Most Popular
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Over 80,000 millionaires, 20 billionaires in Seoul: report
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Yoon apologizes for first lady Dior bag scandal, calls push for special probe ‘political’
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Korean battery makers heave sigh of relief over 2-year IRA reprieve
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Young Korean doctors seek plan B: cosmetic dermatology or overseas
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South Korea open to Indonesian proposal to cut KF-21 payments
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Girl hanging on bridge, police trying to rescue her both fall off; rescued immediately
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Korea forecast to overtake Taiwan in chip production by 2032: report
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Coupang earnings hit hard by losses from ailing Farfetch
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[K-pop’s dilemma] Time, profit pressures work against originality
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Why femicide and dating violence are growing issues in S. Korea
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Korbit adopts P2E scheme to upgrade metaverse platform
Korbit, a local cryptocurrency exchange, said Monday that it adopted a “play to earn” scheme as part of efforts to upgrade its nascent metaverse platform. Play to Earn, commonly known as P2E, is a system in which players can gain rewards for playing games within the platform. Korbit’s attempt to incorporate P2E is a move meant to attract not only cryptocurrency traders, but also to reflect growing interest in the metaverse. “In Korbit Town, people without any exposur
Nov. 8, 2021
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The hits keep coming: 2022 set for parade of blockbuster IPOs
South Korea’s initial public offering market is expected to regain momentum as a number of big players are set to go public next year. But the stock market needs to gain its upward momentum first to revive investor interest, according to investment banking sources and market experts Monday. Some mega deals, such as lithium-ion battery maker LG Energy Solution, local builder Hyundai Engineering, and online grocery delivery platforms SSG.com and Market Kurly, are getting ready for listings
Nov. 8, 2021
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[Herald Interview] Landmark Seoul hotels become homes, offices
Reeling from diminishing demand for cross-border business and tourism in the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s hotel industry has been undergoing a drastic transition in recent months. Landmark hotels in Seoul are turning into residential apartments and offices through redevelopment projects as owners look for a more lucrative business. At the same time, others are looking to upgrade their accomadations to ultraluxury brands, both foreign and local, according to a local real estate profe
Nov. 8, 2021
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S. Korea to bring in urea from Vietnam
In a bid to ease its urea shortage, South Korea said Monday it plans to import 200 metric tons of the main component of diesel exhaust fluid from Vietnam next week, and fly in an additional supply from Australia. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the government has decided on how much powdered urea it plans to import from the Southeast Asian nation, while adding 7,000 liters to the initial 20,000 liters of solution it seeks to fly in from Australia. On top of all that, it is cu
Nov. 8, 2021
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Would insurers pay out if ‘Squid Game’ happened in real life?
The megahit Netflix series “Squid Game” depicts a dystopian world where 456 people compete in a series of extreme survival games on a remote island. The sole winner takes all the prize money, while everyone else bites the dust. In the real world, all the “Squid Game” deaths would be eligible for insurance coverage, according to a local insurance company. The question is whether those death benefits would differ depending on how the player died, it added. According to a
Nov. 8, 2021
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Korea has sharpest wage growth among midlevel employees in OECD: report
In Korea, wage goes sharply up between the 10th year to the 20th year in employment, due to a widespread seniority-based salary system, a report said Monday. According to an analysis by professor Lee Sang-hee of Korea Polytechnic University, South Korea saw the sharpest hike in one’s salary of 15.1 percent in the 10-year period, compared to other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD average was a 5.9 percent increase. Professor Lee
Nov. 8, 2021
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Automotive chip shortage to continue until 2023: think tank
The automotive semiconductor shortage is expected to continue until 2023, and the government and related industries should be prepared to handle rising demand, an automotive think tank said Monday. According to the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, or Katech, the global shortage of automotive semiconductors that started around the end of 2020 will continue to affect the global car industry for the first half of 2022. Even after 2023, some companies may still feel its effects. This year
Nov. 8, 2021
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Meritz Securities Q3 net swells 17.7% on more fee income
Major South Korean brokerage house Meritz Securities Co. said Monday its third-quarter earnings rose nearly 18 percent from a year ago on increased fee income. Net profit stood at 191.2 billion won ($161.3 million) in the July-September period, up 17.7 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its operating income expanded 15.4 percent on-year to 240.2 billion won in the quarter, and revenue soared 81.4 percent to 6.14 trillion won. Meritz Securities said its third
Nov. 8, 2021
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Korea Aerospace wins $360m maintenance deal in Iraq
Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI), South Korea's sole aircraft manufacturer, said Monday it has received a US$360 million repair and maintenance deal for trainer jets in Iraq. In the three-year deal signed with the Iraqi defense ministry, KAI will provide repair and maintenance services for the T-50IQ advanced trainer jets operated by the Iraqi air force as well as training programs for pilots and engineers, the company said in a statement. KAI exported 24 T-50IQ trainer jets to Iraq in 201
Nov. 8, 2021
