[Monitor] Korean carmakers to enjoy highest sales in 18 years

South Korean carmakers are forecast to notch their highest combined sales figures in 18 years, according to industry data released Sunday. The country’s five finished automobile manufacturers sold a total of 1.47 million vehicles in Korea between January and November this year. The figure was up 6.2 percent from the same period last year. If the trend continues, total sales will surpass 1.6 million vehicles at the end of the year. This would mark the highest total since 2002. The com

Dec. 8, 2020

S. Korea's tax revenue up W6.8tr in October

South Korea's tax revenue grew 6.8 trillion won ($6.3 billion) in October due largely to a rise in income tax revenue, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 39.1 trillion won in taxes in October, compared with 32.3 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The rise in tax revenue mainly came as income tax revenue rose 4.1 trillion won on-year to 10.5 trillion won. In October, the government's total revenue, including tax income, amoun

Dec. 8, 2020

Hyundai halts truck assembly line over virus outbreak

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Tuesday it suspended the truck assembly line of its local plant as seven workers at the plant were confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus. Seven employees at Hyundai's Jeonju plant, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. Some 2,000 workers took coronavirus tests on the same day, Hyundai said. "The truck assembly line of the Jeonju plant has been suspended from Monday. The com

Dec. 8, 2020

Seoul stocks open lower on Wall Street losses

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street amid concerns over the new coronavirus resurgence in global markets. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 8.83 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,736.61 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.49 percent to 30,069.79 points on rising COVID-19 cases and disappointing jobless data. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.45 percent, but the S&P 500

Dec. 8, 2020

Over 70% of state fiscal spending to be implemented in H1 2021 amid pandemic

The finance ministry said Tuesday it has allocated 72.4 percent of state fiscal spending to be implemented during the first half of next year in an effort to cope with the new coronavirus outbreak and an economic slowdown. The government plans to front-load 331 trillion won ($305.2 billion) of next year's fiscal spending totaling 459.9 trillion won in the January-June period, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The amount is higher than 71.4 percent of the budget spending allocat

Dec. 8, 2020

Brokerages up target prices for Samsung Electronics on chip rebound

South Korean brokerage houses have raised their target prices of Samsung Electronics Co. on signs of a recovery in global chip demand, sources said Tuesday. Some analysts predict the share price of Samsung Electronics, the world's top memory chip maker, to rise as high as 90,000 won ($83) after reaching the 70,000 won range on hopes of a rebound in its semiconductor business. Samsung Electronics, also the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer in the world, finished at an all-time high of 72,900 won on

Dec. 8, 2020

Samsung ranks 5th in global computer monitor market in Q3: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the world's fifth-largest computer monitor vendor in the third quarter of the year, a report showed Tuesday, as its shipments increased significantly amid the pandemic. The South Korean tech giant had a market share of 9 percent in the global computer monitor market in the July-September period, up from 6.8 percent a year ago, according to market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). Samsung's computer monitor shipments jumped 52.8 percent on-year to 3.37 mil

Dec. 8, 2020

Korea Exchange delays delisting decision for scandal-ridden Kolon TissueGene

South Korea's main bourse on Monday postponed its decision on whether to delist the scandal-ridden drugmaker Kolon TissueGene, Inc. as it needs more time to make a final decision on the company's delisting. The postponment is expected to provide tech-heavy KOSDAQ-listed Kolon TissueGene a chance to present another turnaround program to the KOSDAQ market committee under the main Korea Exchange (KRX). The main stock exchange said it will reopen the review meeting, without giving the timeframe.

Dec. 7, 2020

China exports surge by forecast-beating 21.1% in November

China's exports rose in November at their fastest pace in almost three years, official figures showed Monday, as a surge in demand in key markets ahead of the festive period also helped the country post a record trade surplus. The reading is the latest spot of good news out of the world's number two economy, which has been enjoying a bounceback from virus-induced lockdowns that sent it into a rare contraction earlier in the year. Overseas shipments grew 21.1 percent on-year last month to $268

Dec. 7, 2020

POBA to commit $100m to foreign listed REITs

The Public Officials Benefit Association said Monday it plans to commit $100 million indirectly to foreign real estate investment trusts listed on stock markets of developed countries. The South Korean institutional investor, overseeing 15.2 trillion won ($14 billion) worth of assets, added that it would select a new external partner based outside of Korea by January 2021. POBA‘s open-ended investment will be made in a separately managed account established by the partnering fund manag

Dec. 7, 2020

Samsung's foundry biz market share to drop in Q4: report

Samsung Electronics Co.'s share of the global foundry market is expected to decrease in the current quarter from the previous three months, a report showed Monday. Samsung's share in the global foundry business was estimated at 16.4 percent in the October-December period, down 1 percentage point from three months earlier, according to a report from industry tracker TrendForce. The South Korean tech giant's revenue from the foundry business was projected to jump 25 percent on-year to $3.71 bill

