Most Popular
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Medical profs at top hospitals suspend surgeries, clinics
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Samsung chip business back on track, logs W1.9tr operating profit in Q1
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Shinsegae faces showdown with investors over SSG.com's delayed IPO
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Hopes rise for possible Gaza truce deal
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S. Korea discussed possible participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 with Australia: defense minister
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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SK becomes No. 2 shareholder of US Center for Breakthrough Medicines
SK Inc. has invested $350 million (421.4 billion won) in the Center for Breakthrough Medicines, a Philadelphia-based cell and gene therapy firm, to become the second largest shareholder, SK Group’s holding company said Sunday. With the investment, SK Inc. has secured a strong foothold in the US cell and gene therapies market. The transaction came nine months after the holding company acquired Yposkesi, a French developer and manufacturer of cell and gene therapy products, in March. As a
Jan. 9, 2022
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Experts divided on timeline of BOK's first rate hike of the year
Experts remain divided over whether Korea’s central bank will carry out a rate hike at its first rate-setting meeting of the year set for Friday. The upcoming monetary policy board meeting comes as the Korean economy continues to struggle with high inflationary pressure and the US Federal Reserve’s recent signal of a sooner-than-expected rate hike. A majority of experts see a rate hike coming Friday or next month, and the Bank of Korea is expected to raise its benchmark interest
Jan. 9, 2022
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Lotte E&C and Hyundai Engineering win orders to build giant chemical complex in Indonesia
Lotte Engineering & Construction Co. and Hyundai Engineering Co. said Sunday they have signed $2.39 billion deals to construct a giant petrochemical complex in Indonesia. Under separate deals with Lotte Chemical Corp., Lotte E&C and Hyundai Engineering will build the complex in Cilegon, a coastal industrial city about 90 kilometers northwest of Jakarta, by 2025. Lotte E&C's stake is $1.63 billion while Hyundai Engineering's stake is $757 million. The complex will have an annual ca
Jan. 9, 2022
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S. Korea's kimchi exports hit new high in 2021
South Korea's exports of kimchi hit an all-time high last year thanks to its growing popularity, data showed Sunday. Outbound shipments of the spicy Korean traditional side dish came to a record $159.9 million in 2021, resulting in a trade surplus of $19.2 million in the sector, according to the data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It is the first time in 12 years that South Korea registered a surplus in the kimchi trade. Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish norm
Jan. 9, 2022
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S. Korean economy faces heightened downside risks: KDI
The South Korean economy faces heightened downside risks, as the country has tightened antivirus measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 cases and the global economic recovery has slowed down, a state-run think tank said Sunday. Since December, the recovery of private spending has been constrained by tighter social distancing measures to tackle the spike in COVID-19 infections, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in a monthly economic assessment report. "On the external side, globa
Jan. 9, 2022
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Seoul bourse to provide capital market info in English
South Korea's bourse operator said Sunday that it will launch a domestic capital market information portal in English this week to provide more information to foreign investors. The service, dubbed Market Data System, will be provided through the website (http://global.krx.co.kr) starting Monday, the Korea Exchange (KRX) said. The KRX said the website will improve information accessibility and convenience for foreign investors whose influence in the domestic capital market has continuously inc
Jan. 9, 2022
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Hyundai set to sell over 3m in cumulative eco-friendly car sales in H1
Hyundai Motor Group is expected to achieve 3 million units in accumulated environment-friendly vehicle sales in the first half, driven by new models, industry sources said Sunday. The South Korean automotive group, which has Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. under its wing, sold a cumulative 2.53 million eco-friendly vehicles as of November last year, according to industry people. From January to November, the two carmakers sold a combined 656,479 eco-friendly models in global markets, higher th
Jan. 9, 2022
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GS launches its venture capital for investment in promising startups
South Korean conglomerate GS Holdings said Sunday that it has set up a corporate venture capital (CVC) firm to invest in promising startups. GS Ventures plans to invest in local startups that focus on the new growth industries, such as bio, climate change, resource recycling, retail and renewable energy, GS Holdings said. Heo Jun-nyeong, vice president at GS Holdings who is a merger and acquisition expert, was named the first chief executive officer of GS Ventures. GS Holdings holds a 100 per
Jan. 9, 2022
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Seoul stocks may come under selling pressure next week: analysts
South Korean stocks are likely to come under downward pressure next week amid concerns that the US Federal Reserve's tapering policy may be harsher than expected, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,954.89 points Friday, down 0.76 percent from last Thursday, the final session of last year. Stocks traded bearish this week, as investors are worried that the Fed's latest minutes supported aggressive rate hikes and a contraction of its balan
Jan. 8, 2022
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[Market Eye] Samsung-Hyundai auto chip alliance? It's more complicated than you think
