Korea eyes travel bubbles with Singapore, Guam, Saipan

South Korea said on Wednesday it will accelerate travel bubble talks with the likes of Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand to allow quarantine-free package tours for those who are fully vaccinated from as early as July. With only group tours allowed at the beginning, one or two flights will fly a week, carrying up to some 200 passengers once a travel bubble is formed, with plans to extend the scale of the travel scheme later, the Transport Ministry said. The move comes as the government is set to

MobilityJune 9, 2021

S. Korea’s per capita income shrinks for 2nd year in a row

Per capita income in South Korea declined for the second year running in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic dragged the economy down to its lowest point since the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, data showed Wednesday. Per capita annual income, as measured in US dollars, shrank last year to $31,881, down from $32,204 in 2019 and $33,564 in 2018, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. The data came as Asia’s fourth-largest economy has started to recover from the blows dealt by the

EconomyJune 9, 2021

Korea’s only luxury goods ETF beats Kospi

South Korea’s only exchange-traded fund that focuses on global luxury goods stocks has outperformed Korea‘s benchmark index for the Korea Exchange’s main board Kospi over the course of 13 months since its launch, data showed Wednesday. The product, NH-Amundi Hanaro Global Luxury S&P ETF, has gained 78.1 percent since its launch on May 12 last year through Tuesday, beating the Kospi which gained 67.8 percent during the same period, according to data from NH-Amundi Asset Ma

MarketJune 9, 2021

LG Energy Solution seeks mega IPO on Kospi in H2

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution is speeding up to make a stock market debut on the nation’s main bourse Kospi in the second half of this year, according to investment banking sources Wednesday. The company submitted a preliminary application for an IPO to the Korea Exchange on Tuesday. Market insiders say the firm may begin the share sale as early as September in line with its timetable. While KB Securities and Morgan Stanley are underwriting the IPO deal, the size of the

MarketJune 9, 2021

Think tank ups S. Korea's 2021 growth outlook to 3.8%

South Korea's economy is expected to grow at a faster-than-expected pace in 2021 on the back of brisk exports, a leading private think tank said Wednesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy is likely to expand 3.8 percent on-year this year as overseas shipments rebound sharply, according to the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI). The latest projection by KERI, the think tank under the conglomerate lobby Federation of Korean Industries, is up from its 3.4 percent estimate made in the first qu

EconomyJune 9, 2021

Samsung Heavy to develop small module reactor-powered ship

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Wednesday that it has teamed up with a local nuclear research institute to develop nuclear-powered ships. Under the cooperation with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Samsung Heavy plans to develop molten salt reactors, a kind of small module reactor using molten fluoride salts as the primary coolant, at low pressure, which have been emerging as a carbon-zero nuclear energy source. Samsung Heavy will tap into the market of floating nuclear po

IndustryJune 9, 2021

LS Cable & System bets on advanced wires for electric vehicles

LS Cable & System aims to expand its footprint in the global electric vehicle components market, with high-voltage and lightweight aluminum wires, the company said Wednesday. According to the cable manufacturing unit of South Korea’s LS Group, the firm is exclusively supplying enamel wires for Hyundai Motor’s first electric vehicle, the Ioniq 5. Coated with advanced insulation material, the wires can cope with up to 800 volts, allowing rapid charging of the vehicle. The Anyang,

IndustryJune 9, 2021

Samsung develops 8nm RF chip process tech

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it has developed an 8-nanometer (nm) process technology for radio frequency (RF) chips as the South Korean tech giant eyes to beef up its foundry service for 5G mobile semiconductors. Samsung said its 8nm foundry will deliver 5G single-chip RF solutions supporting sub-6-gigahertz to millimeter wave spectrum. A RF integrated circuit is a semiconductor used for radio frequency signal receiving or transmission and analog-digital conversion in connection with

IndustryJune 9, 2021

S. Korea to offer consulting services for health product exporters

South Korea said Wednesday it plans to provide consulting services for exporters of antivirus products in efforts to foster the biohealth sector as a new growth engine. Under the plan, the government will launch a joint consultative group with the private sector, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The country's exports of biohealth products, which include COVID-19 test kits, came to $14 billion in 2020, soaring 54.4 percent from a year earlier. The latest move came as so

EconomyJune 9, 2021

SK Gas to build hydrogen production complex in Ulsan

SK Gas aims to build a hydrogen value chain complex in Ulsan by 2025, encompassing raw material sourcing, production, storage and distribution. At the envisioned complex which will sit on a 140,000-square-meter plot of land, the company plans to build facilities for hydrogen extraction as well as liquid hydrogen storage and distribution. SK Gas plans to utilize the company’s existing supply channels of liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas to extract hydrogen from. The com

