Mirae Asset takes lead in local pension fund industry

Mirae Asset Global Investments, a Korean asset management firm, has been cementing its leadership in the local personal pension fund market with assets under its management continuing to grow this year. Personal pension and retirement pension funds operated by Mirae Asset have reached a combined 7.59 trillion won ($6.3 billion), or 3.63 trillion won and 3.96 trillion won, respectively. As of this year, the pension funds had increased by 500 billion won, the highest increase in the local mark

MarketMarch 29, 2020

Churches push ahead with services despite stricter calls for social distancing

Some Protestant churches in South Korea pressed ahead with their worship services Sunday despite the government's pleas for stricter social distancing. As part of the government's drive for further social distancing, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun earlier warned "stern" legal action would be taken against churches that violate quarantine guidelines that include keeping the distance between followers at least 2 meters while attending services and checking congregants' temperature. Amo

Social AffairsMarch 29, 2020

Korea mulls direct cash transfers to low-income families

South Korea announced Sunday that it will supply disaster relief funds to low-income households amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The government will send emergency aid in the form of one-time cash payments to 10 million households earning less than the median income, according to the Ministry of Finance and Economy.  The median income is the middle of the income distribution, where half the households earn more and half earn less. The median income of a four-membe

EconomyMarch 29, 2020

Parties head for showdown in polls over coronavirus handling

With rival political groups set to go head to head in the April parliamentary elections, the Moon Jae-in administration’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak is dominating election campaigns. The outbreak has killed at least 152 people in South Korea and infected 9,583 so far. The conservative opposition United Future Party is urging voters to pass judgment on the “failed” response of President Moon Jae-in and his ruling camp, while the liberal bloc is pinning hopes on a

PoliticsMarch 29, 2020

NK tests missiles as US chained to antivirus efforts

North Korea fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Sunday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, urging the regime to halt the “inappropriate” military act amid the coronavirus pandemic. It was the North’s fourth weapons test this year, all in March. 　 The missiles flew approximately 230 kilometers from Wonsan on the North’s eastern coast and reached a peak altitude of 30 kilometers. South Korea’s key security offici

North KoreaMarch 29, 2020

‘S. Korea needs to shift focus to real economy’

Bolstered by the government’s decision to double its economic rescue package to 100 trillion won ($82.5 billion), coupled with the central bank’s promise of unlimited quantitative easing, South Korea appears to have evaded a financial disaster for now. But a bigger task awaits, according to experts: preventing the risks stemming from the novel coronavirus from dragging down the real economy. Officials and experts alike have stressed the need for closer attention to the nonfinanc

EconomyMarch 29, 2020

S. Korea to impose two-week quarantine on all overseas arrivals

All overseas arrivals to South Korea -- Korean nationals and foreigners alike -- will be subject to a mandatory two-week quarantine starting Wednesday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced Sunday, amid growing concerns about imported coronavirus infections.   　 Those with no residence in Korea will be quarantined at government-designated facilities at their own expense, he added. The fee is estimated to be around 100,000 won ($82.50) a day.   　 “The government has strengthe

Social AffairsMarch 29, 2020

Amid surge in demand for Korean-made test kits, Seoul mulls who to help first

Just last month when South Korea was enduring an explosion of novel coronavirus infections prior to many other areas, it seemed as though the entire world was shutting its door to the country. The Foreign Ministry and its overseas missions at that time were busy dialing up their counterparts and asking them to keep the door open to arrivals from the country.   　 But lately, as Korea has seemingly managed to flatten the COVID-19 curve in a manner that many countries now hope to duplicate,

Social AffairsMarch 29, 2020

Eleventh group of ‘Friends of Korea’ starts spotting errors about Korea

The Korean Culture and Information Service, affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announced that its 11th group of “Friends of Korea” began activities from Friday. Friends of Korea is a group of people whose main task is to report erroneous information about Korea in foreign media to the Korea Culture and Information Service’s online platform, “Fact:Korea.” Over the next four months, the group will also promote Korean culture to foreigners

CultureMarch 29, 2020

Overseas students struggle back to Korea, to mixed welcome

As many campuses around the US shut down and went online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean students studying in the US started returning home in large numbers, fear of the novel coronavirus accompanying them every step of the way until they reached home in Korea to be quarantined. Students’ journeys home were strewn with many stumbling blocks, including finding seats on flights to Korea and getting to the airport. “Since my school is in St. Louis, the closes