South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor, like other major carmakers around the world, suffered big from global semiconductor shortages last year, despite wide growing demand for new vehicles. Deliveries of preordered vehicles have been delayed for months, not because of Korea‘s notorious labor strikes or price hikes in materials, but because of the tiny missing auto chips, which are essential for their digitized auto control system. Not just sharing common roots as Kor
Jan. 7, 2022
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Chaebol groups sell shares in subsidiaries over strengthened intercompany trade measures
Descendants of South Korea's chaebol founders have recently sold their stakes in spin-offs in an apparent move to avoid the antitrust watchdog’s tougher intra-group trade scrutiny based on the revised fair trade act. The Korea Fair Trade Committee’s revised fair trade act came into effect on Dec. 30, expanding the list of target companies in order to prevent chaebol family owners from fattening their wealth through affiliates in family business. Previously, the regulation ta
Jan. 7, 2022
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[From the Scene] CES vs. COVID vs. My safety
LAS VEGAS – With just one more day to go, the Consumer Electronics Show 2022, though requiring attendees to be fully vaccinated, is a potential incubator of next variant of you-know-what thanks to people without masks spread out all over town. An unpleasant experience began right after touching down at McCarran Airport on Sunday. Paul, a Lyft driver who gave a brief tour of the Strip throughout the ride to the Westgate Hotel, wasn‘t wearing his mask. Vaccinated or not, Lyft manda
Jan. 7, 2022
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LG Electronics’ 2021 sales to top W70tr without mobile biz
LG Electronics has topped 70 trillion won ($58.2 billion) in full-year sales for the first time in its history in an earnings surprise, in the same year that the company took down its mobile phone business, a preliminary filing showed Friday. The revenue of LG Electronics came to 74.72 trillion won through 2021, up 28.7 percent from the previous year, according to its preliminary consolidated financial report. This beat the earnings consensus estimate by South Korean analysts. According to mark
Jan. 7, 2022
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Internet-only bank K-Bank begins process of going public
K-Bank, a South Korean internet-only bank, said Friday it has begun the process of an initial public offering (IPO) as part of efforts to raise funds to strengthen its foothold as a major digital financial platform. K-Bank sent a request for proposal to local and foreign securities firms earlier in the day, the first step of a company going public. It also plans to select a lead manager for an IPO by next month, according to company officials. "Details on IPO timelines will be determine
Jan. 7, 2022
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[CES 2022] SK Innovation rolls up its sleeves to tackle emissions across value chain
SK Innovation, a chemical arm of South Korea‘s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, said Friday its high-ranking officials including Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kim Jun agreed on a course of actions to achieve its net-zero goal before 2050, while at CES 2022 on Thursday morning local time. Under its Carbon to Green initiative, SK Innovation executives approved plans to tackle indirect emissions that occur in the company’s value chain, often described as Scope 3 emissi
Jan. 7, 2022
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Seoul shares end higher on tech gains
Seoul shares ended higher Friday spurred by gains in tech shares, though investors remain concerned about the Fed's looming tapering move. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 34.36 points, or 1.18 percent, to close at 2,954.89 points. The KOSPI rebounded from a 2.3 percent drop in the previous two sessions. The decline was attributable to Fed meeting minutes that suggested the US central bank may raise interest rates s
Jan. 7, 2022
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[Newsmaker] Woori Bank pulls back Osstem funds amid theft probe
Woori Bank, one of five major local banks, said Friday it had stopped selling funds involving Osstem Implant, whose shares were suspended from trading on the Kosdaq after an employee was arrested for having allegedly stolen funds equal to 91 percent of the company’s equity as of last year. “It’s a precautionary measure to protect our investors and we do not know at this point when we will begin selling the funds again,” a Woori Bank official said, adding five funds
Jan. 7, 2022
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[CES 2022] SK ecoplant unveils blueprint for circular economy
SK ecoplant, a construction unit of SK Group, unveiled a blueprint of what they call Zet Zero City, a circular economy system in line with the company’s focus on eco-friendly energy solutions, at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday. Debuting at CES, SK ecoplant said the purpose of Net Zero City is to solve environmental and energy problems by turning waste and air pollutant into resources and energy through high-technology. SK ecoplant, which has been transforming itself fr
Jan. 7, 2022
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[CES 2022] SK seeks data center chip development with Qualcomm
South Korea-based SK Group is in talks with US chip maker Qualcomm to develop a new hyper speed memory chip tailored to data centers, its communication technology arm SK Square said Friday. The new chips would run applications or computers for data center operation in order to meet soaring corporate demand amid the global chip shortages that could cause server delays, according to SK Square, the parent of memory chip maker SK hynix. The world‘s data center chip market could potentially gr
Jan. 7, 2022
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NFT of ‘Jirisan’ characters sells at record-low price
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit said Friday that nonfungible tokens featuring images of main lead characters from TV drama series “Jirisan” had sold at record-low prices. NFTs are digital tokens of physical or digital assets, mostly of music or art, that guarantee ownership through blockchain technology. According to the digital asset trading platform, the pixel art NFTs of the characters played by top Korean actors Gianna Jun and Ju Ji-hoon sold for 18,653 won ($15.50)
Jan. 7, 2022