Business - The Korea Times

US tariff deal unfavorable to oceans ministry's bid to control shipbuilders

The proposed transfer of the shipbuilding and offshore plant industry division to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries appears to be losing momentum, as the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy convinced the United States to lower tariffs on Korea by proposing a revitalization of U.S. shipyards through Korean investments. Before the two countries signed a tariff deal on Thursday, the oceans ministry had emphasized the need for the transfer, citing potential synergy effects after the ministry's planned relocation from Sejong to Busan later this year. “If the division consisting of 10 officials is transferred to our ministry, we will perform 1,000 or even 10,000 times better,” Oceans Minister Chun Jae-soo told reporters on July 24, despite Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan’s claim that the administration should remain cautious about the matter. “The shipbuilding industry relates to materials, components, equipment, machinery and digital industries, not just shipping,” Kim said July 21. According to sources from the government and ruling party, the latest tariff deal is expected t

Aug 3, 2025By Park Jae-hyuk

US tariff deal unfavorable to oceans ministry's bid to control shipbuilders

Asiana fined $8.7 mil. for exceeding airfare hike limit

Asiana Airlines has been fined 12.1 billion won ($8.7 million) for violating the upper limit on airfare hikes, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Sunday. According to an investigation by the antitrust watchdog, the airline sold tickets for four routes at prices up to 28.2 percent higher than the permitted cap in the first quarter of 2025. Last year, the FTC ordered Asiana Airlines to keep its average airfare increases within the rate of inflation through 2034, as part of a precondition for the approval of Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana. Citing the graveness of the issue, the watchdog has decided to impose the fine and report the case to prosecution. “The measure was one of the key preconditions for our approval of the airlines’ merger, but Asiana violated it in the first year of its implementation,” an FTC official said. Asiana Airlines sold tickets at a range of 1.3 percent to 28.2 percent higher than the limit for the four routes between January and March. The routes include business-class flights from Incheon to Barcelona, Frankfurt and Rome. The investigation also showed

Aug 3, 2025By Lee Min-hyung

Asiana fined $8.7 mil. for exceeding airfare hike limit

Strong union pushback threatens Hyundai Motor’s US production shift

Hyundai Motor Group's plan to relocate production facilities to the United States is facing growing resistance, as its labor union is expected to gain greater leverage from the potential passage of a controversial pro-labor amendment in Korea. Last week, Hyundai Motor and Kia cleared a major trade uncertainty after Korea and the U.S. reached an agreement that reduced the auto tariff from 25 percent to 15 percent, putting the Korean carmakers on equal footing with their Japanese and European rivals in the world’s largest economy. However, they now face another major hurdle, as the ruling party is pushing to pass a bill to revise the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act — better known as the "yellow envelope bill" — which would expand collective labor rights. This would widen the scope of strikes, giving the carmakers' union members a stronger legal basis to walk out in protest against the relocation of production from Korea to countries such as the U.S. This may come as a major risk for Hyundai Motor Group at a time when it has to increase its production in the U.S. due to

Aug 3, 2025By Lee Min-hyung

Strong union pushback threatens Hyundai Motor’s US production shift

Companies respond to president's war on fatal workplace accidents

Companies with histories of fatal industrial accidents have been scrambling to bolster safety measures after President Lee Jae Myung publicly rebuked them for what he described as repeated, preventable workplace deaths. Firms are especially wary after Lee questioned the effectiveness of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (SAPA) and warned of tougher financial penalties for serious workplace incidents. SAPA, which took effect in January 2022, allows for a company CEO to be jailed if a major worksite accident occurs and sufficient safety precautions were not in place. POSCO Group launched a task force under direct oversight of Chairman Chang In-hwa on Friday to examine safety management across the company’s affiliates. The steelmaker said it is considering increasing investments in safety management, establishing a dedicated safety management subsidiary and launching a foundation to support the families of workers killed in industrial accidents. These moves came after the president described a spate of workplace deaths at POSCO E&C, the group’s construction arm, as “murders through

Aug 3, 2025By Park Jae-hyuk

Companies respond to president's war on fatal workplace accidents

Financial authorities weigh loan penalties for firms with serious industrial accidents

Major Korean shipbuilders launch joint task force for massive US investment project

Major Korean shipbuilders have launched a joint task force to support the government's cooperation with the United States under a recently agreed-upon large-scale investment project in the U.S. shipbuilding sector, officials said Sunday. The top three shipbuilders — HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries — along with the Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Association, have formed the TF and held an inaugural meeting recently, according to company officials. Their focus will be on supporting the "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" (MASGA) initiative, under which the Seoul government has proposed investing $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding industry. It was part of a broader $350 billion investment package in the U.S. in exchange for Washington's lowering of reciprocal tariffs on Korean imports to 15 percent from the initial 25 percent. "There will be various ways to implement the Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation, and the TF aims to support and facilitate those efforts," an official said. "The industry is working together with the gover

