Watchdog imposes ‘heavy sanctions’ on Woori, KEB Hana executives for DLF misselling

South Korea’s financial watchdog on Thursday said it has decided to impose heavy sanctions on the top executives of two major banking groups -- Woori Bank and KEB Hana Bank -- for misselling derivatives-linked funds last year. The Financial Supervisory Service’s sanctions committee has decided to hand Woori Financial Group Chairman and Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung as well as Hana Financial Vice Chairman and former Hana Bank CEO Ham Young-joo “reprimands and warnings,”

MarketJan. 30, 2020

LG posts record W62.3tr revenue in 2019

LG Electronics posted a record revenue of 62.3 trillion won in 2019, as the home appliances division spurt past the 20 trillion won milestone, according to its earnings report Thursday. In the fourth quarter alone, the company notched 16.6 trillion won in revenue and 101.9 billion won operating profit, up 1.8 percent and 34.5 percent on-year, respectively. At the same time, the company suffered quarterly net loss of 87.8 percent due to subsidiary LG Display’s flat performance, turning

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

Hyundai Mobis’ 2019 sales, operating profit inch up

Hyundai Motor Group’s key affiliate Hyundai Mobis said Thursday that its operating profit hit 2.35 trillion won ($1.9 billion) last year, up 16.5 percent year-on-year, according to the auto parts maker’s regulatory filing.  The company’s sales inched up by 8.2 percent to 38.48 trillion won over the same period, while its net profit recorded 2.29 trillion won, up 21.5 percent on-year.  Hyundai Mobis attributed last year’s improved performance to expanded sales

MobilityJan. 30, 2020

Bando E&C begins apartment project in central LA

Bando Engineering & Construction said Thursday that it had started the construction of a mixed-use apartment building in Los Angeles, the company’s first overseas project in nine years. According to the company the Bora 3170 will be an eight-floor building with one floor below ground, about 10 minutes from downtown LA in the Korea Town neighborhood. It is the second overseas project for Bando E&C, which built the Ubora Towers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2011. Led by C

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

Negative outlook prevails in Korean industry: KIS

The industrial outlook for 2020 is negative for eight of South Korea’s 11 major industries, in part due to the slowing global economy, according to credit rating agency Korea Investors Service on Thursday. Sectors that fell into the “negative industrial outlook” category were construction, steel, distribution, automotive, transportation, petrochemicals, life insurance and non-life insurance. The outlook for refiners, shipbuilders and securities rated neutral, according to t

EconomyJan. 30, 2020

Samsung affiliates to beef up compliance teams under CEOs

  Samsung Group on Thursday announced follow-up measures to “effectively beef up” compliance monitoring teams across its affiliates, including placing them under chief executives, with the intention of displaying its efforts to improve governance. A total of 11 affiliates -- including Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, Samsung C&T, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Heavy industries -- will introduce in-house compliance units at CEOs’ offices away from the current leg

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

BOK not mulling further rate cut over coronavirus: official

The nation’s central bank is not considering additional rate cuts to counter the potential impact of the Wuhan coronavirus on the Korean economy, a senior official said Thursday. “We need to keep monitoring the outbreak. Although it is expected to affect sentiment and the market, including the country’s economic growth, consumer prices and current account, it’s too early to predict the extent of its impact,” Yoon Myun-shik, senior deputy governor of the Bank of K

EconomyJan. 30, 2020

Investments in Korean startups hit record high

The startup market here saw record investments of 4.28 trillion won ($3.61 billion) last year, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Thursday. The figure was up from 2.38 trillion won in 2017. Of the total, private funds invested 1.48 trillion won, or 35 percent, of money injected into the local startup industry. By segment, smart health care companies received 617.2 billion won, while sharing-economy businesses and financial technology firms attracted 276.1 billion won and 12

MarketJan. 30, 2020

[Photo News] Consumer agency compares UHD TVs of Samsung, LG

Korea Consumer Agency officials attend a press briefing on their review of the quality of UHD TVs at the government complex in Sejong on Thursday.  Their results showed LG’s organic light-emitting diode TV had better viewing angle and high-definition resolution than Samsung’s quantum-dot light-emitting diode TV. Both products met international standards of contrast modulation, the KCA said. (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

Naver’s sales surpass W6tr but profits down in 2019

Naver’s annual sales surpassed the 6 trillion won ($5.06 billion) mark for the first time in 2019, but its operating profit decreased due to the sluggish performance of Line and related platforms, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday. The South Korean internet giant’s annual sales totaled 6.59 trillion won, marking an 18 percent increase. The figure is four times greater than that of 2015, 3.25 trillion won. However, Naver’s operating profit fell to 710 billion won

