Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
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Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
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S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
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Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
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Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
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[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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[Herald Interview] 'Amid aging population, Korea to invite more young professionals from overseas'
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Nicaragua shuts down Seoul embassy
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Rocket engine expert, ex-NASA exec to lead Korea's new space agency
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Seoul stocks down for 2nd day ahead of options expiration day
South Korean stocks finished lower for a second straight day Tuesday, as uncertainties increased, with investors seeking to take profits ahead of the expiration of stock options. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 6.57 points, or 0.21 percent, to close at 3,084.67 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 2.1 billion shares worth some 18.1 trillion won ($16.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 362 to 474. Foreigne
Feb. 9, 2021
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[Behind the Wheel] BMW's 4 Series grabs attention with expressive vertical kidney grille
YEONGJONGDO, Incheon -- The second-generation BMW 4 Series has been introduced with a daring look, embracing a vertical kidney grille to show off a new identity. Last week, BMW Korea introduced the renewed BMW 4 Series Coupe and 4 Series Convertible to the Korean market, and presenting the new signature kidney grille that has been made bigger and stretched not to the sides, but vertically. It is the first time the German automaker has introduced the vertical kidney grille to a mass-produced
Feb. 9, 2021
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Bitcoin hits record on Tesla’s $1.5b bet
Bitcoin prices hit a record high on Tuesday, as US electric vehicle maker Tesla unveiled it had purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoin. Bitcoin prices inched closer to 50 million won ($44,800) each in Korean exchanges on Tuesday, while exceeding that threshold in overseas exchanges. Bitcoin in South Korean exchanges were being traded at a discount of more than 3 percent on Tuesday, due to different market environments such as regulations and trading volume. In its latest annual report Monday
Feb. 9, 2021
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Seegene found to have exaggerated revenue for 9 years
Seegene, the diagnostics company at the helm of South Korea’s speedy grip on COVID-19 countermeasures, was found to have cooked its books to make it look more profitable, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The financial watchdog suggested the firm remove a key official involved in the fiscal malpractice. Seegene will be fined, with the amount not yet decided, and assigned a special auditor for the next three years. The official in question had already resigned at the time
Feb. 9, 2021
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Top BlackRock researcher sides with hedge funds in GameStop saga
A top researcher of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock expressed regrets on Tuesday over the retaliation aimed at hedge funds for taking short positions in the United States’ stock market in the GameStop saga. Henny Sender, managing director of the asset manager‘s internal think tank BlackRock Investment Institute, said it was “a sad thing” that retail stock traders had directed their anger at hedge funds. Ensuring hedge funds are given an option to perce
Feb. 9, 2021
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Video calls to be free during Lunar New Year amid pandemic
Video calls will be free of charge during the Lunar New Year holiday to encourage virtual family meetings, the ICT ministry said Tuesday, as the country's efforts to curb new coronavirus cases limit in-person contact. The Ministry of Science and ICT said the country's three major telecom operators -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- agreed to not charge for video calls made over the upcoming holiday period, which falls on Feb. 11-14 this year, for all smartphone users in the count
Feb. 9, 2021
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Pension funds unload W10.5tr worth of Korean stocks in 2021 so far
South Korean pension funds extended stock sell-offs to a 31st straight session, setting a record selling spree in local market history, data showed Tuesday. The combined net sales of the pension funds came to nearly 10.47 trillion won ($9.38 billion) -- 10.02 trillion won on the main bourse Kospi and 450 billion won on the tech-heavy Kosdaq -- in the period from Jan. 4 to Tuesday, according to the Korea Exchange. Their selling volume stood out even more when compared to other major trading gr
Feb. 9, 2021
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FSC to allow Naver, Kakao sell insurance products
The Financial Services Commission said Tuesday it will draft a policy framework this month to allow local platform operators, including Naver and Kakao, to enter the insurance market to expand customer access to digitized financial products. Under the envisioned plan, the financial regulator will ease the current regulations to enable the internet companies to develop and sell micro insurance products, in accordance with its “sandbox” program. The regulatory framework is aimed a
Feb. 9, 2021
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Kia to invest W29tr in future mobility, others by 2025
Kia Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker by sales, said Tuesday it will invest 29 trillion won ($26 billion) in car manufacturing facilities and future mobility technologies by 2025. Kia will spend 18.8 trillion won on enhancing profitability in the existing car manufacturing business and 10.1 trillion won on generating business opportunities through investments in future mobility technologies, the company said at this year's CEO Investor Day event. The maker of the K5 sedan and the Te
Feb. 9, 2021
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S. Korea's e-commerce market ranks 5th worldwide in 2020 amid pandemic
