Most Popular
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Yoon's approval rating plunges to all-time low
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S. Korea votes in favor of Palestinian bid for UN membership
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Russia's denial of entry of S. Korean national unrelated to bilateral ties: Seoul official
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Bae Doo-na shares portraying Korean identity in Hollywood's 'Rebel Moon'
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[From the Scene] Monks, Buddhists hail return of remains of Buddhas
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Medical schools granted enrollment quota flexibility for next year
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Yoon offers first one-on-one meeting with opposition leader next week
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Iran fires air defense batteries in provinces as sound of explosions heard near Isfahan
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France rejects opening Paris flight routes to T'way Air, deals blow to Korean Air merger
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Chinese man behind drug scam targeting teens nabbed in Cambodia
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Korea’s Q1 GDP falls short on weak investment, consumption
South Korea’s economy grew 0.6 percent in the first quarter this year from three months earlier, lower than the 0.7 percent growth forecast in April, the Bank of Korea said Wednesday, citing weak investment and consumption as factors behind the revision. Growth in the gross domestic product for January-March, which slowed from 1.3 percent on-quarter in the previous cycle, expanded 3 percent on-year, also a drop from the 3.1 percent growth the central bank projected in April. “Data
June 8, 2022
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[Market Eye] Kakao share prices stall as company struggles to regain public trust
Kakao Pay shares tumbled Wednesday morning after it was reported that its second-largest shareholder Alipay was looking to sell 5 million shares -- about 10 percent of the total stake it holds in Kakao Pay -- in a block deal. The stock price of Kakao Pay fell 15.57 percent to close at 89,500 won. Despite the sell-off, the payment arm of IT giant Kakao said Alipay will continue to be a strategic investor and remain the second-largest shareholder, with 34.72 percent of Kakao Pay shares, and the
June 8, 2022
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Korean shipbuilders start building Qatar’s LNG carriers
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has obtained a 1.07 trillion won ($850 million) order to build four LNG carriers for a Qatari state oil firm, it said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. The order is the first batch of a $20 billion deal that three South Korean shipbuilders -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and Samsung Heavy Industries -- had signed with Qatar in 2020. DSME said Tuesday that it will build the LNG carriers in the Okpo shipyard,
June 8, 2022
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[Photo News] At a stop
Mixer trucks are seen parked at a garage in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday, the second day of the Cargo Truckers Solidarity strike. South Korean truckers, under the hard-line umbrella group Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, went on an indefinite strike a day earlier, demanding the expansion of the Safe Trucking Freight Rates System and an increase in freight charges.
June 8, 2022
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Korean EVs, batteries’ global market share dips
The global market share of Korean-made battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and lithium-ion batteries shrank last year with greater competition from Chinese and German makers, according to a report released on Wednesday by a major business lobby group. Based on statistics from the International Trade Center, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) analyzed the changing landscape of the global BEV and lithium-ion battery industry which is growing at over 20 percent on annual average. BEVs refer t
June 8, 2022
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Seoul stocks close nearly flat on recession woes
South Korean stocks finished nearly unchanged Wednesday, weighed by concerns about inflation and an economic recession. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 0.19 points, or 0.01 percent, to close at 2,626.15 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 561 million shares worth some 7.4 trillion won ($5.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 481 to 360. Institutions sold a net 75 billion won, and foreigners offloaded 103
June 8, 2022
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Revised hydrogen law to be promulgated this week
South Korea stepped closer to establishing an industrial ecology for hydrogen, as revisions to a regulation defining how companies should use hydrogen and what types of government support they would be given for exploring the latest technology will be promulgated as early as this week. The revised hydrogen law involves certifying and defining clean hydrogen, selling and usage requirements of clean hydrogen, and regulatory support for the purchase and supply of hydrogen power. According to the
June 8, 2022
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S. Korean retailers on real estate shopping spree
South Korean retail companies have been on a shopping spree recently, purchasing real estate in Seoul’s major commercial districts and preparing for new business development. According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service, on May 31 fashion company CreaS F&C finalized the purchase of 1,950 square meters of land and a 9,338-square-meter building in Nonhyeon-dong, within Seoul’s Gangnam-gu. Based on the deal worth 130 billion won ($103.6 million), the firm stated that
June 8, 2022
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Yoon’s picks for top financial officials face backlash
President Yoon Suk-yeol’s nominations to lead the nation’s top financial regulators have been met with skepticism, as critics say there have been too many prosecutors named already. Yoon, who has appointed several former prosecutors as Cabinet members, appointed an ex-prosecutor to lead the Financial Supervisory Services on Tuesday. Another former prosecutor had been mentioned as a candidate to head the Fair Trade Commission the same day. But the president’s office tweaked th
June 8, 2022
