Samyang Foods tops W600b in sales in 2020, setting record

Samyang Foods achieved record sales of 648.5 billion won ($572 million) and an operating profit of 95.3 billion won in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Korean food company said Friday. Samyang Foods, which produces the globally popular Buldak Spicy Chicken Noodle, said both its sales and operating profit jumped last year from a year earlier, by 19.3 percent and 21.9 percent, respectively. Sales from overseas backed the sales growth, having increased 35.8 percent on-year to reco

March 19, 2021

S. Korea, IDB agree to expand loan program for Latin America

South Korea said Friday it has agreed to expand a joint loan facility program with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in a bid to support infrastructure development in Latin America. The finance ministry and the IDB signed a letter of intent to extend the cooperative loan program between the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), the country's lower-interest loan scheme with emerging countries, and the regional development bank, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. T

March 19, 2021

LG unveils measures to improve corporate governance, transparency

LG Group, South Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate, on Friday unveiled measures to improve its corporate governance and transparency in management. LG said its listed affiliates will establish an environmental, social and governance (ESG) committee and an in-house trading committee within their boards. The newly established ESG committee will comprise of outside directors, with the company's CEO also participating as a member to better execute its plans. LG said the committee, which will cov

March 19, 2021

Domestic demand suffers extended slumps amid pandemic: finance ministry

The South Korean economy is on a recovery track on robust exports and investment, but domestic demand remains sluggish amid the pandemic, the finance ministry said Friday. But the government did not say in its monthly economic assessment report that economic uncertainty persists. "The Korean economy is seeing an improvement in exports and investment and the country's job losses eased, but domestic demand has slackened amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases," the Ministry of Economy and

March 19, 2021

Genesis GV80 SUV earns IIHS top crash safety award

The Genesis GV80 sport utility vehicle earned the highest crash safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday. The South Korean carmaker produces the luxury SUV and high-end sedans under its independent Genesis brand. The IIHS has added its own seal of approval to the GV80 only a few weeks after golf great Tiger Woods unintentionally put the flagship SUV in the spotlight by demonstrating its crashworthiness. The GV80 earned the Top Safet

March 19, 2021

S. Korea sees limited chance of sharp rise in oil prices

Oil prices are not likely to sharply rise down the road, given oil producing nations' output capacity and rising US bond yields, a senior government official said Friday. First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said the government will take actions to stabilize inflation, if needed, amid concerns that an uptrend in oil costs would exert upward pressure on prices amid an economic slowdown. "A rise in oil prices could increase burdens on households and companies. But as the current hike i

March 19, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower on US bond yields

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, tracking an overnight tech plunge on Wall Street that stemmed from a hike in the long-term US Treasury yields. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 40.99 points, or 1.34 percent, to 3.025.02 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Tech stocks, sensitive to inflation, dropped as spiking yield rates fueled concerns over earlier-than-expected post-pandemic inflation. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 3.02 perce

March 19, 2021

Samsung ranks 5th in 2020 PC monitor market: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the world's fifth-largest PC monitor vendor last year, a report showed Friday, after posting robust growth in sales amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. The South Korean tech giant shipped 11.7 million units of monitors in 2020, up 30.6 percent from a year ago, according to the report from market tracker International Data Corp. (IDC), with its market share increasing to 8.6 percent from 7.1 percent a year earlier. Samsung posted the biggest yearly growth a

March 19, 2021

ITC delays preliminary ruling on LG-SK battery patent suit

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) said Friday it has delayed the preliminary decision on the battery patent infringement suit between LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. to next month. The US trade panel was due to deliver the initial ruling on the battery patent suit between the South Korean rivals Friday (US time) but postponed the date by two weeks to April 2. "Additional time will be needed to complete the initial determination, which will require an extension of t

March 19, 2021

Number of health & beauty shops dips for 1st time in 2020 amid pandemic

The number of big-name retailers' beauty stores in South Korea declined for the first time in 2020 as more customers turned to online shopping amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Friday. The country's three major health and beauty (H&B) chains -- Olive Young, lalavla and LOHB's -- had a combined 1,484 outlets across the nation as of end-December last year, down 31 from a year earlier, according to the data posted on the electronic disclosure system of the Financial Supervisory Servic