Aug 3, 2025By Yonhap

Major Korean shipbuilders launch joint task force for massive US investment project

KAIST student named runner-up at Merck Innovation Cup

A Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) student was named runner-up in this year’s Merck Innovation Cup after implementing eco-friendly chemistry principles into Merck’s chemistry designing software. Hwang Sunoo, a combined master’s and doctoral program student studying civil and environmental engineering, along with his multinational team, achieved the outcome in the Green Chemistry category of the competition, according to KAIST Friday. The school said Hwang was the only Korean among the German science technology firm competition’s 42 finalists. Hwang and his team designed an upgraded version of Merck’s Synthia by implementing the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry, a global framework for designing chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances in an effort to minimize environmental impact, promote sustainability and enhance safety in chemical practices. Merck evaluated the work as a “practically effective alternative” for Synthia, allowing it to minimize harmful byproducts in the chemical indust

Aug 2, 2025By Ko Dong-hwan

KAIST student named runner-up at Merck Innovation Cup

US trade surplus in service sector remains unaddressed in tariff deal

Korea has struck a tariff deal with the United States in exchange for large-scale investment in the U.S. and the purchase of American energy, but the agreement left Korea’s billions of dollars of chronic loss in the service sector trade unaddressed. President Donald Trump said the U.S. was losing money to Seoul, with Korea seeing a record surplus volume of $118 billion last year, and pressed for a “reciprocal” tariff of 25 percent. On Thursday, the rate was lowered to 15 percent following a series of negotiations. But a breakdown of bilateral trade figures last year shows that Korea suffered a record trade deficit of $7.18 billion in the service sector, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The figure was $2.58 billion in 2022 and jumped 2.7 times to $7.04 billion the following year. In the service sector, including royalty payments for intellectual property (IP), research and development (R&D) service, tourism, education and advertising, Korea has been relying excessively on the U.S. For example, following COVID-19's transition to endemic in 2022, explosive demand for tourism and

Aug 1, 2025By Ko Dong-hwan

US trade surplus in service sector remains unaddressed in tariff deal

Businesses push back against 'anti-business' bills following tariff deal

Business circles are stepping up their opposition to what they call "anti-business" bills — the additional amendment to the Commercial Act and the revision to the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act — following Korea's pledge to invest $350 billion in the United States under the Korea-U.S. tariff agreement, industry officials and politicians said Friday. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)-controlled National Assembly passed the first phase of the Commercial Act amendment on July 3, aimed at strengthening minority shareholder rights and curbing the influence of major shareholders. The party is now pushing for a second phase with tougher regulations. It is also advancing the “yellow envelope law” by revising the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act to give subcontracted workers greater bargaining power and restrict companies from claiming damages caused by strikes. Business groups are strongly opposing the bills, saying they infringe on management rights. They also argue the proposals conflict with the Lee Jae Myung administration’s pledge to pursue

Aug 1, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Businesses push back against 'anti-business' bills following tariff deal

US Navy secretary visit to Hanwha Philly Shipyard helps tariff deal

U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought visited Hanwha Philly Shipyard shortly before Seoul and Washington announced their agreement on “reciprocal” tariffs, playing a key role in lowering the levy on Korean imports to 15 percent from the proposed 25 percent. According to Hanwha Group Friday, Phelan and Vought visited Hanwha Philly Shipyard on Wednesday (local time) and toured key production sites with Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan and Philly Shipyard CEO David Kim. They held in-depth discussions on ways to strengthen Korea-U.S. cooperation in the shipbuilding industry. The visit came after Korea proposed the so-called “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” (MASGA) project, a $150 billion investment initiative aimed at construction of new shipyards in the United States, training American shipyard workers, rebuilding supply chains related to shipbuilding and the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of U.S. vessels. After the visit to the Philly Shipyard, President Donald Trump announced a tariff agre

Aug 1, 2025By Nam Hyun-woo

US Navy secretary visit to Hanwha Philly Shipyard helps tariff deal

Hyundai Motor CEO hails Korea-US tariff deal

Hyundai Motor Company CEO Jose Munoz on Friday praised the tariff agreement between Korea and the United States, saying the deal will reinforce Hyundai’s localization strategy and collaboration between its operations in the two countries. Munoz wrote on LinkedIn that the deal, which was announced a day earlier to lower tariffs on Korean auto imports to the U.S. to 15 percent, provides “clarity and predictability for our business moving forward.” “This framework reinforces our localization strategy while maintaining the seamless collaboration between our Korean design, engineering, and manufacturing teams and our American manufacturing operations,” he wrote. “It's exactly the kind of predictable environment that allows us to execute our long-term plans.” In March, Hyundai Motor Group announced it will invest $21 billion in the U.S. by 2028, in what appeared to be a preemptive move to cushion the impact from U.S. auto tariffs. The Trump administration initially proposed a 25 percent tariff on Korean manufactured vehicles, but lowered it as part of the two countries’ agreem