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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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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Contentious grain bill put directly to plenary meeting for vote
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Seoul says Fu Bao loan 'not going to happen'
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Trilateral talks acknowledge ‘serious’ slumps of won, yen
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'Baby Shark' creator awarded for 50m YouTube subscribers
Pinkfong, the creator behind the globally popular “Baby Shark” videos, received the Ruby Play Button from YouTube for notching over 50 million subscribers, the South Korean firm said Thursday. The Ruby Play Button, which is awarded to YouTubers with over 50 million subscribers, is custom-made instead of the usual plaque design for lower milestones. Pinkfong, which produces animated movies and clips featuring various children‘s songs, received an award shaped like a column of
Aug. 5, 2021
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Aekyung Group to merge three chemical units
South Korean cosmetics-to-health care conglomerate Aekyung Group said Thursday it has decided to merge its three chemical businesses into one entity tentatively named Aekyung Chemical. The merger of Aekyung Petrochemical, AK ChemTech and the current Aekyung Chemical is subject to approval by the respective company’s board and shareholders and a review by authorities. The new entity, expected to launch by November, would have 1.7 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in combined revenue this ye
Aug. 5, 2021
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6 of 10 parents willing to have children vaccinated: survey
More than 6 out of 10 South Korean parents are willing to have their children vaccinated, a local survey has found. A research team at Busan National University Hospital published the findings Thursday after it had surveyed 343 individuals across the country between May 25 and June 3. A total of 226 of those polled were parents with children under 18, while the rest were children and adolescents between the ages of 10-18. The survey was conducted when the inoculation age limit was 16, the r
Aug. 5, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Jackpot or bubble? KakaoBank IPO sizzles
South Korea’s largest mobile-only bank, KakaoBank, will have its much-anticipated initial public offering Friday, seeking to raise 2.55 trillion won ($2.23 billion) on the country’s main bourse. Its market debut has been drawing excitement from investors who expect the mobile banking arm of Kakao to hit the jackpot, but skeptics warn of risks that there will be “too many” stocks available right after its IPO, as well as its heavy reliance on retail banking in a heavily re
Aug. 5, 2021
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S. Korea to beef up critical metals stockpile
South Korea will drastically increase its strategic stockpiles of nickel, cobalt and other critical metals, in a bid to ensure a stable supply of raw materials vital to key industries including electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy, the government said Thursday. National stockpiles of 35 rare metals -- designated by the government -- will increase to cover 100 days from the current 57 days, it said. New facilities will be built while some existing ones will be expanded and the stat
Aug. 5, 2021
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Nexon looks beyond game; aims for 10 ‘super’ global intellectual properties
South Korea’s largest game developer Nexon will break the conventional boundaries of games and develop 10 “super” intellectual properties, or IPs, to appeal to a global audience, its chief executive said Thursday. During an online media showcase, Lee Jung-hun stressed that the firm will only regress should it stick to the gaming business, as increasingly more new forms of entertainment are replacing games and carving out people’s time. “The pandemic totally ch
Aug. 5, 2021
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Seoul stocks snap 3-day winning streak on bio, tech losses
South Korean stocks snapped a three-day winning streak Thursday on investors attempted to lock in profits from the recent gains. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) slipped 4.25 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 3,276.13 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 671 million shares worth some 11.7 trillion won ($10.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 518 to 308. Foreigners bought a net 70 billion won, while retail in
Aug. 5, 2021
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Insurance companies roll out products targeting young Koreans
Insurance companies, typically some of the most conservative firms in finance, are rolling out subscription services and setting reasonable payment terms to meet the needs of young Koreans in a bid to secure future customers. Hanwha Life Insurance said Thursday it has launched three subscription insurance products. Unlike other insurance products that dole out money only when customers are deceased, injured or hospitalized, the company offers benefits related to daily consumption. “The
Aug. 5, 2021
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Oriental Brewery to produce beer using self-produced solar energy
Oriental Brewery said on Thursday that it has begun building solar power generation facilities at its beer production bases, a move that could offset over 5,600 tons of carbon footprint each year. Under the beer manufacturer’s decision to join the Renewable Energy 100 initiative, which is designed to encourage the use of solar power, it will become the first corporation to build its own infrastructure to generate renewable energy for self-consumption, the company said. The solar energy g
Aug. 5, 2021
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Amid prolonged pandemic, small businesses teeter over piling debt
Facing tougher social distancing measures over a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, South Korea’s small-enterprise owners are struggling to make ends meet, resorting to laying off employees or borrowing money from banks, data showed Thursday. The country had 5.58 million self-employed people registered as of June, accounting for 20.2 percent of the total 27.6 million employed workers in the same month, the smallest proportion in nearly 39 years, according to data compiled by the Ko
