Wealthy young Koreans hold average asset of W6.6b: report

Wealthy Koreans in their 20s, 30s and 40s held an average asset of 6.6 billion won ($5.3 million) with a median annual income of 400 million won as of end-2021, a report showed Wednesday. The report dubbed 2022 Korean Wealth Report compiled by a think tank under Hana Bank was based on a survey of 1,952 Koreans above the age of 19 conducted in December last year. It categorized 708 respondents with personal assets over 1 billion won as “wealthy,” and of the group, 131 people aged bet

MarketApril 13, 2022

Posco wins Worldsteel‘s recognition for sustainable management

South Korean steelmaker Posco was named Sustainability Champion of the year by the World Steel Association in recognition of its sustainable management, the company said Wednesday. Worldsteel is an international non-profit organization representing the global steel industry with memberships of 140 companies around the world.  The organization named 10 companies for their sustainable efforts. Posco was added to the list for the first time, the company said. The Worldsteel recognition is

IndustryApril 13, 2022

SK Telecom buys stake in 3D motion graphics firm in metaverse push

South Korean telecommunications giant SK Telecom said Wednesday it has agreed to buy a stake in Morph Interactive, a Seoul-based three-dimensional motion graphics company, in a move to bolster a strategic partnership for accelerating its metaverse push. The deal terms, such as acquisition cost and the amount of Morph Interactive’s stake, was undisclosed upon the consent of the two companies. Morph Interactive has been dedicated to real-time 3D visual effects on Unity’s game engine

TechnologyApril 13, 2022

KT to launch telemedicine pilot in Vietnam by 2022

South Korean telecommunication firm KT said Wednesday it plans to launch a pilot telemedicine platform in Vietnam before the end of this year, with the aim of a soft landing within the next three years. The service will be aimed at monitoring those who are suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure, allowing patients to check their health conditions, medications and workouts, and get access to counseling with Vietnamese medical professionals. Vietnam&lsquo

TechnologyApril 13, 2022

Samsung opens store in Argentina's southernmost city of Ushuaia

SAO PAULO -- Global tech powerhouse Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it has opened an outlet in Argentina's southernmost city of Ushuaia. The store, which opened Friday, carries Samsung's Galaxy S22 smartphone, the Galaxy Watch 4, accessories and other products, according to Samsung's Latin America Headquarters. Ushuaia, which claims the title of the world's southernmost city and has a population of some 60,000, is one of five internationally recognized Antarctic gateway cities and lures man

IndustryApril 13, 2022

Job growth slows in March amid upsurge in COVID-19 cases

South Korea reported job additions for the 13th consecutive month in March, but job growth slowed from the previous month as employment in in-person services was hit by the upsurge in COVID-19 cases, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 27.75 million last month, up 831,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The number of employed people grew by the largest for any March since 2002, when it rose 864,000 on-year. But the March tally was

EconomyApril 13, 2022

[Graphic News] Rice farmers’ net income hits 20-year high in 2021

　Rice farmers in South Korea posted the largest net profit in 20 years in 2021 thanks mainly to favorable weather conditions, data showed. 　Rice farmers’ net income reached some 502,000 won ($414.2) per 1,000-square-meter paddy last year, up 13.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. 　The amount represents the highest net profit from rice cultivation since the 511,600 won recorded in 2001. 　The statistics agency said local farmers’ net i

BusinessApril 13, 2022

Vehicle registration in S. Korea surpasses 25 million

The number of registered vehicles in South Korea had surpassed 25 million as of end-March, which means one out of every two South Koreans owns a vehicle, data showed Wednesday. Car registrations had come to 25.07 million units in the country of 52 million people as of end-March, up 2.12 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The number of environmentally friendly cars registered here had advanced 7.7 percent from the previous y

IndustryApril 13, 2022

Aviation experts gather in Seoul to prepare for post-COVID era

Aviation experts from around the world gathered in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss ways to promote the aviation industry’s safe recovery in the post-pandemic era. During the 2022 International Civil Aviation Organization’s Legal Seminar hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, South Korea’s Transport Minister Noh Hyeong-ouk pointed out that governments around the world have sought for diverse ways to support the air industry to recover from plunging travel dem

MobilityApril 12, 2022

Edison files court injunction against SsangYong's sale bid

Edison Motors Co. has filed a court injunction seeking to block SsangYong Motor Co.'s move to find a new buyer after its takeover bid fell through due to payment failure, a filing showed Tuesday. Edison said in a regulatory filing that it lodged the injunction request with the Seoul Central District Court, claiming SsangYong must not "proceed with a new takeover other than the one with the Edison consortium under the contract signed in January."  Edison has agreed to buy Ssang

