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  • Companies

    Samsung, SK chip investment timelines leave room for adjustment

    Samsung Electronics and SK hynix announced a combined 800 trillion won ($516.4 billion) investment commitment to establish advanced chip plants in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province in Korea's southwest, but stopped short of providing a timeline for when the investments will be made or construction will begin, leaving room to adjust their spending plans until the long-term memory chip cycle becomes clearer. According to the government and the chipmakers, Samsung and SK will each invest 400 trillion won to build two advanced memory fabrication each in the region, for a total of four new fabs as part of the government’s “three megaprojects for Korea’s leap forward.” Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong named Gwangju as the candidate site, while SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won referred to the region as a whole. While announcing the massive plans while standing with President Lee Jae Myung, who have been urging the chipmakers to make investment in the southwestern region, the leaders refrained from specifying timelines for the new fabs. The companies also did not mention

    4 MIN READBy Nam Hyun-woo
    Samsung, SK chip investment timelines leave room for adjustment
  • Banking & Finance

    KakaoBank lands 4 papers at leading AI conferences

    2 MIN READBy Lee Hyo-jin
    KakaoBank lands 4 papers at leading AI conferences
  • Companies

    LG Electronics to establish control tower for robotics business

    2 MIN READBy Nam Hyun-woo
    LG Electronics to establish control tower for robotics business
  • Companies

    Incheon airport operator to halve employee parking permits

    3 MIN READBy Lee Min-hyung
    Incheon airport operator to halve employee parking permits
  • Companies

    Court grants JTBC time for autonomous restructuring amid liquidity crisis

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Court grants JTBC time for autonomous restructuring amid liquidity crisis
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Companies

City Oil Field wins triple certification, cleared to export circular plastic oil to EU

City Oil Field announced Wednesday that it has obtained three major certifications, paving the way for exports of its proprietary facilities and circular plastic oil to the European Union and other international markets beginning in October. The company successfully completed the ISCC PLUS international certification, a process safety management (PSM) audit by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and an inspection by Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL) between Feb. 28 and Sept. 23. According to the company, these approvals collectively verify its compliance with global supply chain standards, operational safety and quality requirements. With these validations complete, the Wave Jeongeup facility in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, is set to begin official operations in October. The plant has the capacity to process over 7,000 tons of plastic waste annually, converting them into circular plastic oil that is comparable in quality to virgin naphtha. Korea, which lacks domestic crude reserves, will now operate its first commercial plant producing circular plastic oil from plastic was

Oct 1, 2025By Ko Dong-hwan
City Oil Field wins triple certification, cleared to export circular plastic oil to EU
Tech & Science

LG Electronics India listing completes price building, targets $1.24 bil. offering

LG Electronics said Wednesday it has completed the price building process for the much-anticipated listing of its Indian unit, which will debut on the local stock market Oct. 14. The price band for the offering has been set between 1,080 and 1,140 rupees per share, which is expected to raise between 1.74 trillion won ($1.24 billion) and 1.84 trillion won for the company’s headquarters. LG Electronics will sell 15 percent of its stake in the unit through an offer for sale (OFS), with subscriptions opening on Tuesday. LG Electronics said in a Korean regulatory filing that the Securities and Exchange Board of India recently granted the final approval of the Indian unit’s listing. LG Electronics expects actual gains through the listing to surpass 1.74 trillion won, given the favorable valuation of the Indian unit in the market. At the upper end of the price band, the unit’s post-listing market cap will hover over 12 trillion won, which is far higher than that of Whirlpool of India (2.4 trillion won), Voltas (7.2 trillion won) and other home appliance companies listed on the local marke

Oct 1, 2025By Nam Hyun-woo
LG Electronics India listing completes price building, targets $1.24 bil. offering
Companies

