Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Samsung's foundry capacity in matured nodes to rank 4th in 2021: report
Samsung Electronics Co.'s foundry capacity share in legacy nodes is estimated to rank fourth in 2021, a report showed Wednesday, amid its push to increase its presence in the contract chipmaking sector with advanced fabrication processes. Samsung, the world's largest memory chipmaker, was projected to account for 10 percent of global foundry capacity in matured nodes, which refers to the 40-nanometer and below chipmaking technology process, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research.
Feb. 3, 2021
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S. Korea to invest W23b in building test center for rechargeable battery
South Korea said Wednesday it will allocate 23 billion won ($20.6 million) to build testing infrastructure for local producers of materials and parts for rechargeable batteries in line with its efforts to foster the sector as a new growth engine. The test center will allow small and midsized businesses to run tests on their materials used to produce battery products with high-end infrastructure, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The ministry said it has decided to establ
Feb. 3, 2021
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Pet food exports up 83.5% in 2020
South Korea's outbound shipments of pet food products soared 83.5 percent in 2020 from a year earlier on strong demand from the Asia region, data showed Wednesday. Exports of pet food products reached $67.4 million last year, jumping from $36.7 million in 2019, according to data by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on the local pet industry. By country, Japan accounted for 36.4 percent of the total, trailed by Thailand with 26.4 percent and Vietnam with 8.4 percent. The coun
Feb. 3, 2021
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Hyundai, Kia's January sales up 8% in US on strong SUV sales
Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp. said Wednesday their sales in the United States rose 7.9 percent in January from a year earlier on robust SUV sales. Hyundai Motor and Kia sold a combined 91,173 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market last month, up from 84,498 units a year ago, according to sales data from the companies. Hyundai's sales rose 4.7 percent on-year to 46,208 units last month from 44,143, while Kia's jumped 11 percent to 44,965 from 40,355 over the cited
Feb. 3, 2021
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Seoul stocks open higher on auto gains
South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday on strong advances by auto-related shares. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 21.65 points, or 0.7 percent, to 3,118.46 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI continued its bullish run after gaining over 4 percent in total in the past two sessions, backed by investor optimism over a fast economic recovery, particularly in exports. Top automaker Hyundai Motor hiked 3.33 percent, with its smaller affiliates Kia Motors and Hyun
Feb. 3, 2021
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Samsung retains 2nd spot in tablet market in 2020: report
Samsung Electronics Co. maintained its status as the world's second-largest tablet vendor last year, a report showed Wednesday, though the South Korean tech giant saw a significant improvement in sales to catch up with industry leader Apple Inc. Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, had a 19.1 percent share in the global tablet market in 2020 after shipping 31.3 million units, up 44.4 percent from a year ago, according to market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC). Apple a
Feb. 3, 2021
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Exports of plastics, auto parts, steel to bask in trade deal with Indonesia
South Korean plastic, auto parts and steel companies are expected to benefit from a trade deal with Indonesia once it goes into effect, a trade body said Wednesday. South Korea and Indonesia formally signed the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) in December last year, clearing the way for local exporters to tap deeper into the Southeast Asian market. The deal awaits parliamentary ratification in both countries. Under the trade deal, Jakarta would eliminate tariffs on about 92
Feb. 3, 2021
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Telcos likely to offer teleconferencing for free during Lunar New Year amid pandemic
South Korean mobile carriers will likely provide videoconference services for free during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, according to industry officials Wednesday, as in-person contact is limited to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. The Ministry of Science and ICT and the country's three major telecom operators -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- are considering such telecommunication support measures during the holiday period, which falls on Feb. 11-13 this year, as t
Feb. 3, 2021
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Exporters' sales outlook hits 3-year high for Feb.