IndustryApril 12, 2022

S. Korea to make nuclear power U-turn under new government

The transition committee working for President Yoon Suk-yeol said Tuesday that the incoming government will embrace nuclear power in its decarbonization efforts, signaling a major shift in energy policy the outgoing Moon Jae-in government had said has no place for nuclear power. Won Hee-ryong, chief policymaker setting out Yoon’s agenda, said Korea had seen more emissions and would see soaring electricity costs because of Moon’s push to phase out nuclear power, which makes up roughl

EconomyApril 12, 2022

Baemin sales surge 70-fold from 2014 on pandemic delivery demand

Korea’s food delivery app Baemin logged 2.3 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in sales last year, a 70-fold surge from 2014 when it started filing financial reports to authorities, its operator Woowa Brothers said in a regulatory filing Tuesday. “The stellar performance in recent years was largely driven by COVID-19, with many restaurant partners joining our app,” said an official from Woowa Brothers. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the company surpassed 1 trillion won i

ConsumerApril 12, 2022

Consumption to fuel Korea’s growth: AMRO

SEJONG -- The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office has predicted that South Korea would attain a 3 percent growth this year on the back of robust consumption among households. In its outlook report on the 13 Asian economies on Tuesday, AMRO maintained its earlier forecast of a 3 percent growth for Korea, which was the figure suggested by the organization in January. The figure was in line with estimates suggested by the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank. The Ministry

EconomyApril 12, 2022

Seoul shares down for 2nd day on rate hike, China's slowdown concerns

South Korean stocks ended lower Tuesday, as investors kept a wary eye on the US central bank's hawkish monetary tightening stance and China's economic slowdown amid its COVID-19 lockdown. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 26.34 points, or 0.98 percent, to close at 2,666.76 points. Trading volume was moderate at around 854.23 million shares worth some 9.54 trillion won ($7.72 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 643 to

MarketApril 12, 2022

Resort developer Ananti ditches North Korean project

South Korean luxury resort developer Ananti said Tuesday that it has decided to pull out from its resort and golf club project in the Kumgangsan tourist zone of North Korea, a business that once symbolized inter-Korean rapprochement. The decision comes after a news report that Pyongyang appears to have started demolishing South Korean facilities at the Kumgangsan Ananti Golf & Spa Resort on the North’s eastern coast. On Monday, US news outlet NK News published satellite images sugg

IndustryApril 12, 2022

PPS to host marketplace for global procurement

Korea‘s Public Procurement Service is set to host an annual consultation fair in November to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises seeking entry into overseas procurement markets valued at $12.8 trillion. The annual event titled Global Public Procurement Marketplace (GPPM) has supported SMEs since 2016 to provide information concerning offshore markets such as foreign procurement laws and local market trends. According to the PPS, the event brings together Korean enterprises, forei

IndustryApril 12, 2022

Korean electronics firms wary of fallout as China lockdown lingers

South Korean companies are keeping a wary eye on looming supply chain disruptions and slowing consumer electronics demand as the pandemic lockdown in China shows no signs of ending. While there are signs that the severe lockdown and fast spreading coronavirus in the Chinese port city Shanghai could spread to other cities, including port city Guangzhou, prospects of the slowing demand of consumer electronics -- especially in China -- is adding to the concerns. The lockdown in Shanghai, beginnin

IndustryApril 12, 2022

S. Korea, Israel to invest $5.3m for robotics development

South Korea and Israel have pledged to invest up to $5.3 million (6.6 billion won) to support the joint development of robotics technology under a new strategic collaboration project named the Lighthouse Program, officials said Tuesday. As a joint research and development project between Seoul and Jerusalem, the Lighthouse Program is a follow-up of the revisions made to the industrial technology agreement between the two countries last year. Both sides agreed to double the annual funding for th

TechnologyApril 12, 2022

PPS-certified companies’ overseas shipments grow despite COVID-19

Korean small- and medium-sized companies certified by the governmental Public Procurement Service for their technological aptitude and product quality saw their overseas shipments grow despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The certified companies -- called Government Performance Assured (G-PASS) companies -- have recorded $1.25 billion in actual exports last year, a 69.1 percent increase from $740 million in 2020, according to PPS authorities. This far exceeds South Korea’s average expor

IndustryApril 12, 2022

SK eyes stake in Bill Gates-backed TerraPower: report

SK Group is reportedly seeking to acquire a sizeable stake in TerraPower, a US nuclear power startup backed by Bill Gates, as part of its investment push in the carbon-free energy sector such as electric vehicle batteries and hydrogen. According to local daily Chosun Ilbo on Tuesday, the nation’s third-largest conglomerate is in talks to purchase a 10 percent stake, worth $15.4 million, in TerraPower, from India’s Reliance Industries. “Nothing has been decided yet,” an

IndustryApril 12, 2022