Global air traffic won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024: IATA

The International Air Transport Association says air travel will take four years for a full recovery as a second wave of pandemic looms large and consumer confidence tumbles, pushing its previous projection back by a year. Short haul travel is expected to recover faster than long haul travel, the association said Tuesday, which means passenger numbers will return to normal levels before air traffic. The prediction comes as global air traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometers, fell 86.5

MobilityJuly 29, 2020

Korean Air named world’s third-best airline by TripAdvisor

Korean Air has been selected as the third-best airline in the world by TripAdvisor’s 2020 Travelers’ Choice Awards. The annual awards, based on reviews and scores collected via the website, also named the airline as one of the best major airlines in Asia alongside Asiana Airlines. The South Korean flag carrier has over 5,200 reviews on the website in 26 languages. One review cited by the online travel company said, “They go over and beyond to ensure you have the best experien

MobilityJuly 29, 2020

Seoul stocks up for 3rd session on strong Samsung performance, foreign buying

South Korean stocks closed higher Wednesday for a third consecutive session as top cap Samsung continued to build up gains aided by foreign buying. The Korean won strengthened against the US greenback. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.27 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 2,263.16. Trading volume was high at about 885 million shares worth some 15.3 trillion won ($12.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 427 to 396. Foreigners purchased a net 292 billion

MarketJuly 29, 2020

Regulators apologize for hedge fund fiasco

South Korea’s top financial authorities on Wednesday pledged to investigate all private equity fund operators over the next three years, apologizing for causing public concerns over the snowballing hedge fund fiasco.  “The recent fiasco is due to some irresponsible fund operators and lax oversight of the financial market,” said Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Yoon Suk-heun at a parliamentary briefing.  “In August, the FSS will embark on a large-scale pro

MarketJuly 29, 2020

GC’s potential blazes through pandemic crisis

GC Pharma on Wednesday applied to carry out a phase 2 clinical trial of its plasma-derived COVID-19 treatment with the Drug Ministry. GC Pharma plans to conduct a human test of its GC5131A, targeting 60 patients across Samsung Medical Center, Asan Medical Center, Chung-Ang University Hospital, Korea University Ansan Hospital and Chungnam University Hospital. According to GC Pharma, GC5131A is a hyperimmune globulin derived out of immuno antibody from recovering COVID-19 patients’ blood p

IndustryJuly 29, 2020

Samsung stocks back to pre-COVID prices as foreigners return

Samsung Electronics shares bounced back to 60,000 won ($50.30) in nearly five months on Wednesday, with mounting interest of foreign investors for the fourth consecutive session. The stock price of market bellwether closed at 59,000 won -- up 400 won, or 0.68 percent, from the previous session’s close. The price hit an intraday high of 60,400 won in early morning trading. It was the first time that shares of South Korea’s leading tech giant exceeded 60,000 won during a trading s

MarketJuly 29, 2020

Antitrust watchdog fines SPC W65b, reports head to prosecutors

Korea’s antitrust watchdog has decided to impose a fine of 64.7 billion won ($54.1 million) on food giant SPC for violation of antitrust laws, officials said Wednesday. The Fair Trade Commission is also set to report Chairman Hur Young-in, former group CEO Cho Sang-ho and former Paris Croissant CEO Hwang Jae-bok to prosecutors. “The investigation found that the chief was involved in supporting Samlip in diverse ways on the group level,” an FTC official said. Samlip is the

IndustryJuly 29, 2020

[Behind the Wheel] Mercedes-Benz’s upgraded AMG GT gives more invigorating drive

YONGIN, Gyeonggi Province -- “The ultimate sports car, spearheading AMG family. I love to call it our street legal racing machine.” Mark Raine, vice president of product & marketing at Mercedes-Benz Korea, proudly presented a face-lifted model of the AMG GT 2-Door Coupe to press at the AMG Speedway, its racetrack located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on a sunny Friday in July. Five years have passed since Mercedes-Benz Korea introduced the classic AMG GT 2-Door Coupe sports car

MobilityJuly 29, 2020

Large firms cut more than 11,000 jobs during pandemic

South Korea’s top 500 companies by assets have cut more than 11,000 jobs as the new coronavirus has continued to spread, data showed Wednesday. Local corporate tracker CEOScore surveyed the number of national pension fund subscriptions among the nation’s 500 largest companies between February and June. The pension fund subscription -- which is mandatory for regular workers -- is often used as a barometer for employment trends here. The survey showed that the 500 firms’ sub

IndustryJuly 29, 2020

[Monitor] Hyundai, Kia’s accumulated car sales surpass 130 million units

Fifty-eight years since they were founded, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors have sold a total of over 130 million vehicles as of last month, latest data showed last week. The accumulated number of vehicles sold at home and abroad by Hyundai posted 83,120,000, while sales of its affiliate Kia topped 47,210,000. Hyundai was founded in 1967 and released its first ingenious vehicle Pony in 1976. Kia began producing three-wheeled K360 in 1962 in collaboration with Toyo Kogyo, which later changed

