[Newsmaker] Kospi’s average daily transaction volume hits 1-year low in October

South Korea’s main stock market saw its trading volume hit its lowest level in a year this month, data showed Sunday, amid market instability ahead of monetary policy meetings at central banks here and in the United States. The Kospi’s daily average trading volume stood at 11.75 trillion won ($10 billion) in October, its lowest level since the 10.85 trillion won posted a year ago, according to data compiled by the Korea Exchange. The figure had nearly halved since January, wh

MarketOct. 31, 2021

Krafton secures Unknown Worlds takeover in 1st M&A since IPO

South Korean gaming firm Krafton has inked a deal to acquire 100 percent ownership of US video game developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment for $750 million, in the first takeover deal it has announced since the company went public in August, a filing showed Sunday. According to the disclosure filed with the Financial Supervisory Service, Krafton, a Tencent Holdings-backed company behind the battle-royale style PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds franchise, signed a sales and purchase agreement

MarketOct. 31, 2021

Gmarket’s largest sales event, Mega G Festival, kicks off Monday

South Korean e-commerce giant Gmarket is offering various Korean products at discount prices starting Monday, commencing its biggest sales event, the Mega G Festival. During the festival, which runs until Nov. 12, up to 70 percent discount is being offered on products ranging from cosmetics and food to K-pop merchandise.  Participating brands include cosmetics brands Amorepacific and Etude, food company CJ CheilJedang and K-pop merchandise store YG Select. Some brands are offering prod

ConsumerOct. 31, 2021

PDI Japan Korea Week to unveil KIC’s post-pandemic strategies

Private Debt Investor, a publication covering the global private debt investing scene, said Sunday it plans to hold a virtual investor event in November and feature post-pandemic strategies of Korea’s sole sovereign wealth fund, Korea Investment Corp. During the event, named PDI Japan Korea Week, Choi Jin-suk, senior director of investment strategy group at KIC, will share the allocator’s key considerations when applying its environmental, social and governance factors in private de

MarketOct. 31, 2021

[Law Talk] Hydrogen emerging as feasible solution in Korea’s path to carbon neutrality

There are four important numbers highlighted in the United Nations Emissions Gap Report 2019: 1.5, 25, 56, and 7.6. If the global temperature rises by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, it may threaten the sustainability of Earth. To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, global emissions in 2030 will need to be 25 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). If no further effort is made beyond the current commitments to reduce carbon diox

EconomyOct. 31, 2021

Antitrust regulator approves Emart’s takeover of eBay Korea

South Korea’s antitrust regulator on Friday approved a plan by E-mart, Shinsegae Group’s hypermarket chain, to acquire the Korean unit of eBay, judging that the acquisition will not restrain market competition. The Fair Trade Commission said the agency evaluated whether or not the acquisition would violate the country’s monopoly regulations, and to see if the companies would hamper competition in five sectors of the retail industry, including the e-commerce market, physical re

ConsumerOct. 29, 2021

Amorepacific Q3 net profit up over 5-fold on increased domestic sales

  Amorepacific Corp. said Friday its third-quarter net profit rose more than fivefold from a year earlier. Net income was 38.5 billion won ($32.9 million) in the third quarter, compared with 7 billion won in the same period a year ago, Amorepacific said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit for the July-September period fell 10.2 percent on-year to 50.3 billion won. Sales increased 1.9 percent to 1.1 trillion won. The operating profit was 29 percent lower than the average estimate

IndustryOct. 29, 2021

Biz sentiment worsens in Nov. amid rises in resource prices

South Korea’s business sentiment edged down in November due to increased prices of raw materials and energy, a local think tank said Friday. The business survey index of the country’s top 600 companies by sales stood at 100.6, down by 2.8 percentage points from 103.4 in October, the Korea Economic Research Institute data showed. According to KERI, while the figure managed to stay above the 100-threshold that shows optimists outnumbered pessimists, the 2.8-point decrease reflects c

IndustryOct. 29, 2021

Ministry finds KT worker’s input of incorrect command as cause of network outage

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Friday that telecom operator KT’s massive network outage on Monday happened due to input of an incorrect command on router equipment during maintenance work in Busan.  Other flaws have been also revealed from the ministry’s investigation into KT’s nationwide internet disruption -- the maintenance work on router equipment was conducted during the day although it was originally approved by officials to be done from 1 to 6 a.m. The mainte

IndustryOct. 29, 2021

[Newsmaker] Airline industry prepares to increase international flights under “With COVID-19” scheme

Step-by-step, in line with the government’s plan to gradually return to normalcy with its “living with COVID-19” scheme, the airline industry has begun preparations for more overseas flights. According to full service carriers Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, some overseas flight routes will resume operations next month. Korean Air has decided to resume scheduled flights to Hawaii, Sydney, and Oakland. There will be three flights a week scheduled for Hawaii starting from Nov

