BOK may hold off further rate cut amid easing US-China tension

Following signs of a thaw in US-China trade tension, speculation is building that South Korea may slow its pace of monetary easing, in step with the growing possibility of a global economic upturn.Though the world’s top two economies face a bumpy road ahead, their latest reconciliatory move is expected to ease uncertainties -- especially for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is highly dependent on trade.After Washington and Beijing announced their phase one agreement Friday to red

EconomyDec. 15, 2019

Japan sees exports to Korea fall, but Korean firms unaffected

Six months after Japan’s restrictions on exports to South Korea, its exports to Korea fell by 14 percent on-year, while South Korean export to Japan dropped by 7 percent, indicating Japan’s larger damage in outbound shipments, data showed Sunday. According to the governments and industries in two countries, from July to October, Japan’s export shipments to Korea came at around $15 billion, which fell by 14 percent on-year. Over the same period, South Korean export shi

IndustryDec. 15, 2019

LG Uplus to invest W2.6tr after takeover of No. 1 cable TV operator

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier, on Sunday said that it plans to invest 2.6 trillion won ($2.2 billion) over the next five years to offer upgraded services after the country's science ministry approved its acquisition of the country's top cable TV operator.The Ministry of Science and ICT approved the telecom operator's acquisition of a 50 percent-plus-one-share stake in CJ Hello Co. from CJ ENM Co., a deal valued at 800 billion won. The acquisition will make LG Uplus the No. 2

IndustryDec. 15, 2019

Govt. approves merger of LG Uplus-CJ Hello merger

The merger between South Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus Corp. and cable and budget phone operator CJ Hello Co. received final approval from the government Sunday in a development that could lead to more investment and growth in the local telecom and broadcasting sector.The conditional permission follows a detailed review of the market impact of the transaction, with emphasis placed on the benefits to the industry as a whole and improvements in rights and convenience for consumers, the Ministry o

IndustryDec. 15, 2019

2 pending S. Korean WTO complaints affected by dispute-body impasse

Two out of South Korea's six complaints pending at the World Trade Organization will be left in limbo due to the suspended operation of its dispute settlement body, according to a local think tank Sunday.Earlier this week, the WTO Appellate Body shut down as it failed to meet the minimum quorum of three judges after the United States blocked the appointment of new ones in line with President Donald Trump's protectionism drive.Asia's No. 4 economy currently has six trade disputes pending at the G

IndustryDec. 15, 2019

Samsung to supply 4G, 5G telecom solutions to Canada

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday it has won a deal to supply fourth-generation and fifth-generation network equipment to Videotron, a Canadian telecom firm."Starting in early 2020, Samsung will deliver 4G LTE-A solutions across Quebec and Ottawa," the company said in a statement."Samsung will increase efficiency in accelerating the expansion of 5G service coverage to match the pace with Canada's 5G commercial launch, which is expected to take place in late 2020," it added.

IndustryDec. 15, 2019

Demand for luxury cars increasing in S. Korea: data

The demand for luxury cars in South Korea increased sharply in 2019 from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, despite the overall decrease in the sales of imported cars here.Sales of imported luxury cars with price tags of 300 million won ($255,972) or higher reached 360 units over the January-November period, posting a threefold growth on-year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association. The number of cars with a 200 million-won level price ta

IndustryDec. 15, 2019

KT to offer WiFi service with upgraded privacy protection

KT Corp., a major South Korean telecommunication company, said Sunday its WiFi service will have upgraded security with encryption-based privacy protection technology. KT said it will apply a technology that protects International Mobile Subscriber Identity for Android phones to its 130,000 wireless zones nationwide. IMSI is a unique number that identifies a subscriber in the wireless world. KT said its system will encrypt IMSI and will protect users' data on their mobile devices and at WiF

IndustryDec. 15, 2019

Single-member families account for nearly 30 pct of S. Korean households

The number of one-person families continued to rise last year, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all households in South Korea, amid the fast-spreading trend of people remaining single, government data showed Saturday.  Households consisting of a single member totaled 5.85 million in 2018, compared with 5.62 million the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.This accounted for 29.3 percent of all households in the country last year, the data showed. The percenta

EconomyDec. 14, 2019

LG honorary chairman dies at age 94

LG Group Honorary Chairman Koo Cha-kyung died Saturday at age 94, the company said. Born in 1925, Koo took the helm at LG at the age of 45 following the death of his father and LG founder, Koo In-hwoi, and led the conglomerate for 25 years.  He handed over the group's leadership to his eldest son and late Chairman Koo Bon-moo, who died in May this year. Koo Cha-kyung is the grandfather of the current Chairman Koo Kwang-mo. As LG chairman, Koo put an emphasis on growing the conglomerate into

