With the end-of-year shopping season in full swing, South Korea’s major online shopping platforms including Coupang, WeMakePrice and Olive Young have announced big discounts and special deals. Coupang, the largest e-commerce platform in the country, is holding a Christmas sale until Boxing Day offering a range of Christmas-related items at a special price including home decor products and gifts. Discounts of up to 50 percent are being offered for some of the most popular kids’ toys

ConsumerNov. 30, 2020

Shipping company HMM said on Monday that it is dispatching a fifth vessel for the US West Coast sea lane in an “emergency move” to help South Korean exporters to the US market. The 4600-twenty-foot-equivalent-unit container vessel named Integral will depart from the Port of Busan on Monday evening and head to Los Angeles, the company said. HMM said nearly 64 percent of the vessel’s shipping capacity is products from small and medium-sized enterprises, including air purifiers

IndustryNov. 30, 2020

Apple Korea announced Monday it would open its second South Korean store in Yeouido, the financial district in northwestern Seoul, as part of a strategy to expand its sales and services in the country. Although the Seoul branch didn’t reveal an official date for the opening of the new Apple Store, the second shop is likely to open within the year. The second Apple Store of the global tech giant will be located in the first basement floor of the IFC Mall in Yeouido. Apple is opening

TechnologyNov. 30, 2020

Several moves recently made by Samsung allude to a major change in the tech giant’s smartphone lineup strategy for 2021, according to various news reports on Monday. One of the biggest changes would be a reduction of the Galaxy Note, which used to be Samsung’s flagship smartphone model along with its signature S Pen and has been released in the second half of each year for the past 10 years. High-profile tipsters like Max Weinbach and Ice Universe, as well as smartphone-focus

TechnologyNov. 30, 2020

South Korea's number of 5G users reached nearly 10 million as of end-October, ministry data showed Monday. The number of 5G subscribers stood at 9.98 million as of the end of October, up 735,113 from the previous month, according to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The 5G subscribers accounted for 14.2 percent of the country's mobile subscriptions totaling 70.4 million. South Korea commercially rolled out 5G in April 2019 for the first time in the world. The latest figure comes as

TechnologyNov. 30, 2020

Foreign-invested companies rated South Korea’s business environment as excellent overall, but were unsatisfied with the labor environment and the passive attitude of the authorities, survey showed Monday. The Federation of Korean Industries conducted a survey for trade and investment officers as well as foreign economic organizations of the top 50 foreign investment countries in Korea about the business environment in the nation. The survey took place from Oct. 12 to Nov. 6.　 While givi

IndustryNov. 30, 2020

South Korean companies’ stock and bond sales rose 19.7 percent in October from a month earlier due mainly to a robust gain in bond sales by financial firms, data showed Monday. Local companies raised a combined 20.6 trillion won ($18.6 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in October, up 3.4 trillion won from September, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Last month, six companies raised a combined 1.07 trillion won through initial public offerings, up 52.5 perce

EconomyNov. 30, 2020

Celltrion, located in Songdo, Incheon, is being extra vigilant against the sudden spike of COVID-19 patients in the city, as it awaits conditional approval of its antibody treatment, according to a person familiar with the matter, Monday. “Employees at Celltrion are now advised to take their work laptops home with them every day, so that in the case we become confirmed patients, we can immediately work from home under quarantine,” a Celltrion employee told The Korea Herald under the

IndustryNov. 30, 2020

Kimchi is not just fermented cabbage but a central part of Korea's food culture, and the process of making it has already been recognized as a global standard for nearly two decades, Seoul's agriculture ministry said Monday. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs made the remark to refute Chinese media's claim that Beijing has won a certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for its kimchi making process. The ministry said Beijing won ISO certific

