Tensions rise as Korea waits for verdict on Lone Star dispute

South Korea is watching closely a verdict set to be delivered by an international dispute settlement body for a decadelong dispute between the government and US private equity firm Lone Star next week. The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes’ verdict on Aug. 31 will come almost 10 years after Lone Star filed a suit against the Korean government in November 2012, seeking $4.68 billion in compensation. Lone Star claimed that the financial authorities here botched its

MarketAug. 25, 2022

KB launches new premium private banking brand

South Korea’s KB Financial Group on Thursday launched its new premium private banking and asset management brand to better cater to its wealthy clients. “KB Gold & Wise the First” plans to adopt a “Credit Suisse-like” model in which private bankers and asset managers from KB Kookmin Bank and KB Securities and experts from areas such as investment, tax, real estate and trusts are brought together as a single team for their clients, according to the firm. Clie

MarketAug. 25, 2022

‘Inflation law may disrupt Korean exports of 100,000 plus EVs’

South Korean carmakers on Thursday said at least 100,000 electric vehicles built here would face disruption in export sales annually under the new US law, which excludes battery-powered vehicles made outside of the US from tax credits. They also urged the South Korean government to revise the current subsidy law and map out temporary measures for local carmakers, such as tax credits.  According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, of which Hyundai Motor and Kia are members,

MobilityAug. 25, 2022

Postech chip professor wins Merck Award

Professor Noh Yong-Young of Postech won an annual award given by Merck Korea in recognition of his innovative research into the development of semiconducting materials for backplane thin-film transistor technology of organic light-emitting diode displays. His research, Merck Korea says, could contribute to the commercialization of backplane p-type thin-film transistors for high-performance OLED displays if further developed. The Merck Young Scientist Award went to professor Kang Suk-ku for prop

TechnologyAug. 25, 2022

Allink offers new NFT experience to Samsung New Galaxy NFT holders

Allink, an NFC tag-based information transfer solution company, has partnered up with Samsung Electrionics, the company said Thursday. Allink provided a non-fungible token solution that enables mobile phones to transfer information to various terminals by tapping the phone on the NFC tag. With this solution, New Galaxy NFT holders can have access to in-store benefits on their Thetadrop wallet by tapping on Allink’s tag at Samsung Digital Plaza, Shilla Duty-Free Shop, Eland Cruise, and Sh

TechnologyAug. 25, 2022

Seoul stocks end higher for 2nd day on eased uncertainty over BOK rate hike

South Korean stocks finished higher Thursday as investors gained clarity on the Bank of Korea's monetary tightening. The Korean won also gained ground against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 29.81 points, or 1.22 percent, to close at 2,477.26, keeping the two-day winning streak. Trading volume was moderate at 410.32 million shares worth 7.06 trillion won ($5.29 billion), with gainers far outpacing decliners 708 to 150. Institutions and foreign investors, c

MarketAug. 25, 2022

Samsung, Gates Foundation complete Reinvent the Toilet project

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it celebrated the completion of the Reinvent the Toilet project that has been conducted over the past three years in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation launched the “RT” project in 2011 with an aim to generate innovative solutions that can protect people and communities from human waste-borne pathogens and help underdeveloped countries deliver more inclusive sanitation services that reach the poorest co

TechnologyAug. 25, 2022

Samsung SDS to join NIST’s post-quantum cryptography project

Samsung SDS said Thursday it is joining a post-quantum cryptography project led by a cybersecurity center at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US, along with a slew of global tech firms like Amazon Web Service, Cisco and Microsoft. The project, called Migration to PQC or post-quantum cryptography, aims to replace the current cryptographic algorithms, especially public-key cryptography, to better protect digital information in the era of quantum computing. Once access

TechnologyAug. 25, 2022

Kyobo Life builds Korean language school in Indonesia

Kyobo Life Insurance Co., a South Korean life insurer, said on Thursday it has established the Cia-Cia Hangeul School on Buton Island, Indonesia, in partnership with the Korea Cia-Cia Cultural Exchange Association. The Cia-Cia are one of Indonesia’s 350 minorities who in 2009 officially chose to use the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, to preserve its fading language. The Cia-Cia local language, also known as Butonese, does not have its own writing system. They use Hangeul to mimic the pronuncia

IndustryAug. 25, 2022

Dokdo unlabeled on Apple Maps in 22 countries

Apple Maps, iPhone’s built-in map application, was found to have no labeling of the Dokdo islets in over 20 countries across the world, a South Korean professor claimed on Thursday. Seo Kyoung-duk, a general education professor at Sungshin Women’s University, wrote in a post on his social media accounts that iPhone’s built-in map application in 22 countries had no recognition of South Korea’s easternmost islets, citing his social media followers as sources. The list of