IndustryDec. 14, 2019

Samsung VP gets jail term for attempting to break up labor union

A Seoul court handed a jail term to a Samsung executive on Friday for attempting to break up a labor union at Everland, an amusement park run by the country's biggest conglomerate.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced the Samsung Electronics Co. vice president, Kang Kyung-hoon, to 1 year and four months in prison for obstruction of business and breaching labor union-related laws. Kang was not taken into custody so he can lodge an appeal.The court also sentenced a former Everland execut

TechnologyDec. 13, 2019

Samsung denies selling 1 mln Galaxy Fold smartphones

Samsung Electronics on Friday denied media reports that the company has sold one million Galaxy Fold smartphones globally since the device's launch in September.Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon said at a conference organized by U.S. tech media TechCrunch that the South Korean tech giant has sold 1 million Galaxy Folds so far, double the industry's earlier estimate.But a Samsung spokesman said Sohn may have confused the figure with the company's initial sales target for the year, emp

TechnologyDec. 13, 2019

Korea vows to localize materials used at bio drug production facilities

Korean biologics drug companies, including major players Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics, agreed Friday to localize materials for bio drug production. Incheon Metropolitan City hosted the event attended by some 110 personnel from the biologics industry. Incheon houses Korean biologics production facilities. Korea’s 1.69 trillion won ($1.4 billion) bio industry output in 2017 has climbed annually, and is anticipated to rake in well over 2 trillion won. However, 98 percent of the materials u

IndustryDec. 13, 2019

Naver Financial attracts W800b investment from Mirae Asset

Naver Financial, a financial platform by South Korean internet giant Naver, has attracted an investment of about 800 billion won ($683 million) from its financial partner Mirae Asset, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. The investment will secure a stable financial structure for Naver Financial and forge a partnership between the two to take the lead in the country’s emerging “techfin” industry. Techfin refers to technology firms seeking to deliver financial prod

MobilityDec. 13, 2019

Watchdog advises banks to partially cover losses from KIKO misselling

Wrapping up long-stalled arbitration proceedings Friday to settle disputed sales of currency-option contracts, South Korea’s financial market watchdog advised local banks to compensate local businesses for up to 41 percent of the loss they inflicted.At a press briefing, the Financial Supervisory Service’s Dispute Arbitration Committee urged six banks to pay about 25.5 billion won ($21.7 million) in total to four local businesses that signed “knock-in, knock-out” currency

MarketDec. 13, 2019

Hyundai Motor jumps into Indonesian ride-hailing market

Hyundai Motor said Friday it has delivered the first batch of 20 Ioniq EVs to Indonesia, entering the ride-hailing market in the Southeast Asian country in partnership with Grab. The South Korean carmaker and Grab will operate ride-hailing services in Jakarta with the electric version of the compact starting early next year. They plan to expand the number of vehicles in operation by the end of the year. The Ioniq EV is capable of running 271 kilometers per single charge. It can be recharged to 8

MobilityDec. 13, 2019

9 former, current KT executives shortlisted for next chairman post

Nine candidates have been shortlisted for the position of next chairman of KT, South Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier said Friday. KT’s board of directors said late Thursday it had finalized a short list of nine candidates -- including three current KT executives and four former executives -- and announced the names of eight candidates. KT has not revealed the profile of one candidate upon the person’s request. The incumbent KT executives are Koo Hyun-mo, head of customer

TechnologyDec. 13, 2019

Samsung to invest additional $8b in China memory plant: report

Samsung Electronics will make an additional $8 billion investment in its memory plant in Xian, China, in a preemptive response to the projected growth of memory chip demand, according to news reports Friday. A Chinese media outlet reported that Samsung has officially decided to execute the investment for the Xian plant. Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul, however, declined to confirm the investment plan. According to the report, the decision was revealed Tuesday during a meeting between an ex

TechnologyDec. 13, 2019

Bank Salad ties up with Kakao Bank for open banking service

South Korean budget app Bank Salad said Friday it will start providing tie-up services with internet-only Kakao Bank later this month, allowing users to manage their online bank accounts more efficiently in line with the launch of open banking services.Financial technology firm Rainist, which operates Bank Salad, had launched a task force to prepare for the services in partnership with Kakao Bank, ahead of Dec. 18, when financial authorities will formally greenlight operations of open banking se

MarketDec. 13, 2019

Delivery Hero to acquire delivery app Baedal Minjok

Germany’s Delivery Hero, the operator of food delivery app Yogiyo here, is set to acquire its main Korean competitor Baedal Minjok, in the largest merger and acquisition deal of an internet startup in the country. Woowa Brothers, which runs the Baedal Mijok app, announced Friday that Delivery Hero will become its majority stakeholder with a stake of 87 percent, while setting the value of the firm at $4 billion. Delivery Hero is listed on the Frankfurt bourse and has been expanding its pres

IndustryDec. 13, 2019