Korean firms breathe sigh of relief after Seoul-Washington visa talks

Korean firms are preparing to normalize their investments in the United States after Washington reaffirmed that temporary business visitors holding B-1 visas, as well as those who enter through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waiver program, can install, service and repair foreign-purchased equipment at their companies' U.S. plants. The U.S. government clarified the policy on Tuesday (local time) during the first working-level meeting with Seoul on the visa issue. The meeting was arranged after the U.S. detained more than 300 Korean workers — who mostly held B-1 visas or entered through the ESTA program — following an immigration raid last month at HL-GA Battery Company's plant construction site in Georgia, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution (LGES). “We thank the government for its prompt support,” LGES said in a statement. “In line with the recent agreement between the two countries, we will make thorough preparations to normalize construction and operations at the U.S. plant.” Hyundai Motor is considering revising its gui

Oct 1, 2025By Park Jae-hyuk
Korean firms breathe sigh of relief after Seoul-Washington visa talks
Companies

McDonald's mulls exporting 'Taste of Korea' menu to Asia

McDonald's Korea said Wednesday it is considering exporting its "Taste of Korea" menu to other Asian countries amid the growing global popularity of Korean food and culture. Launched in 2021, the Taste of Korea project has introduced five localized burgers in Korea as part of the U.S. burger chain's push to expand its share in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The products, inspired by local specialties, are the Changnyeong garlic burger, Boseong green tea pork burger, Jindo green onion cream croquette burger, Jinju pepper cream cheese burger and Iksan sweet potato mozzarella burger. McDonald's said Korea is its only market that highlights partner farm origins on menu items, serving as a benchmark for outlets in other countries. "The company is considering introducing the Korean-inspired menu items to other Asian countries depending on local demand," a McDonald's Korea official said. McDonald's Korea also plans to expand the Taste of Korea project beyond burgers, with new snack and beverage offerings in the pipeline. The company aims to expand the number of its outlets in Korea to 500 by 2030

Oct 1, 2025By Yonhap
McDonald's mulls exporting 'Taste of Korea' menu to Asia
Companies

Google Korea pays $12.2 million in corporate taxes in 2024: lawmaker

Google Korea, the local unit of U.S. tech giant Google, paid 17.2 billion won ($12.2 million) in corporate taxes last year, a lawmaker said Wednesday, adding the amount represents only a fraction of what South Korean firms would have had to pay. "Google Korea paid 17.2 billion won in corporate taxes last year, although it should have paid 676.2 billion won," said Rep. Choi Soo-jin of the People Power Party, citing figures based on the company's estimated sales. She referred to a report by professor Jeon Seong-min of Gachon University, which estimated that Google Korea's revenue in 2024 could have reached up to 11.3 trillion won. Applying Korean internet giant Naver Corp.'s corporate tax-to-revenue ratio of 5.9 percent, Choi argued that Google Korea's tax liability should have been 676.2 billion won. As of last year, Google Korea accounted for 31.2 percent of the country's data traffic, compared with Naver's 4.9 percent. However, Google Korea reported just 386.9 billion won in revenue, while Naver posted 10.7 trillion won in sales, Choi said. Naver paid 390.2 billion won in corporate taxes

Oct 1, 2025By Yonhap
Google Korea pays $12.2 million in corporate taxes in 2024: lawmaker
Companies

Korean firms' spending on US lobbying doubles in 5 years: data

Korean businesses' spending on lobbying in the United States has more than doubled over the past five years, data showed Wednesday, in line with their efforts to address Washington's industrial policies. Major Korean companies spent a combined $35.32 million on lobbying activities in the U.S. last year, up 41.8 percent from a year earlier amid the U.S. presidential election, according to the data compiled by industry tracker CEO Score. The amount marked a sharp rise from $15.53 million in 2020. In 2024, seven Korean conglomerates, including Samsung, Hyundai Motor and Hanwha, each spent more than $1 million on lobbying activities. Samsung Group, which holds Samsung Electronics Co. and Samsung SDI Co. under its wing, spent $8.62 million last year, the largest amount among all Korean conglomerates. SK Group spent $7.08 million, followed by Hanwha Group with $6.05 million. Hyundai Motor Group and Coupang spent $4.78 million and $3.31 million, respectively, on lobbying, the data showed. LG Group spent $1.34 million. "South Korean companies apparently expanded lobbying expenditures to prepare for

Oct 1, 2025By Yonhap
Korean firms' spending on US lobbying doubles in 5 years: data
Tech & Science

