Leaving Lee Jae-yong's position unchanged, Samsung Electronics replaces CEOs

Samsung Electronics has replaced all its CEOs and combined its mobile and home appliance business divisions in a surprise move, ditching the decade-old system that landed the South Korean tech giant in the top position in smartphones, TVs and semiconductors. In a year-end leadership reshuffle announced Tuesday, the company said it was reorganizing its operational structure, which will now consist of a consumer business unit called the SET division and a chip business unit called the device solu

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

Krafton to lead W13b investment in Middle East mobile game publisher

South Korea’s Krafton, the company behind megahit video game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, said Tuesday it would help secure investment of 13 billion won ($11 million) for Tamatem, a leading mobile game publisher in the Middle East and North Africa. The Korean game developer, which has already invested 7 billion won in the Jordan-based publisher, will work with investors like Venture Souq and Endeavor Catalyst to deliver the funding. Tamatem is one of the three major publishers in

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

[Herald Interview] 'Korea has potential to play key role in global bio market'

Led by major biopharmaceutical companies in Celltrion and Samsung Biologics, South Korea is poised to make a bigger impact on the global market, according to German science and technology group Merck. “Executives at Merck headquarters think the Korean government’s vision to turn the country into a global vaccine hub by 2025 is impressive. There were suggestions to actively cooperate with the Korean government and support its strategic efforts to foster the bio industry,” said

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

Trade Week provides export chances for Seoul SMEs

Trade Week 2021 -- the Seoul Business Agency’s global trade conference, established to offer export opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in Seoul -- began its four-day run Tuesday. The SBA, a city-run agency that supports SMEs in the capital, said a total of 300 companies will participate in more than 1,200 online export consultations with 500 foreign buyers from more than 20 countries. The participating companies work mainly in the categories of beauty, lifestyle, food,

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

Woori Bank opens Hungary office

South Korea’s Woori Bank opened its first representative office in Budapest, Hungary, after financial authorities there last week granted the license to operate, the firm said Tuesday. Woori said it plans to finance both Korean businesses that have entered the market and Hungarian businesses through the new office. Hungary has grown as a key destination for Korean businesses seeking to launch electric vehicle battery plants or auto parts manufacturing factories in recent years. Woori&r

MarketDec. 7, 2021

Ministry announces guideline on stable online services by Netflix, Google

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Tuesday unveiled a guideline on a revised law requiring Netflix and other tech giants to improve their online service quality. Last December, South Korea passed a law revision holding online content service providers accountable if they fail to maintain stable services amid growing complaints against streaming giants Netflix and Google after their services experienced a number of outages. The revised law, informally dubbed the "Netflix law" in the c

TechnologyDec. 7, 2021

S. Korea secures stable urea supply from Indonesia for next 3 years

South Korea will be able to import around 120,000 tons of urea per year from Indonesia over the next three years, a move expected to help prevent a supply crunch of the key industry material here, Seoul's industry ministry said Tuesday. The agreement was made as Seoul's Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook and Indonesia's State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) meant to boost bilateral cooperation in the urea supply earlier in the day. South Korea h

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

Over 2 million jobs disappeared while 710,000 created last year: data

Some 2.63 million jobs have disappeared in the last year, while only 710,000 new jobs have been added, government data showed Tuesday. According to Statistics Korea, over 2 million jobs have been destroyed due to companies downsizing their workforce or shutting down businesses due to the pandemic.  In the same period, some 710,000 jobs were created. More than half, or 53.5 percent, of them were for people aged 60 or above, followed by those in their 50s and 40s with 3.2 percent and 1.6

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

Samsung Electronics CFO tapped to lead Samsung’s battery arm

Choi Yoon-ho, the chief financial officer of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics widely known to be close to its de facto leader Lee Jae-yong, was named Tuesday as the new chief executive officer of Samsung SDI, a Samsung affiliate dedicated to manufacturing batteries and display panel parts. The 58-year-old currently heads Samsung Electronics’ corporate management office, which encompasses its corporate finance, corporate strategy, human resources, corporate communications, globa

TechnologyDec. 7, 2021

LG CNS launches service for corporate migration to metaverse

South Korean information technology service firm LG CNS said Tuesday that it had launched a virtual office service by teaming up with Japanese firm oVice, a move to capitalize on metaverse technology to address demand for pandemic-friendly remote work environments. LG CNS will play a role in migrating corporate clients’ work environment online, allowing the clients’ employees to do everyday tasks such as exchanging emails and receiving notifications or checking schedules. Employees

TechnologyDec. 7, 2021

Moody's to closely monitor S. Korean non-banking sector's asset soundness: analyst