South Korean exporters' sales outlook touched an over three-year high for February amid improving overseas sales of key products, central bank data showed Wednesday. The business sentiment index (BSI) for local exporting companies' sales stood at 100 for February, up from 89 for January, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marks the highest reading since the 102 recorded in November 2017. The index measures exporters' outlook for shipments. A reading above 100 means optimis
Feb. 3, 2021
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SK Telecom's 2020 net jumps 74% on mobile biz, equity gains
SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, said Wednesday its net income rose 74.3 percent last year on the back of improved performances of its mobile and media businesses, and increased equity gains. For 2020, net income reached 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion), compared with 860.7 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating income stood at 1.35 trillion won, up 21.8 percent from the previous year, while sales rose 5 percent to 18.6 trillion w
Feb. 3, 2021
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LG Uplus' 2020 net up 9%
LG Uplus Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, said Wednesday its net income last year rose 8.9 percent from the previous year amid the pandemic. Net income reached 478.06 billion won ($428.5 million) last year, compared with a profit of 438.8 billion won the previous year. Operating income stood at 886.1 billion won, up 29.1 percent, while sales rose 8.4 percent to 13.4 trillion won over the cited period. (Yonhap)
Feb. 3, 2021
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S. Korea's FX reserves inch down in January
South Korea's foreign reserves edged down in January due to the US dollar's strength, which trimmed the value of non-US dollar foreign reserves, central bank data showed Wednesday. The nation's foreign reserves came to $442.7 billion as of end-January, down $370 million from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the first monthly decline since last March, with the nation's foreign reserves having risen for the ninth consecutive month in December. Foreign reserves co
Feb. 3, 2021
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Renault Samsung union votes for strike amid pandemic
Unionized workers at Renault Samsung Motors Corp. on Tuesday voted to go on strike for a wage increase after the company offered a voluntary retirement program last month. In a vote held from Monday to Tuesday, Renault Samsung workers voted for an industrial action to demand a revised wage offer from the company and defend against the restructuring plan, a union spokesman said. The union has demanded a 70,000 won increase in basic pay. The company did not accept it and announced the voluntary
Feb. 3, 2021
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HAAH bid hinges on SsangYong’s reorganization plan: KDB
An investor consortium led by US auto retailer HAAH Automotive is ready to lay out plans to buy a stake in troubled South Korean automaker SsangYong Motor once it presents its reorganization plan to creditors, Korea’s state-run lender Korea Development Bank said Tuesday. SsangYong Motor is a lossmaking South Korean arm of Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra. Senior officials of KDB, SsangYong Motor’s main creditor, said that the reorganization plan is a prerequisite to the co
Feb. 2, 2021
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Nongshim’s Chapaghetti most hashtagged local instant noodles on Instagram
Nongshim’s Chapaghetti stands out among all local instant noodle brands as one of the most popular, with the greatest number of Instagram posts using its name as a hashtag, the food company said Tuesday. According to Nongshim, the hashtag bearing the name of the popular black bean instant noodles had been attached to about 219,000 posts written in Korean as of Monday. The runner-up was Buldak Spicy Chicken noodles from Samyang Foods, which had 195,000 posts featuring its name as a hash
Feb. 2, 2021
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Cyworld to restart service
Cyworld, South Korea’s first-generation social media platform from the early 2000s, will restart its service next month, according to local industry sources on Tuesday. Cyworld has been recently acquired by a consortium of five local entertainment firms. Cyworld Z, an entity established by the five to take over Cyworld, said that the company plans to bring back the Cyworld service in March after two weeks of beta testing. It plans to introduce a mobile version of the social network dur
Feb. 2, 2021
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Korean shipbuilders forecast to suffer decline in 2nd half order backlogs
South Korean shipbuilders, led by top player Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., are expected to undergo a temporary shortage of order backlogs in the second half of the year due to a decline in new orders last year, an industry watcher said Tuesday. "A temporary shortage of work is predicted to take place in the second half of the year, as new orders of ships last year, which are slated to be delivered by 2022, were very deficient, " Yang Jong-seo, a researcher at the Korea Eximbank Overse
Feb. 2, 2021
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BOK board members wary of risks from asset rally: minutes
Most members of the Bank of Korea's (BOK) monetary policy board voiced concerns about risks from a rally in the nation's stock and housing markets, citing financial imbalances caused by a flood of liquidity and cheap loans, minutes from their latest meeting showed Tuesday. In the last rate-setting meeting on Jan. 15, the seven-member board unanimously voted to keep the policy rate at a record low of 0.5 percent to support an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Holding fire on the
Feb. 2, 2021
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Tension lingers among Korean firms in Myanmar in wake of military coup
As Myanmar deals with the aftermath of the latest military coup, South Korean businesses operating there are promptly following through with contingency measures, seeking to ensure the safety of their workers and their families and also to minimize the anticipated disruption to major ongoing projects. Likely to take the most visible impact are players in the energy and trading sectors, especially those that have expanded investments into landmark development projects in recent years. Accordin
Feb. 2, 2021
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Myanmar’s military coup rattles S. Korean banks’ ASEAN biz plans
South Korean banks have ordered their employees in Myammar to stay at home and launched emergency safety measures, as of Tuesday, upon the news of the military having taken control of the ASEAN nation in a coup. The coup is expected to put a damper on the lenders’ plans this year to expand their presence in the ASEAN economies, to recover from blows dealt by the coronavirus pandemic. For local banks this year, Myanmar was supposed to work as a springboard for recovery from coronavirus
Feb. 2, 2021