Victorinox offers special gift items for Chuseok

For the upcoming Chuseok holidays, Victorinox suggested special gift items that satisfy both in style and quality, including its iconic army knife, swiss-made watch and backpack. Victorinox said its Altmont Professional Fliptop Laptop Backpack is perfect fit for office workers, with its iconic design appropriate in business settings, and with great storage capacity. The flagship product Victorinox Swiss Army Knife will make as a special gift, as it come in different sizes and has a wide rang

ConsumerSept. 20, 2020

Consumers spend more on ready-meals, gift sets for Chuseok amid COVID-19

As the majority of Koreans plan to stay at home during the upcoming Chuseok holiday, ready-meals and unique pandemic-related gift sets are selling like hot cakes. Homeplus, a local supermarket chain, said it saw an 83 percent increase in online sales of refrigerated convenient meal products from Sept. 1 to 8, compared to the same period in the previous month. The sales figure is up 159 percent on-year. The retailer said people are buying more ready-meal products that they can conveniently h

ConsumerSept. 20, 2020

[Herald Interview] Korea Investment & Securities pioneers AI-powered stock analysis

Customer service chatbots and investment robo-advisers have been in place for a while in South Korea, but Korea Investment & Securities recently kicked finance’s use of artificial intelligence up a notch with automatically generated reports for investors. The leading brokerage launched “AIR” or AI Research -- the first local AI-based investment reports -- in July. It is a service Yun Hee-do, head of research at KIS, thinks will help keep the firm competitive by enabling

MarketSept. 20, 2020

Self-employed high earners’ tax evasion totals W10tr in decade

The amount of evaded income taxes from self-employed high earners in South Korea totaled nearly 10 trillion won ($8.58 billion) from 2010 to 2019, according to data compiled by the National Tax Service. The report, submitted to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and parliamentary finance committee member Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, showed that the nation’s tax agency investigated 7,760 business owners with high income. Over the past 10 years, these taxpayers reduced their accumulated

EconomySept. 20, 2020

'Vaccine nationalism' likely to delay end of coronavirus pandemic: BOK

South Korea’s central bank warned Sunday that efforts by individual nations to prioritize their own citizens over others for access to a future coronavirus vaccine are likely to push back the time frame for the pandemic’s end. “There are projections that development of some of the vaccines will be complete by the second half of 2021,” the Bank of Korea said in its regular report on the global economy. “But there is a possibility that the end of the coronavirus p

EconomySept. 20, 2020

Banks’ credit loans see sudden drop amid authorities’ warnings

Major South Korean banks are on the path of tightening their extension of personal unsecured loans, apparently responding to the financial authorities continued efforts to curb “excessive lending.” Outstanding personal loans extended by five major lenders here -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, KEB Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup -- fell to 126.9 trillion won as of Thursday, down 243.6 billion won ($209.3 million) from the previous day, data showed Sunday. This marked a sharp turn from the extend

MarketSept. 20, 2020

[Market Close-up] Retail investor power brings stock market back to life

Six months after plunging to a record low amid the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s stock indicators are apparently experiencing a full recovery, hitting fresh yearly highs mostly on the back of retail investors. According to the country’s bourse operator, the Korea Exchange, the benchmark Kospi as of Friday marked a 65.50 percent rise from the record-low 1,457.64 observed six months earlier. The secondary Kosdaq soared 107.51 percent from 428.35 during the same period. Buttressi

MarketSept. 20, 2020

[Contribution] In celebration of first assembly of KF-X airframe

Bradley Leland is the Lockheed Martin Program Director for the KF-X Program as part of F-35 offset. He has an extensive background in fighter aircraft development, including the F-22, T-50, and F-35 Programs. He has been supporting Korea Aerospace Industries since the beginning of the KF-X program in 2015. -- Ed. Nearly five years ago, the KF-X Program began. It began with a vision, a vision built upon a 30-year commitment to successfully develop an aerospace industry in Korea. The KF-X visio

IndustrySept. 20, 2020

Disaster relief fund payments to kick off before Chuseok

South Korea’s government will start handing out the emergency relief funds tailored for the socially vulnerable early next week, in time for the Chuseok holiday that starts on Sept. 30, officials said Sunday. According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, small-sized merchants, non-standard contract employees, and families with young children will start to receive the special allowance on Sept. 28-29. The

EconomySept. 20, 2020

Incheon Airport teams up with Hyundai Motor, KT for flying cars

Incheon International Airport Corporation said on Sunday it had signed an agreement with Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and KT as part of efforts to move the Urban Air Mobility project forward, also known as “flying cars.” Under a memorandum signed by IIAC and UAM Team Korea on Friday, the companies will work together on a road map for “K-UAM,” a government-led project for next-generation vehicles, by building transport infrastructure and taking pa

