Diageo Korea donates W200m for vulnerable people affected by virus

Diageo Korea said Thursday it had donated 200 million won ($154,700) to the Korea Red Cross to support culnerable people facing difficulties amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The South Korean branch of British liquor firm said it delivered the fund on Wednesday, to support households, old people and children that are affected either directly or indirectly by the epidemic crisis. The fund is to be used in providing hygiene products and daily necessities, the company said. The liquor maker also del

IndustryMarch 19, 2020

Samsung SDI president takes aim at overseas future energy market

Samsung SDI President Jun Young-hyun said Wednesday he would focus on pioneering overseas energy storage systems market and investing in the company’s second battery plant in Hungary. At the general shareholders meeting held in Seoul, Jun Young-hyun handpicked ESS and electric vehicle batteries as the company’s main agenda. “This year, the focus is on overseas ESS business and investment in the second EV battery plant in Hungary,” Jun said at the meeting. The batte

IndustryMarch 19, 2020

S. Korean carmakers face shutdown of overseas plants amid virus fears

South Korean carmakers are likely to shut down their overseas plants as their global peers are planning to close factories as a precaution against the rapid spread of coronavirus. Local carmakers already suffered production losses due to a lack of parts when their suppliers in China suspended plants due to an extended Lunar New Year holiday amid fears of COVID-19 infections. The worsening outbreak is now dealing a further blow to the automobile industry as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co.

MobilityMarch 19, 2020

Korean manufacturers on full alert over Europe's virus lockdown

  South Korean companies operating in Europe are on high alert after the European Union (EU) imposed a 30-day entry ban on travelers outside the bloc to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, industry sources said Thursday.  The European Union (EU)has decided to shut its borders and enforce travel restrictions on non-EU citizens after the region accounted for one-third of global COVID-19 cases.  South Korean firms in Europe have beefed up their quarantine measures and are m

IndustryMarch 19, 2020

S. Korea's exports of masks up 2,200% in Feb. amid coronavirus spread

  South Korea's exports of protective masks surged nearly 23 times in February from a year earlier amid the global outbreak of the new coronavirus, data showed Thursday, although the volume is likely to plummet this month in line with the export ban. Outbound shipments of textile articles, which include masks, came to $157 million in February, up from $6.85 million a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association. It also more than doubled from $7

EconomyMarch 19, 2020

Foreigners sell stocks in S. Korea and other emerging markets

Foreign investors have sold a large sum of stocks in South Korea and other emerging markets largely due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Thursday. Offshore investors sold a net $5.8 billion worth of South Korean stocks in the first two weeks of March, according to data by brokerage Yuanta Securities Co. In comparison, foreign investors sold a net $6.7 billion worth of Taiwanese stocks during the cited period, followed by Indian stocks worth $3.8 billion and Brazilian stoc

MarketMarch 19, 2020

S. Korea ready to step in to ease credit crunch

 South Korea said Thursday it will take steps to counter a potential credit crunch in the capital market amid growing market jitters caused by the outbreak of the new coronavirus. "The government will swiftly take market stabilization steps under its contingency plans if needed, so businesses will not face difficulties in securing necessary funds," Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said after a meeting in Seoul to review the country's financial condition. The official said the

EconomyMarch 19, 2020

Gold funds lose luster on coronavirus scare

Gold funds in South Korea have posted dismal returns over the past month amid falling gold prices due to the coronavirus scare, data showed Thursday. Local gold funds with assets of 1 billion won ($796,000) or more registered an average return of minus 12.45 percent over the last one-month period, according to the data from FnGuide. They outperformed stock investment funds over the cited period, but the performance failed to live up to expectations, given the metal's nature as a traditional s

MarketMarch 19, 2020

Ministry advises 4-cup daily coffee limit

Adults should refrain from drinking more than four cups of coffee, the recommended maximum daily caffeine intake, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday. For adolescents, two cans of energy drinks can exceed the maximum daily caffeine intake. According to the ministry, drinking beyond the recommended amount of caffeine can trigger side effects such as anxiety and insomnia. A research on 883 items by an agency affiliated with the MFDS showed the average caffeine content per por

TechnologyMarch 18, 2020

[Economy in Pandemic 2] South Korea likely to undergo temporary recession

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews and analyses on the looming threat to the domestic economy from COVID-19. This is the second installment. -- Ed. The impact of the fast-spreading novel coronavirus on the global economy is far harder than projected, greater than the previous pandemics in the modern era. The latest virus outbreak is likely to trigger an economic recession globally -- more so in South Korea, which is heavily dependent on exports for its growth. Market watche

EconomyMarch 18, 2020

Viva Republica inches closer to launching brokerage service

Fintech platform operator Viva Republica said Wednesday that it has received preliminary approval to run a stock trading business from the nation’s financial watchdog, the Financial Services Commission. In order to run the stock business in a safe and stable manner, the company, which runs peer-to-peer money transfer app Toss, will beef up workforce and upgrade systems in the coming months before receiving final approval from the financial authority, the Seoul-based financial technolog

