With Hoban Group’s stake in Hanjin KAL nearly matching that of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae and his interested parties, Delta Air Lines and Japan Airlines (JAL) are emerging as potentially crucial allies in maintaining the Cho family's control of Korean Air. As Hoban closes in on Cho’s stake in Hanjin KAL, Korean Air’s controlling shareholder is counting on its old ally, Delta Air Lines, to help hold the line. Delta owns a 14.9 percent stake in Hanjin KAL, making it one of the largest shareholders and a key pillar of Cho’s shareholder base. The U.S. carrier has also maintained a deep strategic relationship with Korean Air for years, and is widely considered to stand in favor of Cho’s leadership. That support could become increasingly important as the ownership structure tightens. Hoban now owns 20.15 percent of Hanjin KAL, just 0.42 percentage point below Cho and his related parties. The gap is small enough to turn every major shareholder into a potential kingmaker, particularly as Korea Development Bank (KDB) still holds a 10.58 percent stake and has yet to decide when an

Kim Sang-yeol, founder and former chairman of Hoban Group, has built the company into one of Korea’s most aggressive investors, with his latest bet on Korean Air bringing Hoban’s Hanjin KAL stake nearly level with that of the airline’s controlling shareholder. Hoban Group has so far amassed a 20.15 percent stake in Hanjin KAL, the parent company of Korean Air, putting it just 0.42 percentage point behind Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae and his related parties, which collectively own 20.57 percent. That narrow gap puts Kim in a position to challenge the balance of power at Korea’s flagship airline — particularly if Korea Development Bank (KDB) decides to sell its 10.58 percent stake. The state-run bank has yet to decide how to sell its stake in Hanjin KAL. The decision may determine who holds the upper hand in the management rights for the integrated airline that is scheduled to launch on Dec. 17 following Korean Air's takeover of Asiana Airlines. Hoban has expanded far beyond its housing construction roots through a string of acquisitions and investments, including Taihan Cab

Hyundai Motor’s autonomous driving road map is putting its ability to keep pace with Tesla under scrutiny, as the U.S. automaker rapidly gains stronger ground in Korea’s electric vehicle (EV) market. Last week, Hyundai Motor Group’s self-driving arm — 42dot — said it will introduce cars with Level 2+ autonomous driving technology based on Nvidia’s platform in the first half of 2028, followed by Level 2++ technology later that year. Vehicles equipped with the carmaker’s proprietary Atria artificial intelligence (AI) system will also be mass-produced in the second half of 2029, according to 42dot. Under the road map, the automaker seeks to close the gap with Tesla and other overseas autonomous driving leaders. But the timeline for Hyundai Motor's self-driving commercialization still leaves much to be desired, as Tesla has already turned into a consumer-facing product. Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised system is already available in Korea in limited form, although regulatory approval for its broader domestic operation remains a key hurdle. Tesla has also been expand

Hyosung Heavy Industries has secured 386.5 billion won ($277 million) worth of ultra-high-voltage transformer orders from two major U.S. Big Tech companies this month, strengthening its position as a key power infrastructure supplier amid the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. The company said Tuesday that the transformers will be installed at newly built AI data centers in the northern and southern United States. The orders include 220 billion won worth of 765-kilovolt transformers and 166.5 billion won worth of 345-kilovolt transformers. The equipment will supply electricity to power-intensive data center facilities. The latest deals reflect Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon’s yearslong efforts to establish a local production and solutions network in the U.S. Cho has described the surge in demand for power infrastructure as a “once-in-60-years supercycle” driven by AI. He has set a goal of making Hyosung Heavy Industries one of the world’s top three power equipment companies within five years by offering a broad portfolio ranging from transformers and ci

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on Tuesday appealed the prosecution's decision not to indict a lawyer representing his former wife over claims that Chey spent more than 100 billion won ($74.2 million) on his live-in partner. Chey had filed a complaint against his former wife Roh Soh-yeong's lawyer, whose identity was withheld, accusing him of defamation for allegedly spreading false information about Kim Hee-young, the SK chairman's partner, during their divorce lawsuit in November 2023. Chey's legal representatives issued a statement following the prosecution's decision not to indict the lawyer last week, saying the amount claimed had been inflated by more than 50-fold because it included money paid to Roh and charitable donations. The statement said the total amount Chey and Kim spent on living expenses was approximately 2 billion won at the time the claim was made, which was verified through an examination of financial transaction records and fully explained to a court handling the property division between Chey and Roh. The 100 billion won figure cited by Roh's lawyer included not onl

