-
Seoul steps up push for Canada submarine contract
South Korea’s industry minister pledged deeper industrial cooperation with Canada as Seoul intensifies its push to win a multibillion-dollar submarine contract, highlighting Korean companies’ track record of delivering on investment and job commitments in the country. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan met Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly on Thursday to discuss potential collaboration tied to Canada’s submarine procurement program, shortly after a South Korean consortium led by Hanwha Ocean
March 6, 2026 -
Galaxy S26 preorders hit record 1.35m in Korea
Samsung Electronics said Friday that preorders for its latest flagship Galaxy S26 smartphone had reached 1.35 million units in South Korea over a seven-day period, the highest preorder volume ever recorded for the Galaxy S series. The previous record was set by the Galaxy S25 lineup, which drew 1.3 million preorders during an 11-day presales period. Demand again centered on the premium model. The Galaxy S26 Ultra accounted for about 70 percent of total preorders, continuing a recent trend of str
March 6, 2026 -
LG Energy Solution opens Canada battery plant, pivots to ESS
LG Energy Solution has officially opened its first battery manufacturing plant in Canada, positioning the facility as a key hub for batteries used in energy stroage systems across North America. The South Korean battery-maker said Friday it held an opening ceremony for the plant, run by its Canadian manufacturing subsidiary, NextStar Energy, in Windsor, Ontario, Thursday. The ceremony invited senior officials from both countries, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Canadian Industry Minister Me
March 6, 2026 -
Hyundai Capital sells Korea’s first public yuan kimchi bond
Hyundai Capital said Thursday it has issued South Korea’s first publicly offered offshore yuan-denominated kimchi bond by a financial institution. The 660 million yuan ($95.6 million) notes carry a two-year maturity and a coupon of 2.2 percent. KB Securities acted as lead manager. Kimchi bonds are foreign-currency debt sold in Korea’s domestic capital market, allowing issuers to tap local investors for overseas funding. The deal marks the first public offering of a yuan-denominated kimchi bond.
March 6, 2026 -
KHNP expands SMR cooperation with Thailand to tap into Southeast Asia
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said Friday it had jointly hosted a small modular reactor technology seminar with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand in Bangkok on Thursday and Friday, aimed at expanding bilateral cooperation in next-generation nuclear energy. The event was organized as a follow-up to a memorandum of understanding signed in June last year on cooperation in the SMR sector. Around 80 experts from both countries attended the seminar, including officials from Thailand’s Ene
March 6, 2026 -
Daewoong affiliate CGBio in talks for private equity sale
Daewoong Group is moving to sell its regenerative medicine affiliate CGBio to a local private equity firm in a deal that could value the company up to 1 trillion won ($680 million), industry sources said Friday. The sources said IMM Private Equity has emerged as the preferred bidder for CGBio, securing exclusive negotiating rights to acquire a 51 percent stake held by the company’s largest shareholder, A-Hana. A-Hana is controlled by Bluenet, a company owned by the Daewoong Group’s founding fami
March 6, 2026 -
L'Oreal Korea, Naver sign strategic partnership to boost beauty commerce
L'Oreal Korea and Naver said Friday they have signed a strategic partnership to strengthen beauty commerce, collaborating across Naver Shopping, media and new digital services. The companies aim to build a comprehensive collaboration covering the entire customer shopping journey by utilizing artificial intelligence technologies to enhance shopping features. The signing ceremony was attended by L'Oreal Korea CEO Rodrigo Pizarro and Lim Hyun-dong, head of Naver’s E-KAM Center. Under the partnershi
March 6, 2026 -
Antitrust regulator to inspect gas stations for price gouging
The state antitrust regulator said Friday it will closely monitor possible price gouging practices of gas stations across the country and take necessary measures as fuel prices recently soared amid the military conflict in the Middle East. "We will mobilize all of our regional offices to check for possible collusion of gas stations, particularly those with high fuel prices, and will launch on-site investigations immediately, depending on the monitoring results, for a comprehensive response," the
March 6, 2026 -
S. Korea posts 5th-largest current account surplus in Jan: BOK
South Korea recorded its fifth-largest monthly current account surplus in January, driven by a semiconductor upcycle and strong exports, central bank data showed Friday. The current account surplus totaled $13.26 billion in January, down from $18.7 billion in December, according to the Bank of Korea. Compared with the same month a year earlier, however, the figure surged 397.4 percent, marking the fifth-largest monthly surplus on record. South Korea has recorded a current account surplus every m
March 6, 2026 -
Seoul shares open lower after strong rebound amid prolonged Iran crisis
South Korean stocks started 1.66 percent lower Friday after a 10 percent gain the previous session as a prolonged Iran crisis rekindled oil supply woes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened at 5,491.02, down 92.88 points from the previous session. The index has suffered an extreme rout this week in the wake of the Middle East conflict, tumbling 7.24 percent and 12.06 percent on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before soaring 9.63 percent Thursday. (Yonhap)
March 6, 2026 -
Consumer prices rise 2% in Feb., on govt. target for 2nd straight month
South Korea's consumer prices rose 2 percent from a year earlier in February, unchanged from the previous month and precisely meeting the inflation target, government data showed Friday. The reading marks the smallest on-year increase since August, when the figure stood at 1.7 percent, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It also marks the second consecutive month that inflation met the Bank of Korea's 2 percent target, and the sixth straight month the growth pace remained at 2 perc
March 6, 2026 -
Posco Future M to build synthetic graphite anode plant in Vietnam
Posco Future M is seeking to expand global orders by investing in a new synthetic graphite anode material plant in Thai Nguyen, an industrial city in northern Vietnam. The company said Thursday its board approved an investment of about 3.57 billion won ($2.44 million) to build the facility. Construction is set to begin in the second half of this year, with mass production targeted for 2028. The plant will be built on a site capable of expanding production capacity to up to 55,000 tons, with phas
March 5, 2026 -
Huonslab presents HyDiffuze drug delivery data at US conference
Korean biotech firm Huonslab said Thursday it had presented a preclinical study on its human hyaluronidase platform technology, HyDiffuze, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics in Denver. The study assessed the applicability of HyDiffuze for monoclonal antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, to improve subcutaneous drug delivery. Huonslab conducted pharmacokinetic studies using 11 monoclonal antibodies and three ADCs, comparing origina
March 5, 2026 -
SK Plasma clinches $75m plasma tech deal with Turkey
SK Plasma said Thursday it has secured its largest technology export deal, signing a 65 million euro ($75 million) technology transfer and licensing agreement with Proturk, a joint venture backed by the Turkish Red Crescent, as part of Turkey’s effort to build domestic plasma fractionation capacity. The contract marks the largest single agreement since SK Plasma was established in 2015, the company said. Under the deal, SK Plasma will grant Proturk a license to manufacture plasma-derived pharmac
March 5, 2026 -
German court sides with Samsung in TCL QLED dispute
A German court has ruled that Chinese electronics maker TCL engaged in misleading advertising by promoting certain televisions as having QLED screens despite lacking meaningful quantum-dot functionality, siding with a complaint filed by Samsung Electronics. According to industry sources Thursday, the Munich Regional Court ordered TCL’s German unit to stop marketing some models — including its QLED870 series — as QLED TVs, finding the advertising violated Germany’s fair competition law. Samsung f
March 5, 2026