OECD highlights S. Korea's COVID-19 response

South Korea's COVID-19 pandemic response was highlighted in a report compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the ICT ministry said Friday. The OECD included South Korea's use of technology to combat the pandemic this year in its Digital Economic Outlook report, such as the country's mobile application that monitors those under quarantine and its epidemiological investigation system, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. The report shares policy mea

Nov. 27, 2020

Renault Samsung to idle Busan factory for 4 days next month

Renault Samsung Motors, the South Korean unit of Renault SA, on Friday announced plans to halt operations at its Busan factory for four days next month. The automaker has suffered a sharp decline in sales this year due to a lack of new models and the COVID-19 pandemic. The company plans to suspend operations at its plant in the southeastern port city on Dec. 11, 23, 24 and 31. It will also continue to suspend overnight operations at the plant after having reduced operating hours starting Nov.

Nov. 27, 2020

Ground broken for airport on Ulleung Island

The central and local governments on Friday began construction of a new airport at Ulleung Island off the eastern coast. Some 100 people, including officials from the transport ministry and local governments, attended a groundbreaking ceremony. The airport, to be completed by 2025, is projected to shorten the travel time between Seoul and Ulleung to one hour from the current seven hours. The airport is also expected to increase the number of visitors to the island to more than 1 million per y

Nov. 27, 2020

Former Hyundai Motor chief discharged from hospital after 4 months, in ‘healthy condition’

Former Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo has been discharged from the hospital in healthy condition after about four months of treatment for colonic diverticulitis, according to industry sources Friday. The former chairman was discharged earlier Friday and is expected to stay at his home in Hannam-dong, central Seoul. Chung had been hospitalized for the chronic illness since mid-July. Though Chung was scheduled to be discharged as soon as his condition was brought under control,

Nov. 27, 2020

Shinsegae launches online stores for Starfield

Shinsegae Property, the real estate development company owned by Shinsegae Group, announced Friday that the company has opened official online stores for its shopping mall brand Starfield on both the group and Naver‘s online shopping platforms. The online stores at Shinsegae‘s online shopping site SSG.com and Naver Shopping are opening with around 1,500 products from stores of 30 brands at offline Starfield malls, the company said. The firm had been testing online sales by provid

Nov. 27, 2020

E-Land Group vows fight against hackers

E-Land Group Vice Chairman Choi Jong-yang of E-Land Group, which was recently hit with a ransomware attack, said Friday that the company will not surrender to the threats of the hackers. According to the South Korean fashion and retail conglomerate, Choi sent out an email to employees on Thursday in which he dismissed rumors that the hackers had acquired valuable corporate information. On Nov. 22, E-Land Group suspended operations at nearly half of its stores due to a ransomware attack. The

Nov. 27, 2020

SK Telecom to merge security subsidiaries

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top mobile carrier, said Friday it will merge its security subsidiaries by the end of the first quarter of next year, in its latest move to boost business synergy. SK Telecom said its subsidiary Life and Security Holdings, which wholly owns physical security firm ADT Caps Co., decided to merge with the carrier's digital security subsidiary SK infosec by the end of this year. SK infosec then plans to merge with ADT Caps by the first quarter of next year. The carri

Nov. 27, 2020

Seoul stocks hit new all-time high; Korean won at 29-month high

South Korean stocks hit another fresh record high Friday on recovery hopes despite soaring new coronavirus cases. The Korean won surged to an over 29-month high against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 7.54 points, or 0.29 percent, to close at 2,633.45. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.2 billion shares worth some 12.4 trillion won ($11.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 488 to 332. Foreigners bought a net 77 billion won, and retail in

Nov. 27, 2020

S. Korea to see limited impact on local markets from global food insecurity: vice finance minister

South Korea’s first vice finance minister said Friday the global food insecurity worsened by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will not have a serious impact on the local food supply chain, but the government will continue to keep an eye on the market condition. “According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the FAO Food Price Index has continued its upward trend in recent months, signaling food insecurity around the globe,” Kim Yong-beom, first vice

Nov. 27, 2020

News of potential deal with Tesla boosts Doosan Solus stocks

Doosan Solus stocks rose to 49,400 won ($44.70) on Friday, a 6.7 percent increase from a day prior, following a local news report that the company is in talks with Tesla to supply copper foil for electric vehicles in Europe. According to the news report, the material solutions unit of Doosan Group is expected to sign an agreement on general terms and conditions to provide copper foil for Tesla electric vehicles in Europe. The exact size and the length of the contract will be decided after th

