The Korea Times

Kumho Petrochemical to graduate from debt workout program

By Kim Yoo-chul YEOSU, South Jeolla Province — Kumho Petrochemical is hoping to leave its debt workout program by the end of this year. “Our top priority for this year is to put our business back on a normal track. That means graduating from the workout program set by creditors by the end of this year,” the firm’s Chairman Park Chan-koo said in a news conference held in Yeosu, Wednesday. Park was on the sidelines in a show of rare participation to open a second local facility to mainly produce high cis polybutadiene rubbers or HBRs. The company is the de facto holding company of Korea’s airline-focused conglomerate Kumho-Asiana Group. Since early last year, the nation’s top-tier petrochemical firm has been under a creditor-led debt workout program alongside Kumho Industrial and Kumho Tire after the group’s heavy liquidity woes. “As part of a consistent move, we will sell all stakes of Kumho Tire owned by us from July, to help strengthen financial soundness,” the chairman said, adding he owns some one million Kumho Tire shares. When asked about this year’s

Feb 9, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Companies

Business up in arms over cap and trade market

By Kim Yoo-chul The business community is voicing its opposition to an early introduction of carbon emissions trading, claiming that it hurts their competitiveness. ``Forcing firms to buy carbon permits to cover their emissions output will surely bring competitive disadvantage to our industrial edge,’’ Lee Dong-keun, executive vice chairman at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told reporters, Monday, at a news conference in downtown Seoul. Referring to moves seen by the U.S., China, India and Japan either to delay or scrap the ``cap-and-trade’’ scheme, Lee said the introduction of carbon trading will scare investors away from the Asia’s fourth-biggest economy. ``The KCCI has submitted its written opposition, asking the government to delay its introduction or to completely scrap the plan,’’ the executive said. He added that Korea should wait rather than move ahead of the pack. Korea, which aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from projected levels by 2020, is planning to introduce the carbon trading bill at the National Assembly. Go

Feb 8, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

LGs first tablet supports glasses-free 3D imaging

By Kim Yoo-chul Three-dimensional (3D) imagery has become an integral part of the digitally-driven world as almost all new high-tech gadgets now contain some 3D features. One of the biggest glitches in achieving the 3D world is the need for glasses, necessary to watch 3D images. Customers have complained of the hassles and awkward nature of wearing the special spectacles. But Korea's consumer electronics giant LG Electronics claims users of its first tablet PC, dubbed the G-Slate with an 8.9-inch touch-sensitive screen, will be able to watch 3D high-definition video footage without glasses. LG is the first to offer 3D viewing images on tablets. No official announcements have so far been reported from LG’s biggest cross-town rival Samsung Electronics or even Apple. "The tablet is designed to shoot and play 3D video clips in high definition, which can be watched without the help of the customized glasses," LG spokesman Yoon Won-il said on Sunday. However, Yoon declined to comment on whether or not its next tablet models will use glasses-free 3D technology as LG

Feb 6, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

LG Group expects to see robust growth this year

LG Chem pinch-hitting for the conglomerate, buying time for LGE’s comeback By Kim Yoo-chul Don't count out LG Group just because its erstwhile flagship LG Electronics has fared poorly. As is often the case in business, the reinvention of the spirit of enterprise determines a company’s fate. By this standard, LG is doing something entirely new. Chairman Koo Bon-moo is readjusting the group’s focus with its other affiliates, notably LG Chem, taking up the slack. Koo Bon-joon, the younger brother of the chairman, is in charge of the troubled flagship. Ask LG Chem CEO Kim Bahn-suk how the group he belongs to will perform in 2011, he is likely to say that LG could emulate even beat Samsung. But, however good the planning, the most important element in finding success is the execution. LG, whose main business focuses range from electronics, and chemicals to telecommunications, is pushing to centralize its management and regain its past glory in the shortest time possible after its struggles in the highly-competitive consumer electronics field. Over the last few

Jan 31, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Samsung profit soars on smartphones

Tech giant sets records in 2010, but braces for toughening environment By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics is upbeat about maintaining the profitability of its flagship digital devices after a record-breaking year. In a regulatory filing to the Korea Exchange, the Suwon, Gyeonggi Province-based outfit said that it chalked up 154.64 trillion won in sales last year and 17.3 trillion won in operating profit. Boosted by the record-breaking performance, the world’s top producer of memory chips and flat-panel displays said that it will seek to boost its technology leadership to remain ahead of the pack. ``Samsung expects the conventional business pattern of a weak first half and a stronger second half will recur this year,’’ said Robert Yi, the chief of Samsung’s investor relations team, in a conference call to analysts upon its fourth quarter earnings announcement. ``It’s true that the business situation was not favorable in the previous year as the economic downturn sapped consumer demand for electronic products and caused fierce price competition between players,’’