KakaoTalk blunder: What went wrong with Korea’s largest messaging app

It has been a turbulent week for Kakao. It ambitiously announced, on Sept. 23, that it would turn its flagship KakaoTalk messaging app into an Instagram-like social platform and maximize ad revenue by locking in users. However, it decided to roll back the new service five days later following severe criticism from users over multiple "unwanted" functions. Industry officials note that the rollback symbolizes more than just a misreading of user preferences. Rather, it highlights deeper flaws in Kakao’s overall decision-making process, which once made the app the country’s most beloved platform and enabled the company to build a mobile platform empire. The tech giant announced Monday that it will bring back the previous list-style format for the Friends tab, which is shown as the messaging app’s main page, while moving the updated feed-style posts to a separate tab. Since its launch, the feed-style tab had been the target of mounting complaints from users, as it showed profile photos of a user’s friends — along with ads — in a random, Instagram-like format. Since KakaoTalk autom

Oct 1, 2025By Nam Hyun-woo
KakaoTalk blunder: What went wrong with Korea’s largest messaging app
Tech & Science

Samsung expected to unveil tri-folding smartphone at APEC summit: sources

Samsung Electronics is expected to unveil its first tri-folding smartphone at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, industry sources said Tuesday. According to the sources, the Korean tech giant plans to showcase the new model at an exhibition on the sidelines of the multilateral summit, scheduled to take place in the southeastern city of Gyeongju on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The tri-folding device is an evolution of Samsung Electronics' existing Galaxy foldable series, which features a bi-fold design. The new model is designed to fold in three sections, offering a tablet-sized display when fully unfolded while maintaining the portability of a standard smartphone when closed. Samsung Electronics, known as a trailblazer in the foldable phone market since launching its first foldable model in 2019, has seen increased competition from tech giants, such as Google and Motorola, alongside Chinese manufacturers. According to industry data, Samsung Electronics led the foldable phone market with a share of 32.9 percent in 2024, followed by Huawei with 23.1 percent and Motorola wi

Sep 30, 2025By Yonhap
Samsung expected to unveil tri-folding smartphone at APEC summit: sources
Companies

Unionized workers of Kia vote to accept wage hike deal

Unionized workers of Kia, Korea's second-largest carmaker, voted Tuesday to accept a wage hike deal for this year, the company said, marking the fifth consecutive year the company wrapped up wage talks without a strike. Kia said 73.1 percent of 21,356 union members who participated in the vote on Tuesday supported the tentative deal reached between labor and management. The agreement includes a 100,000 won ($71) increase in monthly base pay, a performance-based bonus equivalent to 350 percent of base pay, 15.8 million won in cash and 200,000 won in gift certificates per worker. In addition, the company will recruit 500 engineers for its production lines by the end of next year. Kia and the union also agreed to cooperate in transforming the automaker's domestic plants into core production facilities for next-generation models, such as purpose-built vehicles. With the approval of the latest deal, Kia has successfully concluded wage and collective bargaining talks without labor disputes for five straight years since 2021.

Sep 30, 2025By Yonhap
Unionized workers of Kia vote to accept wage hike deal
Banking & Finance

Young Poong reaffirms MBK partnership key to safeguarding Korea Zinc’s governance

Young Poong said Tuesday that its collaboration with private equity firm MBK Partners in a dispute to secure managerial control of Korea Zinc was unavoidable. The company reaffirmed that it will continue to act as the largest shareholder of the world's largest zinc smelter to protect corporate value and restore stable management. The remarks were made in response to claims from Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom’s side that Young Poong had relinquished its controlling shareholder status in Korea Zinc to MBK, and that the MBK-Young Poong alliance’s tender offer amounted to a hostile takeover. “The allegation that we transferred our controlling stake to MBK is entirely false," a Young Poong official said. "We continue to be the largest shareholder of Korea Zinc and, as a responsible majority shareholder, place the company’s long-term stability and growth above all else." Young Poong joined forces with MBK and launched a tender offer on Sept. 13 of 2024 to oust Choi. According to the management cooperation agreement disclosed at the time, the two parties agreed that, when forming a ne

Sep 30, 2025By Jun Ji-hye
Young Poong reaffirms MBK partnership key to safeguarding Korea Zinc’s governance
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