Journalist

김동영
Kim Dong-young
  • Hyundai Mobis posts steady Q1 gains amid global demand slump
    Hyundai Mobis posts steady Q1 gains amid global demand slump SEOUL, April 24 (AJP) - Hyundai Mobis reported resilient first-quarter earnings, logging revenue of 15.56 trillion won ($10.5 billion) and operating profit of 802.6 billion won as expanded supply of high-value electrification components and robust aftermarket demand offset a broader cooling in global vehicle sales. Revenue rose 5.5 percent from a year earlier while operating profit climbed 3.3 percent, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. Net profit came in at 883.1 billion won. The company attributed its growth to increase in shipments to overseas automakers and a favorable exchange rate bolstered the top line, with the aftermarket parts division riding sustained global demand. The module and core-parts manufacturing segment, however, remained in the red despite a modest 4.9 percent revenue increase. Hyundai Mobis said the shortfall came with ramp-up costs at new European plants — a powertrain-electrification facility in Slovakia that began mass production this quarter and a battery-system assembly plant in Spain set to come online later this year — compounded by softer worldwide vehicle demand. "Despite a challenging business environment, we plan to invest more than 2 trillion won in R&D this year for the first time, strengthening core competitiveness for the future mobility market," said a Hyundai Mobis spokesperson. "With our customers set to launch a range of new models this year, we expect earnings to improve gradually alongside company-wide profitability initiatives." Shares of Hyundai Mobis traded at 426,000 won per stock on 10:24 a.m., 3.73 percent lower than the day before. 2026-04-24 10:24:49
  • South Koreas foreign patient arrivals top 2 million for first time
    South Korea's foreign patient arrivals top 2 million for first time SEOUL, April 24 (AJP) - South Korea welcomed more than 2 million foreign patients last year, the first time the figure has breached that threshold since record-keeping began in 2009. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday 2,011,822 patients from 201 countries sought treatment in 2025, capping a three-year streak of record highs after arrivals cratered to about 110,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese nationals accounted for 30.8 percent of the total, overtaking Japanese patients for the first time to claim the top spot, followed by Taiwan, the United States and Thailand. Dermatology drove the surge, drawing 1.31 million patients — 62.9 percent of the total — while plastic surgery trailed at 11.2 percent, underscoring a pronounced tilt toward cosmetic procedures. Clinic-level facilities handled 87.7 percent of all visits, and dental clinics, though accounting for just 1.6 percent, posted the steepest year-on-year growth at 128.9 percent. Seoul absorbed 87.2 percent of the traffic, a concentration the ministry attributed to the capital's dense cluster of transport, tourism and medical infrastructure. Some 2,555 registered medical institutions — 62.5 percent of the national total — are based in the city. The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade estimated that the 2 million patients and their companions generated about 12.5 trillion won ($8.4 billion) in medical tourism spending, producing more than 10 trillion won in added economic value. "Now that more than one million patients a year are visiting from across Asia, we will build a sustainable industrial ecosystem," said Jung Eun-young, director-general of the ministry's mental health policy bureau. "We intend to pursue qualitative growth in foreign patient recruitment." 2026-04-24 09:49:21
  • Honda Korea to exit car sales after two decades
    Honda Korea to exit car sales after two decades SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - Honda Korea announced it will cease automobile sales in the country by the end of 2026, pulling the curtain on a presence that once crowned it the top-selling import brand but withered steadily over the past several years. Lee Ji-hong, CEO of Honda Korea, told a hastily convened press conference on Thursday at COEX in Seoul that the decision came after a thorough review of shifting market conditions and persistent currency headwinds. "We have comprehensively considered changes in the business environment and exchange rate fluctuations, and will terminate automobile sales operations in Korea by the end of 2026," Lee said. The retreat marks a stark reversal for a brand that in 2008 became the first import nameplate to sell more than 10,000 vehicles in a single year in South Korea. Annual sales have since cratered — from about 8,760 units in 2019 to 1,951 in 2025 — battered by what industry experts say is a relatively small portfolio strictly tied to internal combustion and hybrid powertrains in a market