South Korea's e-commerce market expanded nearly 20 percent in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic to rank fifth in the world, a report showed Tuesday. Local e-commerce sales came to $104.1 billion last year, up 19.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the report released by the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency and based on data from market researcher eMarketer. China topped the global e-commerce market list with $2.8 trillion, trailed by the United States with $709.8 billion, Britain with $
Feb. 9, 2021
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S. Korea's tax revenue down W7.9tr last year
South Korea's tax revenue fell 7.9 trillion won ($7.1 billion) in 2020 from a year earlier as corporate tax earnings declined amid the pandemic, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 285.5 trillion won in taxes last year, compared with 293.5 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Last year, the collection of corporate taxes declined 16.7 trillion won on-year to a four-year low of 55.5 trillion won, as business activity remained slug
Feb. 9, 2021
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KT Q4 net turns to black amid 5G growth
KT Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, said Tuesday it shifted to a net profit during the final quarter of last year on the back of growing 5G users. Net income reached 39.1 billion won ($35 million) in the October-December period on a consolidated basis, compared with a loss of 10.2 billion won the previous year. Operating income rose 6.4 percent on-year to 166.8 billion won, while sales stood at 6.2 trillion won, up 0.2 percent over the cited period. KT said an increase in its 5G
Feb. 9, 2021
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Service output in 15 provinces, cities falls in Q4 amid pandemic
Combined service output declined in 15 provinces and major cities in South Korea in the fourth quarter of last year as the pandemic hit the segments providing face-to-face services, data showed Tuesday. Except for Seoul, six cities and nine provinces posted an on-year fall in service output in the October-December period, according to Statistics Korea. Service output in Seoul -- home to about one-fifth of the country's 51.6 million population -- rose 0.9 percent on-year in the fourth quarter,
Feb. 9, 2021
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Banks' loan delinquency rate falls in December
The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans fell in December last year from the previous month, the financial regulator said Tuesday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.28 percent at the end of December, down 0.07 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the bank loan delinquency rate was also down 0.09 percentage point. Banks' loan delinquency rate remains sta
Feb. 9, 2021
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Shipyards get off to robust start in new orders in Jan.
South Korean shipbuilders held on to their global No. 1 status in terms of new orders of ships in January, outpacing their Chinese rivals for the seventh straight month, industry data showed Tuesday. According to the data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service, South Korean shipyards bagged new orders totaling 910,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs), representing 54 percent of the 1.7 million CGTs ordered globally in January, or 24 of 66 ships. The South Korean shipbuilde
Feb. 9, 2021
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Renault warns against low productivity at its S. Korean plant amid pandemic
A senior Renault Group executive on Tuesday said its South Korean operations should ramp up production and cut manufacturing costs to stay afloat amid the coronavirus crisis. Jose Vicente de Los Mozos, executive vice president in charge of manufacturing and supply chain at Renault, made the comments in a video message delivered to workers at the French carmaker's sole Korean plant in Busan, 450 kilometers south of Seoul. Last year, Renault Samsung Motors Corp. promised to improve productivity
Feb. 9, 2021
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Petrochemical firms join carbon neutral drive
South Korean petrochemical companies said Tuesday they will join the country's green energy drive, which centers on achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The country launched a new committee on achieving carbon neutrality under ties with the private sector, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The Moon Jae-in government has vowed to achieve carbon neutrality by that year, which means effectively reducing carbon emissions to zero. It is also pushing a Green New Deal aimed at
Feb. 9, 2021
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Doosan Mobility Innovation to develop hydrogen-fueled firefighting robots
Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI), a producer of portable fuel cell power packs, said Tuesday it has signed a deal with a Chinese robot maker to jointly develop hydrogen fuel cell-powered firefighting robots. Under the deal with CITIC HIC Kaicheng Intelligence Equipment Co., DMI will work together to establish sales networks in China and other countries, the company said. The two companies plan to release a prototype of hydrogen fuel cell-propelled robots in the first half of the year and to st
Feb. 9, 2021
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S. Korean ad market edges down in 2020 amid coronavirus impact
South Korea's overall advertising expenditure inched down in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the digital ad market expanded at a double-digit rate, a report showed Tuesday. Advertising expenses in Asia's fourth-largest economy amounted to 11.99 trillion won ($10.7 billion) last year, down 0.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the report from Cheil Worldwide Inc. The country's leading advertising agency attributed last year's sluggish market growth to the COVID-19 outbreak tha
Feb. 9, 2021
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China's Skyworth apologizes over misusing image of LG's rollable TV
Chinese electronics giant Skyworth has apologized over misusing an image of LG Electronics Inc.'s rollable TV during its presentation at a tech expo last month, industry insiders said Tuesday, following the South Korean tech firm's complaint. Skyworth USA Corp., the American unit of Skyworth, recently issued a statement acknowledging its unauthorized use of LG's rollable TV image during its Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021 online event. "Skyworth USA Corporation misused an LG Rollable
Feb. 9, 2021