[Herald Interview] Secret behind Danish COVID-19 response: Health tech solutions

A survey in August showed that people in Denmark were happier than people from any other advanced economy about their government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. They were more satisfied than South Koreans. 　 Some 95 percent of Danes believed their government was doing a good job of handling the pandemic, while 86 percent of Koreans felt the same way about their government, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. 　 Though Denmark is also grappling with a resurgence of COVI

Nov. 4, 2020

COVID-19 a fork in the road for Korean pharmas’ conflicting Q3 report

　South Korean pharmaceuticals and biologics companies produced conflicting third-quarter reports, some of them boosted by their involvement in COVID-19-related pipelines. 　GC Pharma, Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical, Boryung Pharmaceutical, Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Yuhan Corp. reported stellar performances, while Dong-A ST and Hanmi Pharm saw their figures falter. 　 　The companies that fared better than the others had flu vaccines and treatments for chronic illnesses in their portfolios. Both

Nov. 4, 2020

Hyundai signs MOUs to supply 4,000 hydrogen trucks to China by 2025

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Wednesday it has signed two separate initial deals with Chinese companies to supply 4,000 hydrogen trucks by 2025 in a move to enter the Chinese hydrogen commercial vehicle market. Hyundai signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shanghai Electric Power Co., Shanghai Sunwise Energy Systems Co., and Shanghai Ronghe Electric Technology Financial Leasing Co. to supply 3,000 hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks in the next five y

Nov. 4, 2020

SK hynix reaps 175% growth in Q3 operating profit despite price falls

SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory provider, achieved a 175 percent on-year growth in its operating profit in the third quarter of this year, despite adverse market conditions including declines in prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. According to its earnings results announced Wednesday, the chipmaker posted 8.13 trillion won ($7.2 billion) in revenue, while obtaining 1.3 trillion won in operating profit during the period between July and September. Revenue and operating profi

Nov. 4, 2020

Nongshim expects record overseas sales with flagship instant noodles

Nongshim, a South Korean food company, said Wednesday that it expects record-high overseas sales of $990 million this year with its flagship instant noodle brand Shin Ramyun. According to Nongshim, the overseas sales forecast is up about 24 percent on-year, as the demand for instant noodles jumped across the world in the wake of COVID-19. By year-end, sales of Shin Ramyun will reach about $390 million, Nongshim said. Shin Ramyun has been chosen as one of the world’s best instant noodl

Nov. 4, 2020

Online shopping hits new high in Sept. on virus, Chuseok holiday

SEJONG -- Online shopping in South Korea soared to a new high in September due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Chuseok holiday, data showed Monday, The value of online transactions stood at 14.72 trillion won ($12.9 billion) in the month, up 30.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It was also the largest monthly amount since the agency began tracking related data in 2001. The surge was attributed largely to the pandemic that prompted more shoppers t

Nov. 4, 2020

Hyundai’s US retail sales up 10% in October

Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors saw their retail sales rise in the US market last month, according to the automaker’s US units Wednesday. In the performance data released on the website of Hyundai Motor America, total sales in October recorded 57,395 units, up one percent from the same month last year. Retail sales reached 52,117 units, up 10 percent year-on-year. HMA said sales of sport utility vehicles, which accounted for 68 percent of total retail sales, increased 23 percent. Sales vo

Nov. 4, 2020

Imported car sales rise 9.8% in Oct. amid pandemic

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 9.8 percent in October from a year earlier due to strong demand for German cars, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 24,257 units last month from 22,101 a year earlier despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models were the Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI SUV, Volvo XC40 B4 AWD SUV and BM

Nov. 4, 2020

Finance minister pledges utmost efforts to do his job after resignation offer was rejected

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki vowed Wednesday he will do his best to perform his duties in sync with the president after his resignation offer over a taxation issue was rejected. "In conformity with the intention of the personnel authority, I will do my utmost to do my official duties as a deputy prime minister," Hong said during the parliamentary budget and accounts committee's interpellation session. "As parliament kicks off its review of the (2021) budget bill, I will do my b

Nov. 4, 2020

[Monitor] Contrasting sales performance of Korean carmakers

Korea’s five finished automobile companies showed contrasting sales performance results in October compared to their respective reports in the same month last year. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic’s crippling effects on the global economy and consumer reception toward newly launched vehicle models, Kia Motors’ sales picked up both overseas and domestically, while Renault Samsung’s sales more than halved. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Nov. 4, 2020

