Category: Korea-Business

It looks like Google is serious about pushing for a near term release of their self driving car technology.  I can see this probably being a custom option available to customers just like Ford currently has the automatic parking feature in some of their vehicles:

LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday it will supply battery packs to the self-driving cars to be launched by U.S. Google Inc. a move that wil certainly help South Korea’s No. 2 tech giant tap deeper into the automobile industry.

“We have been conducting various projects with Google as a strategic partner. Our automotive technology will now be applied to Google’s self-driving cars,” an LG official said.

A battery pack is a set of any number of individual battery cells.

Google said it will also partner with U.S. automaker General Motors Co., Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., Germany’s Volkswagen AG and Daimler AG, and join forces with chipmaker Nvidia Corp. and German automotive technology giant Bosch as well.

Earlier this month, LG said its chief has discussed possible business tie-ups with the head of Mercedes-Benz. The company launched the Vehicle Components Division by regrouping its business sectors in 2013 in line with its efforts to tap new sources of profits. [Yonhap]

Via the Joong Ang Ilbo comes this graphic that shows the cheapest places to fill up your car in Seoul and the rest of South Korea:

An increasing number of second-generation Korean Americans living in New York are finding jobs in South Korea. http://t.co/jfm0RuWqNN

— The Korea Times (@koreatimes) January 9, 2015

I have to wonder if this is an attempt by competing Korean retailers to shutdown a foreign competitor?  There are plenty of shopping areas in Korea with horrible traffic:

Swedish furniture retailer IKEA faces a business suspension here because of severe traffic congestion on roads surrounding its first mall, in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province.

The municipal city recently demanded IKEA to come up with a “dramatic breakthrough” by Wednesday, or the mall would be shut from Jan. 15.

The mall has operated since Dec. 18 under temporary approval. Gwangmyeong officials said there were no legal problems to withdrawing approval.

“People’s frustration caused by the congestion has reached boiling point,” said an official familiar with the case. “Not only drivers but also people living or working near the outlet are affected.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but IKEA has been under attack in Korea from even before they opened their doors.

Via a reader tip comes this article that explains how the Seoul government is trying to shutdown the ride sharing app Uber by indicting the company’s CEO:

South Korea has indicted the chief executive officer and local subsidiary of Uber Technologies Inc for violating a law governing public transport, becoming the latest jurisdiction to challenge the U.S. taxi service provider.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office issued the indictment against CEO Travis Kalanick and the firm’s Korean unit for violating a law prohibiting individuals or firms without appropriate licenses from providing or facilitating transportation services, an Uber spokeswoman said.  [Fortune]

You can read the rest at the link, but the Seoul government has been trying to shut down Uber in Korea in order to protect their own taxi drivers and the domestic Daum-Kakao app that provides an Uber like service and is endorsed by the taxi union.  This indictment is probably being used to scare Uber out of Korea.  It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Via the Marmot’s Hole it appears that the Uber’s days are number in Korea once Daum-Kakao releases their app that is endorsed by t

South Korea’s leading free messenger service operator Daum Kakao said Wednesday it will launch a taxi service app by the first half of next year as it initiates a new platform of connecting online and offline businesses.

Daum Kakao signed a memorandum of understanding with the Seoul Taxi Association and Korea Smart Card Co. for the service that would link customers with the closest cab through a mobile app. The taxi association has some 255 Seoul-based cab operators as members, and Korea Smart Card is the country’s top transportation payment system provider.

“Daum Kakao has established important grounds for the operation of Kakao Taxi, and we plan to expand cooperation with other taxi operators throughout the country in the future,” the company said in its release.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the Seoul city government passed an ordinance offering rewards of up to a Million Won to people who report Uber taxis which will set the stage for the Daum-Kakao app to take over this market.

The Samsung heir apparent has cracked Bloomberg’s Top 200 of the world’s richest people:

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of South Korean tech firm Samsung Electronics Co., made the list of the world’s top 200 richest people for the first time as Samsung Group’s heir apparent raked in big fortunes from successful initial public offerings of its two affiliates, the Bloomberg Billionaire Index showed Tuesday.

The 46-year-old Lee’s listed stock value was estimated at US$7.2 billion to rank 183rd worldwide in the latest Bloomberg index, making him the second-wealthiest person in South Korea after his father, Lee Kun-hee.

The senior Lee, who is recuperating from a heart attack he suffered in May, ranked No. 77, with his listed assets worth $13.1 billion as of early Tuesday, the index showed.

Formerly among the world’s 400 richest people in September, the junior Lee has made a big leap forward as the nation’s most powerful conglomerate listed two of its affiliates — Samsung SDS Co. and Cheil Industries Inc. — in just over a month, in a move seen as preparing for management succession. [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I wonder what Putin thinks of this deal?

A South Korean defense company will sign a deal with Poland, today, to sell 120 locally developed self-propelled howitzers, a military source said Tuesday.

“Samsung Techwin Co. will sign a contract with Poland’s defense ministry at 7 p.m. in Korea to export K-9 self-propelled howitzers,” the source said, asking not to be identified. “Under the contract, the company will directly supply 24 howitzers by 2017. The remaining 96 will be produced in Poland.”

The total export value is estimated at about $320 million (347 billion won), according to the source.

Samsung Techwin developed the 155-millimeter howitzer for the nation’s armed forces in 1998 to replace K-55 howitzers. Equipped with state-of-the-art firing and mobility systems, the K-9 has a maximum range of 40 kilometers.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but this arms purchase by Poland is definitely aimed at upgrading the country’s defenses in wake of Russian aggression in the region.  Samsung Techwin ought to send a big thank you note to Putin for the increased business to the arms market that the South Koreans have been trying to expand for many years.

If goods exports hit $600bn next year (KITA), South Korea may rise to #5 in world, overtaking Netherlands & France: http://t.co/8FqI1UnVbW

— Aidan Foster-Carter (@fcaidan) December 8, 2014

Via a reader tip comes this news that the daughter of the Chairman of Korean Air decided to have a airplane returned to the gate to boot a stewardess she was unhappy with:

The daughter of Korean Air Lines Co. Chairman Cho Yang Ho ordered a plane back to the gate so she could remove a crew member who gave an incorrect answer to a question on how to serve macadamia nuts, the airline said.

Heather Cho, 40, a vice president of the airline, ordered the head of the service crew on Flight 86 from New York to Seoul to deplane after an attendant earlier had served Cho macadamia nuts without asking, the carrier said. Cho then summoned the purser to ask a question about the airline’s policy on serving nuts. Cho ordered the man to leave the plane when he couldn’t answer. Under the carrier’s rules, passengers must be asked first before serving.

The purser didn’t know the company’s procedures and “kept on making up lies and excuses,” Korean Air said in a separate statement late yesterday.

The aircraft had already left the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport for takeoff on Dec. 5. It took no more than 2 minutes to return to the gate to deplane the crew member, according to the airline. The flight was 11 minutes late when it arrived in Seoul on Dec. 6.

Korean Air in its statement late yesterday apologized to passengers for the inconvenience the incident caused. It noted the plane was less than 10 meters from the gate at JFK when the decision to return was made.  [BusinessWeek]

You can read more at the link, but I can understand her unhappiness because serving nuts for example to a kid without asking could cause an allergic reaction and open the airline to a lawsuit.  So I understand where she is coming from, but with that said what gives her the right to turn around a plane?  Shouldn’t the pilots due to an emergency be the ones to make that decision?  I would not classify this as an emergency and just something that the airline could of took care when the plane arrived back in Korea.