increasingly gravitating toward electrified alternatives. In February this year, Honda registered just 23 new vehicles, its lowest monthly tally on record and a mere 0.08 percent of all imported car registrations. Honda's Korean pullback comes as its Tokyo-based parent braces for potentially its first annual net loss since going public in 1957. Honda Motor said in March it expects to record losses of up to 2.5 trillion yen ($15.6 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 2026, driven by massive write-downs on scrapped electric vehicle programs in North America and deepening losses in China, where local EV makers have seized market share. The automaker has cancelled three battery-electric models that were months from production at its Ohio plant and slashed its global 2030 EV sales target from 30 percent to 20 percent. Honda Korea said it will continue to sell motorcycles and aim to strengthen product appeal, customer service and experiential marketing in the two-wheeler business going forward. 2026-04-23 16:11:56
  • Harim to rescue Homeplus Express, completing farm-to-fork empire
    Harim to rescue Homeplus Express, completing farm-to-fork empire SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - South Korea's poultry giant Harim Group has been named preferred bidder for Homeplus Express, the supermarket arm of the country's No. 2 retailer Homeplus, in a deal that could throw a lifeline to the creditor-protected hypermarket chain and complete Harim's long-pursued vertical integration from chicken farm to checkout counter. Homeplus said on Tuesday that Harim Group affiliate NS Shopping was selected as the preferred bidder for its smaller-format supermarket division, following a public tender conducted as part of the retailer's court-led rehabilitation. Industry watchers peg the likely acquisition price at around 300 billion won ($202 million), well below the 1 trillion won once floated when the unit first went up for sale. NS Shopping, which has pledged to link Homeplus Express' nationwide brick-and-mortar network with its TV home shopping, T-commerce and online mall businesses, described the acquisition as a strategic move to strengthen its omnichannel competitiveness. The move marks Harim's return to the super supermarket (SSM) segment after a 14-year absence. Homeplus Express, with about 295 stores at the end of last year, ranks third by store count behind GS Retail's GS The Fresh (585) and Lotte Shopping's Lotte Super (338). The acquisition would effectively complete a food value chain Harim has pieced together over the past decade. Starting out as a chicken processor in the late 1970s, the group expanded into feed, pork and processed foods before buying bulk shipper Pan Ocean for 1 trillion won in 2015 to secure grain imports. Harim has also spent years developing an urban high-tech logistics complex in Seoul's Yangjae district, after acquiring the site in 2016 for 452.5 billion won. Industry observers say Homeplus Express' store network, roughly 80 percent concentrated in the Greater Seoul area, dovetails with that logistics hub and could serve as last-mile delivery nodes. Still, experts caution that the strategic logic alone may not be enough to carry the deal through. "Securing a retail channel has long been Harim's unfulfilled ambition, but given the structural downturn in offline retail and Harim Industries' current financial condition, the risks are significant if the deal is justified by vertical integration alone," said Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University. "The outcome will depend on whether the group can genuinely turn its stores into quick-commerce logistics hubs and extract real cost savings through manufacturing-to-retail integration." For Homeplus, the deal offers a rare piece of good news after a brutal year. The chain, wholly owned by private equity firm MBK Partners since 2015, filed for court-led rehabilitation in March 2025 after credit rating downgrades triggered a liquidity squeeze. MBK had acquired the retailer from British owner Tesco for 7.2 trillion won in what was then Asia's largest leveraged buyout. Homeplus has since shuttered dozens of stores, fallen behind on supplier payments and drawn regulatory scrutiny. The National Pension Service, which invested 612.1 billion won in the original deal, has estimated potential losses of about 900 billion won. The deal has also unsettled labor, though not in the direction often assumed. The Korea Mart Labor Union (KMLU)'s Homeplus branch, affiliated with the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, had long opposed selling Express as a stand-alone asset, viewing it as a prized division whose disposal could hollow out the rest of the chain. Rather than opposing a change in management, it has called for a professional restructuring specialist such as UAMCO to replace MBK at the helm — a distinction widely misread as hostility to the sale itself. "We