The race to acquire the troubled SsangYong Motor is heating up beyond expectations, with nine groups reportedly having expressed interest. According to local reports, a total of nine have submitted letters of intent to buy a controlling stake in the automaker, which is currently under court receivership, before the Friday deadline.  They include Cardinal One Motors, set up by US-based auto importer and distributor HAAH Automotive Holdings, a consortium led by Korean electric bus maker E

Samsung Electronics Co. retained the top spot in the global smartphone market in the second quarter of the year, a report showed Friday, although its market share declined from the previous quarter due to fewer shipments. The South Korean giant had a market share of 18 percent in the April-June period, after shipping 58 million Galaxy smartphones, up 7 percent from a year ago, according to a report from market researcher Counterpoint Research. But compared with the first quarter, its market s

Samsung Electronics Co. stayed on as the world's second-largest tablet computer vendor in the second quarter of the year, a report showed Friday, as it strives to catch up with industry leader Apple Inc. The South Korean giant logged a market share of 18 percent in the April-June period, after shipping 8.2 million Galaxy Tab tablets, up 19 percent from a year ago, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics. "The Android tablet market is undergoing big changes as vendors retool th

LG Chem said Thursday it has acquired separator business from LG Electronics for 525 billion won ($458.5 million) to target the fast-growing global electric vehicle battery materials market. According to South Korea’s leading chemical firm, the company took over chemical electronic material business under LG Electronics’ business solutions division. The acquisition includes all tangible and intangible assets of the business including its production facilities and personnel. The

Expectations are running high as the release of NCSoft’s Blade & Soul 2 is less than a month away. Set for launch on Aug. 26, the massive multiplayer online role-playing game is the sequel of NCSoft’s Blade & Soul, which notched the grand prize at the 2012 Korea Game Awards. The game will be available on both PC and mobile devices. Users can enjoy Blade & Soul 2 on PC through cross-play service Purple. Preregistrations reached 7.46 million, a record in Korea, break

French tire maker Michelin appointed Jerome Vincon as the new head of its South Korean unit, the company announced Thursday. Starting from Aug. 1, Jerome will replace former Managing Director of Michelin Korea Lee Ju-heang who will be moving to the firm’s Asia Pacific Office. Vincon joined the Michelin Group in 2003 and worked with car manufacturers at the firm’s APAC headquarters, serving divisions in sales, marketing and business operations. He was also appointed as marketin

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday reported robust second-quarter earnings on the back of its semiconductor business and a one-off gain from its display panel business. Its net profit stood at 9.63 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in the April-June period, up 73.4 percent from a year earlier, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor said in a regulatory filing. Its second-quarter operating profit jumped 54.3 percent on-year to 12.56 trillion won, the largest since the third quarter o

Kogas at the center of nation’s hydrogen production, supply and retail

The South Korean government on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for a pilot project to transfer leftover power from electric car batteries to power grids, under a “regulatory sandbox” scheme. According to the Industry Ministry, local electricity provider Busan-JungKwan Energy submitted the vehicle-to-grid project via the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s sandbox support center. The regulatory sandbox measure, introduced in 2019, seeks to foster new business opportunities

LG Display Co., a major display panel maker in South Korea, on Wednesday said it has swung to the black in the second quarter of the year on the back of rising LCD panel prices and improvements in the OLED display business. The world's leading large-size OLED display maker reported a net profit of 423.8 billion won ($368.5 million), shifting from a loss of 503.8 billion won a year earlier. Operating income for the April-June period was 701.1 billion, compared with a loss of 517 billion won a y

Posco will build a nickel refinery plant to produce high-purity nickel for high-volume secondary batteries, the company said Wednesday. The Korean steelmaker will be plowing about 230 billion won ($199 million) into building the plant, to be built on the premises of its main steel mill in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, near where its affiliate company SNNC is located. 　 SNNC is a nickel supplier, jointly operated by Posco and SMSP, the largest nickel ore exporter on the French Pacific isl

With short entertainment programs and drama clips, retailers seek to freshen up brand reputation and advertise items

Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday unveiled a new multifunctional cooking appliance to target consumers who enjoy meal kits and home meal replacement (HMR) products amid the stay-at-home trend. The BESPOKE Qooker was launched in South Korea with a price tag of 590,000 won ($510). An overseas launch of the product has not yet been confirmed, according to Samsung. "Qooker" comes from the word "cooker," with the letter Q representing "quality" and "quick,"

South Korea's industry ministry said Wednesday it has given the go-ahead to a set of regulated projects, including allowing businesses to test self-driving robots equipped with cameras on sidewalks, in line with its efforts to lift excessive barriers and foster new growth engines. Previously, self-driving robots were banned from running alongside pedestrians because they were considered automobiles under local rules. Currently, self-driving robots cannot be equipped with cameras on privacy con

More than half of employees at South Korean technology giant Naver Corp. reported having experienced bullying at work, the labor ministry said, calling for an improvement of its work culture. The Ministry of Employment and Labor on Tuesday announced the results of its special supervision of Naver following the suicide of one of its employees in May from apparent bullying at work. In a survey of Naver employees conducted from June 9 to July 23, 52.7 percent of respondents said they had experien