Most Popular
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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[Herald Interview] 'Amid aging population, Korea to invite more young professionals from overseas'
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Nicaragua shuts down Seoul embassy
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Hybe's multilabel system tested amid conflict with Ador
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Rocket engine expert, ex-NASA exec to lead Korea's new space agency
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SNU profs to suspend treatment for one day
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SK hynix pledges W20tr to ramp up DRAM production at home
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Ador CEO denies allegations, accuses Hybe of mistreating NewJeans
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Over-50s, men, single-person households take up majority of those filing for bankruptcy
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Pianist Cho Seong-Jin named Berlin Philharmonic's artist-in-residence
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LG Electronics launches high-efficiency solar modules
LG Electronics Inc. on Wednesday introduced its new solar modules that boast high efficiency as the South Korean tech giant aims to expand its presence in the clean energy sector. LG said its NeON H series solar modules will hit the shelves later this month starting in countries like South Korea, the United States, Germany and Australia. The latest solar modules use N-type bifacial solar cells that are used in premium solar products, according to LG. It also applied half-cut technology that l
April 7, 2021
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Naver invests $150m in Indonesian media firm
Naver Corp., South Korea's top internet portal operator, said Wednesday it has made a strategic investment of $150 million in Indonesian media giant Emtek to strengthen its foothold in the Southeast Asian market. Emtek operates broadcast channels, as well as the over-the-top service Vidio, overseeing media content production and distribution. Through the investment, the two companies aim to collaborate and find new business opportunities, such as in webcomics and cloud technology, in Indonesia
April 7, 2021
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S. Korea to temporarily lift import duties on corn to stabilize prices
South Korea plans to temporarily remove tariffs on some imported grains including corn in an effort to help rein in rising food prices, the finance minister said Wednesday. The country plans to import edible corn and some grains without tariffs until the end of this year under the quota tariff system, according to Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki. Currently, duties of 3 percent are levied on imported corn. "There is a limited chance that annual inflation will exceed (the central bank's target
April 7, 2021
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LG Electronics expects best-ever quarterly earnings in Q1
LG Electronics Inc. on Wednesday expected its best-ever quarterly performance in the first quarter as its home appliance and TV sales apparently basked in pent-up demand amid the pandemic. In its earnings guidance, the South Korean tech firm projected its operating profit at 1.51 trillion won ($1.3 billion) for the first three months of 2021, up 39.2 percent from a year earlier. Its first-quarter operating income estimate beat the market consensus of 1.27 trillion won in the survey on seven b
April 7, 2021
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Tax revenue up W8.7tr in February
South Korea's tax revenue rose 8.7 trillion won ($7.8 billion) in February from a year earlier due largely to an increase in the collection of income taxes, the finance ministry said Wednesday. The country collected 19 trillion won in taxes in February, compared with 10.3 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The tally came as capital gains tax income rose amid increased housing transactions and the payment of deferred taxes. In February, the govern
April 7, 2021
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[Graphic News] Korean automotive LED makers up presence in 2020 despite market decline
South Korea’s two major automotive light-emitting diode makers saw their revenues increase last year despite an overall market slump amid the pandemic, a report showed. Seoul Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics maintained their status as the world’s fifth- and seventh-largest automotive LED suppliers, respectively, in 2020, but their market shares and sales grew, according to market researcher TrendForce. Seoul Semiconductor’s revenue jumped 3.2 percent to $130 mil
April 7, 2021
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Foreign investors swoop up S. Korean stocks in April
Foreign investors have been on a buying spree of South Korean stocks so far this month, picking up a net 2.2 trillion won ($1.97 billion) worth of local shares, reversing their selling trend earlier this year. Offshore investors have been net buyers of local shares for five straight sessions -- the first time this year -- from April 1 to 7, while retail investors have sold a net 1.2 trillion won over the cited period and institutions have offloaded a net 1 trillion won, according to financial i
April 7, 2021
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Hyundai suspends Ioniq 5 production on chip shortage
Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it has suspended a domestic plant that produces the Ioniq 5 all-electric model due to a chip shortage. Hyundai said it will halt the operation of the No. 1 plant in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which also produces the Kona subcompact SUV, due to lack of parts from April 7-14, a company spokesman said. The weeklong suspension comes amid lack of semiconductor parts used in the Kona's front vehicle camera system and a problem in Hyundai Mobis
April 7, 2021
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Seoul stocks open higher on hopes of global economic recovery
South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday on investor optimism for a faster-than-expected global economic recovery, backed by the latest forecast from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 8.75 points, or 0.28 percent, to 3,135.83 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The firm start comes after the IMF raised its global economic growth forecast for this year to 6 percent from its earlier estimate of 5.5 percent. Market kingp
April 7, 2021