EconomyNov. 30, 2020

Jin Air Co., the budget carrier unit of Korean Air Lines Co., said Monday it will resume flights to Fukuoka next month on eased entry restrictions in Japan. Jin Air will provide one flight a week on the Incheon-Fukuoka route from Tuesday mainly to meet business travel demand, the company said in a statement. The Fukuoka route was suspended nine months ago as more than 180 countries and territories strengthened entry restrictions to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jin Air currently

MobilityNov. 30, 2020

The overall added value of South Korea’s mining and manufacturing industries suffered a 1.4 percent year-on-year drop last year, the sharpest drop since 1998 following the Asian financial crisis, according to the latest data from Statistics Korea. A tentative annual report released on Friday estimated the industry’s added value was worth 559.8 trillion won. Though the medicine, grocery, electric devices and automobile sectors enjoyed a bump in added value, sectors such as mechanic

IndustryNov. 30, 2020

A series of new coronavirus outbreaks have been reported at major industrial plants amid growing concerns about production losses, companies said Monday. COVID-19 infections have affected production and sales at local manufacturers this year. Kia Motors Corp., the country's second-biggest carmaker, suspended two of its three plants in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul on Monday, as four assembly line workers tested positive for COVID-19, a company spokesman said over the phone. "T

EconomyNov. 30, 2020

South Korean drug firm GeneOne Life Science Inc. said Monday it has won approval to conduct a second phase clinical trial of its treatment candidate for the novel coronavirus in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved a phase two study of GLS-1027, an oral drug candidate known to prevent severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19 infection. The candidate will be administered to 132 adult COVID-19 patients from the moment of their infection to evaluate the efficacy o

IndustryNov. 30, 2020

Apple Inc. said Monday it will open a new store in South Korea, expanding its presence in the country dominated by local tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. Apple said on its homepage that it will soon open a new store in Yeouido, western Seoul, its second official store in the country. Despite the US tech giant's popularity in the local market, it currently operates one official store in South Korea in southern Seoul. Apple's new iPhone 12 series has sold around 600,000 models since its launc

TechnologyNov. 30, 2020

Samsung Electronics remained the world's leading TV vendor in the third quarter of the year, a report showed, as it accounted for one-third of the market amid the pandemic. The South Korea tech giant had an all-time high 33.1 percent market share in the global TV market in the July-September period in terms of revenue, according to data from industry researcher Omdia. Samsung sold $9.3 billion worth of TVs in the third quarter, up 22 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

BusinessNov. 30, 2020

South Korean stocks opened almost flat Monday after the benchmark index set a fresh record high the previous session amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 1.05 points, or 0.04 percent, to 2,634.5 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a muted start as a recent surge in infections dampened investor hopes for a faster-than-expected economic recovery amid global development of new COVID-19 vaccines. Investors are also tempted to lo

MarketNov. 30, 2020

Apple Inc.'s iPhone 12 models have drawn a keen response in South Korea, with sales of the newest models estimated to be some 600,000 here since their launch late last month, industry sources said Monday, almost on par with the feat of Samsung Electronics Co.'s flagship models. The country's three major carriers -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- are estimated to have sold around 500,000 iPhone 12 series models since Oct. 30, according to the sources. Considering that unlocked m

TechnologyNov. 30, 2020

South Korea's industrial output stayed flat in October from a month earlier while consumption and investment declined again, data showed Monday, in a sign that economic recovery momentum still remains weak amid the pandemic. The nation's overall industrial production remained unchanged on-month in October, following a 2.2 percent on-month gain in September, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Compared with a year earlier, the industrial output fell 2.7 percent in October. Prod

EconomyNov. 30, 2020

SEJONG -- South Korea saw the percentage of those in nonregular job status among the total female workers climb to the all-time high. As for men, the nonregular employee portion marked the highest in more than a decade. In Korea, job statuses are commonly divided into regular jobs with permanent contracts and consequent protections for workers, and nonregular jobs, such as temporary jobs, contract jobs and other forms of works with low job security. According to research d

EconomyNov. 29, 2020