SK Group spokesman said the allegations have no direct relations with the conglomerate, adding, ``This is a personal matter.” Allegations focused on Vice Chairman Choi for receiving kickbacks in return for favors to several unnamed affiliates in connection to profitable projects. Prosecutor sources found 12 billion won that was suspected to be the vice chairman’s pocket money in a private safe belonging to his confidant. The confidant, identified as Kim Joon-hong, has already been charged with stock manipulation in the tech-heavy stock market,

Jul 6, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Kim Yoo-chul

Read more

Self-commissioned study exonerates Samsung in multiple leukemia cases

Hynix, Toshiba to tie up for joint venture

Samsung to pass Nokia, fight Apple but hit China wall

Will Samsung-Apple reconciliation be at hand?

Samsung to speed up reshuffle, Lee says

Hanjin Shipping CEO cited by Spain

Two LG affiliates sue Osram

LGE boss scores small victory

Samsungs earnings dip in 2nd quarter

Travel ban slapped on SK vice chairman

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