Nov. 27, 2020

S. Korea's state pension fund logs over 4% return in Jan.-Sept.

South Korea's state pension fund posted a return rate of over 4 percent through September on robust performances in domestic and overseas stock markets, its operator said Friday. The state pension fund registered a 4.17 percent investment return at the end of September, according to the National Pension Service (NPS). It chalked up a 8.47 percent investment return from the local stock market and a 3.28 percent yield from investments in overseas stocks. The fund's return rates from investme

Nov. 27, 2020

S. Korea to delay opening of FX market by 1 hour on college entrance exam day

The opening of South Korea's foreign exchange market will be delayed by one hour on the day of the college entrance exam next week, the committee in charge of the foreign exchange market said Friday. The foreign exchange market is set to open at 10 a.m. and close at 3:30 p.m. next Thursday as part of efforts to ease traffic, according to the Seoul Foreign Exchange Market Committee. Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly high school seniors, are scheduled to take the crucial test that is wide

Nov. 27, 2020

Kogas completes world’s first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering test

Korea Gas Corp. said Thursday it has successfully carried out the world’s first ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas bunkering test, which examines whether an LNG carrier works properly before it begins commercial operation. LNG bunkering is the process of transferring gas to a ship. On Tuesday, after loading 2,000 metric tons of LNG at Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province, Kogas’ LNG carrier SM Jeju LNG2 entered the Okpo Shipyard of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering

Nov. 27, 2020

Hanwha Systems wins $40m space radar development deal

Hanwha Systems said Friday it has won a deal worth 45 billion won ($40.7 million) to develop a next-generation space radar that can detect and track space objects with precision. According to the defense and information technology service unit of Hanwha Group, it has won the Defense Industry Technology Center’s research and development project for the space radar worth 45 billion won. For the next five years, Hanwha Systems will develop three core technologies including the precise d

Nov. 27, 2020

PEF-led consortium picked as main bidder for STX Offshore

Midsized shipyard STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. said Friday its creditors led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) have picked a consortium as the prime bidder for the shipbuilder. On Nov. 9, the creditors signed a preliminary deal with the consortium comprising local private equity fund KH Investment (KHI) and United Asset Management Company (UAMCO), South Korea's biggest bad debt clearer, to sell the shipbuilder. After the deal, the creditors put up the stake in the shipbuil

Nov. 27, 2020

Federation of Korean banks appoints NH Financial chief as new head

NH Financial Group Chairman Kim Kwang-soo has officially been tapped to lead the Korea Federation of Banks, a representative body of commercial banks, officials said Friday.  The KFB board of directors unanimously approved Kim’s nomination as its 14th chairman during a general meeting held early in the morning. The appointment came after Kim was picked as the sole candidate to be KFB chief Tuesday, among seven candidates initially recommended for the post. Kim’s three-year te

Nov. 27, 2020

Manufacturing sector's 2019 added value dips at fastest pace since 1998

South Korea's manufacturing industry saw its added value shrink at the fastest clip in 21 years in 2019 on falling prices of chips and other key products, government data showed Friday. The added value of the country's manufacturing and mining sectors came to 559.8 trillion won ($507 billion) last year, down 1.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It was the largest annualized contraction since the 2.1 percent fall recorded in 1998 in the wake of the count

Nov. 27, 2020

Institutions' investments in foreign securities rise in Q3

South Korean institutions' investments in foreign securities rose in the third quarter from three months earlier as global financial markets recovered from pandemic-driven losses, central bank data showed Friday. The combined value of foreign securities held by institutional investors came to $345.4 billion as of end-September, up $8.9 billion from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked a gain for the second straight quarter after a $9.5 billion fall in the firs

Nov. 27, 2020

Banks' lending rates stay flat in October

South Korean banks' lending rates stayed flat in October, despite rising market rates, central bank data showed Friday. The average interest rate charged on new bank loans came to 2.66 percent in October, unchanged from the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). In September, banks' lending rates rose for the first time in four months. The rates declined for the third straight month since June due to the impact of the central bank's policy rate cut in May.

Nov. 27, 2020

[Monitor] Fertility rate drops further in South Korea

South Korea‘s total fertility rate continued at a low number in the third quarter this year, reaching 0.84. The rate, referring to the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime, had hit an all-time low of 0.92 in 2019. It was the second consecutive year for the rate to fall below 1. In order to maintain its population stably at 51 million, South Korea would need to keep the rate at 2.1.   (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Nov. 27, 2020