Chiefs of 20 conglomerates not registered as board members: regulator

The chiefs of 20 large business groups in South Korea, including top conglomerate Samsung Group, did not register themselves as board members of their affiliates, the antitrust regulator said Wednesday, a move widely seen as an attempt to avoid managerial responsibilities. As of May, the owners of Samsung, chemicals-to-construction conglomerate Hanwha, leading shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries and 17 other conglomerates were not board members of the groups' affiliates, the Korea Fair Trade C

Dec. 9, 2020

Samsung tops Russian smartphone market in Q3: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the largest smartphone vendor in Russia in the third quarter of the year, beating its Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co., a report showed Wednesday. Samsung accounted for 28.4 percent of smartphone sales in Russia in the July-September period, edging out Huawei by 2.9 percentage points, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. China's Xiaomi Corp. came in third with a 22.6 percent share in the third quarter, followed by Apple Inc. with a 9.2 percent

Dec. 9, 2020

[Herald Interview] Korea eyes how to revitalize aviation industry

The year 2020 has been one marred by a global pandemic. For the aviation industry, it was a time of unseen hardships. Countries around the world took a different approach to the virus crisis as some tried to maintain the flow of people while others were quick to close down the borders. South Korea‘s strategy was to balance the two apporaches, said Kim Sang-do, deputy minister for civil aviation at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. “We did a great job preemptive

Dec. 9, 2020

Mirae Asset’s ETF listed on Vietnamese stock market

An exchange-traded fund operated by the Vietnam branch of South Korea‘s leading asset management firm Mirae Asset Global made a market debut in the Southeast Asian country‘s stock market, the company said Wednesday. The so-called Mirae Asset VN30 Exchange Traded Fund is designed to invest in 30 blue-chip Vietnamese companies, including Vingroup Joint Stock Company, Vietcombank and Vinamilk. Its shares account 76 percent of the total market capitalization of the nation’s public

Dec. 9, 2020

Kia Motors workers to strike again for three days

Kia Motors’ labor union on Wednesday began a partial strike, its third collective action this year, following the collapse of negotiations over wages and other issues a day earlier. Lost production from strikes this year is expected to exceed 30,000 vehicles. Representatives of the management and the union held talks for two days, but failed to reach a compromise. Following the talks’ collapse at midnight Tuesday, the union decided to cut work short by four hours per day for three

Dec. 9, 2020

Conglomerates spent more on R&D this year despite pandemic

Faced with growing market uncertainties stemming from the pandemic, large companies in South Korea expanded their research and development investment to secure future growth engines. Samsung Electronics and Naver led the way, data showed Wednesday. According to an analysis conducted by Seoul-based corporate tracker CEO Score of 217 of the nation’s top 500 companies by revenue, the companies’ total aggregate R&D spending came to 40 trillion won ($36 billion) from January to Sept

Dec. 9, 2020

Samsung ranks fourth in Q3 wearables market: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the fourth-largest vendor of wearable devices in the third quarter of the year, a market report showed Wednesday, amid soaring global demand for wearables. Samsung shipped 11.2 million units of wearable devices in the July-September period, up 32.2 percent from a year earlier, for a market share of 9 percent, according to the latest report from market tracker International Data Corp. (IDC). "Samsung's strategy to attack the earwear market with multiple brands

Dec. 9, 2020

Korean Air completes first cold-chain delivery of COVID-19 vaccine materials

In a country first, Korean Air transported raw materials used to make COVID-19 vaccine from Korea to the Netherlands on Tuesday, the company said Wednesday. The South Korean flag carrier used a cold-chain system to deliver the packages weighing 800 kilograms, including containers and dry ice. Of the 800 kilograms, 208 kilograms is dry ice in special containers to keep temperatures below minus 60 degrees Celsius for some 120 hours – a threshold required to safely transport raw materials f

Dec. 9, 2020

Banks' household loan growth accelerates in November on home-backed lending

South Korean banks' household loans continued to grow at a faster clip in November, fueled by the strong growth of non-mortgage loans, central bank data showed Wednesday. The value of outstanding bank loans to local households came to 982.1 trillion won ($905.3 billion) as of end-November, up 13.6 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The November reading, which is compared with a 10.6 trillion-won gain in October, marked the highest monthly

Dec. 9, 2020

No. of newly established firms rises by most in 5 years in 2019

The number of newly establishment companies in South Korea increased by the most in five years in 2019, with one in four new entities engaged in the real estate business, data showed Wednesday. Last year, the number of newly created firms reached a record 997,000, up 77,000 or 8.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the largest on-year increase since 2014, when such firms grew by 94,000, according to the statistics agency. Of the newly cr

