Most Popular
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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Sewol victims commemorated on tragedy's 10th anniversary
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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K-pop singer lost consciousness after being hit by foul ball, cancels show
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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[Kim Seong-kon] Democracy and the future of South Korea
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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Will perovskite solar cells provide answer to Korea’s carbon neutrality?
Starting in 2030, all new buildings in South Korea, public or private, with a gross floor area of 500 square meters or more must be fully energy efficient, generating the power they need from renewable sources such as the sun, wind and water. Part of the country’s grand plan to go carbon neutral by 2050, the zero-energy building rule is widely expected to boost local demand for solar panels for building walls. Next-generation solar cells made from materials called perovskites are dra
Dec. 26, 2020
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FSS chief apologizes for fund fiasco, urges banks to cut dividend payouts amid pandemic
The chief of South Korea’s financial market watchdog said Wednesday he feels sorry for causing public concern over the massive fiasco surrounding Lime Asset Management, which the regulator‘s employee was embroiled in. “As the head of FSS, I feel heavy responsibility for the issue and apologize for our employee’s involvement in the scandal. We will take the recent fiasco as an opportunity to enhance internal control over irregularities through measures to improve employ
Dec. 25, 2020
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Mexico agrees to raise import quota of S. Korean cold-rolled steel products
Mexico has agreed to increase its import quota of South Korean cold-rolled steel products, South Korea's foreign ministry said Friday. Last month, Mexico said it will import 662,000 tons of cold-rolled steel sheets in 2023, up from 548,000 tons in 2019, according to the ministry. The move came after South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gunn made the request for an import quota hike of cold-rolled steel sheets during his visit to the Latin American country in October. Cold-rolled sheets a
Dec. 25, 2020
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BOK to keep monetary easing in 2021 to support economic recovery
The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Friday it will maintain an accommodative monetary policy next year to help the nation's economic recovery from the pandemic, but it will closely watch the side-effects of monetary easing. "Under the direction of its monetary policy in 2021, the Bank of Korea will maintain the easing stance of its monetary policy to support the recovery in growth and to ensure the rise in consumer prices will be stabilized at around the target level," the BOK said in a stat
Dec. 25, 2020
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Kospi crosses 2,800 mark on chip rally
South Korea‘s stock market hit a new all-time high Thursday as the Korea Exchange’s main board Kospi crossed the 2,800 mark on massive institutional buying of chip shares. The Kospi rose 1.7 percent to 2,806.86 on Thursday, pushing its total market cap to reach 1,936.5 trillion won ($1.8 trillion). Kospi crossing the 2,800 mark came three weeks after it passed the previous threshold of 2,700 on Dec. 4, which was then a fresh high. Institutions net purchased 628.2 billion won worth
Dec. 24, 2020
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[News Focus] More Koreans giving up looking for jobs
SEJONG -- A growing number of South Koreans have abandoned looking for jobs as the pandemic worsens a hiring market that was already tightening for several years. According to a survey on the working age population -- those aged 15 or over -- by Statistics Korea, the number of discouraged workers stood at 534,000 in December 2019, the month before the novel coronavirus first arrived in Korea. The tally counts people who had looked unsuccessfully for a job in the previous year but not in the m
Dec. 24, 2020
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[Women in Finance 6] Breaking the gender mold for diverse thinking, healthy finance
The Korea Herald is publishing a series of special reports on the glass ceiling in the financial industry, focusing on South Korea’s market compared to other major economies. Funded by The Korea Press Foundation, the series will evaluate where Asia’s fourth-largest economy stands in terms of gender equality, reflect on changes being made, and explore ways to boost inclusion in the sector. This is the final installment. -- Ed. Gender discrimination in the finance sector has long been
Dec. 24, 2020
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SK Innovation to inject W1tr into Georgia battery plants using green capital
SK Innovation said Thursday it will finance 1.09 trillion won ($986 million) to its battery manufacturing plants in Georgia through green bonds. According to the South Korean refinery-to-battery giant, it will guarantee the bonds to be issued by its US subsidiary SK Battery America in January next year. The fund will be used for the US unit‘s two battery plants currently under construction. Scheduled for completion in 2023, the two factories will offer a combined annual production cap
Dec. 24, 2020
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LG Chem sets course to new drug technologies after battery biz split-off
LG Chem has recently purchased a series of new drug technologies from South Korean bio companies, as part of an effort to seek a new growth engine after it split-off of its battery business. The company has signed two technology transfer agreements with local bio firms Medipost and ICM this month, the company said Thursday, with an aim to introduce two global new drugs within 10 years. The technology transferred from Medipost can grow mesenchymal stem cells in large quantities. LG Chem aims t
Dec. 24, 2020
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S. Korean stocks break 2,800 ceiling to fresh high on vaccine deals