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

Median apartment price in Seoul jumps 50% under Moon govt

The median price of apartments in Seoul surpassed the 900 million won ($760,000) threshold in January for the first time, according to commercial bank KB Kookmin Bank on Thursday. The bank’s monthly report on real estate prices showed that the median price of Seoul apartments reached 912.2 million won as of this month, a record high since comparable data started to be compiled in December 2008. A housing unit with a market value of 900 million won or more, categorized as an “exp

MarketJan. 30, 2020

Hanmi’s hypertension drugs post 14% growth in revenue

Hanmi Pharmaceutical said Thursday its high blood pressure treatments notched 14 percent revenue growth in 2019, raking in 153 billion won ($129 million) and dominating the market in South Korea. The company said that its 15 types of combination molecules for treating hypertension, all independently developed, accounted for 8.3 percent of the entire Korean high blood pressure treatment market last year which amounted to 1.8 trillion won.  These treatments include the three Amozaltan drug

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

S. Korea enjoys trade surplus of $71.5b with FTA partners

South Korea enjoyed a surplus of $71.5 billion in trade with free trade agreement partners in 2019, data showed Thursday. The country suffered a deficit of $32.4 billion from trade with non-FTA partners, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. Last year, South Korea posted a trade surplus for the 11th consecutive year at $39.1 billion. Outbound shipments to FTA partners also decreased at a slower pace of 9.2 percent on-year to $398.4 billion in 2019, compared with the de

EconomyJan. 30, 2020

Korean firms help to fight coronavirus outbreak

South Korean companies said Thursday they are lending a helping hand to fight the outbreak of new coronavirus in China, the nation’s top export destination. The nation’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Group was one of the first firms to decide on delivering donations to Wuhan, the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province. The firm said it would deliver medical goods and donations totaling 15 million yuan ($2.2 million) to help Chinese people affected by the ep

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

Samsung maintains No. 1 smartphone vendor status in 2019: data

Samsung Electronics Co. maintained its status as the world's top smartphone vendor last year, industry data showed Thursday, although its fourth-quarter shipments were behind Apple Inc. Samsung shipped 295.1 million smartphones around the globe in 2019, taking a 20.9 percent market share, according to data from market researcher Strategy Analytics. In 2018, Samsung claimed the No. 1 position with a 20.3 percent market share after shipping 291.3 million smartphones. "Samsung continues

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

Banks' lending rates slightly up in Dec.

Lending rates on fresh loans extended by banks in South Korea slightly rebounded in December from a month earlier, central bank data showed Thursday. The average interest rate on all new loans extended by banks on households in the month came to 2.98 percent, up 0.02 percentage point from the month before, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The rate on all outstanding loans averaged 3.4 percent last month, down 0.02 percentage point from November. The average rate on fresh

EconomyJan. 30, 2020

Rice consumption dips to all-time low in 2019

South Korea's per capita annual rice consumption fell to a record low in 2019 amid changes in diet and eating habits, data showed Thursday. Per capita average annual rice consumption hit a fresh low of 59.2 kilograms last year, down 3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the first time for the amount to fall below the 60-kilogram threshold. Rice is a key staple food for Koreans, but its consumption has been on a steady decline since 1980,

IndustryJan. 30, 2020

Korean Air chief to accompany chartered flight to Wuhan

Hanjin Group Chairman and Korean Air CEO Cho Won-tae will be onboard the chartered flight that the government has arranged to bring back South Korean citizens from Wuhan, China, industry sources said Thursday. The government plans to send chartered flights of Korean Air’s A330 and B747 which can seat around 300 and 400 people, respectively, on Thursday and Friday, to bring back some 700 Koreans from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. The first of the four flights was set

MobilityJan. 30, 2020

Samsung’s earnings nosedive on weak chip, display markets in 2019

Samsung Electronics posted a 52.84 percent on-year decline in operating profit in 2019 due to the sluggish memory and display panel markets, according to its earnings report released Thursday. However, prospects for the largest South Korean tech giant this year are bright going by its better-than-expected performance in the fourth quarter, company officials said during an earnings conference call. Overall, the company recorded 230.4 trillion won ($194.85 billion) in sales last year, down 5.

TechnologyJan. 30, 2020

[News Focus] North Korean defectors see household debt surge

SEJONG -- The number of defectors from North Korea over the past decades came to 33,300 in the South -- 9,300 men and 24,000 women -- as of December. The Ministry of Unification’s data showed that the number of North Korean defectors has increased since 2002, while the prior combined figure was 1,990. A noteworthy point is that the number of female refugees is far outstripping men’s tally at the current stage -- it was below 50 percent before 2002. The percentage of women poste

EconomyJan. 30, 2020