Aug. 5, 2021
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SK REIT gears up Kospi market debut in September
SK REIT, the first real estate investment trust from South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, said Thursday that it has begun the process for an initial public offering on the country’s benchmark Kospi in September. The REIT obtained approval on its registration statement from the Financial Service Commission. The REIT aims to raise 232.6 billion won ($203.7 million) from the IPO by floating around 46.5 million new shares at 5,000 won apiece. Book building for ins
Aug. 5, 2021
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Tobacco maker KT&G net profit down 15.9% in Q2
KT&G Corp., South Korea's dominant tobacco firm, said Thursday its earnings sank nearly 16 percent in the second quarter of the year despite a slight rise in sales. KT&G said in a regulatory filing its consolidated net income came to 246.4 billion won ($215.3 million) in the April-June period, down 15.9 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit fell 16.2 percent on-year to 330.1 billion won, while sales increased 2.1 percent to 1.35 trillion won. KT&G said its second-quarter n
Aug. 5, 2021
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S. Korea to step up support to fight ransomware attacks
South Korea's ICT ministry said Thursday it will expand support to small businesses to help them ward off ransomware threats after it raised the country's cyberthreat warning level a day earlier. Cyberattacks using ransomware, a type of malware that holds a target's data hostage by locking up systems until a ransom is paid, have been on the rise in South Korea, with 78 such attacks reported to the country's internet security agency in the first half of the year, compared with 39 in 2019 and 127
Aug. 5, 2021
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Veteran financial bureaucrat tapped as top financial regulator
Koh Seung-beom, who was nominated to lead the Financial Service Commission (FSC), is an expert with extensive experience in dealing with economic and financial policies. Born in 1962, Koh, currently a member of the Bank of Korea (BOK)'s rate-setting board, passed the civil service exam in 1984, spending most of his career as a public servant at the finance ministry and the financial regulator. The nominee was in charge of major financial policies over household debt, the capital market and cor
Aug. 5, 2021
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Samsung's presence in Indian smartphone market falls in Q2: report
Samsung Electronics Co. saw its smartphone market share in India decline in the second quarter of the year, a report showed Thursday, as the tech giant tries to fend off challenges from Chinese players. Samsung represented 17.7 percent of the smartphone shipments in India in the April-June period, down from 25.7 percent a year earlier, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. The figure was also down from a 20 percent share in the first quarter of the year. The South Korean firm r
Aug. 5, 2021
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S. Korea to increase stockpile of rare metals amid soaring demand
South Korea said Thursday it will increase its stockpile of so-called rare metals, in line with growing demand from emerging industries, such as electric cars and rechargeable batteries. Under the plan, the country will seek to maintain at least 100 days' worth of rare metals to cope with potential uncertainties in their supply, significantly up from the current 56.8 days, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea has been designating 35 different kinds of resources
Aug. 5, 2021
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S. Korea to keep stable supply of rebars in H2 amid price hike
South Korea's industry ministry said Thursday it will work to maintain a stable supply of reinforcement steel products used for construction in the second half of 2021, although the recovery of the virus-hit economy may continue to drive up their market prices. The local supply of rebar products is expected to reach 5.6 million tons in the July-December period, up 11 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The amount will surpass the anticipated de
Aug. 5, 2021
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New trade minister tasked with post-pandemic trade recovery
Yeo Han-koo, who has been tapped as South Korea's new trade minister, is tasked with a mission to maintain a recovery in exports amid the virus pandemic and expand its trade portfolio with emerging economies. The 51-year-old bureaucrat has served various positions at the trade ministry, before taking the current position as the presidential secretary for New Southern and New Northern policies. "We anticipate that Yeo will successfully carry out pending issues, including coping with the ne
Aug. 5, 2021
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German luxury trio gets lion's share of S. Korea's imported car market
Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday the government will discuss with local banks whether to further roll over the debt and interest payments of small merchants hit hard by the pandemic. Since April last year, the government has encouraged local banks to extend loan maturity and hold off interest payments for micro business owners to help them cope with the fallout of the pandemic. The measures, which have been extended by six months twice, are set to expire at end-September. "The g
Aug. 5, 2021
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[Graphic News] S. Korea‘s biopharmaceutical exports more than double in 2020
Korea’s exports of biopharmaceutical products more than doubled in 2020 from a year earlier on the back of growing demand for pharmaceutical products amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a report showed. Outbound shipments of high-end biopharmaceutical products came to $5.1 billion in 2020, compared to around $2.1 billion tallied the previous year, according to the Korea International Trade Association. Asia’s fourth-largest economy stood in seventh place in terms of exports in the s
Aug. 5, 2021