GS Energy to bring in annual 200,000 tons of blue ammonia from UAE

GS Energy Corp., an energy unit of South Korean conglomerate GS Group, has secured a deal to annually bring in about 200,000 tons of blue ammonia from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2025, according to the company. GS Energy announced Tuesday it has joined a project led by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) to build a production facility to co-develop the clean energy compound in a city west of Abu Dhabi. GS Energy will hold a 10 percent stake in the project. Further details on the terms o

IndustryNov. 17, 2021

S. Korea to focus on stabilizing housing market: minister

South Korea plans to pump up its efforts to stabilize the housing market as surging home prices and speculative demand have showed signs of easing, the country's top economic policymaker said Wednesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the growth of housing prices and demand for home buying have slowed since September in the latest sign that people's expectations for further price gains might have changed. "As market anxiety that has driven housing price gains appears to significantly ch

EconomyNov. 17, 2021

Large firms' capital spending gains over 7% despite pandemic

South Korea's large companies increased their investments by more than 7 percent in the first nine months of this year as part of efforts to find future growth engines despite the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. Combined capital spending by 336 out of the country's top 500 businesses came to 124.4 trillion won ($105 billion) in the January-September period, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier, according to CEO Score. Firms in information and technology, electric and el

EconomyNov. 17, 2021

'Drone taxi’ race heats up as Korean Air, Lotte announce new urban air mobility projects

The race to commercialize urban air mobility services is heating up as national flag carrier Korean Air and retail giant Lotte on Tuesday announced new projects to help introduce drone airport shuttles. Korean Air said it has signed an agreement with Hyundai Motor, Incheon International Airport Corp., KT and Hyundai E&C to help build UAM infrastructure and improve social acceptance toward the new means of public transport. The airline will share its experience of operating passenger and ca

MobilityNov. 17, 2021

Top comedian Yu Jae-seok joins Kakao Entertainment’s capital increase

Korea’s top comedian Yoo Jae-suk became a shareholder of Kakao Entertainment, the agency said Tuesday. “Yoo Jae-suk participated in the agency’s most recent capital increase, largely to strengthen his trust-based partnership with Yu Hee-yeol,” a Kakao Entertainment official said. Yu, CEO of K-pop agency Antenna, had invested 7 billion won ($5.9 million) in Kakao Entertainment after selling all the shares of his own company. Yu currently holds 0.07 percent of Kakao Ente

MarketNov. 16, 2021

S. Korea to burn hydrogen, ammonia at thermal power plants

The South Korean government announced Tuesday it will develop hydrogen and ammonia as feedstock for thermal power generation in order to gradually phase out the use of fossil fuels. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the government has launched a public-private council to lead the research, with an aim of introducing hydrogen and ammonia in the fuel mix as early as 2030. The ministry’s plan envisions more than half of South Korea’s coal-fired thermal power pl

IndustryNov. 16, 2021

Pandemic gives rise to new outdoor tennis, golf facilities: data

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor sports facilities and counseling centers have enjoyed a business boom, while internet cafes and karaoke rooms struggled, fresh data shows.  According to Shinhan Card’s Big Data Lab on Tuesday, which analyzed new business openings in the January-September period in 2020 and 2021, tennis courts and outdoor golf courses saw a jump of 174 percent and 131 percent, respectively, during the nine-month period.  Golf has enjoyed expl

IndustryNov. 16, 2021

Samsung narrows down list of candidates for $17b chip plant in US

Samsung Electronics Co. appears to be moving closer to making a final decision on the site for its new chip fabrication plant in the United States, as global semiconductor companies have engaged in increasingly fierce competition amid a global chip crunch. The South Korean tech giant was found to have withdrawn its application filed in January with Manor Independent School District (ISD) in Travis County, Texas, for corporate tax incentives regarding its new chip plant, the Texas comptroller's

IndustryNov. 16, 2021

[Herald Interview] CrucialTec taps EV market with eco-friendly painting tech

CrucialTec, once famed for its optical trackpad for BlackBerry, is venturing into the sizzling electric vehicle market, with a no-contact painting technology. Called the “Vacuum Steam Solution (VSS)” transfer technology, the Pangyo-based firm’s new expertise is about painting the surface of electric devices like smartphone cases, home appliances, as well as the interior and exterior materials of automobiles. By applying heat and pressure to ink-coated films in a manner that

TechnologyNov. 16, 2021

Seoul stocks edge down after US-China talks

South Korean stocks inched down Tuesday as investors digest the results of video talks between the presidents of the United States and China. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 2.31 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 2,997.21 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 567 million shares worth some 10.5 trillion won ($8.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 547 to 304. Foreigners bought a net 241 billion won, wh