Hankook Tire supplies tires for Audi RS models

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's seventh-largest tiremaker by sales, said Wednesday it has been supplying tires for Audi RS models this year. Hankook Tire has supplied the high-performance Ventus S1 evo 3 and Winter i*cept evo2 tires for Audi's RS 7 Sportback sedan and RS6 Avante wagon since early this year, the company said in a statement. The company didn't provide an exact time frame for the supply deal or the value of the deal. The tiremaker has supplied original equipment

Nov. 4, 2020

Hyundai, Kia's US sales rise 6% on SUV models

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday their US sales rose 6 percent last month from a year earlier on strong demand for their SUV models.  In October, Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 113,489 vehicles in the United States, up from 107,101 units in the same month of last year, the companies said in separate statements.   Hyundai's US sales gained 1 percent to 57,395 units last month from 57,094 a year ago, while Kia's jumped 12 percent to 56,094 fro

Nov. 4, 2020

Seoul shares open higher ahead of US election result

South Korean shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as investors awaited the results of the US presidential election. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 20.98 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,364.29 in the first 15 minutes of trading.   The local market followed gains on Wall Street as preelection polls favored Democratic nominee Joe Biden over President Donald Trump, raising investor hopes for reduced uncertainties surrounding

Nov. 4, 2020

SK hynix Q3 net more than doubles on Huawei effect, mobile demand recovery

SK hynix Inc., South Korea's second-largest chipmaker, on Wednesday reported estimate-beating third-quarter earnings on the back of a recovery in demand for mobile chips amid the pandemic. Its net profit stood at 1.07 trillion won ($950.4 million) in the third quarter of the year, up 117.5 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit for the July-September period more than doubled to 1.29 trillion won compared with 472.6 billion won a year ago, while

Nov. 4, 2020

S. Korea's FX reserves up for 7th straight month to fresh record high in Oct.

South Korea's foreign reserves climbed for the seventh straight month in October due to a rise in the value of non-dollar assets and an increase in investment returns, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's foreign reserves came to a record high of $426.5 billion as of end-October, up $5.96 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve pos

Nov. 4, 2020

Korean office workers warm to stock investment: survey

The proportion of South Korean office workers taking a keen interest in stock investment has surged in recent months as retail investors began a buying boom, betting on gains from market volatility, a survey showed Tuesday. According to job portals Job Korea and Albamon, half of the 593 wage-earning respondents said they invested in stocks. The figure was 22.8 percentage points higher than two years ago, when the same survey was conducted.　 The survey also showed that 76.7 percent were investi

Nov. 3, 2020

Chung meets union, urges cooperation in crisis

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun met with the labor union for the first time since taking office. With both labor and management under new leadership, the automaker, which has long struggled with its militant union, now sees hope of stabilizing the relationship for the first time in 11 years. 　 Chung had a lunch meeting on Friday with Lee Sang-soo, head of the labor union, after President Moon Jae-in’s visits to Hyundai’s Ulsan production plants the same day, according to

Nov. 3, 2020

Finance Minister offers to resign over major-shareholder taxation furor

South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki offered his resignation on Tuesday, in an apparent response to the market backlash against the government’s proposed changes to the taxation rules. “I have offered my resignation and submitted my letter today, taking responsibility over the prolonged disputes,” the fiscal chief said during a parliamentary finance committee meeting. His abrupt announcement came while answering a question from Rep. Ch

Nov. 3, 2020

Mobile carriers call for spectrum auction amid redistribution dispute

South Korea's three major telecom operators on Tuesday called on the government to hold an auction to redistribute their network spectrum set to expire next year amid controversy over prices. Spectrum for 2G, 3G and 4G LTE networks held by the three -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- are up for redistribution by the government next year. In return, the government wants a price for the redistribution as high as 5.5 trillion won ($4.8 billion), a parliamentary audit showed last m

Nov. 3, 2020

KAIST develops deepfake detection tool

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed an artificial intelligence-powered tool designed to detect computer-manipulated images, the institution said Tuesday. The new Kaicatch software, developed by the KAIST research team led by professor Lee Heung-kyu, is the nation’s first deepfake detection tool, the institution said. The software is capable of analyzing both images and videos to find artificial changes that might be invisible to the human eye. The team deve

Nov. 3, 2020