Moody's Investors Service will closely monitor the asset soundness of non-banking financial institutions in South Korea amid worries that they could face risks from snowballing corporate and household debt and rising interest rates, an analyst of the global credit appraiser said Tuesday. In a virtual media briefing, Ok Tae-jong, a senior analyst at Moodys' Investors also said that a continued increase in household debt and asset prices could negatively affect the evaluation of the overall banki

EconomyDec. 7, 2021

Hyundai Bioscience COVID-19 treatment candidate shows efficacy with dexamethasone

South Korean biotechnology firm Hyundai Bioscience Co. said Tuesday that the combination of its oral antiviral candidate and dexamethasone showed high efficacy in treating COVID-19 during animal testings. The company is currently re-purposing niclosamide-based CP-COV03 as a potential treatment for the COVID-19 virus. The investigative drug's indication also includes influenza. Citing the result of the latest animal testing, Hyundai Bioscience said use of both CP-COV03 and dexamethasone resulte

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

S. Korean shipbuilders rank first in global new orders for 2nd month

South Korean shipbuilders ranked first in global new orders for a second month in November, far outpacing their Chinese rivals, industry data showed Tuesday. Local shipbuilders, led by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., gained 58 percent, or a combined 770,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs), of 1.32 million CGT global new orders last month, according to data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service. Chinese shipbuilders bagged 460,000 CGTs, taking up 35 percent of the total. I

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

S. Korea to implement eased capital gain taxes on home sales on Wednesday

South Korea said Tuesday it will implement eased capital gain taxes on property sales for single-home owners this week amid growing public discontent over real estate-related tax burdens ahead of the presidential election. Last week, the National Assembly approved a revision to the income tax act that calls for raising a threshold of capital gains tax exemptions on real estate sales for single-house owners to 1.2 billion won (US$1 million) from the previous 900 million won. The government appr

EconomyDec. 7, 2021

S. Koreans' spending on Disney+ hits over W17b in Nov.: data

South Koreans are estimated to have spent more than 17 billion won ($14.5 million) in purchasing contents by Disney+ less than a month since its launch here, data showed Tuesday. Payments to Disney+ in the country were estimated at 17.2 billion won for November, according to industry tracker WiseApp, which analyzed credit and debit card data of those aged 20 or over. WiseApp added that the data excludes other payment methods, such as those through telecom operators. Disney+, the flagship stre

TechnologyDec. 7, 2021

Samsung Heavy Industries wins W734b orders for 3 LNG carriers

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Tuesday that it has bagged two orders worth a combined 734 billion won ($621 million) to construct three liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. With the latest deals, Samsung Heavy Industries has won orders worth a cumulative $11.8 billion so far this year, exceeding 30 percent of its annual order target of $9.1 billion, the shipbuilder said in an emailed statement. By ship, Samsung Heavy Industries bagged orders for 20 LNG carriers, 44 container carriers and

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

Over 70% of state budget to be frontloaded in first half of next year

South Korea said Tuesday it has allocated 73 percent of fiscal spending for implementation in the first half of next year in a bid to help the country's economic recovery gain traction. The government plans to front-load 363.5 trillion won ($307.7 billion) of next year's budget spending of 497.7 trillion won in the January-June period, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The 2022 proposition is higher than 72.4 percent of the budget spending allocated in the first half of this ye

EconomyDec. 7, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower amid inflation concerns

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, largely as the estimate-beating jobs data in the United States raised investors' concerns that the Federal Reserve could hasten its key rate hike to reign in the inflation pressure. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) decreased 8.49 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,964.76 in the first 15 minutes of trading. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.66 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix traded flat. Pharmaceutical gi

MarketDec. 7, 2021

Celltrion's COVID-19 antibody treatment wins emergency approval in Australia

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion Inc. said Tuesday its COVID-19 antibody treatment has won emergency approval from Australian authorities. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) granted provisional approval of Rekirona for the intravenous treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adult patients. It is the fifth COVID-19 treatment to receive regulatory approval in Australia. Rekirona is a monoclonal antibody with activity against COVID-19. A monoclonal antibody is a type of prot

IndustryDec. 7, 2021

S. Korea logs current account surplus for 18th straight month in October

South Korea logged a current account surplus for the 18th straight month in October, though the surplus was smaller than the previous month due to increased imports amid high energy and raw material prices, the central bank said Tuesday. The current account surplus came to $6.95 billion in October, down from $10.07 billion a month earlier, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea. The October figure marked the 18th straight month that the current account has been in the black since

EconomyDec. 7, 2021