Dec. 7, 2020

S. Korea unveils road map to reach carbon neutrality by 2050

South Korea’s government vowed Monday to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by realigning the carbon emission tax cheme and nurturing ecofriendly automobile industries. When it comes to the introduction of new carbon tax rules here, however, immediate action would still be premature, officials said. “As can be seen in US President-elect Joe Biden’s vow for carbon neutrality, the paradigm shift into a sustainable economy is an unavoidable global trend,” Deputy Prime M

Dec. 7, 2020

[Time to Play] Lost in translation: Sex slavery awareness game defeats own purpose

If Anne Frank was not a real person and her diary was merely a work of fiction, would her story resonate as much with readers? As witnessed by Schindler’s List and The Pianist, films based on true stories connect people to the past in a visceral way. But would it be appropriate, or even necessary, to make a game out of such atrocities, even with a “noble” purpose in mind? In this sense, PC game The Wednesday, released on Dec. 1, is an utter disaster, as it reduces the bru

Dec. 7, 2020

Hanwha Total ramps up plastic production used for EV battery separators

Hanwha Total said Monday it has increased its annual plastic production capacity to 140,000 metric tons as demand has spiked for plastic, the raw material for separators, one of the key components of lithium-ion batteries along with cathodes, anodes and electrolytes. The expansion, which cost 40 billion won ($36.9 million), will allow the South Korean petrochemical company to produce 140,000 tons of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) at its plant in Daesan, South Chungcheong Prov

Dec. 7, 2020

Seoul stocks up for 5th session on chip, pharmaceutical gains

The South Korean stock market extended its all-time high for a fifth consecutive session Monday, backed by chip and pharmaceutical gains amid the government's strengthened social distancing measures. The Korean won closed unchanged at a nearly 30-month high against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 13.99 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 2,745.44. Trading volume was high at about 1.5 billion shares worth some 17.7 trillion won ($16.4 billion), with

Dec. 7, 2020

Mr. Pizza operator’s shares plunge after market return in 40 months

Shares of MP Group, the South Korean company that controls pizza restaurant franchise Mr. Pizza and coffee chain Manoffin, plunged over 21 percent at the close, after it resumed trading on the nation’s secondary bourse after some three years and four months. Shares of MP Group began trading at 1,920 won ($1.80), down 210 won or 9.86 percent, from the previous session’s close on July 25, 2017. The firm’s stock continued to fall sharply to close at 1,670 won. Its subsidiary MP

Dec. 7, 2020

SK bets on ‘targeted protein degraders’ as future anchor business in pharma

  　SK Holdings on Monday announced an investment of $200 million in a new subsidiary to be founded by Roivant Sciences -- the name of which remains undecided -- that will use its targeted protein degradation technology.   　This is a key step in SK Group’s pivot to biologics business, SK Holdings said, citing its focus on growing markets more than maturing ones, and a search for “disruptive tech” that could create synergy with SK Biopharmaceuticals and SK Pharmteco.

Dec. 7, 2020

IPO proceeds in Korean market exceed W5tr

Companies going public this year in South Korea have fetched more than a combined 5 trillion won ($4.6 billion) in proceeds from their initial public offerings on the local stock market, filings showed Monday, as they took advantage of windfalls from stock rallies throughout this year on high market liquidity. The combined IPO proceeds of 66 companies listed this year as of Monday came to 5.17 trillion won, excluding the special purpose acquisition companies, respective prospectuses showed. The

Dec. 7, 2020

Korea Maritime Institute to hold forum on Yellow Sea and importance of oceans

The Korea Maritime Institute will hold a forum on the Yellow Sea and the important role of oceans in achieving the UN sustainable development goals, in Seoul on Thursday. The 2020 Sustainable Development Forum for the Yellow Sea will see a group of environmental experts -- including Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations and current chair of the National Council on Climate and Air Quality of Korea -- put their heads together to discuss the challenges facing oceans, particul

Dec. 7, 2020

SK hynix develops 176-layer 512-gigabit NAND flash

SK hynix announced Monday that the chipmaker has finished development of its 176-layer 512-gigabit 4D NAND flash chips, the third generation product in its 4D NAND line-up. The Korean chipmaker is the second player, after US-based Micron to announce the industry’s highest-level NAND product, beating market leader Samsung Electronics. According to the company, its new 176-layer NAND flash has cells with 20 percent faster read speed and 33 percent data transfer speed at 1.6Gbps -- when co

Dec. 7, 2020