Samsung smartphones' domestic market share exceeds 70% for first time: market researcher

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest smartphone maker, saw its domestic market share exceed 70 percent for the first time in the third quarter on new products, a market research firm said Sunday. For the three months that ended in September, Samsung Electronics produced 3.4 million smartphones to account for 72.3 percent of the local smartphone markets, according to data from Strategy Analytics, Inc. New products such as the Galaxy Note 20 smartphone and the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Galaxy

Nov. 15, 2020

Hyundai Mobis hires ex-Valeo sales expert

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's biggest auto parts maker, said Sunday it has hired an ex-Valeo sales expert as it strives to ride out an extended coronavirus pandemic. Hyundai Mobis appointed Axel J. Maschka as executive vice president in charge of the company's global sales division. He will directly report to Chief Executive Officer Park Chung-kook from Monday, the company said in a statement. It is the first time for the company to name a non-Korean executive in the significant sales divi

Nov. 15, 2020

GM recalls EVs equipped with LG Chem batteries

General Motors Co. said Saturday it has decided to recall electric vehicles equipped with batteries made by South Korean producer LG Chem Ltd. due to safety concerns. The recall covers the Bolt EV produced from 2017 to 2019, installed with LG Chem‘s batteries made from Ochang, 120 kilometers south of Seoul. The measure came amid concerns that the batteries could cause fires when fully charged. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched investigations into three f

Nov. 14, 2020

Hong calls for trade multilateralism, support for debt-ridden economies

South Korea‘s finance minister highlighted the need to promote free trade under multilateral regimes, while expressing support for assistance to debt-ridden developing economies during a G-20 meeting, his ministry said Saturday. “We need to revitalize global trade through multilateral trade systems,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during the Extraordinary G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting held virtually on Friday. “Trade regulations ca

Nov. 14, 2020

Microsoft says N. Korean, Russian hackers attacking COVID-19 vaccine makers

WASHINGTON -- US tech giant Microsoft has detected cyberattacks from three foreign entities, including two from North Korea, against companies and research institutes working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, a company official said Friday, urging government action to protect such facilities. “In recent months, we‘ve detected cyberattacks from three nation-state actors targeting seven prominent companies directly involved in researching vaccines and treatments for COVID-19,” Tom

Nov. 14, 2020

S. Korea to extend anti-dumping duties on stainless steel bars

South Korea's trade commission on Friday made a preliminary decision to extend anti-dumping tariffs on stainless steel bars from a handful of nations for another three years. Under the decision, the commission will request that the finance ministry slap tariffs of 3.51 percent to 15.39 percent on imported stainless steel bars from Japan, India and Spain, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Stainless steel bars are utilized in making auto parts, medical instruments, constru

Nov. 13, 2020

S. Korean bio firm GL Rapha to produce Russian COVID-19 vaccine

South Korean bio company GL Rapha will produce over 150 million annual doses of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine for global distribution, Russia's sovereign wealth fund said Friday. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said GL Rapha will begin manufacturing Sputnik V in South Korea next month, which it described "the world's first registered vaccine" based on "human adenoviral vector-based platform." "The parties intend to commence production in December 2020 and a roll

Nov. 13, 2020

Seoul stocks rebound on chip rally despite global virus resurgence

South Korean stocks closed at a nearly two-year high Friday on advances in chipmakers, backed by massive foreign buying amid the resurgence of the new coronavirus around the globe. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 18.25 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 2,493.87 points. Trading volume was high at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 16.8 trillion won ($15.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 530 to 299. "Tod

Nov. 13, 2020

Hanwha Life’s Q3 operating profit jumps 134.6%

Hanwha Life Insurance‘s third-quarter operating income surged by 134.6 percent on-year to 206.9 billion won ($185.5 million), mainly due to a lower loss ratio, the company said Friday. An increase in sales of Hanwha Life‘s guaranteed products has reduced its ratio of insurance claims to premiums, officials said.  The company’s third-quarter earnings was also driven by a decline in the insurer’s reserves set up to cover claims of variable life insurance products,

Nov. 13, 2020

Amorepacific plans voluntary retirement

Amorepacific is planning to cut its headcount through offering voluntary retirement in the wake of the pandemic. According to news reports on Friday, the cosmetics giant announced through an internal notice that it would accept applicants for voluntary retirement from employees who have worked for the company for more than 15 years. “We posted an announcement this afternoon that the firm would accept applicants for voluntary retirement. We have not decided on the number of people yet,&

