S. Korea to press ahead with taxation on cryptocurrencies as planned: minister

South Korea will levy taxes on capital gains from cryptocurrencies next year as scheduled despite growing calls by investors to postpone the taxation, the finance minister said Tuesday. The government plans to impose a 20 percent tax on capital gains from transactions of virtual assets starting next year. Amid a bull run, investors of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have cried foul over the plan, claiming that authorities should apply the same taxation standards as those imposed on stock

April 27, 2021

PE-owned shipping firm inks deal with Malaysia’s Petronas

Hyundai LNG Shipping on Tuesday signed a 20-year contract to hire up to six liquefied natural gas carriers owned by Malaysia-based Petronas LNG starting in 2024, amid a global race to achieve economies of scale in the wet bulk shipping industry.　 The deal, which involves 174,000-cubic-meter LNG vessels, could be the largest in South Korea’s history in terms of cargo capacity, said IMM Private Equity, which controls the shipping agent dedicated to LNG carriers. The vessels will

April 27, 2021

SC Bank Korea to run incubator program for women-led fintech startups

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Tuesday it signed an agreement with a city-funded women rights organization to nurture young talent and foster the development of the tech-driven financial services sector. Under the memorandum of understanding, the bank and Seoul Foundation of Women and Family will jointly run an incubator program dubbed Women in FinTech Academy, which is to target young women who aspire to launch fintech startups. The program is expected to increase women’s stake in

April 27, 2021

Genexine signs vaccine supply deal with Indonesia

Local vaccine developer Genexine has signed a contract with an Indonesian pharmaceutical company to supply 10 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the company said Tuesday. According to the firm, Indonesian pharmaceutical company PT Kalbe Farma will purchase 10 million doses of GX-19N, the vaccine candidate currently in the phase 2 clinical trial stage. Genexine will be provided with royalties based on sales of the vaccine, it added. Sale of the jabs would be possible only after

April 27, 2021

‘Inventive’ K-water eco-project draws attention

SEJONG -- The Korea Water Resources Corp., also known as K-water, is vitalizing an environmental project toward improving air quality around a mega industrial complex in the western part of the nation. The project is drawing wide attention at home and abroad for its ability to provide renewable energy to both the industrial and residential sector, alongside the original function of reducing pollutants emitted from the complex. The mega complex is composed of two industrial complexes -- Banwol

April 27, 2021

Hyundai Oilbank to transform oil refineries into renewable energy platforms

Hyundai Oilbank said Tuesday that it has partnered with Honeywell UOP, one of the world’s leading technology licensing firms, to repurpose its oil refineries as renewable energy platforms where vital ingredients for solar panels and electric vehicle batteries will be produced. Under the agreement, Honeywell’s crude oil-to-chemical technology will allow Hyundai Oilbank facilities to convert crude oil into high-value chemical products instead of traditional transportation fuels. Th

April 27, 2021

Hyundai Motor unveils Kona N, new SUV model under N Line

South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor has fully unveiled the all-new Kona N, adding the first sport utility vehicle to its high-performance N Line. The launch of the new SUV and the emphasis placed on the N Line are the Korean car giant’s strategy to subdivide sport-inspired products from conventional trims, which are swiftly evolving into eco-friendly battery-operated frames. The company held an online world premier named “Hyundai N Day” on Tuesday to fully unve

April 27, 2021

Business leaders plead for pardon of detained Samsung chief

South Korea’s leading business conglomerates have submitted a petition to the presidential office, pleading for a pardon of Samsung Group’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong, officials said Tuesday. Amid burgeoning concerns over a global semiconductor shortage, the industry’s move marked the first case in about 10 years that business circles have publicly called for the release of a jailed business figure. The nation’s top five business lobby groups submitted the joint st

April 27, 2021

Eyes on Lee Jae-yong’s share in inheritance of Samsung Life

As an official announcement on the biggest wealth inheritance in modern Korean history draws near, all eyes are on how much of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s assets would be given to his eldest son Lee Jae-yong, who has in effect already inherited the control of the mammoth business conglomerate. According to industry sources on Tuesday, the bereaved family of the late tycoon is anticipated to announce this week, before an April 30 deadline, a final inheritance plan, incl

April 27, 2021

Seoul stocks inch down ahead of US FOMC meeting

South Korean stocks edged down Tuesday amid increased valuation pressure, with investors taking to the sidelines ahead of a meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 2.11 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 3,215.42 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.5 billion shares worth some 16.8 trillion won ($15.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 437 to 417. Fore

