May 04, 2024

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EDITOR'S PICKS

• Markets 
  

  Samsung chief returns from Europe after meeting with Pope, business leaders

  Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong returned to Seoul on Friday after his trip to Europe, where he made a surprise visit to Vatican City to meet with Pope Francis, and met with business counterparts for cooperation. During the 10-day trip, Lee traveled to Germany, France and Italy, and checked on the company's business operations there. “The spring has come,” he told reporters without further explanation, upon his arrival at the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center. He did no

• Companies 
  

  Hugel to develop next-generation botulinum toxin product

  Hugel has started its development of new botulinum toxin products using a botulinum toxin type that has a faster onset and shorter duration of effect, the aesthetics firm said Friday. According to Hugel, botulinum neurotoxins that are currently used for therapeutic and cosmetic applications have been botulinum neurotoxin type A and B. The onset of action of botulinum toxin A, which is most widely used for cosmetic applications, ranges from three to seven days, while its therapeutic effect usua

• Companies 
  

  B-Robotics teams up with Hanwha Robotics for restaurant automation

  B-Robotics, a subsidiary of the delivery app Baemin's operator Woowa Brothers, said Friday it has signed a memorandum of agreement with Hanwha Robotics to strengthen its focus on the restaurant automation market. The signing ceremony was held at B-Robotics' headquarters in Seoul on Thursday with B-Robotics CEO Kim Min-soo and Hanwha Robotics CEO Seo Jong-hwi in attendance. Under the agreement, B-Robotics and Hanwha Robotics will establish a joint strategy for further developing restaurant auto

• Companies 
  

  Samsung Life Science Fund invests in US gene therapy firm

  Samsung Life Science Fund, an investment fund created by Samsung affiliates, will invest in Latus Bio, a US gene therapy development company, according to Samsung Bioepis on Friday. It is the sixth investment made by the fund between Samsung Biologics, Samsung C&T and Samsung Bioepis, to explore new business opportunities in the biotechnology sector. The exact amount of investment has not been disclosed. Latus Bio is a US biotech that develops novel gene therapy candidates for disorders of

• Companies 
  

  Hyundai Motor aims to lead hydrogen truck business in US

  Hyundai Motor Company is looking to spearhead the hydrogen-powered truck business in the United States as the Korean automaker welcomed the official launch of NorCAL ZERO Project, a pro-environment initiative using the company's hydrogen fuel cell technology to bring zero-emission freight transportation to the San Francisco Bay Area and California's Central Valley, on Friday. "The NorCAL ZERO Project in Oakland marks a significant step forward in realizing Hyundai's vision for a global h

• Markets 
  

  KASA chief vows full support for private-led space missions

  Korea’s new state space agency, the Korea AeroSpace Administration, or KASA, will focus on rearranging roles with the private sector to support companies to lead commercial space developments while the government concentrates on long-term space projects, the nominee for the top leadership position at KASA said Thursday. “So far, Korea’s space sector has been led by the government out-sourcing projects to the industry,” said Yoon Young-bin, an aerospace engineering profe

• Markets 
  

  Global X Canada debuts as Mirae Asset aims unified global ETF brand

  Mirae Asset Global Investments announced Thursday that its Canadian exchange-traded fund subsidiary, Horizons ETFs, is rebranded as Global X Canada, aligning with an integrative strategy of its global ETF offerings under the unified brand, Global X. Since being acquired by Mirae Asset Global Investments in 2011, the Canadian ETF firm has witnessed substantial growth in assets under management. AUM have escalated by 963 percent, growing from approximately 3 billion Canadian dollars ($2.2 billio

• Companies 
  

  LG CNS enters steel scrap market

  LG CNS said Thursday that the company has entered the steel scrap market by setting up a joint venture with local steel firm Daehan Steel. The new entity, called Aimos, will develop a cloud and artificial intelligence-based solution that can sort out scrap steel from metallic waste. “The demand for steel scrap is increasing along with the wider adoption of environment-friendly electric arc furnaces that use steel scrap as its raw material,” an official from LG CNS said. Its new s

• Markets 
  

  Inflation eases in April, continues ‘bumpy’ ride

  South Korea's inflation fell to the 2 percent range as the country’s directive to lower price growth goes down a “bumpy” path on fluctuations in the oil and agricultural prices, data showed Thursday. Consumer prices, a key metric of inflation, rose by 2.9 percent in April, marking a 0.2 percentage point decrease from the 3.1 percent reading shown in both March and February, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It is the first time for the figure to come down to the 2

• Companies 
  

  Mercedes-Benz Financial names new Korea chief

  Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Korea announced Thursday that Thomas Waggershauser, an automotive finance expert, has been appointed as its new CEO. The new Korea chief is an industry veteran with a career spanning 20 years at Mercedes-Benz Mobility, the financial service company affiliated with Mercedes-Benz Group. Prior to his appointment, he served as the head of overseas and Greater China market management at Mercedes-Benz Mobility in Stuttgart, Germany, where Mercedes-Benz is headquarte

• Tech 
  

  Kakao’s SM takeover gets conditional green light

  Korea’s antitrust regulator has approved IT giant Kakao’s acquisition of a 39.87 percent stake in SM Entertainment, the K-pop agency behind EXO, aespa and NCT, contingent upon the implementation of corrective measures. The Fair Trade Commission said Thursday that it imposed two forms of corrective measures to address concerns that the merger of Kakao, a major IT company that owns both the music streaming service Melon and SM Entertainment, may pose a threat to competition in the lo

• Markets 
  

  [Herald Interview] Former IEA chief calls for strong global governance to achieve net zero

  The Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, calls for limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, stressing that emissions need to be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Nobuo Tanaka, former executive director of the International Energy Agency, says that the world needs to do a lot more to countermeasure global warming and achieve these goals. “The IEA’s net zero by 2050 scenario tells us t

• Companies 
  

  KCCI chief renews will to play bigger role in boosting economic diplomacy

  Marking the 140th anniversary this year, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry or KCCI, the nation's largest business lobby, hosted the Global Business Networking Night event in Seoul on Tuesday to further promote foreign investment and attract global companies to nurture the country as the business hub in Asia. “Starting with tonight's event, the KCCI will further strengthen its role as an economic and diplomatic platform,” KCCI Chair Chey Tae-won, who also serves as chairman

• Companies 
  

  [Herald Interview] Asia’s first Master of Wine empowers Shinsegae’s wine push

  Jennie Cho Lee, the first Asian Master of Wine, has joined hands with Shinsegae Group, the Korean retail giant that is recently making a big push to lead the nation’s soaring luxury wine market, adding to the 2022 acquisition of a Napa Valley winery for $250 million. Lee earned the wine industry’s top honor in 2008. Being a member of the exclusive community of 417 Masters of Wine globally, she has built an extensive network within the industry and collaborated with numerous compani

• Markets 
  

  Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China

  South Korea's exports increased for seven straight months, jumping 13.8 percent in April on strong chip demand and record-high automobile sales. Exports to the US, in particular, reached an all-time high, further widening the gap with China, the country's second-largest export destination. Outbound shipments came to $56.2 billion, up 13.8 percent on-year, according to data revealed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Wednesday. The data showed that imports rose by 5.4 percent to

• Tech 
  

  LG Uplus to build hyper-scale data center in Paju

  LG Uplus, one of the nation's top telecom carriers, said Wednesday it plans to build a large-scale data center in response to the growing demand for such facilities, largely driven by the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence and cloud servers across industries. To build the new data center, the company is set to acquire land and buildings located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, from LG Display, a panel manufacturing arm of LG Group. The exact investment amount and construction timeline w