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    LG Electronics' Tennessee plant tops 10 mil. units in cumulative production

    LG Electronics’ Tennessee plant surpassed 10 million units in cumulative production, playing a pivotal role in helping the company secure the top spot in the U.S. laundry appliance market. The company said Sunday it held a ceremony to congratulate the production of the 10 millionth unit at the plant participated by local officials and LG Electronics executives. LG Electronics built its Tennessee plant on a 1.25 million-square-meter site in Clarksville, Tennessee in 2018. Since then, the company has invested approximately $500 million in expanding facilities and improving manufacturing processes. The plant began producing washing machines in November 2018, followed by dryers in 2022 and wash towers in 2023. Its annual production capacity now stands at 2.25 million units, more than four times its 2019 level, comprising 1.55 million washing machines and 700,000 dryers. The expansion has established the plant as LG Electronics’ key local manufacturing and supply hub. LG Electronics’ washing machines and dryers accounted for 17.2 percent and 17.4 percent of the U.S. market, respectively

    2 MIN READBy Nam Hyun-woo
    LG Electronics' Tennessee plant tops 10 mil. units in cumulative production
  • Companies

    SK chairman calls for AI expansion beyond chips into models, services

    2 MIN READBy Ko Dong-hwan
    SK chairman calls for AI expansion beyond chips into models, services
  • Business

    HD Hyundai launches autonomous vessel developed with Anduril

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    HD Hyundai launches autonomous vessel developed with Anduril
  • Companies

    Kia's domestic electrified vehicle sales top 300,000 units in 2026

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Kia's domestic electrified vehicle sales top 300,000 units in 2026
  • Companies

    Audi Korea accelerates recovery on solid sales of redesigned A6

    2 MIN READBy Lee Min-hyung
    Audi Korea accelerates recovery on solid sales of redesigned A6
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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

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Companies

CJ CheilJedang to roll out land-grown Korean seaweed

CJ CheilJedang will roll out land-grown Korean seaweed through a new commercialization facility, as the company looks to capitalize on growing global demand for Korean seaweed while responding to rising seawater temperatures and other climate change-driven disruptions. The company said Monday it will establish the land-based farming facility in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, in August. The move marks a commercialization stage following the company's development of Korea’s first seaweed land farming technology in 2018, successfully cultivating seaweed in a 3-ton tank in 2021 and securing a dedicated seaweed variety in 2022. The facility is scheduled for completion in the first half of next year, and seaweed products produced there will be marketed under the Bibigo Seaweed brand. To support the project, CJ CheilJedang will establish cooperation programs with local governments and fishing communities. The facility will be equipped with multiple tanks and cultivation systems. Based on its proprietary seaweed variety, seaweed life cycle control technology and integrated quality manage

Jun 15, 2026By Nam Hyun-woo
CJ CheilJedang to roll out land-grown Korean seaweed
Companies

BCCK Business Awards recognize innovation, excellence, community leadership

The British Chamber of Commerce in Korea honored companies and organizations advancing bilateral trade, sustainability, workplace inclusion and public health at its second annual British Business Awards on Friday, highlighting the growing role of business in strengthening U.K.-Korea ties. The awards, held Friday at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul alongside the chamber’s annual King Charles III Birthday Dinner and in partnership with Dwight School Seoul, recognized organizations and initiatives across five award categories. This year's judging panel included The Korea Times' publisher and president Oh Young-jin, Dwight Seoul Head of School Tom Ferguson and British Ambassador to Korea Colin Crooks. Intralink, an international business development consultancy, received the U.K.-Korea Trade Award for its effort in helping British companies enter the dynamic Korean market by providing deep local expertise and prioritizing relationship-building, cultural bridging and long-term strategic partnerships over transactional wins. The company also helps Korean businesses gain their foothold in Britain

Jun 15, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee
BCCK Business Awards recognize innovation, excellence, community leadership
Companies