Jan 28, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Hynix CEO bullish about future

By Kim Yoo-chul Hynix Semiconductor will prevail in the era of relentless consolidation in the tech-intensive industry, according to the company's chief executive officer. Hynix CEO Kwon Oh-chul made the remarks Thursday after announcing morale-boosting performances of Hynix, after it chalked up 12.1 trillion won in sales and 3.3 trillion won in profits in 2010. Both are record highs. Amid the explosive demand for memory chips generated by top-tier TVs, tablet PCs and smartphones, Hynix has fared well through securing more orders from set-makers. By contrast, second-tier chip suppliers struggled to find their feet. This prompted the corner players to find a strategic partnership to stay afloat, eventually creating a big merger & acquisition (M&A) market. Kwon analyzed that such environments have strengthened the winner-takes-all formula of the high-tech industry, while stressing the world’s No. 2 chipmaker will lead the way. Based on these presumptions, Hynix sees top-tier chip vendors insulated from market volatilities compared to second-tier ones. ``The gap

Jan 28, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Introducing class in high-tech

Bang & Olufsen CEO vows success in Korea through localized strategies By Kim Yoo-chul Luxury electronics maker, Bang & Olufsen (B&O), hasn’t been anonymous in Korea, but nor has it been generating real excitement. However, a jacked-up marketing budget and renewed commitment for customized products has the Danish brand anticipating a breakthrough here. In an exclusive interview with the Korea

Jan 27, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Hynix strikes record annual profit

By Kim Yoo-chul Hynix Semiconductor, the world's second largest maker of computer memory chips, said its fourth-quarter profit plunged 83.2 percent year-on-year due to the subdued demand for personal computers and skidding chip prices. However, the company’s profit for the entire year of 2010 represented a record annual figure, as it benefited from the global rise of smartphones, touch-screen tablets and other mobile Internet devices in the past 12 months. Net profit reached 110.1 billion won (about $98.7 million) over the three months that ended in December, compared with 656.8 billion won from the same period a year earlier. Revenue was down 1.8 percent year-on-year to 2.7 trillion won in the fourth quarter, while operating profit dipped 41 percent to 417.6 trillion won. For the full year, Hynix was back in the black, posting 2.7 trillion won in net income on revenue of 7.9 trillion won in sales, which represented more than a 53 percent growth from 2009. Operating profit rose 17-fold to 3.3 trillion won last year. Helped by a lucrative 2010, the chipmaker manag

Jan 27, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Tech & Science

Revamped LG vows to get its mojo back

Chairman Koo provides needed assertiveness; electronics is key to turnaround By Kim Yoo-chul The new year couldn't have come soon enough for LG Group, the technology-driven corporate giant that saw its star fade dramatically in 2010 after missing out on the smartphone explosion. LG Chairman Koo Bon-moo is showing urgency on closing the book on a lousy year as he has declared he will put the group back on the road to respectability. And the rebuilding process will have to start with LG Electronics, the crown jewel of Koo’s corporate empire, which has been struggling to compete with rivals like Samsung Electronics and Apple in its main markets of consumer electronics and mobile phones. The key for LG Electronics, according to Koo, is to cut through all the marketing chit-chat and restore the ``1st-place DNA’’ back into its products that have been suffering from declining reputations for quality and innovation. And Koo is ready to invest more dramatically in the technology unit than the group did in previous years to bring the wow factor back to its devices.

Jan 27, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Companies

Samsung heir visits LG Chairman

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung and LG Groups are often said to be archrivals with their business areas mirroring each other. Now, there is a sign that their traditional rivalry is crumbling. In a rare gesture of friendship, Lee Jae-yong, the only son and heir apparent of Samsung leader Lee Kun-hee, recently paid a visit to LG Chairman Koo Bon-moo. ``Samsung Electronics Chief Operating Officer (COO) Lee has met with LG’s Koo,” said Rhee In-yong, chief Samsung spokesman, in a news briefing at its headquarters Wednesday.

Jan 26, 2011By Kim Yoo-chul

Kim Yoo-chul

Read more

Kumho Petrochemical to graduate from debt workout program

Business up in arms over cap and trade market

LGs first tablet supports glasses-free 3D imaging

LG Group expects to see robust growth this year

Samsung profit soars on smartphones

Hynix CEO bullish about future

Introducing class in high-tech

Hynix strikes record annual profit

Revamped LG vows to get its mojo back

Samsung heir visits LG Chairman

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