Kyobo Life Insurance 2020 net dips 30% on higher costs

Kyobo Life Insurance, one of South Korea's leading life insurers, said Thursday its earnings plunged nearly 30 percent in 2020 due to increased costs. Net profit came to 382.9 billion won ($340 million) last year, down 29.9 percent from a year earlier, Kyobo Life Insurance said in a filing to the Korea Life Insurance Association. Kyobo Life Insurance said its net income fell due to a temporary rise in costs to prevent insurance planners from leaving the company amid the coronavirus impact and

IndustryMarch 4, 2021

Imported car sales jump 33% in Feb. despite pandemic

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 33 percent in February from a year earlier on robust sales of German cars, an industry association said Thursday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 22,290 units last month from 16,725 a year ago despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were the Mercedes-Benz E 250 sedan, Volkswagen Jetta 1.4 TSI sedan,

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

Korea requires green energy imports to decarbonize: AIGCC

South Korea has less potential to decarbonize autonomously than its Asian peers due to the insufficiency of its solar resources and seasonal variations in electricity demand, showed an analysis by Asia Investor Group on Climate Change on Thursday. Korea appears to require green energy imports to meet its decarbonization target to generate over 25 percent of new and renewable energy-powered electricity by 2034, from the current 7.4 percent, and to increase its new and renewable energy power gen

MarketMarch 4, 2021

No. of franchise brands up 12% last year

The number of franchise brands in South Korea rose 11.7 percent on-year last year as efforts to open new businesses remained solid despite the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of franchise brands reached 7,094 as of end-December, compared with 6,353 the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KTFC). Dining-out brands accounted for the biggest portion of 76.2 percent of all franchise brands last year, the data showed. The number of franchise

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

S. Korea to invest W300B to speed up growth of online retail

South Korea announced Thursday it plans to invest 300 billion won ($267 million) over the next three years to speed up the growth of the digital retail segment, which has recently enjoyed an unprecedented boom amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the plan, the country will not only pave the way for online retailers to tap deeper into the overseas markets but help them adopt state-of-the-art technologies, including drones, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Around 4,000 logis

IndustryMarch 4, 2021

Imprisoned Samsung heir focuses on next legal battle; private visits yet to be made: sources

Lee Jae-yong, the imprisoned de facto leader of Samsung Group, is focusing on preparing for his next legal battle related to his succession, industry insiders said Thursday, accepting only visits from his legal advisers so far. Lee, the heir of South Korea's top conglomerate, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by the Seoul High Court on Jan. 18 in a retrial of a bribery case involving former President Park Geun-hye and was put behind bars again. Separate from the bribery case, Lee is deali

IndustryMarch 4, 2021

S. Korea's share of global car market unchanged at 7.5% in 2020

South Korea's share of the global car market remained unchanged in 2020 from a year earlier due mainly to sluggish performance in China, industry data showed Thursday. Sales by South Korean automakers accounted for 7.5 percent of the total in the United States, China, Europe and four other major overseas markets, the same as the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA). The unchanged portion came due to a drop of more than 30 percent in sa

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

Samsung partners with Kakao Enterprise on smart home biz

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday announced it has signed a partnership with local artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider Kakao Enterprise Corp. to boost its smart home business. Under the deal, Samsung's smart devices and home appliances will be compatible with the Kakao i AI platform from Kakao Enterprise, an affiliate of Kakao Corp. that runs South Korea's most-used mobile messenger, Kakao Talk. Consumers can now operate Samsung's products connected to its Internet of Things (IoT

IndustryMarch 4, 2021

S. Korea launches advisory body on promoting nuclear exports

South Korea on Thursday launched a new advisory body to promote its exports of nuclear power plants, which were boosted by its successful penetration into the Middle East market. The advisory body, composed of professors and industrial experts, will help South Korea set strategies in fostering nuclear energy as a new export engine, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The country also launched a new website (www.k-next.kr), in which overseas partners can access information

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

Samsung remains top smartphone vendor in Europe, Middle East and Africa in 2020: report

Samsung Electronics Co. was the top vendor in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) smartphone market last year, a report showed Thursday, despite its market share declining. Samsung shipped 99.7 million smartphones in the EMEA market in 2020 for a 28.9 percent market share, according to industry researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). The figures were down from 2019 when the company shipped 118.5 million smartphones for a 32.9 percent market share. However, the South Korean tech giant