MobilityJuly 29, 2020

[Graphic News] S. Korea’s kimchi exports soar in H1

　South Korea’s exports of kimchi rose sharply in the first half of the year thanks to its growing popularity, data showed. 　Overseas shipments of kimchi came to 20,259 metric tons in the January-June period, accounting for 68.3 percent of full-year exports in 2019, according to the data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. 　South Korea‘s outbound shipments of kimchi have been on a steady rise with the volume rising from 23,490 tons in 2016 to 24,311 tons in 2017

BusinessJuly 29, 2020

Seoul stocks open nearly flat on Wall Street losses

South Korean stocks opened nearly flat Wednesday, tracking overnight Wall Street losses. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 1.55 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,258.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor sentiment turned risk-averse, largely on the COVID-19's impact on the global behemoths' earnings, such as 3M and McDonald's. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.77 percent to 26,379.28, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 1.27 percent. S&P 500 lost 0.65 per

MarketJuly 29, 2020

Corporate loans lead liquidity jump this year

South Korea's corporate loans have risen sharply this year amid the coronavirus outbreak, leading the overall surge in the country's money supply, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2 money supply came to 3,065.8 trillion won ($2.56 trillion) at the end of May, up 10.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marks the largest amount ever, and the on-year growth rate also represents a record high. Corporate lending contributed more t

EconomyJuly 29, 2020

Corporate bond sales increase 3.8 in H1

South Korean companies' bond sales rose nearly 4 percent in the first half, but their share offerings went south, data showed Wednesday. Local businesses raised 89.4 trillion won ($74.5 billion) by selling bonds in the January-June period, up 3.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Increased sales of debt by nonfinancial companies and asset-backed securities led the overall rise, offsetting a fall of 965 billion won in the issuance

EconomyJuly 29, 2020

Korea's consumer sentiment soars to 5-month high in July

South Korea's consumer sentiment continued to improve this month from a month earlier, reaching the second-highest point since the country reported its first confirmed case of the new coronavirus six months earlier, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's composite consumer sentiment index came to 84.2 in July, up 2.4 points from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marks the highest since 96.9 posted February. South Korea reported its

EconomyJuly 29, 2020

SoftBank Robotics enters Korean market

SoftBank Robotics announced Tuesday it will launch operations in South Korea with its artificial intelligence-enabled vacuum-cleaning robot Whiz. The company aims to take the lead in the assistive robotics market here, which is currently led by LG Electronics. Whiz is the Japanese firm’s second robot which was commercialized in May last year. The model, designed for commercial settings, is equipped with image sensors that allow autonomous driving and is connected to the cloud system, w

TechnologyJuly 29, 2020

Samsung Display recognizes workers' union in agreement

Samsung Display, one of the largest screen manufacturers in the world, has recognized an in-house union, ending its long-standing practice of operating without a bargaining unit made up of its employees, industry sources said Tuesday. 　 The Federation of Korean Trade Unions and business insiders said an agreement was reached between the management and the newly formed Federation of Korea Metal Workers' Trade Union on Monday. Under the pact, the display-making unit of Samsung Group agreed to pro

IndustryJuly 28, 2020

Virus, fund misselling shake up list of Korea’s top banking groups

The coronavirus pandemic and the recent fund misspelling fiasco have reversed South Korea’s list of top financial groups, propelling those who dodged bullets to the top with better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, data showed Tuesday. Of the major institutions that have disclosed their second-quarter earnings, Woori Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group -- which their flagship lender and brokerage units were accused of misselling either derivatives-linked funds or now-frozen

MarketJuly 28, 2020

World’s 1st by-product hydrogen fuel cell power plant built in Korea

Hanwha Energy said Tuesday it has completed the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell power plant that generates electricity using waste hydrogen left over from petrochemical facilities. The 255 billion-won ($212.4 million) power plant built at 20,000-square-meter site in Daesan petrochemical complex in South Chungcheong Province will deliver by-product hydrogen from Hanwha Total’s petrochemical plants via underground pipelines to generate 400,000 megawatt-hours of electricity to power

IndustryJuly 28, 2020

Hanwha bids for 50% stake in coronavirus-hit Sasol’s chemical plant in US

Hanwha Solutions has submitted a bid for 50 percent stake in the ethane cracking center at Sasol’s Lake Charles complex in Louisiana, according to industry sources Tuesday. The South African energy producer seeks to liquidate its assets to mitigate the liquidity crisis amid an unprecedented demand crunch in the global oil market. Hanwha Solutions refused to confirm the plan, although it admitted that the current market conditions are favorable time for such a purchase. “The p

IndustryJuly 28, 2020