IndustryJune 9, 2021

Daewoong Pharmaceutical signs $430m licensing deal for Fexuprazan

South Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceutical signed an agreement to license out its gastroesophageal reflux treatment Fexuprazan to US biotech firm Neurogastrx, the company announced Tuesday. Under the contract worth $430 million in total, Daewoong will receive milestone payments of undisclosed amounts when stages are completed in the drug’s development process in the US, in addition to royalties based on its future sales in the US and Canada. Daewoong has also received a 5 percent equi

TechnologyJune 9, 2021

[Graphic News] Cryptocurrency crimes cause over W5.5tr of losses since 2017

　Financial damage caused by cryptocurrency-related crimes has totaled more than 5.5 trillion won ($4.9 billion) since 2017, a lawmaker said, citing data from police. 　According to Rep. Yun Chang-hyun of the main opposition People Power Party, the National Police Agency estimated the damage to be 467 billion won in 2017, 169 billion won in 2018, 764 billion won in 2019, 214 billion won in 2020 and 92 billion won from January to April this year. 　The NPA also said in documents sent to Yun th

BusinessJune 9, 2021

KT teams up with Amazon Web Services in AI, cloud tech

KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, said Wednesday it has partnered with global cloud service operator Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) in a move to bolster its push to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies. The two companies agreed to pursue joint research in AI and cloud technologies as well as collaboration in media businesses, KT said in a statement. The telecom operator said it plans to launch a contact center service that combines its AI-based contact center servi

TechnologyJune 9, 2021

Hyundai Motor chief wins 2021 Autocar Awards top accolade

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun won the 2021 Autocar Awards' top accolade, the Issigonis Trophy, for his contribution to the global automotive industry, the company said Wednesday. Named after legendary car designer Sir Alec Issigonis, the trophy is awarded by Autocar to an individual who has played a significant role in helping to shape the future of the auto industry. "Chung has overseen the Hyundai Motor Group, whose brands include Hyundai, Kia and Genesis, in transforming in

MobilityJune 9, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower on inflation worries

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday as the central bank revised up the country's gross domestic product, stoking market concerns of early inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 6.43 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,241.4 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor appetite for risk assets decreased, following the Bank of Korea's report that South Korea's economy grew 1.7 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, 0.1 percentage point hig

MarketJune 9, 2021

S. Korea's power demand up 7.3% in May on economic recovery

South Korea's electricity demand rose more than 7 percent in May from a year earlier amid a gradual economic recovery, data showed Wednesday. The country's maximum power demand averaged 63,388 megawatts (MW) last month, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Electric Power Statistics Information System. The May tally was down a mere 0.5 percentage point from May 2019, meaning power demand in Asia's fourth-largest economy has almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

EconomyJune 9, 2021

Job additions stretched to 3rd month in May

South Korea reported job growth for the third straight month in May, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that the job market is recovering from slumps caused by the pandemic. The number of employed people reached 27.6 million last month, 619,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The May addition was lower than the previous month's 652,000 increase, the largest job growth in almost seven years. In March, the number of working people increased b

EconomyJune 9, 2021

S. Korea's Q1 economic expansion faster than expected at 1.7%

South Korea's economy grew slightly faster than expected in the first quarter, thanks to a robust recovery of exports and facility investment, inching the nation's economic growth closer to the pre-pandemic level, central bank data showed Wednesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 1.7 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, 0.1 percentage point higher than earlier expected, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The country's annualized growth in the Jan

EconomyJune 9, 2021

Samsung Heavy countersued by INPEX against its damage suit

South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Tuesday that it has been countersued by Japanese oil and developer INPEX after it filed a complaint against INPEX for not paying the rest of contract amount in April.  The $480 million countersuit will not hurt the earnings of Samsung as it set up allowances for the countersuit till the first quarter of 2021, the shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing.  Samsung completed the installation of central processing facility, one of the offsh

IndustryJune 8, 2021

LG Uplus to buy back W100b worth of shares

   LG Uplus Corp., a South Korean mobile carrier, said Tuesday it has decided to repurchase 100 billion won ($88.3 million) worth of its own shares to strengthen shareholder value. The telecom operator said in a regulatory filing that its first-ever share buyback will be completed by June 8 next year. LG Uplus will also introduce an interim dividend this year in addition to its existing year-end dividend, the company said in a separate statement. The company expects the moves to s

IndustryJune 8, 2021