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Asiana to increase flights to Singapore on travel bubble deal
Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-biggest airline, said Monday it will increase the number of flights to Singapore starting this month as the two countries recently signed a travel bubble agreement. A travel bubble refers to a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases. Asiana has been operating three flights a week -- on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays -- on the Singapore route, and passengers are required to unde
Nov. 8, 2021
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Seoul stocks open lower on tech, financial slump
South Korean stocks opened lower Monday on losses in financial, bio and tech stocks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 23.41 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,945.86 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a weak start amid foreign and institutional sell-offs. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics edged up 0.14 percent to 70,300 won, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix retreated 2.34 percent to 104,500 won. Hyundai Motor, the country's largest carmaker,
Nov. 8, 2021
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S. Korea's debt-GDP ratio likely to rise fastest over 5 years: report
South Korea's national debt ratio is expected to gain at the fastest clip among 35 advanced nations over the next five years despite its high financial soundness, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report said Monday. Seoul's ratio of national debt to its gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to reach 66.7 percent in 2026, up 15.4 percentage points from the end of this year, according to the IMF report. The expected growth pace is the highest among 35 nations that the Washington-based inter
Nov. 8, 2021
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Citibank Korea committed to supporting ESG drive in corporate sector
Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup, has ramped up efforts to gain an upper hand in sustainable financing, focused on environmental, social and governance factors, to support local companies’ ESG management, the lender said Sunday. Sustainable financing refers to a bank’s financial services, ranging from loans to bonds, designed to provide financial support for sustainable economic activities and projects of private companies or public entities. The prolonged COVID-19
Nov. 7, 2021
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[Feature] Digital rush triggers war over developers
As artificial intelligence, big data and digital technologies emerge as the forces driving change in many traditional industries, companies that previously did not need many IT workers are hiring tech talent. But digital skills are in such a short supply nationwide there is a war for talent. One company feeling the talent crunch is Ably, a fast-growing online fashion platform that currently consists of more than 200 employees among which some 20 percent are software engineers or developers.
Nov. 7, 2021
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LG TVs get top scores in 14 countries
South Korean electronics giant LG Electronics said Sunday that its premium OLED TV lineup had aced recent evaluations conducted by consumer magazines from 14 countries. In particular, the OLED evo introduced this year was recognized for its outstanding performance, earning the best score from consumer outlets in seven European countries, it said. French consumer magazine Que Choisir gave LG’s OLED evo a score of 16.2, the best among the 264 TVs it reviewed. The magazine said the prod
Nov. 7, 2021
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Overseas travel demand picking up, mostly to tourist spots
As overseas tourism slowly resumes with travel bubble programs and a rise in vaccination rates, travel to Saipan logged a sharp increase last month, data showed Sunday. According to the Transport Ministry data, passengers going to Saipan from Incheon surged 178.5 percent in October to 3,900 passengers from 1,400 passengers in September. Travel to Saipan also spiked in July when South Korea launched the travel bubble with the country, exempting fully vaccinated people from mandatory quarantin
Nov. 7, 2021
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Senior GM official to visit S. Korea this week
A senior official of General Motors will visit South Korea this week, sources said Sunday, raising expectations he could unveil new production plans for the Korean unit of the US carmaker. Steven Kiefer, president of General Motors' international operations, will arrive in South Korea on Monday for a five-day stay, according to the sources from the labor union of GM Korea. Kiefer is expected to visit GM Korea's plants, including those in Bupyeong and Changwon, and meet officials of the state-
Nov. 7, 2021
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Urea crisis not over; battery, chip supply chains at mercy of China
While desperately searching for alternative sources of urea, a key ingredient for a liquid solution essential for diesel vehicles, South Korea is forced to reexamine its reliance on China for other materials and realize the need to preemptively respond to supply chain risks. The country’s supplies of diesel exhaust fluid are currently at dangerously low levels after Chinese authorities last month imposed a de facto export ban on DEF, an emissions control solution without which diesel c
Nov. 7, 2021
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Banks in Korea to see mass voluntary retirement this year
South Korea’s banking sector is expected to no longer guarantee job security the way it once did. This year, the industry is seeing a mass exodus of its workforce, with lenders offering lucrative early retirement packages to accelerate digitalization of banking services and trim down their physical operations for the transition, data showed Sunday. The Korea Herald looked at individual employment data from six banks released this year. Along with Citibank Korea shutting down its consume
Nov. 7, 2021
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[ESG Talk] ESG and communication risks: Coloring too much?
Green washing refers to abusive marketing activities that exaggerate, misrepresent and mislead about the company’s eco-conscious behavior, products or financing. The tendency of companies to oversell is expanding from environmental to social areas and coining new color-themed names. It is true that false ESG communication could happen unintentionally. Companies must carefully pick the words they use in communicating corporate sustainability practices because inspectors and civil society ar
Nov. 7, 2021