believe a professional restructuring firm like UAMCO would manage the company far better than a non-specialist private equity group such as MBK," said Choi Cheol-han, general secretary of the KMLU's Homeplus branch. "This sale is not just about a supermarket chain. It is the golden hour for Homeplus as a whole to stabilize, and for the wage arrears and supply disruptions to finally be addressed." The Seoul Bankruptcy Court set a May 4 deadline for creditors to approve Homeplus' rehabilitation plan, after granting a two-month extension in March. The plan hinges on selling Homeplus Express to raise operating funds and persuading creditors led by Meritz Financial Group, which holds senior beneficiary rights over a trust backed by 62 store properties securing 1.22 trillion won in loans. Risks loom on both sides. Harim's food manufacturing arm Harim Industries posted a 146.7 billion won operating loss last year and has accumulated more than 500 billion won in cumulative losses over the past five years. On the Homeplus side, approval of the revised rehabilitation plan is far from certain, with major creditors earlier balking at a 300 billion won debtor-in-possession financing proposal. 2026-04-23 15:26:58
  • Naver to auto-disable comments on articles with high toxic content rates
    Naver to auto-disable comments on articles with high toxic content rates SEOUL, April 23 (AJP) - South Korea's dominant internet portal Naver announced it will automatically disable comment sections on news articles where its artificial intelligence moderation system detects an unusually high volume of malicious posts, in the latest effort by the company to clean up its online commentary environment. Starting Thursday, Naver's AI-based detection system will scan articles across all news sections — including politics and elections — and shut down commenting when abuse levels breach a set threshold. The AI detection system Naver introduced in 2019 was the first in the domestic internet industry, continuously upgraded to flag negative expressions such as profanity, sexual, and violent language. The company said a further upgrade to the AI model is planned for later in April. "Naver has been working to make the comments section a space for healthy communication, and we will continue to listen to diverse opinions to respond to rapidly evolving forms of malicious commentary," said Kim Su-hyang, a leader at Naver. The move builds on a restriction Naver imposed last month, suspending comments beneath articles in its politics and election sections ahead of the June local elections. The company has also separately rolled out a "memorial comment" feature since February, allowing users to post condolences with a single click on articles covering disasters, accidents and deaths. About 23 media organizations have adopted the memorial comment function to date, and articles featuring it have drawn about six times more comments relative to page views compared with other articles from the same outlets, Naver said. 2026-04-23 09:03:23
  • Samsung Biologics posts record Q1 but faces first-ever strike threat
    Samsung Biologics posts record Q1 but faces first-ever strike threat SEOUL, April 22 (AJP) - Samsung Biologics, the world's largest biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer, delivered its strongest-ever quarterly results on Tuesday but faces a looming walkout by its union, casting a shadow over an otherwise buoyant earnings report. Regulatory filings released Wednesday reported that operating profit surged 35 percent year-on-year to 580.8 billion won ($392.7 million), while revenue climbed 26 percent to 1.26 trillion won from the year-earlier quarter, the results marking the strongest opening quarter in the company's history. The Incheon-based contract development and manufacturing organization said it would maintain its full-year revenue growth guidance of 15 to 20 percent, first issued in January. The forecast does not yet incorporate contributions from a newly acquired production facility in Rockville, Maryland, which the company said it would factor into updated projections at a later date. Samsung Biologics completed the Rockville acquisition at the end of March, securing two current good manufacturing practice plants with a combined 60,000-liter drug substance capacity. The deal gives the company its first U.S. manufacturing footprint and positions it to serve North American pharmaceutical clients with shorter supply chains and faster turnaround times. The company's cumulative order book now stands at $21.4 billion across 112 contract manufacturing and 169 contract development agreements. Samsung Biologics has also begun ramping up its fifth plant in Incheon, which is expected to drive additional revenue growth through the remainder of the year. In a separate development, Samsung Biologics said it had agreed with Eli Lilly to establish Lilly Gateway Labs in Songdo, Incheon — the first instance of a global pharmaceutical firm's open innovation program partnering with a Korean company to set up a domestic hub. The facility is intended to foster academic and industry partnerships around next-generation biologic therapies. The record earnings come as the company faces its first-ever labor dispute. Samsung Biologics' union, which represents about 75 percent of the workforce, voted overwhelmingly in late March to authorize a strike and held a rally outside the Songdo campus on Wednesday, threatening a walkout from May 1 to 5. The two sides remain at odds over wage increases and personnel policy reforms after 13 rounds of bargaining failed to produce a deal. Shares of Samsung Biologics closed at 1,567,000 won per stock, 1.32 percent lower than the day before. 2026-04-22 16:39:55
  • South Korea opens World IT Show 2026 with spotlight on physical AI and robotics
    South Korea opens World IT Show 2026 with spotlight on physical AI and robotics SEOUL, April 22 (AJP) - South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT on Wednesday opened the World IT Show 2026, a three-day exhibition at COEX showcasing the latest advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and information and communications technology. The event, running through Friday, drew 460 companies and institutions from 17 countries to a 24,800-square-meter exhibition hall under the slogan "Beyond Idea, Into Action: AI moves Reality." Organizers said the show was designed to offer hands-on experience with what they called the "physical AI transformation." Major Korean firms including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and SK Telecom joined the exhibition alongside robotics specialists such as Maum.AI. The floor was divided into four themed pavilions covering award-winning technologies, global exhibitors, entertainment tech and the country's AI semiconductor ecosystem. At an opening-day ceremony, AI audio platform developer Gaudio Lab received the Presidential Award for a tool that automates music separation, dubbing and subtitling in K-content exports. Law-focused AI firm Law & Company took the Prime Minister's Award, while Samsung Electronics was among six companies honored with the minister's prize. A separate export consultation fair paired with about 190 Korean firms with 50 overseas buyers from 14 countries for business matchmaking sessions aimed at supporting startups and mid-tier ICT companies seeking global partnerships. "The World IT Show is an important venue to experience the convergence of physical AI and cutting-edge technologies," Second Vice Minister Ryu Je-myung said at the opening. "We hope it becomes a meaningful occasion for our AI and ICT companies to share the fruits of innovation and forge new partnerships." 2026-04-22 14:32:27
  • Naver, Krafton, Mirae Asset unveil India-focused tech fund during presidential visit
    Naver, Krafton, Mirae Asset unveil India-focused tech fund during presidential visit SEOUL, April 21 (AJP) - South Korean internet giant Naver joined forces with gaming company Krafton and financial services firm Mirae Asset to hold a briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday to promote the Unicorn Growth Fund, a jointly established investment vehicle targeting up to 1 trillion won ($681 million) in high-growth technology companies across Asia with India at its core. The briefing was held on the sidelines of President Lee Jae Myung's three-day state visit to India, the first by a South Korean leader in eight years. South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources Kim Jung-kwan, who attended the briefing, said the initiative could serve as a bridgehead for Korean companies seeking to enter emerging markets. The fund, which began operations earlier this year with an initial pool exceeding 500 billion won, builds on the success of the Asia Growth Fund that Naver and Mirae Asset co-launched in 2018. That predecessor fund backed prominent unicorns including Indian food delivery platform Zomato and Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab. Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han said the company would leverage its track record in India's gaming ecosystem to support promising firms through the fund. Separately, Naver has forged a strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the information technology arm of India's largest conglomerate, as it accelerates its foray into one of the world's fastest-growing digital economies. Naver said it signed a memorandum of understanding with TCS on Monday during the Korea-India Business Forum in New Delhi, hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries. Under the deal, the two companies will combine their capabilities in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and business-to-consumer services to pursue opportunities in AI transformation and digital transformation for Indian enterprises. The IT firm said it expects the partnership to unlock new revenue streams by pairing its platform technology with TCS's global service network and data assets. "As India is actively expanding its AI ecosystem with the goal of becoming an AI powerhouse, we expect to create new business opportunities through this partnership with TCS, leveraging collaboration in AI, cloud and B2C services," Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said. 2026-04-21 15:51:26