April 27, 2021

Venture investment sets record in Q1

The country’s startups attracted a record amount of investment in the first quarter, data from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups showed Tuesday. During the first three months of the year, the country’s venture investments jumped 61 percent from the same period last year to a record high of 1.24 trillion won ($1.18 billion). Some 989 venture capital rounds at 558 startups were closed during the first three months in the country, the best performance recorded since 2000. Of the tota

April 27, 2021

[From the scene] No. 1 window AC-maker Paseco aims to defend market position

Ansan, GYEONGGI PROVINCE -- Summer is fast approaching, and a new item to cool the scorching heat is on the rise: a window air conditioner. Made in compact sizes to be installed on windows, the home appliance is gaining popularity for its convenience and space efficiency. Inside the factory of the country’s No. 1 window AC maker Paseco on Monday, the hands of workers moved fast to assemble the company’s latest window air conditioner that was released just last week. On the U-shap

April 27, 2021

KIST applies chip technology to prevent fires from lithium-metal batteries

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology on Tuesday claimed to have found a new way of curbing lithium-metal battery fires using semiconductor technology. According to its researchers led by Lee Joong-kee, lithium-metal batteries, which use metals for anodes, or the negative side, are more powerful than lithium-ion batteries that use graphite for anodes. However, there is a trade-off. Lithium-metal batteries are more susceptible to fires because of dendrite issues. Dendrites are tiny, r

April 27, 2021

Shinhan Card to call all employees including CEO by name

Local credit card issuer Shinhan Card will seek to create a new office culture by removing titles of executives and employees and having them all call each other by their names. Under the new office rule, Shinhan employees, for example, will call the company CEO Lim Young-jin as “Young-jin-nim,” not “daepyo-nim,” the typical honorific for a CEO. The scheme is part of the card company’s efforts to adapt to the fast-changing business environment, and to build an

April 27, 2021

Customs office discovers illegal foreign purchases of Seoul apartments

Seoul Main Customs, the regional office of South Korea’s customs agency, said Tuesday that it discovered apartment purchases in Seoul by foreign nationals who used illicit funds or failed to report their purchases to authorities. Through investigations into their foreign exchange transactions, bank accounts and searches and seizures, 55 apartments were found to be involved in illegal purchases, worth about 84 billion won ($75.5 million) combined, the customs office said. The probe was car

April 27, 2021

Nexon propels record growth through flexible telecommuting

After adopting a telecommuting system in February last year, Nexon has not only protected the safety of its staff but also witnessed an unprecedented growth despite a bruising pandemic year. According to the South Korean gaming giant, the company last year posted sales worth 3.13 trillion won ($2.81 billion), becoming the first Korean game firm to breach the 3 trillion-won mark. Nexon also saw its revenue in Korea surge 84 percent on-year. Behind its stellar performances stand Nexon’s

April 27, 2021

Politicians push for bill to regulate cryptocurrency trading

Talk in political circles favors the legal acceptance of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, despite the government’s skepticism over digital assets.  Rep. Kim Byung-wook of the ruling Democratic Party is working on a proposed legal framework that would embrace the trading of digital assets and regulate cryptocurrency markets. It has gained momentum largely due to the ample liquidity driven by the government’s monetary easing stance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to indu

April 27, 2021

[Herald Interview] Pernod Ricard’s fight for millennials’ hearts comes with whisky and art

In an online auction early this month, Scotch whisky brand Royal Salute sold artworks inspired by the brand with the help of Seoul Auction. Bidders scrambled until the last minute to get hold of the items that ended up selling at prices higher than the company had expected. “It was really impressive to see these brand-inspired artworks sold out at such high prices,” said Florent Leroi, marketing director at the South Korean unit of global liquor company Pernod Ricard, during an int

April 27, 2021

S. Korea’s economy recovers to pre-pandemic levels: BOK

South Korea’s economy expanded 1.6 percent on-quarter in the first three months of the year, signaling a faster-than-expected recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels, central bank data showed Tuesday. Bolstered by improvement in private consumption and exports, “the 1.6 percent growth in the first quarter has pushed the real gross domestic product level higher than that of the last three months of 2019,” Park Yang-su, head of the economic statistics department at the Bank of Korea, sa

April 27, 2021

Lotte Duty Free keeps No. 2 spot among global travel retailers: report

South Korea's Lotte Duty Free retained its second spot among global travel retailers in 2020, with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) leaping to the No. 1 position, an industry report showed Tuesday. Lotte Duty Free ranked second worldwide with 4.82 billion euros ($5.82 billion) in sales last year, the same standing as that a year earlier, according to the Moodie Davitt report. Lotte Duty Free benefited from Chinese resellers who buy products in large quantities and sell them back home, government s

April 27, 2021