Nov. 13, 2020

Korean Air seeking to buy Asiana Airlines

Korean Air is seeking to acquire Asiana Airlines with the support of the Korea Development Bank, according to the airline industry on Friday. Industry sources said Asiana Airlines’ creditor KDB is considering mergers and acquisitions of the two nation’s largest airlines in a way to support Hanjin Group, which owns Korean Air. The most likely option is that the KDB invests in Hanjin Kal, the holding company of Hanjin Group, through a paid-in capital increase method allocated to a th

Nov. 13, 2020

Hyundai Motor wins CSR list in China for 5th consecutive year

Hyundai Motor Group has been ranked first among carmakers operating in China in a corporate social responsibility index reported by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the company announced Friday. The company has topped the list measuring carmakers’ corporate social responsibility activities since 2016, the company added. The South Korean automaker was especially recognized for the efforts it made earlier this year in China to help people fight COVID-19, the company explained. H

Nov. 13, 2020

S. Korea to stabilize kimchi-making costs

South Korea‘s vice finance minister said Friday the government will stabilize the cost to make kimchi by expanding supplies of major vegetables and ingredients.  “We are planning to extend the supply of vegetables in the market by employing either the government’s hoarded stocks for gimjang or those already purchased by local companies from agricultural farms under contract,” Kim Yong-beom, first vice minister of finance, said in a meeting with related officials to

Nov. 13, 2020

Asiana Airlines stocks rally on possible takeover by Hanjin Group

Stocks of Asiana Airlines’s key affiliates sharply rose Friday following news report saying Korea’s Hanjin Group, parent of the nation’s largest airline Korean Air Lines Co Ltd, is in talks with the state-run Korea Development Bank to acquire the cash-strapped airline.  Shares of Asiana Airlines, the country’s No. 2 carrier, rose by 19.1 percent to 4,745 won ($4.25) in the early morning trading session, while its low-cost carrier unit Air Busan jumped 16.1 percent t

Nov. 13, 2020

Regulator to tighten rules on overdrafts

Financial authorities will tighten rules on unsecured loans from later this month, as they seek to prevent people from borrowing excessively to buy homes or invest in stocks, officials said Friday. Effective Nov. 30, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) will stiffen loan limits for a home buyer to 40 percent of a property's value if the buyer's annual income exceeds 80 million won ($71,748) and holds unsecured loans worth more than 100 million won. If a person buys a home in a regulated a

Nov. 13, 2020

A drone show illuminates the sky above Seoul Olympic Park

A drone show, displaying the symbols of a hopeful Korea, illuminated the autumn night sky at Seoul Olympic Park on Friday from 6:30 p.m., officials said. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said a drone show on the themes of “Korean New Deal” and “Memory and Feeling of Victory” was held to deliver a message of gratitude to Korean citizens who are overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. The ministry said 315 drones brightened up the autumn sky, demonstrating Ko

Nov. 13, 2020

Daewoo Shipbuilding bags W73b order from Europe

South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Friday that it has secured a 72.26 billion won ($64.8 million) order to build six container carriers from a European company. The vessels are slated to be delivered by Jan. 31, 2023, Daewoo Shipbuilding said in a regulatory filing. The order has an option for the European company to cancel an order for a maximum of two carriers, the shipbuilder said. Daewoo Shipbuilding did not reveal the name of the European co

Nov. 13, 2020

S. Korea's money supply grows at fast clip in September

South Korea's money supply continued to grow quickly in September as firms rushed to secure funds amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Friday. The country's M2 stood at 3,115.8 trillion won ($2.8 trillion) as of end-September, up 0.5 percent from August, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 surged 9.2 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply that count

Nov. 13, 2020

S. Korea eyes $2tr in trade by 2030

South Korea will seek to raise the value of its trade to $2 trillion by 2030 by pushing for the digitalization of its trade infrastructure, the industry ministry said Friday. South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, will also push to hike the number of small and medium-sized exporting companies to 200,000 by that year. The ministry unveiled the ambitious plan during an expanded trade strategy coordination meeting chaired by Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun. "A structural innovation is ne

Nov. 13, 2020

[Monitor] Alibaba posts record-breaking Singles Day sales of $56.26 billion

China’s largest e-commerce platform, Alibaba, posted an increase in its annual Singles Day sales this year. While Alibaba had revealed daily sales figures for every Nov. 11 each year, this year its data included Nov. 1-10 presales figures, which reached 372.3 billion yuan ($56.26 billion). Presales combined with Nov. 11 sales totaled 498.2 billion yuan. What began as a celebration of singlehood in the country has become the world’s biggest one-day online sales event, with Alibaba s

Nov. 13, 2020