Most Popular
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Actor Song Jae-rim dies at 39
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'Are you a T?' is a new put-down in S. Korea
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Bitcoin hits record in Korea, even without ‘kimchi premium’
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Trump sours K-food outlook in US
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Korean study finds 'obese' BMI may actually be healthiest
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Suneung for all: Opportunity, redemption and the right to dream
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Samsung stocks fall to 4-year low
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Korean model admits drug use, seeks help from embassy in Manila: report
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[Herald Interview] 'Korea, don't repeat Hong Kong's mistakes on foreign caregivers'
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Boston Dynamics robot dog joins Trump’s security detail
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Green Car to expand driver-assistance system to all cars by 2022
South Korean car-sharing platform Green Car will expand its advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) to its entire fleet of cars by the end of 2022 for a safer and more convenient driving experience, the firm said Friday. According to Green Car, about 85 percent of the vehicles it currently manages for its car-sharing service are equipped with each of the car models’ standard ADAS functions. The ADAS functions include autonomous emergency braking, smart cruise control and lane departur
Aug. 6, 2021
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Hana Bank launches metaverse task force
South Korea’s Hana Bank said Friday it has launched a special task force to foster businesses and attract younger customers in the virtual metaverse. Hana’s decision comes as local commercial banks have been hopping on the metaverse bandwagon as they believe it will become a financial landscape where millennials and Generation Z will actively engage in. The task force will review cooperation with local tech businesses, offering related services and seminars for its private bankin
Aug. 6, 2021
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Buyers’ sentiment high despite tightening measures
Buyers’ sentiment for Seoul apartments hit its highest point in five months this week, despite the government’s tightening measures, data showed Friday. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, an index gauging the balance between supply and demand for homes surged by 0.3 point this week, from 107.6 to 107.9. When the index exceeds 100, demand for homes is stronger than the supply available in the market. The data suggests that the market is defying the government’s attemp
Aug. 6, 2021
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Kakao aims to expand Korea’s subscription ecosystem, has eyes on Japanese webtoon market
Kakao Corp., the No. 1 mobile messenger app operator in South Korea, said Friday that it plans to expand the domestic ecosystem for subscription-based platforms while also seeking to grow its profit in the Japanese webtoon market. The plans were revealed during the firm’s earnings call for the second quarter. During the call, Kakao announced that it had achieved 42 percent on-year growth in sales for the April to June period, posting 1.35 trillion won ($1.18 billion). Its operating p
Aug. 6, 2021
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Korea Shipbuilding bags W659b order for US offshore plant
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering signed a 659.2 billion won ($577 million) deal to build an offshore plant for an American oil company, the South Korean shipbuilder said Friday. In a regulatory filing, KSOE said it would undertake the first phase of construction for an offshore crude oil storage facility under the deal. The company declined to reveal the client. The envisioned semi-submersible floating production storage platform is to measure 91 meters in length, 91 meters in wi
Aug. 6, 2021
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Seoul stocks down for 2nd day on virus concerns
South Korean stocks retreated Friday for a second straight session as investor sentiment weakened over concerns about the spreading new coronavirus. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 5.77 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 3,270.36 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 931 million shares worth some 15.2 trillion won ($13.3 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 464 to 355. Foreigners bought a net 55.6 billion w
Aug. 6, 2021
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New FSC, FSS heads concerned about snowballing household debt
A day after new leadership for South Korea’s two top financial regulators was announced, the new chiefs on Friday expressed concerns about the nation’s growing household debt and its looming effects on the economy. Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Jeong Eun-bo, speaking at an event marking his appointment, warned of “a perfect storm of risks tied to so-called zombie firms, financial instability of the self-employed and a possible price correction due to a housing bubble.&rd
Aug. 6, 2021
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Kakao Pay’s brokerage arm secures 5 million subscribers
The number of subscribers to Kakao Pay Securities, the brokerage arm of mobile messenger giant Kakao, surpassed the 5 million mark as of July, 17 months since its inception, the company said Friday. The number is equivalent to one-fifth of the 28 million South Koreans who are economically active, it added. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the number of accounts used for public offering funds via Kakao Pay Securities surpassed 2.1 million as of June. The number of sub
Aug. 6, 2021
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KakaoBank becomes S. Korea’s top financial firm with market debut
KakaoBank became the largest financial company in South Korea by market capitalization with its market debut Friday, although its share price failed to meet expectations of hitting the daily upper limit. Shares of the country’s biggest mobile-only bank began trading at 53,700 won ($46.98), 37.7 percent higher than its initial public offering price of 39,000 won. It later rose a further 26 percent to 68,000 won during the morning trade, far less than the market expectation of reaching t
Aug. 6, 2021
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LG Uplus Q2 net up 40% on 5G, new biz
LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean mobile carrier, said Friday its second-quarter net profit grew 40 percent thanks to the continued growth of 5G mobile subscriptions and its business infrastructure division. Net profit in the April-June period stood at 210.5 billion won ($184.2 million) on a consolidated basis, compared with 150.6 billion won the previous year, according to a company statement. Operating profit rose 12 percent on-year to 268.4 billion won in the second quarter, while sales
Aug. 6, 2021
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Hanwha Corp. sees 53.4% spike in operating profit in Q2
Hanwha Corp.’s operating profit surged 53.4 percent on-year to 769 billion won ($672.8 million) in the second quarter, backed by an earnings surprise from its affiliates, the company said Friday. According to the holdings firm of South Korea’s seventh-largest conglomerate, Hanwha Group, its revenue jumped 15.2 percent to 12.6 trillion won and its net profit rose 63.1 percent to 572.1 billion won. “Hanwha Solutions’ chemical division logged 2.8 trillion won in revenue
Aug. 6, 2021
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Korea Shipbuilding wins W660b offshore facility order in US
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., the world's biggest shipbuilder by order backlog, said Friday it has received a 660 billion-won ($578 million) offshore facility order in the United States. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., main affiliate of the shipbuilder, will build a semi-submersible floating production system (FPS) for a US-based oil-developing company by Sept. 28, 2024, Korea Shipbuilding said in a statement. The offshore oil production facility will be installed in Shenand
Aug. 6, 2021
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Samsung's presence in Middle East, Africa smartphone market falls in Q2: report
Samsung Electronics Co. saw its market share decline in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) smartphone market in the second quarter of the year, a report showed Friday, as Chinese brands expanded their presence. The South Korean tech giant was the leading smartphone vendor with a 16 percent share in the April-June period, but its market share was down from 20 percent a year earlier, according to the latest report from industry tracker Counterpoint Research. "The company boosted market spendi
Aug. 6, 2021
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Seoul stocks open higher on US gains
South Korean stocks opened higher Friday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street that stemmed from optimism over jobless data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 6.6 points, or 0.2 percent, to trade at 3,282.73 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Kospi got off to a solid start on bio and financial gains. Overnight, the S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent to close at a record high, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite both
Aug. 6, 2021
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Samsung to capture 88% share of foldable smartphone market this year: report
Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to dominate the foldable smartphone market this year with an 88 percent share, a report showed Friday, as the tech giant prepares to unveil its new foldable devices next week. The global foldable market is estimated to triple from a year earlier to reach around 9 million units in 2021, and Samsung, the world's largest smartphone vendor, is projected to represent 88 percent of them, according to market tracker Counterpoint Research. "Although the market
Aug. 6, 2021
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S. Korea logs current account surplus for 14th month in June on robust exports
South Korea posted a current account surplus for the 14th straight month in June as exports remained solid amid the global economic recovery, the central bank said Friday. The current account surplus reached $8.85 billion in June, compared with $10.76 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. The current account has been in the black since the country suffered a deficit of $3.33 billion in April last yea
Aug. 6, 2021
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[News Focus] Samsung’s edge in memory chips threatened?
Amid the global chip race, news that Micron and SK hynix have developed the most advanced memory chips and are ready for their market debut have given rise to concern here that Samsung Electronics may be losing its leading edge in its core business. Responsible for nearly 70 percent of its revenue, memory chips are the mainstay of Samsung, which alone account for about 70 percent of all operating profits earned by the country’s top 10 sales firms. While Samsung stayed quiet on its te
Aug. 5, 2021
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TDL rolls out 80MW solid-state battery production line in Naju
TDL has established a solid-state battery production line with an annual production capacity of 80 megawatts in Naju, South Jeolla Province, the company said Thursday. According to the South Korean industrial material company, the pouch-type 2-ampere-hour solid-state batteries will be mounted on small-sized energy storage systems with the capacity of 1 to 5 kilowatts. Lithium-ion batteries are filled with an inflammable liquid solution called electrolytes. Solid-state batteries replace the
Aug. 5, 2021
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FSC, FSS leadership picks signal focus on stability, rather than reform
South Korea’s top two financial regulators are set to go through leadership changes simultaneously, with longstanding bureaucrats being assigned to lead them Thursday. In an apparent attempt to win back public trust on dealing with economic woes before his term ends in May 2022, President Moon Jae-in tapped Koh Seung-beom, one of the Bank of Korea’s seven-member monetary policy board and a former Finance Ministry official, to lead the Financial Services Commission. Current FSC Ch
Aug. 5, 2021
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FTC to decide on Google’s alleged Android abuse next month
South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission will hold a final review on Sept. 1 on allegations that Google had exploited its market dominance to coerce Korean device manufacturers and wireless carriers to use its Android operating system, shutting out rivals, the state antitrust watchdog said Thursday. It will be the third full-member meeting that the commission holds on the issue. At the Sept. 1 session, commissioners are expected to finalize whether to penalize the US firm, and if so, the co
Aug. 5, 2021