Social AffairsMarch 29, 2020

PM: S. Korea to enforce mandatory two-week quarantine for all entrants from overseas

South Korea will enforce a two-week mandatory coronavirus quarantine for all entrants from overseas starting Wednesday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Sunday, amid a steady inflow of virus cases from abroad. All entrants to the country, regardless of their nationality, should stay in quarantine, the prime minister said. Visitors without local addresses here should stay in government-designated facilities at their own expense, he said. "The government has strengthened quarantine measu

Social AffairsMarch 29, 2020

[News Focus] Hanjin to ‘make painstaking self-rescue efforts’

Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae, who was reelected as executive director of Hanjin KAL over the objections of many, including his own sister, faces the challenge of proving his leadership capabilities by reviving Korean Air at a time when it is devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic amid ongoing management disputes. On Sunday, Cho said in a statement that the firm will “focus all its capabilities” and “make painstaking self-rescue efforts” to overcome the fallout from th

IndustryMarch 29, 2020

GS Group‘s Huh vows to lead transformation

GS Group is expected to undergo a transformation under the leadership of Huh Tae-soo, who was formally appointed CEO of the group’s holding firm and chairman of the board during a shareholders meeting Friday. Huh Tae-soo, the youngest brother of former GS Group Chairman Huh Chang-soo, has been widely known for his experience in the global market, as well as his emphasis on digital transformation. “Huh Tae-soo is expected to take the leadership role to bring new business models an

IndustryMarch 29, 2020

Daewoo E&C steps up new growth initiatives

Daewoo Engineering and Construction has invested in a local racing drone startup company, with the prospect of expanding its business portfolio, according to the construction firm on Sunday. Daewoo E&C had previously announced that it would acquire a 30 percent stake in AstroX as part of its “Build Together Startups” program initiated in August last year. The details of financial terms were not disclosed. AstroX is a local drone maker capable of manufacturing vertical takeoff

IndustryMarch 29, 2020

SK Energy’s new Ulsan facility ready for production

South Korea’s leading oil refinery and gas station operator SK Energy said Sunday it had completed a successful trial run of its desulfurization facility, ready for commercial production. Since 2018, SK Energy has spent 1 trillion won ($820 million) on building the vacuum residue desulfurization facility with a capacity of 40,000 barrels of low-sulfur fuel oil a day to prepare for stringent regulations on ship fuel. The VRDS facility is expected to allow SK Energy to produce more low-

IndustryMarch 29, 2020

[Newsmaker] Telegram outrage spills over to Korean ‘Lolita’ game characters

Outrage over the Telegram sexual abuse ring is spilling over to children’s online games that depict preadolescent characters in sexualized ways. An online Cheong Wa Dae petition posted Tuesday raised alarm over video games in which characters who physically resemble children wear revealing costumes. This follows the news that at least 58 women and 16 underage girls were sexually abused over several months so the abusers could produce videos and sell them in Telegram chat rooms. &ldqu

IndustryMarch 29, 2020

S. Korea to implement new global bank capital rules in Q2

South Korea will implement new global bank capital rules in the second quarter of the year, the country's financial regulator said Sunday, a move that could increase corporate lending amid a liquidity crunch caused by the spread of the new coronavirus. The banking regulations, known as Basel III, were agreed upon by financial regulators around the world in 2017. The new rules, including revisions to calculation systems for capital requirements and credit risks, were set in the aftermath of th

EconomyMarch 29, 2020

Hyundai Mobis invests in core future car technologies

Hyundai Mobis said Sunday it would target the global market with future mobility technologies including vision-autonomous driving, connectivity and electrification technology. The auto parts unit under South Korea’s largest auto conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group pledged to develop high-performance sensors for self-driving cars with independent technology within this year. It marks 25 years since its transition to the auto parts business, After developing the country’s first shor

MobilityMarch 29, 2020

US flies surveillance plane over Korean Peninsula as NK fires missiles

A US surveillance aircraft flew over South Korea on Sunday on an apparent mission to monitor North Korea as the communist nation fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles the same day. The US Navy's EP-3E was spotted in skies above South Korea at 25,000 feet, Aircraft Spots tweeted. The exact time of its operation was not immediately clear. Earlier in the day, North Korea fired two projectiles from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan toward the East Sea, marking the fourth

North KoreaMarch 29, 2020