TechnologyAug. 25, 2022

[Exclusive] Jeju Island to launch drone taxi routes for tourists by 2025

South Korea’s resort island of Jeju will launch air routes for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and drone taxis dedicated to tourists in the island by 2025, as the first municipality in the country to do so. Aimed at offering quick and accessible air mobility in the near future, the routes will connect the island’s popular tourist spots through the coast with quick and accessible air mobility in the near future, an executive who devised the idea told The Korea Herald on Thursday.  Jej

MobilityAug. 25, 2022

Hyundai Rotem wins W755.7b train car order in Egypt

Hyundai Rotem Co., a South Korean railway system and plant equipment maker, said Thursday it has received a 755.7 billion-won (US$560 million) order for subway train cars in Egypt. Under the deal signed with Egypt's National Authority for Tunnels (NAT), Hyundai Rotem will supply subway train cars for the No. 2 and No. 3 subway lines in Cairo by 2028, the company said in a statement. Hyundai Rotem is an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, which has Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. under its win

IndustryAug. 25, 2022

Seoul shares open higher ahead of BOK rate policy meeting

South Korea's stock market opened higher Thursday as investors brace for yet another rate increase by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 11.02 points, or 0.45 percent, to trade at 2,458.47 as of 9:15 a.m. The BOK is widely expected to raise its policy rate by 0.25 percentage point to 2.5 percent at a policy meeting later in the day. The central bank delivered an unprecedented 0.5 percentage-point rate hike last month to tackle inflation. It

MarketAug. 25, 2022

Producer prices grow for 7th month in July on electricity, service costs

South Korea's producer prices increased for the seventh straight month in July as electricity and transportation service bills rose, raising worries that it could add to upward pressure on already-high inflation, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 120.47 last month, up 0.3 percent from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Compared with a year earlier, the index jumped 9

EconomyAug. 25, 2022

Ramen next in line for sharp price hike

Amid soaring food costs, prices of ramen, Koreans’ most favored instant food and a common low-cost meal option, are set for an increase next month, in another blow to customers already grappling with persistent inflation. Koreans consumed the most instant noodles per capita in the world in 2020. Nongshim, a leading South Korean ramen maker, said Wednesday that it was raising prices for instant noodles and snacks, effective Sept. 15, by an average of 11.3 percent and 5.7 percent, respectiv

EconomyAug. 24, 2022

Oriental Brewery VP shares how beer company could go green

South Korea’s largest beer maker Oriental Brewery introduced its climate change-tackling technology at the Conference of Global Climate Action Fund, according to the company on Wednesday. The conference, initiated for the first time and scheduled to be held from Monday to Friday, was co-hosted by the W Foundation and United Nations Climate Change Convention. It was designed to support private sector efforts to achieve carbon neutrality. At the conference, Nataly Borges, vice president o

IndustryAug. 24, 2022

K-content tweets increase 546% over 10 years

The amount of tweets related to Korean content has grown 546 percent over the past 10 years, according to Twitter. “K-content’s growth on Twitter follows the explosive growth pattern of K-pop,” said Kim Yeong-jeong, Twitter’s head of global K-pop and K-contents partnership, Tuesday at the Content Marketing Summit 2022 held at the InterContinental Hotel in Seoul. “Twitter‘s strength, which allowed K-pop to expand its reach over the past few years, is expect

TechnologyAug. 24, 2022

Lotte Chemical becomes sole bidder for Iljin Materials

Lotte Chemical has emerged as the sole bidder in the sale of South Korea’s second-largest copper foil manufacturer Iljin Materials, according to a local report Wednesday. Global private equity fund operators and foreign strategic investors have pulled out during the bidding process due to Iljin Materials’ high prices and rate hikes, leaving Lotte Chemical as the only bidder, the Herald Business said in an exclusive report, citing investment bank sources. Lotte Chemical on Monday c

MarketAug. 24, 2022

Hyundai Motor invests in automotive semiconductor startup

Hyundai Motor Group said on Tuesday it has decided to invest in Bos Semiconductors, an automotive semiconductor startup. Bos Semiconductor is a fabless startup which specializes in manufacturing system semiconductors used in automotive software. The startup aims to design high-performance semiconductors that consume low amounts of power. It also aims to manufacture central processing units and high-speed interfaces that are essential for automotive semiconductors. Hyundai Motor’s inv

IndustryAug. 24, 2022

Seoul stocks snap 5-day losing streak; local currency up for 1st in 7 sessions

South Korean stocks finished higher Wednesday, after five consecutive sessions of losses, as investors bought oversold issues. The Korean won also gained ground against the US dollar for the first time in seven sessions. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 12.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,447.45, breaking the five-day losing streak. Trading volume was moderate at 407.61 million shares worth 7.93 trillion won ($5.91 billion), with gainers outpacing decliners 575 to 275.

MarketAug. 24, 2022