[Herald Interview] S&P economist tells Korea to brace for worst-case scenario with China

China’s economic slowdown could deteriorate more than initially projected, increasing the strain on Korea’s export-reliant growth in the short term, an economist from S&P projected. “The number one issue (in China) has to do with private sector debt and over-leveraging. That is a problem that has been building for more than a decade," Diego Iribarren from S&P Global Market Intelligence said in an interview held in the company’s office in central Seoul on Sept

EconomySept. 25, 2023

SKT, OpenAI hold AI competition for social good

SK Telecom said on Monday that it successfully wrapped up its international AI competition, “Prompter Day Seoul 2023,” held in partnership with OpenAI. The event’s theme centered around building AI innovations beneficial to humanity. The two-day event first had 226 teams proposing concepts leveraging OpenAI's generative AI model. After online qualifiers, 20 of these teams showcased their AI innovations at Dreamplus Gangnam, a shared office space in Seoul on Saturday and Su

TechnologySept. 25, 2023

Samsung Biologics attends CSLA investor forum

Samsung Biologics said Monday the company participated in CSLA's flagship investor forum which was held in Hong Kong on Sept. 11-14, to promote the company’s vision and business strategy. The investors’ forum, one of the largest of its kind in Asia, is held by CLSA, an institutional broker and investment group owned by CITIC Securities. Around 400 Asian companies and some 3,000 people from the industry joined the latest edition of the forum. Samsung Biologics was the only Korean

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

KB chief hopes successor transforms group into 'Samsung of finance'

KB Financial Group's outgoing chair, Yoon Jong-kyoo, said Monday that he hopes his successor will realize his unattained goal to grow the group as a top-10 financial firm in the world. "I previously said I want to turn the group into the 'Samsung of finance,' but now that I look back, I feel a lot of regret when thinking about how much progress we've made (on global stage)," Yoon said at a press conference held at the group’s headquarters in Seoul. He will ste

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

Rebellions' AI chip to undergo IBM quality testing

Korean AI semiconductor startup Rebellions said Monday that its chips were set to undergo quality testing at data centers of IBM Research's AI Hardware Center in New York. IBM Research's AI Hardware Center conducts exhaustive quality testing for enterprise-grade data center processors. It evaluates the reliability of the chip until it reaches an acceptable level of performance. Earlier this year in April, Rebellions gained global attention when its Atom chip outperformed Nvidia's

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

SK Earthon starts first independent oil production in South China Sea

SK Earthon, a subsidiary of South Korean energy giant SK Innovation specializing in oil exploration and production, said Monday that it has commenced its first independent crude oil production in the Lufeng 12-3 oil field, part of Block 17/03 in the South China Sea, starting this September. Located approximately 300 kilometers from Shenzhen, China, the oil field is projected to cater to over 1 percent of South Korea's daily oil consumption, with an output of around 29,500 barrels at its pea

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

[Photo News] Warming ties with Ho Chi Minh

Korea Enterprises Federation Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik (eighth from left) and Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Chairman Phan Van Mai (ninth from left) pose with business leaders from Korea and Vietnam during an event to welcome Vietnamese delegation’s visit, at Lotte Hotel Seoul on Monday. Some 30 people from KEF member companies and Ho Chi Minh City government attended the meeting to discuss ways to improve economic cooperation between the two countries. (Korea Enterprises Feder

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

SKC to build bioplastics plant in Vietnam

South Korea's advanced materials maker SKC said Monday that it had decided on a location in Vietnam’s northeastern city of Hai Phong to establish a manufacturing plant for biodegradable plastics, as it pushes to expand its eco-friendly business. Amid mounting global calls to reduce plastic waste, the international market size for bioplastics is expected to grow at an annual rate of over 20 percent. SKC and its joint venture Ecovance officials and top executives visited Vietnam on Fr

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

Broadcom to appeal S. Korean regulator's fine over unfair Samsung Electronics deal

US wireless chipmaker Broadcom Inc. said Monday it plans to seek an appeal against the South Korean regulator's decision to slap a 19.1 billion-won ($14.3 million) fine for its unfair business practices against Samsung Electronics Co. In a statement, Broadcom said it was "disappointed" over the Fair Trade Commission's decision, noting it plans to appeal the case to the Seoul High Court. The punishment of Broadcom came after the US firm forced Samsung to sign a long-term agree

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

Major Korean firms fare worse than US counterparts in H1

South Korea's major companies performed far worse than their US counterparts in the first half of 2023 due to the sluggish chip and energy sectors amid a global economic slowdown, a report showed Monday. South Korea's top 100 nonfinancial firms listed on the main local bourse saw their combined sales edge up 0.3 percent on-year to $746.3 billion in the January-June period, according to the report by the Federation of Korean Industries. In contrast, the combined top line of the 100 lead