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Samsung, LG achieve Q1 earnings surprises on pent-up demand
In an earnings surprise, Samsung Electronics is believed to have recorded an operating profit of 9.3 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in the first three months of 2021, according to early estimates released Wednesday. According to the company’s Q1 earnings guidance, its revenue is projected to reach 65 trillion won. Compared to the same quarter last year, revenue and operating profit would represent increases of 17.48 percent and 44.19 percent, respectively. The operating profit growth fa
April 7, 2021
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Current account surplus widens in February
South Korea's current account surplus widened in February as exports showed signs of a gradual recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the central bank said Wednesday. The current account surplus reached $8.03 billion last month, widening from a surplus of $7.06 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. Since the country logged a deficit of $3.33 billion in April last year, the largest in almost a decade,
April 7, 2021
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Credit unions' 2020 net up due to brisk non-banking biz
South Korea's credit unions, or member-owned financial cooperatives, saw their combined net profit edge up 0.2 percent in 2020 from a year earlier due to higher sales of non-banking businesses, data showed Wednesday. The combined net profit of 2,225 credit unions, including the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation known as Nonghyup, stood at 2.2 trillion won ($1.95 billion) in 2020, up 4.5 billion won from 2019, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Nonghyup
April 7, 2021
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IMF maintains S. Korea’s 2021 economic growth outlook at 3.6%
South Korea’s economy is expected to grow 3.6 percent this year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but it will grow 2.8 percent in 2022 as the world economy recovers, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. The figures have remained unchanged from its estimate released on March 26 in a report on the outcome of its annual consultation with South Korea held in January. Last month, it forecast Asia’s fourth-largest economy to grow 3.6 percent this year, up from its esti
April 6, 2021
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[Exclusive] LG’s overseas phone factories may face closure
Preparing to bid adieu to its 26-year-old mobile device business, LG Electronics is mulling over what to do with its overseas phone plants, with outright closure being considered as one possible option, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday. Closure could mean hundreds of employees losing their jobs within a few months. LG’s head office in Seoul, when announcing the handset business exit on Monday, said it planned to “convert” the overseas facilities and use them for o
April 6, 2021
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South Korea’s total liabilities surpass GDP for first time
South Korea has seen the largest and fastest increase in total national liabilities last year, as it neared the 2,000 trillion won ($1.78 trillion) mark and exceeded the country’s gross domestic product for the first time, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday. The total liabilities reached 1,985.3 trillion won ($1.76 trillion) in 2020, up 241.6 trillion won, or 13.8 percent, from a year earlier, according to the 2020 settlement of accounts endorsed by the Cabinet. The figure is a record hi
April 6, 2021
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Netmarble signs up star composer Joe Hisaishi for new game
From legendary Studio Ghibli composer to K-pop megastar Blackpink, South Korean game companies are recruiting big names to take things up a notch for their marketing schemes. On April 1, Korean game publisher Netmarble hired composer Joe Hisaishi as a spokesperson for the company’s new game Second Country: Cross Worlds, set for release on April 14. Often linked to “Star Wars” composer John Williams, Hisaishi is the artist behind the music for Japanese animation studio&rsq
April 6, 2021
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[Photo News] Korea sets yet another world record in perovskite solar cell
A researcher from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology holds out a perovskite solar cell, which it says boasts the world’s highest efficiency rate, Tuesday. Co-developed by UNIST, the Korea Institute of Energy Research and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, the next-generation solar cell can convert solar energy into usable energy at a rate of 25.6 percent. The previous record holder was the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, whi
April 6, 2021
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LG Innotek introduces AI patent analysis solution
South Korean electronics components maker LG Innotek said Tuesday it has launched an artificial intelligence-based patent search and analysis system that can handle a task 900 times faster than human. According to the affiliate of LG Group, the system can process 50,000 pieces of patent data in four hours, which would otherwise require five workers to work eight hours a day for 100 days. “This is possible thanks to the AI-powered automatic sentence recognition model co-developed with
April 6, 2021
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[News Focus] Mobile carriers speed up business transitions
South Korean telecommunications companies, which in 2019 made Korea the world’s first country to launch a commercial 5G network, are ditching their “telco” identity. No longer content to stay within the traditional boundaries of the telecommunications business, they are seeking business opportunities in areas where growth might come from in future. For KT Corp., the industry’s No. 2, the new direction entails producing its own original cultural content, such as drama
April 6, 2021
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Seoul stocks up for 4th day on global economic recovery hopes
South Korean stocks rose for the fourth straight session Tuesday as investors pinned their hopes on a faster-than-expected global economic recovery, backed by strong US economic data. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.25 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 3,127.08 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.26 billion shares worth some 13.5 trillion won ($12.06 billion), with losers outnumbering g
April 6, 2021