Dec. 9, 2020

Samsung accounts for 10% of global feature phone market in Q3: report

Samsung Electronics Co. accounted for 10 percent of the global feature phone market in the third quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, amid the decline of the sector. Global feature phone shipments declined 17 percent on-year to 74 million units in the July-September period, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. Samsung had a 10 percent share in the feature phone market in the third quarter, sharing third place with China's Tecno Mobile, a subsidiary of Transsion Gr

Dec. 9, 2020

Steel, autos among beneficiaries of mega trade pact

South Korea said Wednesday it will make efforts to help local exporters utilize a mega trade pact accounting for one-third of the world's gross domestic product, hinting the deal could give a boost to the steel and automobile segments. "Amid the growing uncertainties stemming from COVID-19 and protectionism, the RCEP will grant exporters access to new markets, along with unified trade rules," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement. In November, members of ASEA

Dec. 9, 2020

S. Korea's agricultural exports up 7% through Nov.: data

South Korea's agricultural exports rose nearly 7 percent on-year over the January-November period, data showed Wednesday, setting a fresh high despite the new coronavirus pandemic. Outbound shipments of agricultural products came to $6.8 billion over the first 11 months of 2020, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The segment was among a handful of winners in South Korean exports, which suffered from the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pand

Dec. 9, 2020

Govt. warns of possible excessive overheating in asset markets

South Korea's vice finance minister warned Wednesday against potential excessive overheating in stock and property markets, saying that asset prices could spike amid ample liquidity and the economic recovery. First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom made the remarks as the country's stock prices hit a fresh record high in recent sessions and housing prices have not stabilized despite a series of the government's measures. "We need to be wary of the possibility that market volatility coul

Dec. 9, 2020

LG signs partnership with Assa Abloy to supply transparent OLED automatic doors

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it has signed a partnership with Swedish door opening solutions firm Assa Abloy Entrance Systems to commercialize automatic sliding doors with transparent OLED displays. The product combines LG's 55-inch transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) signage and related software with the automated glass sliding doors of Assa Abloy, the South Korean tech firm said. Such a product can be used in various commercial applications, showing advertisements and oth

Dec. 9, 2020

Cafe24 to integrate Facebook Shops in real time

South Korean e-commerce company Cafe24 said Tuesday that it launched its Facebook Shops real-time integration service, allowing e-commerce merchants to gain 3.1 billion Facebook users as potential customers. Cafe24 said Facebook Shops allows merchants operating online direct-to-consumer stores to showcase their products on Facebook and Instagram. With a few clicks, merchants can set up their shops on both social media platforms. Businesses of all sizes using Cafe24 can now use Shops. Previousl

Dec. 9, 2020

Samsung's IoT platform to support Google's smart home devices

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it has signed a partnership with Google on smart home solutions as the South Korean tech giant tries to expand its presence in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector. Samsung said its IoT platform, SmartThings, will support Google Nest devices, including thermostats, cameras and doorbells, starting next month. With the latest integration, SmartThings users will be able to control a Nest thermostat to adjust the temperature, see live camera feeds from outdoor

Dec. 9, 2020

Seoul stocks open higher on vaccine hopes

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight Wall Street gains, as Britain started mass-vaccinations against COVID-19 amid optimism over US stimulus talks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 23.39 points, or 0.87 percent, to 2,724.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Local stocks traded bullish with reignited stimulus hopes in the United States, following Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's offer to set aside some deadlock factors from the relief pa

Dec. 9, 2020

Kia workers stage partial strike amid pandemic

Unionized workers of Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, entered a partial strike again Wednesday as they failed to reach an agreement with the management over working conditions. Kia Motors and its union have held 15 rounds of meetings in this year's wage talks, but the two sides failed to narrow their differences over overtime work hours in the latest negotiation. Day and night shift workers will each stage four-hour strikes daily from Wednesday to Friday at plants in

Dec. 9, 2020

Major S. Korean firms' R&D spending gains 2% this year

Major South Korean companies' spending on research and development (R&D) rose nearly 2 percent in the first three quarters of the year despite weaker sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. R&D expenditures by 217 large companies in Asia's fourth-largest economy totaled 40.2 trillion won ($37 billion) in the January-September period, up 2.03 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from CEO Score. Their combined sales fell 4.85 percent on-year

Dec. 9, 2020