Shinsegae chairman to receive history lesson over 'Tank Day' fiasco

Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin will sit for a “history lesson” after the conglomerate’s Starbucks Korea rattled the country last month with its controversial “Tank Day” tumbler marketing campaign, which caused an outcry among the public and victims of the bloody crackdowns on key pro-democracy uprisings against a military junta in the 1980s. Shinsegae said on Monday that Chung will sit for a lecture on June 24, together with presidents of the group's nearly 50 subsidiaries. The lesson will be in two parts, covering historical consciousness and social sensitivity, delivered by professors from Sungkyunkwan University’s departments of history and sociology. Executives of Emart, which runs Starbucks Korea operator SCK Company, will hear the same lectures on Wednesday. Shop managers and store employees of more than 2,110 Starbucks cafes in Korea will hear it on June 22. To accommodate the class simultaneously for the cafe employees nationwide who number roughly 23,000 in overall, the company will close all Starbucks locations at 3 p.m. and play a recorded video of the le

Jun 15, 2026By Ko Dong-hwan
Shinsegae chairman to receive history lesson over 'Tank Day' fiasco
Companies

KT rolls out AI store assistant to break language barriers for int'l customers

For foreign nationals and travelers in Korea, setting up a mobile phone plan has long been a notorious bureaucratic gauntlet, complicated by rigid registration laws and a steep language barrier. KT Corp., one of the country’s dominant telecommunications carriers, is betting that artificial intelligence (AI) can solve this persistent friction point at the retail counter. The company said Monday that it is introducing an "AI Multilingual Counselor" across its retail stores, a first for the Korean telecom industry. Developed to assist foreign customers in their native tongues, the digital assistant handles inquiries regarding complex pricing structures, data plans, contract terms and corporate membership perks. The system launches with support for more than 20 languages, including English, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese. The initiative is part of a broader push by Korean conglomerates to apply AI in customer-facing operations, a trend the industry terms "AI transformation." Rather than replacing human capital, the digital counselors are designed to act as on-floor co-pilots. At high-traff

Jun 15, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
KT rolls out AI store assistant to break language barriers for int'l customers
Companies

Korean firms express relief for eased uncertainties over US-Iran peace deal

Prospects of an imminent peace agreement between the United States and Iran have injected a wave of optimism into Korea's petrochemical, aviation and key manufacturing industries, as uncertainties surrounding oil prices and global logistics are expected to ease in the short term. The breakthrough comes as U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that a formal peace memorandum of understanding is slated for signing on Friday. Trump also said the Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime chokepoint for global oil and cargo shipments, would be fully reopened immediately after the signing ceremony. The development has eased concerns over prolonged geopolitical risks for Korea's petrochemical industry, which has borne the brunt of the Middle East conflict among Korea's industries. The Hormuz blockade had severely disrupted the supply of naphtha, a key petrochemical feedstock, forcing domestic naphtha cracking centers (NCCs) to cut operating rates to as low as 50 percent and declare force majeure to overseas customers. Though structural challenges, including oversupply from Chinese rivals, remain, ma

Jun 15, 2026By Lee Min-hyung
Korean firms express relief for eased uncertainties over US-Iran peace deal
Banking & Finance

Citibank Korea marks community day with neighborhood clean-up

Citibank Korea employees, their families and staff from client companies took part in a volunteer program on Saturday as part of Citi’s annual Global Community Day initiative, the lender said Monday. Launched in 2006, Global Community Day is Citi’s flagship volunteer campaign, bringing together employees worldwide for community-based service projects. More than 1.2 million volunteers have participated since its inception. Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon joined employees in a neighborhood clean-up around Jeong-dong in central Seoul, home to the bank’s headquarters. The group picked up litter near historic sites and took part in a guided walk exploring the district’s cultural and historical significance. “Citibank Korea is committed to supporting local communities through Citi’s global volunteer initiatives,” Yoo said. “It was especially meaningful to have not only employees and their families, but also staff from our client companies, join us this year.” This year’s campaign began with the outdoor Harmony Concert on May 27 and has since expanded into a monthlong seri

Jun 15, 2026By Park Han-sol
Citibank Korea marks  community day with neighborhood clean-up
Companies