MobilityOct. 29, 2021

SK Innovation swings to black in Q3, EV battery biz still unprofitable

SK Innovation enjoyed an operating profit of 618.5 billion won ($529.2 million) in the third quarter, bouncing back from an operating loss of 53.7 billion won on-year, a regulatory filing showed Friday. The South Korean battery-to-petrochemical giant logged revenue of 12.3 trillion won in the July-September period, a 48.1 percent surge from 8.3 trillion won, buoyed by record quarterly sales in both lubricant and battery businesses. According to SK Innovation, two new battery factories in C

IndustryOct. 29, 2021

Hyundai Oilbank turns carbon emissions into cement, concrete

Hyundai Oilbank is capturing carbon emissions and transforming them into raw materials used for cement and concrete at construction sites, as part of its carbon neutrality commitments. According to Hyundai Oilbank Friday, it will collect byproducts generated from its petrochemical facilities such as desulfurized gypsum and carbon dioxide and turn those waste products into construction materials such as plaster and calcium carbonate. Next year, Hyundai Oilbank will break ground on a productio

IndustryOct. 29, 2021

Seoul stocks down for 3rd day on tech slump

South Korean stocks ended lower for a third straight day Friday as tech shares declined following the release of weaker-than-expected earnings by major US tech firms. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 38.87 points, or 1.29 percent, to close at 2,970.68 points. Trading volume was moderate at 535.48 million shares worth 10.789 trillion won ($9.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 663 to 210. Foreigners and institution

MarketOct. 29, 2021

BTS’ agency denies link to Army Coin

Hybe, the K-pop corporation behind BTS, released a statement Friday that it has nothing to do with a cryptocurrency called Army Coin and warned it take legal action against the crypto exchange for violating portrait rights. “We have received information that Army Coin has been listed on Bitget, a crypto exchange located in Singapore. However, we have nothing to do with the crypto whatsoever,” Hybe said in a statement. Hybe stressed that the crypto agency has used BTS photos to prom

MarketOct. 29, 2021

Moody’s changes A1 credit rating of Citibank Korea on review for downgrade

Global credit rating agency Moody’s said Friday it has placed the credit rating of Citibank Korea on review for a downgrade citing the bank’s decision to close its retail banking business. The agency had kept the bank’s credit rating at A1, the same as estimates from February 2019. It signaled Citibank Korea’s current a3 Baseline Credit Assessment would be on review for a downgrade as well. “The review for a downgrade is triggered by the bank’s plan to exit

MarketOct. 29, 2021

SK hynix acquires Key Foundry for W575.8bn

SK hynix said Friday the chipmaker inked a deal to acquire a 100 percent stake in domestic foundry firm Key Foundry for 575.8 billion won ($492.55 million). Key Foundry, based in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, is a foundry-specialized firm producing chips for its customers using 8-inch wafers. It can produce non-memory products such as power management ICs, display driver ICs and microcontroller units.  Key Foundry was formerly LG Semiconductor, which was established in 1979.&n

TechnologyOct. 29, 2021

Finance minister projects rosy outlook for private spending in Q4

Highlighting the latest government data reflecting a recovery in industrial output and retail sales in September, the nation’s top economic policymaker on Friday expressed anticipation of a rebound in private spending for the remaining months of the year. “Despite the obstacles cast by the fourth wave of the COVID-19 virus, the nation’s industrial output in September rose over 1 percent and the overall economy activity has shown improvement compared with August,” Deputy

EconomyOct. 29, 2021

Hanwha Aerospace Q3 net profit up 33.4% to W74.7b

Hanwha Aerospace Co. on Friday reported its third-quarter net profit of 74.7 billion won ($63.9 million), up 33.4 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that operating profit for the July-September period rose 9.5 percent on-year to 103.3 billion won. Revenue increased 12 percent to 1.54 trillion won. The operating profit was 30.3 percent higher than the average estimate, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The

IndustryOct. 29, 2021

Facebook recommended to pay W300,000 compensation per victim over personal data breach

The state watchdog on personal information protection on Friday recommended the operator of Facebook to pay 300,000 won ($256.70) in compensation to each of 181 users demanding damages for the provision of their personal information to third parties without consent. The recommendation to Meta Platforms, Inc. was made by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC)'s dispute mediation panel in charge of settling a dispute between the operator and Korean users of Facebook over the platfo

IndustryOct. 29, 2021

Hyundai Wia Q3 net income down 76.2% to W16.7b

Hyundai Wia on Friday reported its third-quarter net profit of 16.7 billion won ($14.3 million), down 76.2 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 31.2 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 13.2 billion won a year ago. Sales fell 3.8 percent to 1.77 trillion won. The operating profit was 10.1 percent lower than the average estimate, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The

IndustryOct. 29, 2021