March 19, 2021

Ioniq 5 bedazzles with futuristic silhouette, expanded interior space

For South Korea’s top carmaker Hyundai Motor, the game changer for this year’s business is the launch of Ioniq 5, its first all-electric vehicle built on their exclusive EV platform. While vying against global competitors such as Tesla, the new model is expected to serve as a key barometer on whether Hyundai Motor Group manages to accommodate to the post-coronavirus market changes and transform into a sustainable, comprehensive mobility operator. Set to kick off mass production

March 19, 2021

[News Focus] LG Group’s spinoff decision to take center stage at shareholders meeting

At the annual shareholders meeting set for next Friday, LG Group’s plans to spin off business units and create a new holding company for them are expected to take center stage. As the meeting approaches, market experts and advisory institutions are releasing their assessments of the restructuring plan, which the group says it has had in the works since the leadership change in 2018. LG Corp., the current holding company of LG Group, announced in November that the group would spin off

March 18, 2021

KCGI in predicament as hostile takeover bid for KAL fizzles out

South Korean private equity house Korea Corporate Governance Improvement appears to be in a predicament as its hostile takeover bid for Hanjin KAL is being overshadowed by the Korea Development Bank’s tighter control over the parent company of flag carrier Korean Air Lines. This comes as a KCGI-led consortium, which took issue with the “poor governance” displayed by the transportation group’s owner family and sought to bring in professional managers to replace incumbent

March 18, 2021

S&P, Moody’s affirm stable outlook for Naver

Global credit rating agencies S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s have forecast stable growth for South Korean internet giant Naver, respectively assigning the firm ratings of A- and A3. S&P said its rating reflected the Korean internet firm’s strong position in the search engine and e-commerce segments in Korea, adding that even tech behemoth Google had only recently made headway in the Korean market with video platform YouTube due to the Korean firm’s formidable leadersh

March 18, 2021

Suwon, home of Samsung, has highest number of 40-something male retail traders: data

Suwon in Gyeonggi Province has the highest number of male retail traders in their 40s, outpacing Gangnam, a posh residential district in Seoul, data showed Thursday. The city having the largest number of male traders perhaps has something to do with South Korean tech giant Samsung, which is headquartered in the city, observers say. According to the state-run Korea Securities Depository, a total of 34,463 male day traders in their 40s lived in Suwon as of the end of 2020, while southern Seoul&rs

March 18, 2021

S-Oil forges partnership to capture carbon and use it for soft drinks, dry ice

S-Oil has teamed up with a local gas firm to capture carbon dioxide emitted from its facility and use it for carbonated soft drinks and dry ice. According to the South Korean refinery on Thursday, it has signed an agreement with Dong Kwang Chemical for the project, for which S-Oil will collect by-product gases from its hydrogen production process at the Ulsan plant and supply them through pipelines to the adjacent Dong Kwang facility. There, carbon will be extracted, refined and then trans

March 18, 2021

[Advertorial] LG Energy Solution combines climate change actions with CSR activities

LG Energy Solution’s new solar power project in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, combines the firm’s social outreach program with a mission to curb carbon emissions. Dubbed the “Power Plant for Hope Green,” the facility built at a bus transfer center in the city last year is expected to cut 4,900 tons of greenhouse gases and generate profits worth 800 million won ($712,000) over the next 20 years. All the proceeds from the 410-kilowatt facility will be donated t

March 18, 2021

S. Korea's economy expected to grow 3.2% in 2021: AMRO

South Korea's economy is expected to grow 3.2 percent this year as the start of vaccinations raised hopes of a solid economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a regional macroeconomic research agency said Thursday. The forecast by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) is slightly higher than the Bank of Korea's outlook of 3 percent growth for this year. The AMRO also expected South Korea's economy to grow 3 percent next year. But the AMRO warned that growth is uneven in some se

March 18, 2021

Seoul stocks up on eased rate hike woes

South Korean stocks rebounded Thursday on strong foreign buying, following the US Federal Reserve's reiteration that rates will remain at near zero through 2023. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 18.51 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 3,066.01. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.2 billion shares worth some 14.8 trillion won ($13.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 503 to 329. Foreigners bought a net 483 b

March 18, 2021

Nafabeltan out, but push for homegrown COVID-19 drug continues

The competition to develop the country’s second COVID-19 treatment continues among South Korea’s major pharmaceutical companies after Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical recently dropped out. South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Wednesday that it has decided not to approve Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical’s candidate, Nafabeltan, based on a review by its advisory board of its efficacy and safety. Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical’s acute pancreatitis dru

March 18, 2021