Naver invested 25% of revenue in R&D projects last year

Naver spent 1.33 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in research and development last year, nearly a quarter of its total annual sales, the company said Sunday. Its investment-to-sales ratio of 25.11 percent was the highest among all South Korean companies that release annual performance reports. According to the company’s annual report, its investment in R&D activities was larger than its annual operating profit last year, which was 1.2 trillion won. Compared to a year earlier, the R&D

March 21, 2021

Posco rolls out new midterm plan under Choi’s leadership

Posco Group, the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker by output, said Sunday that it would increase investment in future business opportunities, while making efforts to improve corporate governance in announcing its new midterm plan covering the three years from 2021 to 2023. Under the second term of its chairman Choi Jeong-woo, the group expects to see improved outcomes from its key growth businesses, including hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, food and battery materials. The group expects

March 21, 2021

Frequent listing and delisting of cryptocurrencies raise concerns and risks

The number of listed cryptocurrencies has soared in the past four years, as the rapid rise of the price of Bitcoin attracts investor attention to digital assets. However, investors should be cautious as digital coins easily get listed and delisted. Upbit, one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, launched in October 2017 with only one digital token -- Bitcoin -- but it now has 114 coins trading on the platform. Bithumb had eight digital coins in May 2017, but now it trades 1

March 21, 2021

Mobile, TVs, home appliances to bolster electronics’ Q1 results

South Korea’s electronics industry expects robust first-quarter results thanks to strong sales in televisions, the mobile sector and home appliances, despite complications in the chips sector. According to Shinhan Investment, one of the country’s major financial investment companies, Samsung Electronics is projected to register revenue and operating profit worth 61.7 trillion won ($54.6 billion) and 8.96 trillion won, respectively, in the first quarter thanks to strong performanc

March 21, 2021

Can offshore wind farms coexist with fish farms?

South Korea will launch a pilot project to combine an offshore wind farm with aquaculture, as it pushes to tap the unlimited potential of water, which surrounds the country on three sides, as a future source of energy. The project, set to kick off in the second half of this year, involves a 60-megawatt wind turbine foundation installed in waters off Buan, North Jeolla Province, integrated with artificial reefs and aquaculture systems. The trial-run will last until Dec. 31, 2022. Similar pr

March 21, 2021

Hyundai, Kia’s RV sales account for over half of sales so far this year

In a company first, recreational vehicles accounted for more than half of Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp.’s annual sales so far this year, the automakers said Sunday. According to the latest sales data, Hyundai Motor sold 87,923 vehicles during the first two months of this year, of which 41,027 units were classified as recreational vehicles, accounting for 46.7 percent. Recreational vehicles by Korean classification are designed for recreational purposes such as camping and include the likes

March 21, 2021

S. Korean bankers received an average salary of W100m in 2020

South Korean bankers under four major lenders here saw an average median pay increase of over 8 percent in the past three years, making nearly 100 million won ($88,500) on average last year despite a shrinking workforce due to digitalization, data showed Sunday. The average annual income gained 8.6 percent from end-2017 to 98 million won as of end-2020, data provided by the four major banks – KB Kookmin, Hana, Woori and Shinhan – showed. Of the banks, employees under KB Kookmin re

March 21, 2021

Courier services used once every four days in 2020

South Korea’s economically active population used courier services once every four days on average last year, spending an average of 2,221 won ($2) per order, new government data revealed. The volume of parcels reached 3.37 billion, a 20.9 percent year-on-year increase, the National Logistics Information Center said on Sunday, citing data from the Korea Integrated Logistics Association. The country’s economically active population -- those aged 15 and over either in employment or s

March 21, 2021

[Top Bankers] What South Korea’s longest-serving bank chief faces in 2021

This is a part of series of interviews and analysis of South Korea’s top bankers, policymakers and investors leading the financial industry here. This is the second installment. -- Ed. Despite COVID-19 woes that swept across South Korea’s financial sector, 2020 seemed like a milestone year for Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai. The 69-year-old was named as one of the highest earning banking group leaders here -- earning an annual salary of 2.6 billion won ($2.2 million)

March 21, 2021

Alleged unfair stock trading cases see slight decline in 2020

The use of undisclosed information accounted for the largest share of 112 unfair trading practice cases caught by South Korea’s sole bourse operator last year. According to the Korea Exchange on Sunday, the number of suspicious cases reduced by eight from 2019, but several different types of market disturbances took place in the local stock market. About 79.5 percent of unfair trading cases occurred on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market, followed by 17 percent on the main bourse Kospi market

March 21, 2021

S. Korea to participate in W600b Indonesian airport project

South Korea's main airport operator said Sunday it will participate in a 600 billion-won ($530 million) airport development project in Indonesia. The Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) has formed a consortium with Indonesia's state-run airport operator PT Angkasa Pura 1 (AP1) and local construction firm PT Wijaya Karya Tbk (WIKA) to expand the Hang Nadim Batam airport by 2024, the IIAC said in a statement. "(Incheon airport) will invest in a 30 percent stake in the 600 billion-wo

March 21, 2021

Cargo volume at seaports down 2.3% in Feb.