Smilegate, ‘GTA’ creator take stage at Tribeca to tease next big game

Korean video game publisher Smilegate stepped into the North American entertainment spotlight last week, anchoring a featured panel at the Tribeca Festival alongside Absurd Ventures, the new creative studio helmed by Grand Theft Auto co-creator Dan Houser. The joint appearance underscores a deepening alliance between the Seoul-based gaming heavyweight and the veteran storyteller, following Smilegate’s deal last year to secure global publishing rights for an unannounced high-budget, open-world action-adventure game based on Absurd’s original intellectual property, "A Better Paradise." The session, titled "Luminaries: Dan Houser's Absurd Ventures" and held during Tribeca’s Storytelling Summit, focused on how companies are navigating transmedia strategies — the practice of stretching a single narrative universe across video games, audio fiction, comic books and film. Lee Yi-jae, a Smilegate director overseeing global partnerships, joined Houser and his longtime creative collaborator Lazlow on stage. Lee detailed how the Korean firm evaluates intellectual property with cross-platfor

Jun 15, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Smilegate, ‘GTA’ creator take stage at Tribeca to tease next big game
Companies

INTERVIEW Life sciences company bBHC bets on regenerative medicine through Energy Water, novel stem cell platform

Life sciences company bBHC is seeking to position itself at the forefront of regenerative medicine through two technologies developed over decades by its founder and Chairman Lee Kye-ho: Energy Water, a proprietary structured water platform, and KHCs, a novel pluripotent stem cell technology. Founded in 1989 as a life sciences research company, bBHC has spent more than four decades developing technologies that Lee believes could contribute to both environmental sustainability and next-generation human healthcare. “At the center of our work is the idea that life itself can be influenced by the structure and behavior of water,” Lee said during an interview with The Korea Times at the company’s headquarters in Seoul. According to the company, Energy Water is a next-generation water platform developed through proprietary molecular structure control technology designed to enhance stability and functionality. The company says studies in livestock and agricultural systems have demonstrated the potential to improve productivity and growth efficiency. The technology is currently being comme

Jun 15, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee
[INTERVIEW] Life sciences company bBHC bets on regenerative medicine through Energy Water, novel stem cell platform
Companies

Innocean, SBVA partner to support growth of AI, tech startups

Innocean, the marketing and advertising arm of Hyundai Motor Group, has partnered with venture capital firm SBVA to launch a corporate backing initiative for growth-stage tech startups, the companies said Monday. The program, dubbed “UP 2026,” marks a strategic shift for Innocean as it attempts to diversify beyond its traditional advertising roots into artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, data analytics and brand consulting for emerging tech players. The initiative pairs Innocean executives with more than 10 startups from SBVA’s portfolio. Participants include Blind, the popular anonymous professional social network; KREAM, a limited-edition sneaker and collectible resale marketplace; and Ohouse, a major home interior platform. Other companies involved span women's wellness app Queenit, on-demand service Laundrygo, and AI health care platform Gravitylabs. SBVA, which manages approximately 2.5 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in assets, rebranded in 2024 from its previous identity as SoftBank Ventures Asia. The firm has backed more than 100 global startups across AI, smart robotics an

Jun 15, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Innocean, SBVA partner to support growth of AI, tech startups
Companies

SK Plasma builds plant in Turkey to boost drug self-sufficiency

SK Plasma has broken ground on a plasma-derived therapeutics manufacturing plant in Turkey, moving a long-planned project to localize production of critical medicines into the execution phase. The company said Monday that it held a groundbreaking ceremony at the plant site in Çubuk, Ankara, through Proturk, a joint venture established with the Turkish Red Crescent. Under the project, Proturk will build a facility with annual plasma-processing capacity of 600,000 liters and a total floor area of about 36,000 square meters. The plant is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2028, with commercial production targeted for 2030. The facility is expected to produce albumin, intravenous immunoglobulin and factor VIII products, creating a domestic production base for plasma-derived medicines that Turkey has largely relied on imports to obtain. The project follows a shareholder agreement signed in November between SK Plasma and the Turkish Red Crescent covering construction of the plant and establishment of the joint venture. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participated in the cerem

Jun 15, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
SK Plasma builds plant in Turkey to boost drug self-sufficiency
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