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that it has successfully completed a key technology trial for commercializing sixth-generation (6G) networks with U.S. mobile carrier Verizon Communications Inc. The two companies successfully completed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) trial at a major international soccer fan event in Texas, enabling real-time sensing-driven intelligence across a virtualized network, the Korean tech giant said. The milestone marks one of the industry's first practical implementations of a key 6G technology, demonstrating how operators can leverage software-driven network architectures to create infrastructure that actively perceives, understands and responds to its surroundings. For the ISAC trial, Samsung integrated commercial AI-powered virtualized radio access network (vRAN) and virtualized core network (vCore) technologies with an ISAC application. This enabled the ISAC trial to leverage connectivity from a 5G network without requiring additional equipment. "This successful ISAC trial underscores how Verizon's decisio

Kim Ji-ho stared at his stock trading app in confusion on Monday evening. He knew that the after-hours market was opening and noticed that a stock he was interested in had risen 10 percent. But by the time he returned from the bathroom, all the gains had disappeared. "It was a little scary, so I don't think I'll be trading in the after-hours market for a while," said Kim, a 25-year-old college student. For investors who eagerly jumped in, the experience was not entirely satisfying either. Some brokerages experienced technical glitches, while some investors said the new system was confusing because they could not easily distinguish regular-session closing prices from prices in the after-hours session. Others said the separate Korea Exchange (KRX) and Nextrade after-hours markets made trading more cumbersome and confusing, as investors had to choose between two different order screens. The KRX extended stock trading hours Monday, allowing almost all listed stocks to be traded between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Until now, Nextrade, an alternative trading system, had been the only option for after-hou

Korea is shortening its timetable for preparing for threats in orbit, moving to a five-year cycle for its national space-risk plan as satellites multiply and solar activity creates new uncertainties. The Korea AeroSpace Administration said Tuesday that an amendment to the Space Development Promotion Act was promulgated and took effect the same day, cutting the planning cycle from 10 years to five. The change is intended to give the government more flexibility as private sector space development accelerates, satellite launches increase and the risk of collisions involving orbital debris grows. The previous law required the government to establish its basic plan for preparing against space risks every 10 years. The Korea AeroSpace Administration said the rapid increase in low-Earth-orbit satellites and fluctuations in space weather linked to solar activity have underscored the need for more frequent policy reviews. Under the revised law, the five-year cycle will also apply to plans adopted before the amendment took effect. That means the second Basic Plan for Space Risk Preparedness, adopted

Samsung SDS has become the first Korean company to earn Select-tier status in Anthropic’s Claude Partner Network (CPN), strengthening its ability to help businesses adopt and operate Claude-based artificial intelligence (AI) services. The designation comes about two months after the company signed a strategic partnership with the U.S. firm in July at an AI summit in San Francisco to expand enterprise AI business opportunities in Korea. The CPN’s Select tier recognizes partners with certified technical expertise and experience deploying Claude-based solutions in customers’ production environments. Samsung SDS said the new status strengthens its end-to-end AI adoption framework, covering consulting on Claude deployment, access to the model through Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Amazon Bedrock platform, service implementation and operations and ongoing technical support. “By combining Anthropic's frontier AI technology with Samsung SDS's digital transformation expertise across industries, we will accelerate domestic companies’ AI adoption and help create tangible business value,”

Global X, the New York-based provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), announced Tuesday the launch of a new fund that seeks to invest in the manufacturers of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and related components. A key building block of many modern electronic devices, MLCCs are used in artificial intelligence (AI) servers, electric vehicles, smartphones and other items. Roughly 85 percent of the global MLCC industry is controlled by five manufacturers based in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. The Global X MLCC & Electronic Components ETF provides exposure to all of these companies, which can be difficult for U.S. investors to access directly. Its portfolio includes Murata Manufacturing, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Yageo Corp., TDK Corp. and many others. "The manufacturers of these components sit at a genuine chokepoint in the AI supply chain and could be difficult to access directly through U.S.-listed shares," said Pedro Palandrani, head of product research & development at Global X. Global X has long been known for thematic ETFs, including innovations such as its AI and technology ETF,