MarketNov. 16, 2021

[Hydrogen Korea] Korea Gas Corp. aims to lead the hydrogen way

Korea Gas Corp. was born in the aftermath of the global oil crises of the 1970s, with a mission to lead a fuel transition to natural gas. Nearly four decades later, the company is being asked to step up, as South Korea plans another grand energy transition to hydrogen. “In the aftermath of the global oil crisis, Korea decided to switch its national fuel to natural gas and formed Kogas (in 1983). Since then, Kogas led the natural gas transition and experienced every step along the way,&

IndustryNov. 16, 2021

SK in final talks for investment in US gene therapy firm

SK Inc., the holding company of South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate SK Group, said Tuesday it is in the final talks to invest in a US gene therapy company, in its latest move to expand its foothold in global biopharmaceuticals.  SK said it plans to sign a formal deal soon with the Center for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM), a Philadelphia-based contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO), before the end of this year. Details on the terms of the investment were not available. With

IndustryNov. 16, 2021

DataStreams chief wins global management award

Big data platform company DataStreams said its CEO Lee Young-sang won a global management award from Maekyung Media Group last week. Founded 20 years ago, DataStreams is a leading company in the local big data solutions market and is taking steps to get listed on the Kosdaq. The company also plans to set up corporations in the US, Vietnam and China, and a joint venture with a Vietnamese partner next year to explore the Southeast Asian market. DataStreams has won a number of orders this year i

IndustryNov. 16, 2021

Mirae Asset Securities named to Dow Jones Sustainability World Index

Mirae Asset Securities said Tuesday it was listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the 10th consecutive year, receiving recognition for its commitment to socially responsible investment. As the first global sustainability benchmark, the DJSI World Index selects the top 2,544 listed companies based on their free-float market capitalization. It then evaluates the companies’ environment, social and governance performance and only picks the top 10 percent to be added to the i

MarketNov. 16, 2021

Airlines expand international routes amid ‘living with COVID-19’

Airlines are slowly expanding international flights from Korea as the country takes gradual steps to open up and live with the pandemic. Low-cost carrier Jin Air said on Tuesday it will expand the number of flights for the Incheon-Guam route from two to four every week starting Nov. 28. As a gradual return to normal life begins, the airline said it plans to fly once every day by the end of this year. For golf tourists, Jin Air also said it will launch a non-scheduled flight to the city of Kot

MobilityNov. 16, 2021

KRX sends warning on speculative transactions as NFT frenzy shakes up market

The Korea Exchange, the sole stock market operator of Korea, placed gaming company NCSoft under an investment caution on Tuesday, a day after an unnamed individual investor was disclosed to have sold 530,000 shares, or a 2.4 percent stake, in the company. The news came as a surprise to market watchers, as the same day trader was seen buying over 703,000 shares and sold 211,000 shares on Thursday -- when NCSoft shares hit the price ceiling at 786,000 won ($666.50) apiece from the previous closi

MarketNov. 16, 2021

Skepticism grows over presidential hopefuls’ real estate tax pledges

Experts have cast doubt on recent pledges made by major presidential candidates and their parties on overhauling real estate tax rules, with critics raising questions over its feasibility and impact on the property market. Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party, on Sunday vowed via Facebook to reexamine the comprehensive real estate holding tax, which is levied on high-value or multiple property owners. The tax is currently levied annually between t

EconomyNov. 16, 2021

Co-buying: Survival strategy for MZ generation amid real estate bubble

Kang, an office worker in his 20s, recently became a co-owner of a commercial building located in Seoul’s Gangnam district worth 10 billion won ($8.47 million) with a capital of only 5,000 won. “Earlier in December last year, I participated in a joint investment project led by a local fintech firm to buy a building named Yeoksam London Vill, a recently built eight-story commercial property in Gangnam. I invested 5,000 won and received 38 won as dividends in July, acquiring one sha

MarketNov. 16, 2021

Biz groups' inter-affiliate trading falls in 2020

Transactions among affiliates of South Korea's large business groups fell in 2020 from a year earlier on tough regulations, the antitrust regulator said Tuesday. The value of inter-affiliate transactions by 2,182 units of 71 large business groups amounted to 183.5 trillion won ($155 billion) last year, down 13.2 trillion won from 196.7 trillion won the previous year, according to the Fair Trade Commission. Such deals accounted for 11.4 percent of all business contracts clinched by them last ye

EconomyNov. 16, 2021

No. of multiple home owners grows by smallest in 6 years last year

The number of multiple home owners in South Korea grew by the smallest number in six years last year due largely to heavy taxation on such people, data showed Tuesday. The number of multiple home owners had reached 2.32 million as of Nov. 1, 2020, up from 2.28 million the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. The 2020 growth marked the slowest gain since 2014, when the number of such people grew by 28,000. The portion of people who have two or more houses accounted for 15.8 percent of

EconomyNov. 16, 2021