Most Popular
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'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
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Probe of first lady on Dior bag allegations set to begin
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Indonesia’s KF-21 fighter jet deal cut back -- what’s next?
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[KH Explains] Can tech firms' AI alliances take on Nvidia?
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Police seek arrest warrant for med student who killed girlfriend
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Local filmmakers criticize ‘The Roundup: Punishment’ monopoly of screens
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[Grace Kao, Meera Choi] Has money displaced romance on dates?
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Will China's self-sufficient dream in HBM come true?
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Man stabs woman and her son amid financial dispute, killing 1
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State pensions offload over W10tr Samsung Electronics shares
State pension operators, including the National Pension Service, have offloaded more than 10 trillion won ($8.4 billion) worth of top-cap Samsung Electronics shares so far this year, and instead bought stakes in Kakao Pay, Krafton and Samsung Biologics, data from the Korea Exchange showed Tuesday. They dumped a combined 24.5 trillion won of local shares from the beginning of the year to Monday. This compares to 25.7 trillion won worth of shares offloaded by foreigners in the cited period. Of
Dec. 28, 2021
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Companies shift to online kickoff meeting for 2022 amid pandemic
An increasing number of South Korean companies are moving their 2022 kickoff meetings online or replacing them by releasing the CEO‘s message virtually, adapting to the continued coronavirus pandemic. Before the pandemic, local conglomerates typically held year-end or kickoff meetings by gathering executive members at a large auditorium, with the CEO addressing the company’s new vision for the next year. But with strengthened social distancing rules as well as transfor
Dec. 28, 2021
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Apple hints at submitting compliance plans on in-app payment law
Apple could submit its compliance plans for a new South Korean law that bans app store operators from forcing in-app payment systems on developers, industry sources said Tuesday. The new law went into effect in September, making South Korea the first country in the world to introduce such curbs on in-app billing policies of Apple and Google. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) requested Apple to turn in its compliance plans within this year as it drafted an enforcement decree of the revi
Dec. 28, 2021
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Samsung to showcase startup projects at CES
Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it will showcase 13 startup projects at the CES trade show next month to introduce their innovations to a global audience and gauge marketability. The Korean tech giant has nurtured in-house ventures under the C Lab Inside program since 2012. In 2018, the firm launched the C Lab Outside program to support outside startups as well. A total of 406 startups have been accelerated under the programs. For the upcoming CES, four in-house ventures are making their deb
Dec. 28, 2021
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Number of small firms rises 4.7% in 2020 despite pandemic
SEJONG -- The number of small companies in South Korea expanded nearly 5 percent in 2020 from a year earlier despite the pandemic, but their profit fell sharply, government data showed Tuesday. The country had 2,902,000 companies with fewer than five workers as of the end of 2020, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups. The largest number of such companies were retailers and who
Dec. 28, 2021
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Number of businesses gains 17.8% over 5 years
SEJONG -- The number of businesses in South Korea rose nearly 18 percent over the past five years as almost all industrial sectors posted gains, data showed Tuesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy had a total of 6,013,000 businesses as of the end of 2020, up 17.8 percent from five years earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. One-man operations accounted for the biggest proportion of the total with 79 percent, followed by corporations with 15.4 percent and other establishments wit
Dec. 28, 2021
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Seoul court rules in favor of Kyobo Life in legal battle with Hong Kong-based PEF
A Seoul court has rejected a Hong Kong-based private equity firm's request for Kyobo Life Insurance Co. to carry out its obligation with regard to a put option that it has been trying to exercise, the South Korean insurer said Tuesday. The ruling appears to have removed a major hurdle for Kyobo Life's push to list shares on the local stock bourse in the first half of next year, according to company officials. In October 2018, Affinity Equity Partners exercised a put option on 6 million shares
Dec. 28, 2021
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S. Korea's oldest coal-fired plant to shut down
South Korea's oldest coal-powered plant will be shut down for good this week, the energy ministry said Tuesday, in line with the government's plan to shift toward renewable energy and to reduce fine dust. Honam Coal Power Plant, located in Yeosu, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, will stop operations Friday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The plant has been in operation since 1973. The closure is part of the Moon Jae-in administration's plan to phase out 10 aging coal po
Dec. 28, 2021
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Govt. to lift restrictions on urea solution sales as supply stabilizes
The government will lift restrictions on sales of urea solution as the supply of the essential fluid used in diesel vehicles to cut emissions has been stabilized, the finance ministry said Tuesday. South Korea had struggled to cope with a shortage of urea solution after China imposed export curbs on urea to ease domestic supply bottlenecks. The government has imposed curbs on where and how much of the solution can be sold in a way to ease its shortage. Those restrictions will be lifted starti
Dec. 28, 2021
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[Interactive] S. Korean exports of kimchi up 13.8% in Jan.-Aug.
