Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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[Herald Interview] From fintech to pandemic-friendly biz solutions: Startup scene set to shift in post-pandemic Korea
The COVID-19 outbreak shook up the startup scene around the globe. While many suffered, some well-placed companies, like US-based videoconferencing firm Zoom, saw explosive growth because they offered pandemic-friendly solutions. Hwang Jong-duck, who helps foreign startups enter the South Korean market, sees plenty of opportunities for Zoom-like success in Korea as disruptive solutions gain ground in everyday life and spread to a wider range of business sectors. “Firms are now launchi
Dec. 20, 2020
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Dongsuh makes W5m year-end donation
South Korean food and beverage manufacturer Dongsuh Foods and its holding firm, Dongsuh Companies, made year-end donations worth 550 million won ($500,000), the companies said Sunday. The donations are for the Community Chest of Korea, ChildFund Korea and the Korea Foundation for Women, according to the companies. The money will be spent on basic necessities for low-income families as well as medical care for children from those families. “We have decided to deliver the donation dur
Dec. 20, 2020
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Auto industry goes for contactless business model amid COVID-19
Due to the repeated resurgence of COVID-19 and the prolonged market fallout, the contactless business trend has become an inevitable reality even for hardcore manufacturing sectors such as automobiles. While major carmakers sought to expand online promotion channels for their newly launched vehicles, tire companies focused on providing non-face-to-face callouts for repairs and replacement. Genesis, the luxury automobile brand from South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate, Hyundai Motor
Dec. 20, 2020
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S-Oil to explore hydrogen, fuel cell business
S-Oil will make a foray into hydrogen, fuel cell and recycling businesses as part of its strategy to transform into a total energy-to-chemical company by 2030, it said Sunday. CEO Hussain A. Al-Qahtani unveiled the new growth strategy, dubbed “Vision 2030,” detailing the Korean refinery’s response to the global trend of energy transition and carbon neutrality. To keep in line with South Korean government’s plan to curb carbon emissions, the company laid out an invest
Dec. 20, 2020
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Businesses brace for near shutdown
As South Korea’s daily coronavirus tally rose to a new record on Sunday, local businesses are bracing for a possible upgrade in the country’s social distancing rules to the toughest level yet – a partial shutdown. While Level 3 of the government-set five-tier social distancing scheme is expected to decimate conventional retail industries, export-driven sectors such as mobile phones and semiconductor chips are less likely to be massively affected, experts and industry insiders
Dec. 20, 2020
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Hanjin Group speeds up asset divestments to cope with pandemic
Hanjin Group, which controls South Korea‘s largest aviation firm Korean Air Lines, is speeding up asset divestments to secure cash in an apparent effort to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, filings showed Sunday. Hanjin Group’s holding company Hanjin KAL is poised to sell a 100 percent stake in a golf course developer Jedong Leisure to an undisclosed buyer for 23 billion won ($20.9 million). The company, located in Jeju Island, has sought to lay out a golf course development project
Dec. 20, 2020
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Local refineries to log massive losses, but recovery in sight
South Korea’s refinery industry is projected to hemorrhage massive losses of over 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) this year, but it may be nearing the end of a tunnel with the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, industry sources and experts said Sunday. As the demand for oil shows no sign of immediate recovery in the fourth quarter of this year, due to the prolonged coronavirus outbreak, four major Korean refineries -- SK Innovation, GS Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oilbank -- are widely expected to
Dec. 20, 2020
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IPO market attracts record subscription deposits in 2020
The local initial public offering market was all the rage in 2020 as nearly 300 trillion won ($272.9 billion) poured in, three times more than 2018 or 2019, according to industry data on Sunday. This year’s IPO market will come to a close with materials firm Sukgyung AT making its debut on Wednesday. Other than special-purpose acquisition companies and companies that merged with listed firms, a total of 76 companies were newly listed on the nation’s main Kospi and secondary Kosd
Dec. 20, 2020
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[Women in Finance 5] Singapore sees more women in senior management
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. -- Ed. SINGAPORE -- At Singapore’s three major local banks, women account for more than
Dec. 20, 2020
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S. Korea mulls including rental assistance for virus-hit merchants in emergency handouts
South Korea is considering providing rental assistance to smaller merchants hard hit by the new coronavirus outbreak, when it will give them another round of emergency handouts next month, people familiar with the matter said Sunday. The move comes as more smaller merchants and self-employed people are facing the growing burdens of paying rental fees due to the government's order to suspend their business amid the protracted pandemic. The country is preparing to provide more than 3 trillion wo
Dec. 20, 2020
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Brokerages raise stock price outlook for 2021 on global recovery, ample liquidity
South Korean brokerage houses predicted the local stock market would continue its uptick move in 2021, citing signs of a global economic recovery and growing investor appetite for higher returns, data showed Sunday. Multiple securities companies set their upper-end target band for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) above 3,000 points, showing greater confidence from a month ago. Between end-October and early November, brokerages had expected a band of 2,100-2,700 points,
Dec. 20, 2020
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KDB to discuss loan rollover for SsangYong this week
The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), the main creditor of SsangYong Motor Corp., is set to decide on whether to roll over maturing loans extended to the financially troubled automaker this week, industry sources said Sunday. Last week, SsangYong already missed the repayment of 60 billion won ($54.8 million) of debt to its three creditors. According to the sources, KDB will discuss whether to roll over 90 billion won in loans due Monday. The South Korean subsidiary of Indian carmaker Ma
Dec. 20, 2020
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[Weekender] What does the date on your milk mean?