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SKC to sell PET film biz to Hahn & Co. for W1.6tr
South Korean chemicals-to-materials firm SKC has inked a deal to sell its polyester film business to Seoul-based private equity firm Hahn & Co. for 1.6 trillion won ($1.27 billion) following a split-off, according to the firm’s regulatory filing Wednesday. The deal, involving operations in Korea, China and the United States and film processing unit SKC Hi-Tech & Marketing, is anticipated to reach closure before the end of this year, the filing said. All polyethylene film-related
June 8, 2022
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SK to hold strategic forum in San Jose
SK Group said Wednesday its annual SK Global Forum will be held this week in San Jose, California, with some 30 company executives and local experts gathering to discuss the conglomerate’s future growth drivers. During the three-day event that kicks off Friday in the US, five affiliates -- SK Innovation, SK Telecom, SK hynix, SK Siltron and SK C&C -- will hold sessions to share their business plans and market trends. SK Innovation, the energy and materials unit, will offer a bluepr
June 8, 2022
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LG Chem rises to world’s No. 3 chemical brand
Petrochemicals-to-battery materials company LG Chem has become the third most valuable chemical brand in the world, up a notch from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday. LG Chem’s brand value, estimated at $4.3 billion, followed that of Germany-based BASF and Saudi Arabia-based Sabic, according to London-headquartered consulting firm Brand Finance. LG Chem’s brand valuation rose over 19 percent compared to the estimate of the previous year. This is the highest point LG Chem has
June 8, 2022
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Seoul stocks open higher on US stock gains
South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.51 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,632.85 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite grew 0.94 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8 percent, on a technical rebound. In Seoul, top cap Samsung Electronics added 0.31 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix increased 1.92 percent. Leading chemical firm L
June 8, 2022
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Hanwha Q Cells to build solar power plant in Wyoming
Hanwha Q Cells, the solar solutions unit of South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, said Wednesday it is building a new solar power plant in the US state of Wyoming under an electricity supply deal with an energy firm. The power supply deal with an unidentified firm calls for Hanwha to supply electricity to an energy company at negotiated prices on a long-term basis, it said in a release. It did not provide other details about the contract. The construction of the 150-megawatt solar power plant
June 8, 2022
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S. Korea's economy grows slower than earlier predicted in Q1 amid weak investment, spending
South Korea's economy grew at a slightly slower pace than earlier predicted in the first quarter of this year as investment and spending weakened amid lingering worries over the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.6 percent in the January-March period from three months earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The growth rate was slightly down from 0.7 percent growth estimated in Apri
June 8, 2022
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Top banker tapped as policy coordination chief, ex-prosecutor as new market police head
President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday named Bang Moon-kyu, CEO of the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea, to be in charge of government policy coordination, and former prosecutor Lee Bok-hyun to lead Korea’s market watchdog, the Financial Supervisory Service. The president also appointed Kim Joo-hyun, chairman of the Credit Finance Association as chairman of the Financial Services Commission, a top financial policymaking unit, and Kang Seog-hoon, former presidential secretary for economi
June 7, 2022
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Crisis management expert named as new FSC chief
Kim Joo-hyun, chairman of the Credit Finance Association and a former bureaucrat experienced in crisis management at the Financial Services Commission, was tapped to lead the top financial policymaker under the Yoon Suk-yeol government. Kim helped South Korea ride out the 2008 financial crisis as the inaugural chief of policy at the FSC, which was set up in January that year as part of a government reshuffle carried out by then-President Lee Myung-bak, who took office a month later. In 2011, K
June 7, 2022
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Seoul shares dip over 1.5% amid woes over Fed's hawkish move; Korean won down by most in over 1 yr
Seoul shares nosedived by over 1.5 percent Tuesday amid concerns about fast-growing inflation pressure that may strengthen monetary tightening in the United States and other major economies. The Korean won steeply fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index 44.31 points, or 1.66 percent, to close at 2,626.34 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 517 million shares worth some 8.8 trillion won ($7 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 730 to 163. Institu
June 7, 2022
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Duty-free shops see customers return as tourism normalizes
With the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic’s endemic phase, South Korea’s duty-free shops are starting to see their long-awaited business recovery with a growing number of group tours, industry sources said Tuesday. According to a Lotte Duty Free official, some 150 tourists from Malaysia shopped at the Myeongdong branch for an hour on Tuesday before returning to their country. “It’s the first time in two years since COVID-19 started that a group of over 100 tourists
June 7, 2022
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Bottom 20% households spend 42% of monthly disposable income on food
SEJONG -- The nation’s high inflation, which has led to a spike in consumer prices since the latter half of 2021, is weakening the purchasing power of households in the low-income bracket, as they spend a large portion of their monthly disposable income on daily necessities, state data showed Tuesday. According to the Finance Ministry and Statistics Korea, households which belong to the bottom 20 percent in terms of income level spent an average 42.2 percent of their monthly disposable in
June 7, 2022