The volume of cargo processed at South Korea's seaports declined 2.3 percent in February from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, amid economic jitters caused by the new coronavirus pandemic. Local seaports handled 118 million tons of cargo last month, compared with 121 million tons posted a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. Processed export-import cargo, meanwhile, rebounded after 14 months of decline, rising 0.4 percent on-year. The ministr

March 21, 2021

Launch of Korean satellite postponed in Kazakhstan

The launch of South Korea's next-generation midsized observation satellite, slated for Saturday afternoon at a space center in Kazakhstan, has been postponed, government officials here said. The 540-kilogram satellite, loaded on Russia's Soyuz 2.1a, was scheduled to take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:07 p.m. (11:07 a.m. local time). But the launch has been postponed, reportedly due to problems detected from the upper part of the carrier rocket, according to officials at

March 20, 2021

Seoul stock market to suffer volatility next week on reverberating rate hike woes

South Korean stocks are likely to suffer an extended choppy trading next week as concerns about the rising US Treasury yields are expected to be eclipsed by simmering hopes for quicker-than-expected economic recovery. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 3,039.53 points Friday, down 0.49 percent from a week ago. Volatility ran high globally this week, as investors were largely swayed by the news related to the bond yield movement. This week, foreigners sold a net 864 b

March 20, 2021

[Newsmaker] Imprisoned Samsung heir undergoes surgery for appendicitis

Lee Jae-yong, the imprisoned de facto leader of Samsung Group, underwent surgery for appendicitis, officials here said Saturday, according to Yonhap News. Lee, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was transferred to Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul and received the surgery on Friday night due to a ruptured appendix, the report said. In January, the 52-year-old tycoon was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in a retrial of a bribery case involving former President Par

March 20, 2021

Work ban on Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong ‘unclear’: compliance committee

  An external compliance monitoring committee on Samsung Electronics and its affiliates concluded on Friday that the restriction on Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong’s employment was “unclear.” The committee, led by former Chief Justice Kim Ji-hyung, discussed during its regular meeting the ongoing controversy involving the Ministry of Justice’s latest ban on Lee from being employed by Samsung for five years due to his conviction in a bribery scandal involving forme

March 19, 2021

New dividend payout rule to take center stage at banks’ shareholders meetings

New dividend payout programs are set to take center stage at shareholders meetings next week as banking giants seek to appease shareholders amid growing discontent over new regulations that limit the size of earnings distribution.  Earlier in January, the policymaking Financial Services Commission advised banks and their holding companies to keep their dividend payouts below 20 percent of net income during the first half of this year to secure enough capital needed to counter impacts of

March 19, 2021

Bank of America’s Korea office names new chiefs

The South Korean office of Bank of America named Shin Jin-wook, the former head of its corporate finance and banking unit, as its new country manager, the company said Friday. Shin has built his career at BofA for the past 15 years, establishing a wide client base including many corporations and financial institutions. BofA Securities, the company’s investment banking unit, named Cho Chan-hee to lead its operations. Cho is the youngest chief of any global investment bank operating in Ko

March 19, 2021

Samsung BioLogics to accelerate global expansion

Samsung BioLogics, the pharmaceutical arm of Samsung Group, vowed Friday to further expand its range of drug products down the road, in a move to grow beyond the conventional antibody drug conjugate business. The blue print was delivered by CEO John Rim during the company’s 10th shareholders meeting held at the headquarters in Incheon. Rim, who was named CEO in December last year, said the company plans to secure related technologies and facilities that are capable of producing cell and

March 19, 2021

Coupang announces early stock lockup agreement release; employees allowed to sell stocks

About a week into its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, Coupang is allowing some of its workers to sell their shares. Coupang announced an early stock lockup agreement release for about 34 million shares held by employees, which became eligible for sale at the opening of trading Thursday US time. According to the South Korean e-commerce platform company, the condition of the release -- that its stocks must close at or above the initial public offering price, $35 -- was satisfied as of th

March 19, 2021