SK Group bets on younger leaders for AI leap

SK Group has launched a sweeping leadership reshuffle and organizational overhaul for next year, accelerating a generational shift and tightening its focus on artificial intelligence-driven growth and faster execution. The latest appointments, approved by the group’s top decision-making body, the SK Supex Council, build on a presidential-level reshuffle in October aimed at reducing bureaucratic layers and empowering “operationally focused” management, the group said Thursday. This year, 85 execu

Dec. 4, 2025

How ex-employee exposed 33.7 million users: Coupang's security gaps explained

Fear is mounting over large-scale personal data breaches in Korea, with the latest incident at Coupang exposing information from 33.7 million users. The leak — believed to have been carried out by a former insider — has raised broader questions about how vulnerable major platforms remain despite heavy spending on cybersecurity. This explainer breaks down what happened, why insider attacks are uniquely hard to prevent, and what experts say needs to change. The leak affected nearly every Coupang u

Dec. 2, 2025

Woman in 20s dies after saw-blade cut at Busan woodcraft workshop

A woman in her 20s has died after being cut by a fixed saw blade at a craft workshop in Busan on Monday. According to the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters, the accident occurred at 1:37 p.m. at a woodworking studio in Busan. The woman suffered severe cuts to her face and neck from a stationery saw blade. She was taken to a nearby hospital but died at 3:40 p.m. Police said they are investigating the exact circumstances of the incident and interviewing the workshop owner and witnesses.

Dec. 1, 2025

Korea protests Canada’s steel quota cuts

South Korea has lodged a strong complaint with Canada over its decision to tighten tariff-rate quota, or TRQ, measures on steel imports, urging Ottawa to withdraw the policy immediately, the Trade Ministry said Monday. Vice Trade Minister Park Jung-sung delivered Seoul’s formal protest during a meeting in Seoul with Alexandra Dostal, senior assistant deputy minister at Canada’s Innovation, Science and Economic Development Ministry. The two officials discussed bilateral trade issues, including Ca

Dec. 1, 2025

AmCham, NTS discuss tax reforms to improve Korea's investment edge

The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea held a roundtable on Friday to discuss tax reforms to bolster Korea's appeal to global investors, inviting National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun to share the government's tax policy priorities. During the roundtable in Seoul, AmCham Chairman and CEO James Kim pointed to the uncertainties foreign companies face in areas such as audit procedures, tax interpretation and filing requirements. "Foreign companies also hope to be treated under the sam

Nov. 28, 2025

LGE earmarks W200b for shareholder returns, plans to retire all treasury shares

LG Electronics said Friday it will commit a total of 200 billion won ($143 million) to shareholder returns over the next two years, and retire all remaining treasury shares after approval at next year’s annual general shareholders' meeting. The announcement came as part of the company’s disclosure on the progress of its value enhancement plan unveiled last year. LG said the update is intended to keep the market informed of how the plan is being executed. Under the new commitment, the company sai

Nov. 28, 2025

Korea, tech giants form GPU task force to push massive Nvidia buy

South Korea has launched a high-level working group with its top tech conglomerates to coordinate one of Asia’s most ambitious artificial intelligence infrastructure expansions — the joint procurement of 260,000 advanced Nvidia graphics processing units. The Science and ICT Ministry said Thursday that Vice Minister Ryu Je-myung convened executives from Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor, SK Telecom and Naver to formally kick off the “GPU Working Group,” which will oversee large-scale procurement

Nov. 27, 2025

SK hynix turns its HBM chips into ... chips

SK hynix, the world’s top memory chipmaker, is taking its high-performance HBM chips out of the server room and into snack aisles. The company on Tuesday unveiled HBM Chips, a honey-banana–flavored corn snack created in collaboration with convenience store chain 7-Eleven. The name comes from the semiconductor firm’s star product, high bandwidth memory, or HBM — the ultra-profitable chips powering today’s AI boom. Shaped like tiny, square semiconductor blocks, the chips are coated in honey-banana

Nov. 26, 2025

Samsung, SKT team up for 6G, AI-RAN research

SK Telecom said Wednesday it is joining hands with Samsung Electronics to develop key technologies for 6th Generation mobile networks to enhance AI-native wireless infrastructure. Signing the agreement earlier in the month, the two companies agreed to conduct joint research on AI-powered radio access networks, focusing on three core areas of AI-based channel estimation, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output antenna transmission and reception, and AI-RAN-driven scheduling and core network technologies.

Nov. 26, 2025

Samsung taps new AI talent in biggest reshuffle in years

Samsung Electronics on Tuesday carried out its largest executive promotion round in recent years, elevating a wave of rising leaders in AI, robotics and advanced chips as the tech giant accelerates a generational shift for the AI era. In its annual reshuffle, Samsung promoted 161 employees to executive positions — a sharp increase from 143 in 2023 and 137 in 2024 — signaling a pivot toward younger, next-generation leadership capable of steering the tech giant through intensifying global competit

Nov. 25, 2025