[Newsmaker] Starbucks Korea admits giveaway bags had cancer-causing chemicals

Starbucks Korea on Thursday admitted that its summer giveaway bags had cancer-causing chemicals, and vowed to provide compensation to its customers with gift coupons. “We deeply apologize to our customers who are disappointed in us for the recent issue (surrounding the giveaway bags),” Starbucks Korea said in a statement. “On July 22, we have requested state-approved institutions to run tests on six unopened samples and five opened samples of our giveaway bags and detected

IndustryJuly 28, 2022

SK On to attract $2b loan to back 3rd battery plant in Europe

South Korean lithium-ion battery cell maker SK On announced Thursday that it plans to attract a combined $2 billion loan to ramp up its push for a new battery plant in Europe. The green financing will come from seven commercial banks with three export credit agencies -- Korea Trade Insurance Corp., Export-Import Bank of Korea and Allianz Trade (formerly known as Euler Hermes) -- supporting loans, loan guarantees and insurance. The borrowing will go to SK On‘s third European battery plant

IndustryJuly 28, 2022

Posco Chemical signs W13tr cathode deal with GM

Posco Chemical, a chemical materials unit of South Korean steel giant Posco, signed a deal to supply General Motors with 13 trillion won’s ($10 billion) worth of cathode materials on Thursday. Cathode materials determine the capacity and average voltage of batteries. With the deal, Posco will now supply high-nickel cathode materials, largely used as electric car batteries, to LG-GM joint venture Ultium Cells for three years. Posco chemical also plans to build production lines in North

IndustryJuly 28, 2022

Seoul shares up for 4th day to over 1-month high on eased uncertainty over Fed's rate hikes

South Korean stocks advanced for a fourth consecutive session Thursday as the chief of the US Federal Reserve has hinted at slowing the pace of its interest rate hikes down the road. The Korean won sharply rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 19.74 points, or 0.82 percent, to close at 2,435.27 points, the highest figure since June 17. Trading volume was a bit heavy at 477.4 million shares worth some 9.01 trillion won ($6.93 billion), with gain

MarketJuly 28, 2022

Fiscal chief downplays capital outflow concern despite Fed’s rate hikes

SEJONG -- The nation’s top economic policymaker on Thursday downplayed the possibility of an active capital flight among foreign investors, saying that the US Federal Reserve’s latest rate hike, which now stands higher than South Korea’s, was carried out within the market expectation. “The US Fed’s decision generally accords with market expectations,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, adding the international financial markets abs

MarketJuly 28, 2022

LG, SoundHound team up for in-car voice assistant system

LG Electronics said Thursday it has teamed up with US audio experts SoundHound to develop an artificial intelligence-based voice system for vehicles with demand growing for both driving convenience and safety. Best known for its music recognition service, Santa Clara, California-based SoundHound supplies voice assistant systems to a slew of automotive, mobile devices, smart home and robotics companies. As part of a memorandum, SoundHound’s voice recognition technology will be applied t

TechnologyJuly 28, 2022

Shinsegae Food launches plant-based canned ham

Shinsegae Food said Thursday that it plans to enter the global alternative meat market with its newly launched plant-based canned ham. “Hormel Foods’ Spam has dominated the global canned ham market since 1926. But in almost 100 years, we have become the first to make a vegan canned ham that has almost the same taste and texture,” said Song Hyun-suk, Shinsegae Food CEO, during a press conference. Song added that compared to other competitors who promote Korean foods unfamilia

ConsumerJuly 28, 2022

Sidewalk robots, new visa among 51 regulatory reforms

The government on Thursday unveiled a total of 51 regulatory reform projects across industries as part of effort to spur both innovation and investment. Easing excessive regulations is one of the campaign pledges of President Yoon Suk-yeol. Thursday’s announcement is the first batch of the plans following the launch of a new task force, led by Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, last month. Six areas, including new industries, environment, bio and health care, are subject to the deregulati

IndustryJuly 28, 2022

Drug Ministry looks to become 1st WHO-listed authority

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety aims to become the first regulatory body recognized by the World Health Organization to hold globally recognized authority for granting domestic permits of new drugs by December, officials said Thursday. Introduced earlier this year, the WHO-Listed Authority, or WLA, is the global organization’s initiative to certify a regulatory body as a globally recognized authority to replace the procurement-oriented concept of stringent regulatory

TechnologyJuly 28, 2022

Eximbank runs economic emergency taskforce

The Export-Import Bank of Korea said Thursday its executives, including its new CEO and heads of relevant departments, discussed credit support plans to help businesses tide over inflation, high interest rates and the weakening Korean won. Based on judgment that the unstable global supply of raw materials led to high prices, the “economic emergency task force” of Eximbank decided to increase the credit support for tackling the global supply chain crisis from the current 15 trillion