South Korea’s exports of kimchi climbed nearly 14 percent in the first eight months of 2021 on growing overseas demand for healthier food amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed. Outbound shipments of kimchi reached $111.5 million in the January-August period, up 13.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and the food industry. In contrast, imports of kimchi shrank 9.7 percent on-year to $86.1 million over the cited period, resulting in
Dec. 28, 2021
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S. Korea to cut tariff rates on 90 products in 2022
SEJONG -- South Korea will lower tariff rates on a total of 90 products next year to strengthen competitiveness of small businesses and stabilize prices of key materials, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The number is higher than the 83 items subject to temporary tariff cuts under a tariff quota system this year, according to the ministry. Those products include crude oil, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, sugar, corn, chicken eggs and materials needed to produce batteries, the
Dec. 28, 2021
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Seoul shares open lower despite US gains
South Korean shares opened lower Tuesday, bucking the overnight advance on Wall Street amid concerns over the spread of the omicron variant. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.20 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,994.35 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. US shares advanced on optimism that the global economy can ride out the COVID-19 pandemic and tightening monetary policy. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.98 percent to 36,302.38 and the tech
Dec. 28, 2021
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Consumer sentiment worsens in December amid virus resurgence
South Korea's consumer sentiment index dropped for the first time in four months in December due to concerns over the resurgence of the coronavirus, central bank data showed Tuesday. The composite consumer sentiment index (CCSI) came to 103.9 in December, down 3.7 points from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. This marked the first decline since August when the index fell to 102.5 from the previous month's 103.2. A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pe
Dec. 28, 2021
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Electricity demand hits new wintertime high
South Korea‘s electricity demand set a new wintertime high Monday, as the country was gripped by the coldest weather so far this season, the Energy Ministry said. Peak power demand had reached 90,708 megawatts as of 5 p.m., as lower-than-normal temperatures led to increased electricity use for heating, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. This season’s first cold wave warning was issued in Greater Seoul and many other parts of the country over the weekend, wi
Dec. 27, 2021
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60% of locals say K-fried chicken ‘not Korean’: survey
Six out of 10 Koreans do not think fried chicken is Korean food, or hansik, according to a survey from a public institution released Monday. The results come from a survey conducted by the Korea Food Promotion Institution in October on 1,500 Korean nationals aged between 19 to 69. Respondents were shown 30 dishes commonly enjoyed by locals and asked whether they thought the dish was “Korean” or not. Only 36.1 percent of respondents answered Korean style fried chicken -- without
Dec. 27, 2021
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S. Korea to sell W13tr worth of state bonds in Jan.
South Korea plans to sell 13 trillion won ($11 billion) in government bonds in January, the finance ministry said Monday. The ministry will issue 900 billion won in Treasurys with a two-year maturity, 2.5 trillion won with a maturity of three years, 2.5 trillion won in five-year government bonds and 2.6 trillion won with a maturity of 10 years, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Sales of longer-dated bonds will include 3.3 trillion won in 30-year Treasury notes and 400 billion w
Dec. 27, 2021
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EVs not future car anymore -- registration grow 200%
Registrations for electric vehicles jumped to 91,575 units, up 202.8 percent from the same period a year prior by November this year, data showed Monday, suggesting the quick expansion of their presence in the market. Riding on the sustainability bandwagon, more than 100,000 electric vehicles were sold in South Korea and more than 150,000 domestic electric vehicles were exported as of this month, according to Carisyou Data Lab. The Trade Ministry expects registrations to surpass 100,000 when D
Dec. 27, 2021
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Online-only banks not accessible for non-Koreans
For Hiram Piskitel, a 49-year-old American IT project manager at an international company in Seoul, the launch of South Korea’s third internet-only lender Toss Bank in October signaled a change in his personal finance routine. The online bank, operated by Viva Republica, had vowed to offer non-face-to-face banking services to foreign residents. If realized, it would be the first accessible online bank for the roughly 2 million non-Koreans residing in Korea. Hiram’s hopes, h
Dec. 27, 2021
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Yongsan Park to include former DAPA, military apartment land
Yongsan Park, now a vacant area set to become a public park by 2027 will be expanded to hold a total of 3 million square meters of land by absorbing nearby sites that have been used by the military. According to the revised plan for establishment of Yongsan Park released by the Land Ministry on Monday, the site for Yongsan Park has expanded by 570,000 square meters, or 23.5 percent, compared to the 2014 plan. The plan to turn the USFK’s Yongsan Garrison into a national park was first
Dec. 27, 2021
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Seoul shares end lower amid omicron woes
Seoul shares closed lower Monday on profit taking amid lingering concerns over the spread of the omicron variant. The local currency fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 12.88 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,999.55 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 462.9 million shares worth some 8.13 trillion won ($6.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 446 to 405. Individuals sold a net 523 billion won worth of stocks, exceeding instituti
Dec. 27, 2021