No one wants to get sick from eating food gone bad. So it happens to be a common experience for Koreans to sniff and check the color of food to see if it is still edible, and to discard it when they find out a couple of days have passed from the “sell-by” date on the package. But just as the term indicates, it is not the deadline for the product’s consumption. It is the date by which the product must be sold. This confusion over the date labeling system is costing the soc
Dec. 19, 2020
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SK Group's Chey Tae-won elected as vice president of Asian sports governing body
Chey Tae-won, chairman of South Korea's SK Group, has been named vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the top sports governing body on the continent. "The General Assembly elected a new OCA Vice President to serve as coordinator for the 90 sports federations that take part in the five OCA multi-sport games: Chey Tae-won, Vice President of the Asian Handball Federation and President of the Korea Handball Federation," the OCA said on its website after its general asse
Dec. 18, 2020
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KRX names former FSC vice chief as new chief exec
South Korea’s sole bourse operator has named Sohn Byung-doo, former vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission, to take the new chief post of the Korea Exchange, according to the officials Friday. Sohn’s CEO appointment was approved by shareholders of the Korea Exchange, they added. Prior to the shareholders meeting, he was named as the single candidate for the position earlier this month. Sohn, 56, has had a 30-year career in the civil service. He worked at the Ministry
Dec. 18, 2020
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Finance Ministry warns of growing economic uncertainty
With a new wave of coronavirus infections gripping the nation, South Korea’s economy this month faces growing uncertainties, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Friday. In its monthly economic report, called the “Green Book,” the ministry has upgraded its concerns on Asia’s fourth-largest economy by a notch, saying that the uncertainties are “expanding.” It has previously said that the uncertainties were “continuing” in the reports released i
Dec. 18, 2020
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Hyundai Motor Group unveils AI-based Korean-English translation app
Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it has developed a Korean-English translation app to support smooth communication among its employees in local and overseas offices. Dubbed the H-Translator, the app is based on artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm and is specialized in the automobile industry, the South Korean automaker said. Hyundai explained that it has come to develop the translator to support timely communication and strengthen work efficiency, as the company has been actively recrui
Dec. 18, 2020
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Korea urged to strengthen its own technology amid US-China trade war
South Korea needs to focus on strengthening its technical competence as the trade war between the US and China and tech decoupling continues, an economic researcher warned Friday. Speaking at an online conference entitled “Next Trend,” associate researcher Yeon Won-ho at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy said it is hard for South Korean businesses to benefit from the sanctions between the US and China as both countries are focusing on building their domestic indu
Dec. 18, 2020
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Coupang holds customer experience story contest
Online retailer Coupang is holding a contest of consumer experience stories, with prize money of 25 million won ($23,000) in total. Coupang users with stories to share should submit their entry to its website or on its mobile platform by Dec. 27. The retailer is best known for its next-day Rocket Delivery service. “We prepared this event to communicate with and express our appreciation to the customers,” said the e-commerce giant in a statement. “While this is a tough tim
Dec. 18, 2020
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KOTRA fills in for Korean SMEs in Vietnam exhibition amid COVID-19 restrictions
The state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency is holding a “hybrid” exhibition in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City in an effort to help small- and mid-sized Korean firms, the agency said Friday. KOTRA opened a Korean booth at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center, as part of the three-day specialized exhibition that runs from Thursday to Saturday. The event was organized by the city’s Department of Industry and Trade to help businesses boost production, develop
Dec. 18, 2020