South Korean stocks broke the 2,800 mark for the first time Thursday to close at an all-time high, as the country's additional deals to purchase COVID-19 vaccines boosted hopes for a faster-than-expected economic recovery. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 47.04 points, or 1.7 percent, to close at 2,806.86. Trading volume was moderate at about 1 billion shares worth some 20 trillion won ($18.1 billion), with gainers outnumbe
Dec. 24, 2020
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Cash-strapped Ssangyong Motor partially solves its parts supply deadlock
SsangYong Motor, which recently filed for court receivership due to a liquidity crunch, said Thursday that its parts delivery deadlock is showing signs of alleviating as one of the key partners resumed supply. “Hyundai Mobis has announced that it will start supplying head lamps again, starting Dec. 29,” said an official of the company. The cash-strapped automaker had announced Wednesday that it will suspend the operation of its Pyeongtaek factory on Dec. 24 and 28 after its suppli
Dec. 24, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Coupang offers streaming for premium subscribers
South Korea’s major e-commerce platform operator Coupang said Thursday that it has launched Coupang Play, an over-the-top service that provides unlimited streaming to premium membership holders. Vying with global players such as Netflix and incoming Disney Plus, as well as a number of domestic rivals, Coupang Play will tap the video content market by bundling it with their Rocket Wow Club service at the existing price of 2,900 won ($2.63) per month. The application for Android mobile ph
Dec. 24, 2020
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Korea's financial market faces risks over surging debts, virus resurgence: BOK
South Korea's central bank on Thursday raised alert about escalating risks to the financial system, pointing out household and corporate loans that have continued to surge in the wake of a protracted economic slump. As of end-September, outstanding loans of local households rose 7 percent on-year to 1,682.1 trillion won ($1.52 trillion). Their debt burden sharply increased with the households’ debt to disposable income ratio reaching 171.3 percent, up 10.7 percentage points from th
Dec. 24, 2020
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Shinhan Life OKs merger with ex-ING's Korean arm
Shinhan Financial Group has approved a merger of its two wholly-owned life insurer subsidiaries -- Shinhan Life Insurance and Orange Life Insurance -- into a single entity next year, filings showed Thursday. As a result of the move, Orange Life, formerly the Korean arm of Amsterdam-based ING Group, will be merged into Shinhan Life. The two firms’ combined valuation exceeded 4 trillion won ($3.6 billion), according to the filings. Orange Life‘s 82 million shares will be converted i
Dec. 24, 2020
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Why alcohol brand mascots are making a comeback
Two major alcohol companies in Korea have one thing in common lately -- a high-profile retro mascot that has become the face of the company. Oriental Brewery brought back its nostalgic bear character from the 1980s known as “Lala Bear,” while its rival HiteJinro released a blue bottled soju featuring its famous toad mascot last year, a character that dates to 1954. Their foray into soft power territory comes following a year dominated by “Pengsoo,” a beloved giant peng
Dec. 24, 2020
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S. Korean public sector debt grows at fastest pace in 5 years in 2019
South Korea's public sector debt climbed at the fastest clip in five years in 2019 to exceed the 1,100 trillion-won ($1 trillion) mark, the government said Thursday. The country's public sector debt, known as D3, which includes the debt of the central government and state-funded firms, came to 1,132.6 trillion won as of end-2019, up 5.1 percent, or 54.6 trillion won, from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The on-year increase in the public debt represents th
Dec. 24, 2020
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SK Telecom teams up with AWS to launch 5G edge cloud service
SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top wireless provider, said Thursday it has partnered with Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) to launch the country's first 5G edge cloud service. The business-targeted service, named SKT 5GX Edge, provides users ultra-low latency for data-intensive services by connecting to AWS Wavelength Zones installed in SK Telecom's telecommunications offices, making it unnecessary for traffic to go through regional aggregation sites, according to the carrier. SK Telecom said it
Dec. 24, 2020
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[Graphic News] Samsung ranks 5th in global computer monitor market in Q3: report
Samsung Electronics was the world's fifth-largest computer monitor vendor in the third quarter of the year, a report showed, 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. Samsung’s computer monitor shipments jumped 52.8 percent on-year to 3.37 million u
Dec. 24, 2020
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S. Korean stocks open higher on deals on COVID-19 vaccines
South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as South Korea's deals to buy COVID-19 vaccines boosted investor sentiment. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 22.49 points, or 0.81 percent, to 2,782.31 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the country has signed deals to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen. The government plans to offer shots of Janssen's vaccine in the second
Dec. 24, 2020
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S. Korea's top 3 shipyards fare relatively well despite pandemic
Despite the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea's big three shipbuilders have fared relatively well this year as they clinch a majority of global orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships and very large crude carriers (VLCCs), industry sources said Thursday The trio -- Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. -- have achieved 91 percent, 65 percent and 75 percent of their order targets, r
Dec. 24, 2020