MarketMarch 18, 2020

Kospi dips below 1,600-point mark, lowest since May 2010

South Korean stocks crashed further Wednesday, hitting the lowest point in a decade, as the novel coronavirus panic spread despite stimulus packages released around the globe. The benchmark Kospi opened slightly higher at 1,686.12 -- up 13.68 points, or 0.82 percent, from the previous session. The index, however, slipped throughout the day and suddenly plunged in the afternoon, closing at 1,591.2. It marked the lowest closing price since May 26, 2010, at 1,582.12 points. Offshore investors o

MarketMarch 18, 2020

Chung Euisun reelected as Hyundai Mobis’ internal director

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun was reelected as Hyundai Mobis’ in-house director Wednesday during a shareholders meeting, after overcoming objections. Chung’s term was extended until 2022. The same day, the shareholders passed resolutions approving the financial statements and appointing two outside directors, Young&Co’s CEO Chang Young-woo and former Opel Chief Executive Karl-Thomas Neumann. Prior to the shareholders meeting, some overseas

IndustryMarch 18, 2020

Naver to show news commenters’ full user names, comment histories

South Korean internet giant Naver said Wednesday that the company will display the user names and comment histories of users who post replies on news stories on its platform. The new online comment system will be in place Thursday. The change is intended to prevent abusive behavior online, the company explained. Naver’s anonymous comment system has often been criticized for allowing abusive and disparaging comments. Commenters’ user names are partially hidden, with only the first

TechnologyMarch 18, 2020

S. Korea raises cap on currency forward positions amid forex imbalance

In an emergency move to counter the latest market disturbance caused by COVID-19, South Korea’s government on Wednesday activated a “phase one contingency plan,” expanding the cap on foreign exchange forward positions of banks. It also said that it will reduce the airport landing fees for airplanes and exempt highway tolls for express buses, as a relief measure for the transportation industry which took the hardest blow from the epidemic spread. Starting Thursday, local ba

EconomyMarch 18, 2020

OB’s flagship Cass wins 2020 Korea Wine and Spirits Award

Cass, the leading domestic beer brand produced by Oriental Brewery, has won the 2020 Korea Wine and Spirits Award for five consecutive years. In January this year, OB’s Cass won the top prize at 2020 Korea Brand Hall of Fame, presented by the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies, the company said Wednesday. Cass is OB’s flagship lager beer here first introduced in 1994. Its market share in the local beer market in 2019 reached 36 percent with 1.19 trillion won of sales, accor

IndustryMarch 18, 2020

‘Proxy advisers KCGS and ISS have lost objectivity on Hanjin’

Major shareholders of logistics giant Hanjin KAL on Wednesday rebelled against proxy advisory firms Korea Corporate Governance Service and Institutional Shareholder Service for their decision to support the extension of Chairman Cho Won-tae’s term. The group consists of his elder sister and former Korean Air Vice President Cho Hyun-ah, KCGI -- local activist fund, Hanjin’s biggest shareholder with 18.68 percent stake -- and construction firm Bando Construction. “The latest d

MarketMarch 18, 2020

Coronavirus fears dent corporate bond deals

Coronavirus fears in the financial market are quashing bond investors’ appetite for investment-grade bonds issued by South Korean companies, dragging on their plans to raise capital. From Friday to Wednesday, all corporate bonds of three companies were undersubscribed in the respective institutional tranches in Korea. This stems from the bond price hike along with monetary easing stance at home and abroad. Bond yields, which move inversely with bond prices, were on a downtrend in Kore

MarketMarch 18, 2020

[Newsmaker] Desperate crisis for shopkeepers

While industry sectors across the board in Korea are struggling to handle the economic impact of COVID-19, the nation’s 5.48 million self-employed and small business owners are among those suffering most. Oh Myong-seok, who has been running a 24-hour diner in Yongsan, Seoul, for seven years, is experiencing its worst-ever slump, as the store has seen its daily customer figures cut in half. “For night times from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., revenue has been halved, for day times it has been

IndustryMarch 18, 2020

Buoyed by Parasite wins, Nongshim’s Chapaghetti wins global consumers

Korean instant noodle maker Nongshim has become one of the greatest beneficiaries of big Oscar winner “Parasite,” thanks to the global “Chapaguri” popularity. Chapaguri -- translated as “ram-don” in the English subtitles -- is a hybrid instant noodle dish mixed with Chapaghetti black bean instant noodles and soup-based Neoguri ramen, both of which are manufactured by Nongshim. According to Nongshim, sales of Chapaghetti -- long a staple in Korean kitchen

IndustryMarch 18, 2020