EconomySept. 25, 2023

SM founder Lee Soo-man to join tree-planting project in LA

The founder and former chief producer of SM Entertainment, Lee Soo-man, is stepping up his environmental, social and governance activities with a tree-planting project in Los Angeles. Lee will participate in the tree-planting event at Seoul International Park on Thursday, according to music industry sources. He will plant street trees together with the Koreatown Youth & Community Center, a nonprofit organization composed of Korean residents in the local community, during the event to promote

IndustrySept. 25, 2023

Seoul shares open lower on Fed's higher-for-longer rate policy

South Korean stocks opened lower Monday on concerns about the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary tightening for a longer-than-expected period. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 9.31 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,498.82 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The US central bank last week signaled it could hike interest rates again this year while keeping the rates unchanged. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.31 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite

MarketSept. 25, 2023

LG Chem pivots to LFP with Huayou for Morocco plant

LG Chem, South Korea's premier battery materials producer, announced on Sunday that it would venture into the lithium-phosphate-iron, or LFP, business by constructing a plant with Huayou Group's subsidiary, Youshan. The two companies will build a LFP cathode material plant in Morocco, a region rich in phosphate rock reserves essential for LFP production. Set to be operational by 2026, the plant targets an annual output of 50,000 metric tons, sufficient for around 500,000 entry-level el

IndustrySept. 24, 2023

[Test Drive] Hyundai Ioniq 5 N unleashes full EV power

TAEAN, SOUTH CHUNGCHEONG PROVINCE -- Hyundai Motor Company’s Ioniq 5 N, a high-performance vehicle based on the foundations of the automaker’s awards-winning all-electric sports utility vehicle, does not look like a typical car built for motorsports. To be fair, it is not a race car. Nonetheless, Hyundai has put together an everyday sports EV that boasts monstrous power with the Ioniq 5 N. The Korea Herald got a closer look at the automaker’s first N-labeled EV and tested out t

MobilitySept. 24, 2023

Korea trade volume sees sharp drop among OECD members

South Korea’s exports in July dropped by the fourth-largest amount among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's member countries, hit by China's sputtering economy, while its imports showed the sharpest fall among them, data showed Sunday. Korea’s export volume in July dropped by 15.5 percent on-year, according to data compiled by the OECD. The drop was the fourth largest among the 38 OECD countries excluding Colombia, whose data has not been added yet.

EconomySept. 24, 2023

Incheon Airport passenger traffic to recover during Chuseok holiday

Tourism during South Korea’s Thanksgiving holiday of Chuseok is expected to rebound to pre-COVID-19 levels, industry sources said Sunday. According to Incheon Airport, the number of passengers who will be using the country's main gateway between Sept. 27 and Oct. 3 is expected to reach 1.2 million, an average of about 170,000 each day. The number has also recovered to 96.6 percent of the corresponding figure in 2019. The figure is also up by 186.7 percent compared to the previous ye

IndustrySept. 24, 2023

FSS issues advisories to fisheries cooperatives federation for W50b investment loss

The Financial Supervisory Service, South Korea's primary financial regulatory body, has issued management advisories to the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives after losing approximately 50.1 billion won ($37.5 million) it poured into an alternative high-yield overseas investment, as revealed by industry sources on Sunday. The NFFC, the umbrella organization for regional fishers' cooperatives throughout the country, reportedly lost the entire principal amount of its investmen

EconomySept. 24, 2023

[Test Drive] Toyota’s minivan Alphard boasts sedanlike drive

Toyota launched its fourth electrification model in Korea for this year, the luxury hybrid minivan Alphard that features a chauffeured, sedanlike driving experience. The fourth generation of the multipurpose vehicle that has sold some 150,000 units in Japan and abroad hopes to offer “omotenashi” -- a Japanese expression that describes hospitality and mindfulness -- to customers ranging from company executives who need private space, to family car lovers. “Compared to the previo

MobilitySept. 24, 2023

Hyundai Engineering wins US gas-to-liquid facility project

Hyundai Engineering on Thursday secured an order from US energy firm GTL Americas to build a plant in the US that will turn natural gas into high-grade diesel, naphtha and jet fuel. Under the project, the gas-to-liquid or GTL facility will be established near the city of Pine Bluff, Jefferson County, Arkansas, to generate some 41,000 barrels of fuel per day, including synthetic diesel or high cetane synthetic fuel, and paraffinic synthetic naphtha. The GTL procedure is a high-tech process that g

IndustrySept. 24, 2023

S. Korean firms urge US to clarify 'foreign entity of concern'

South Korean companies have asked the United States to clarify from which foreign companies they are not required to import critical electric vehicle battery minerals under the US Inflation Reduction Act, industry sources said Sunday. Senior executives of South Korean battery and material companies made the request to US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves during a closed-door meeting in Seoul on Friday. The executives who attended the meeting were from South Korea's three leading car b

EconomySept. 24, 2023