MobilitySept. 20, 2020

KT suggests founding intl epidemic management working group

KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo is pushing for the formation of a new global body to address pandemic preparedness utilizing information and communications technology, the South Korean mobile carrier said Sunday. At an event that took place Friday to commemorate the Broadband Commission’s 10th anniversary, Ku pitched the idea of an epidemic management working group in which global players could collaborate to fight future health care crises. The Broadband Commission is a 58-member group helmed by t

IndustrySept. 20, 2020

Kogas helps spearhead hydrogen transition in Green New Deal drive

Korea Gas Corp. is taking a leading role in fostering the country’s hydrogen industry, backing the government’s Green New Deal initiative which aims to roll out 200,000 hydrogen vehicles and 450 hydrogen charging stations. The state-run natural gas company said Sunday it will transition to an eco-friendly hydrogen firm from a conventional fossil fuel-based company, pledging to produce and introduce cheap hydrogen to the market by making timely investments and securing source techno

IndustrySept. 20, 2020

[Newsmaker] How '70s oil shock led to SK battery biz

For the late SK Group Chairman Chey Jong-hyun, the 1970s oil shock was a wake-up call, a moment of reckoning that a petrochemical company cannot and should not let its destiny be dictated by the price of oil. When SK Group acquired domestic petrochemical company Yukong in 1980, which later became today’s SK Innovation, Chey had a clear vision that reaped rewards for decades. “Countries all over the world are trying to develop alternative energy after suffering from the 1970s oil c

IndustrySept. 20, 2020

Q3 tech earnings to improve on pent-up demand

South Korea’s tech industry is forecast to report a better performance in the third quarter than the second, owing to pent-up demand amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to financial sources on Sunday. Industry bellwether Samsung Electronics is expected to post over 10 trillion won ($8.58 billion) in operating profit in the July to September period, which would be up about 32 percent from the company’s Q3 operating profit last year. “Samsung’s mobile busines

TechnologySept. 20, 2020

Science ministry, OECD to hold videoconference to promote tech cooperation

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said Sunday it will hold a joint videoconference with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to forge closer ties in key technology sectors. Officials from the ministry and the OECD will exchange views on the upcoming post-coronavirus digital era, and how to handle advances in neurotechnology innovations in the online workshop, which runs from Monday through Thursday. "International cooperation in the digital tech realm

EconomySept. 20, 2020

Researchers develop cheap, long-lasting catalyst to extract hydrogen from water

South Korean researchers have developed an affordable and long-lasting electrocatalyst that can cleanly and efficiently extract hydrogen from water, a state-run science institute said Sunday. A team of researchers led by Yoo Sung-jong has made a special catalyst that can produce hydrogen without relying on expensive platinum, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) said. It said the new process also overcomes the main shortcomings of non-platinum-based electrocatalyst that suffere

EconomySept. 20, 2020

S. Korea's seaport cargo down 18% on coronavirus

Cargo processed at South Korean seaports fell 18.2 percent in August in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, government data showed Sunday. Cargo handled at the country's ports came to 117.34 million tons last month, down from 143.43 million tons a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. Handling of export-import cargo shrank 19.7 percent on-year to 100.8 million tons last month, leading the overall decline. Hit by the coronavirus pandemic, container car

EconomySept. 20, 2020

S. Koreans drink 8.5 days per month on average: poll

South Koreans on average consumed alcoholic beverages 8.5 days per month in 2019, a poll showed Sunday, with a growing number of people drinking at home this year due to the virus pandemic. It marked a slight drop from 8.8 days posted in 2017 and 2018, according to the report released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Around 43 percent of South Koreans picked beer as the most preferred type of alcoholic beverage, followed by soju, a distilled liquor made with grain, with

EconomySept. 20, 2020

Seoul stocks advance 65% over past 6 months led by bio, tech

South Korea's stock market advanced a whopping 65 percent over the past six-month period despite the global virus pandemic, on the back of pharmaceutical and technology shares, data showed Sunday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) on Friday ended at 2,412.40 points, up 65.5 percent from six months ago, according to the main bourse operator Korea Exchange (KRX). The country's stock rally marked the second-highest rise among G-20 countries, following Argentina's 87 percent

MarketSept. 20, 2020

S. Korean tech giants tipped to enjoy rosy Q3 earnings despite pandemic

South Korea's major tech giants are anticipated to enjoy better-than-expected earnings during the third quarter, a poll showed Sunday, as they were able to save costs amid the global new coronavirus pandemic. Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to post an operating profit of 10.3 trillion won ($8.85 billion) in the July-September period, up 32.56 percent from a year earlier, according to the market consensus compiled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency. The world's top

IndustrySept. 20, 2020