  • Naver takes stake in GS wind farm to power data centers
    Naver takes stake in GS wind farm to power data centers SEOUL, April 21 (AJP) - South Korean tech giant Naver announced it will acquire a 30 percent stake in a GS-built wind power plant and sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) to secure renewable electricity for its data centers, marking the first time a RE100 member in the country has directly invested in a renewable energy generation entity. The wind farm, currently under construction in Yeongyang county in North Gyeongsang Province, is expected to produce about 180 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year. Commercial operations are set to begin in the first half of 2028, after which the facility will supply power to Naver's data centers in Sejong and Chuncheon. Naver said the deal would raise the share of renewable energy in its total power consumption to about 46 percent by 2029. The company declared a "2040 Carbon Negative" goal in 2020 and has since signed three separate PPAs covering solar and small-scale hydropower, the wind farm investment new to the portfolio. By taking an equity position in the generation entity rather than simply purchasing power, Naver said it has secured a long-term, stable supply of clean electricity in a domestic market where renewable energy output still falls short of demand. The arrangement also removes a key constraint on future investment that had been imposed by reliance on fossil fuel-based power procurement. "As power demand from data centers grows rapidly alongside the expansion of AI and cloud services, securing renewable energy is an essential task," said Lim Dong-ah, Naver PR and ESG policy leader. "Through this new model of direct investment in a power generation entity, we will strengthen energy supply stability and continue our efforts to achieve the 2040 Carbon Negative goal." The deal reflects a global trend in which technology companies are moving aggressively to lock in renewable power for their energy-hungry data centers. Meta was the largest corporate clean energy buyer in 2025, signing more than 10 gigawatts of PPAs, while Microsoft secured an agreement with Brookfield for over 10.5 gigawatts of new renewable capacity through 2030. Google, meanwhile, signed a 15-year PPA with TotalEnergies for 1 gigawatt of solar capacity in Texas earlier this year. In South Korea, LG Uplus signed a 20-year solar PPA with GS E&C to supply renewable power to its data centers and office buildings, while Kakao has incorporated renewable energy infrastructure into its purpose-built data center in Ansan. 2026-04-21 10:12:05
  • S.Korea bio clinical trials surge in Q1, half near commercialization
    S.Korea bio clinical trials surge in Q1, half near commercialization SEOUL, April 21 (AJP) - South Korea approved more than 50 biopharmaceutical clinical trials in the first quarter of 2026, with late-stage candidates accounting for the majority of the pipeline, according to the Korea Biomedicine Industry Association. The association revealed Tuesday that 53 trials received approval between January and March, averaging about 17.7 approvals per month. Multinational trials dominated the period, comprising about 87 percent of the total, or 46 cases. Late-stage trials — including phase 3, phase 3b and phase 2/3 — numbered 28, accounting for about 53 percent of all approvals, pointing to a pipeline clustered around near-term commercialization. Antibody-based therapies led by modality, with monoclonal antibodies, bispecific and trispecific antibodies, polyclonal antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) making up more than 80 percent of approvals at 43 cases. Monoclonal antibodies and bispecific antibodies anchored the field, with 19 and 14 cases respectively, both concentrated in late-stage development. ADCs, with seven cases across seven products, spanned early- and late-stage trials, reflecting their emergence as a next-generation antibody-based therapeutic class. Oncology was the dominant indication, accounting for about 49 percent of approvals. However, domestic developers accounted for only about 19 percent of approvals, with foreign-led trials making up the remainder. BioNTech's bispecific antibody pumitamig led individual investigational drugs with five approvals, spanning indications including non-small cell lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, and gastroesophageal cancer. 2026-04-21 09:34:07