MarketJuly 28, 2022

S. Korean customs control goes online

South Korea’s customs office said Thursday it will launch an online customs declaration platform and an automated customs examination service at Korea‘s major international airports, beginning in August. Travelers entering Korea through Gimpo Airport and Incheon Airport Terminal 2 can now declare designated items through an online app. So far, travelers have been required to fill out a paper form on the plane before landing. The app allows travelers to input personal data by scann

IndustryJuly 28, 2022

Launch of Korea's 1st lunar mission 'Danuri' delayed

The highly anticipated launch of Danuri, South Korea’s first lunar mission, has been postponed at least two days, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday. Danuri’s launch, which was planned to take place on Aug. 2 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon rocket, has been delayed after SpaceX found that it needed to carry out additional checkups on the space vehicle before the launch. The ministry said SpaceX is currently in the process of obt

TechnologyJuly 28, 2022

Retail sales up 9.3% in H1 amid eased virus curbs

Retail sales in South Korea rose 9.3 percent on-year in the first half of this year amid eased COVID-19 curbs and the growth in people's outdoor activities, the industry ministry said Thursday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 82 trillion won ($65.2 billion) in the January-June period, up from 75 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Sales from offline stores rose 8.4 percent in the Janua

ConsumerJuly 28, 2022

S-Oil Q2 net more than doubles amid rising oil prices

S-Oil Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter net profit more than doubled from a year earlier on the back of widened refining margins helped by higher oil prices. Net profit came to 1.01 trillion won ($775.2 million) in the April-June period, up 146.9 percent from 410.7 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Aramco said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit reached 1.72 trillion won, more than tripling from the previous year's 571 billion won. Sales

IndustryJuly 28, 2022

Samsung’s profit surges 12% in Q2 on server demand, premium phone sales

Samsung Electronics logged an operating profit of 14.1 trillion won ($10.77 billion) during the second quarter, up 12.2 percent from the previous year despite rising material prices and recession fears that are weakening consumer demands, the company said Thursday. The South Korean tech giant’s quarterly revenue from April to June came to 77.2 trillion won, up 21.3 percent from a year prior, slightly beating the market consensus of 77 trillion won. The quarterly sales figure was the seco

TechnologyJuly 28, 2022

Seoul shares open higher on eased uncertainty over Fed's rate hikes

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as the US Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by a widely expected 0.75 percentage point. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 16.88 points, or 0.7 percent, to trade at 2,432.1 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Wrapping up a two-day meeting, the US central bank on Wednesday (US time) announced a three-quarters of a point rate increase to put its policy rate in a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent, the highest level since 201

MarketJuly 28, 2022

Corporate direct financing dips 6.7% in H1 on reduced debt sales

Corporate direct financing in South Korea decreased 6.7 percent on-year in the first half as bond sales plunged amid a sharp increase in market rates, data showed Thursday. Local companies raised a total of 114.5 trillion won ($87.1 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in the January-June period, down 8.24 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Direct financing refers to raising funds directly from the stock and bond markets witho

MarketJuly 28, 2022

Biz sentiment for July hits 17-month low on inflation, recession woes

South Korea's business sentiment dipped to the lowest in 17 months in July, with companies bracing for rising inflation amid recession woes, a central bank poll showed Thursday. The business sentiment index (BSI) came to 80 for July, down two points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The tally is the lowest reading since 76 in February, 2021. The index measures corporate prospects for business conditions in the following month. A reading below 100 m

IndustryJuly 28, 2022

New Pyeongtaek base to provide hydrogen for 430,000 vehicles

SEJONG -- A second hydrogen production base in Korea is set to kick off operations in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, next month, to improve the supply volume of energy to vehicle charging stations in Seoul and neighboring cities. The Pyeongtaek base, located at the Asan Industrial Complex, some 60 kilometers south of Seoul, will have the capacity of providing 430,000 hydrogen-fueled vehicles, including commercial ones, with energy per annum, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Ene

IndustryJuly 27, 2022

Inflation outlook hits all-time high as growth prospects dim

South Koreans expect prices to rise at a record level in the next 12 months and the economy to underperform, a Bank of Korea survey showed Wednesday, as the export-led economy faces shrinking growth over poor exports. In a monthly survey of 2,500 households conducted July 11-18, consumers forecast inflation to average 4.7 percent, hitting its highest level since 2008 when the central bank began releasing the data. The all-time high, up from the previous 3.9 percent in June, also marked the lar

EconomyJuly 27, 2022