IndustryMarch 4, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korea's chicken exports hit new high in 2020

　South Korea’s chicken exports touched a new high in 2020 amid growing worldwide demand for ready-to-eat products and the popularity of Korean pop culture, a report showed. 　Overseas shipments of processed chicken came to $21 million last year, up 59.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the report from the Korea International Trade Association. 　KITA said the jump came as exports of packaged traditional chicken soup, or samgyetang, and chicken breast spiked due to the coronavi

BusinessMarch 4, 2021

Samsung sets new download speed record with 5G-4G LTE dual connectivity tech

Samsung Electronics Co. said on Thursday it achieved the industry's fastest download speed with an advanced telecommunications technology using both 5G and 4G LTE base stations. In a demonstration carried out in Suwon, south of Seoul, the company achieved 5.23 gigabits per second (Gbps) in data speeds, which is enough to download a 4-gigabyte full-HD movie in six seconds, to its Galaxy S20+ smartphone, using E-UTRAN New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) technology. EN-DC technology enables mobil

IndustryMarch 4, 2021

Seoul stocks open steeply lower on US inflation woes

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Thursday, taking a cue from the overnight tech drop on Wall Street that was spurred by increased bond yields. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 35.89 points, or 1.16 percent, to 3,047.1 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.7 percent, with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreating 1.31 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively. Top cap Samsung Electronics lo

MarketMarch 4, 2021

Consumer price growth at 1-year high in Feb.

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in one year in February due largely to a sharp rise in prices of agricultural and livestock products, data showed Thursday. The consumer price index rose 1.1 percent on-year in February, compared with a 0.6 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the fastest on-year gain since February last year, when the price index rose 1.1 percent. Consumer inflation also rose above 1 perce

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

S. Korea's wine imports hit record high in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's wine imports reached a record high in 2020 as more people enjoyed drinking at home and alone due to the coronavirus outbreak, data showed Thursday. Asia's fourth-largest economy imported 54,127 tons of wines last year, up 24.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. The value of imported wines also jumped 27.3 percent from a year ago to $330 million. Industry watchers attributed last year's surge to coronavirus-induce

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

S. Korea's economy grows faster than expected in Q4: BOK

South Korea's economy grew slightly faster than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020, although this had no effect on the overall economic contraction for last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Thursday. The nation's economy expanded 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter from three months earlier, 0.1 percentage point higher than what has expected, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Asia's fourth-largest economy contracted 1 percent last year,

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

S. Korea's FX reserves edge up in February

South Korea's foreign reserves inched up in February due to the US dollar's weakness that increased the value of non-US dollar foreign reserves, central bank data showed Thursday. The nation's foreign reserves came to $447.5 billion as of end-February, up $4.83 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold b

EconomyMarch 4, 2021

Samsung further expands presence in NAND flash market in Q4: report

Samsung Electronics further upped its leadership in the global NAND flash market in the fourth quarter of 2020, a report showed Wednesday, despite revenue decline.  The South Korean tech giant, also the leader in the DRAM sector, had a 32.9 percent share of the global NAND flash market in terms of revenue in the October-December period, up 1.5 percentage points from a quarter earlier, according to market tracker TrendForce.  But Samsung's revenue from NAND flash products came to a

TechnologyMarch 3, 2021

Hyundai Heavy joins hands with Saudi Aramco in hydrogen project

Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings said Wednesday that it has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia's state-run oil firm Saudi Aramco to cooperate on a hydrogen project. Under the deal, Hyundai Oilbank, HHIH's refining unit, will import liquefied petroleum gas from Saudi Aramco to produce blue hydrogen, which is derived from fossil fuel resources such as natural gas, the holding company said. Carbon dioxide captured and stored during the production process will also be provided to Saudi Aramco for

IndustryMarch 3, 2021

[News Focus] Hankook Tire’s sibling war intensifies ahead of proxy war at month-end

Hankook & Company -- the holding group of the world’s seventh-largest car tire maker, formerly named Hankook Technology Group -- is entangled in an escalating sibling feud ahead of its annual shareholders meeting slated for March 30. What had started off as a conflict between Chairman Cho Yang-rai’s two sons has now flared into an extensive proxy war over management control. Assuming the defense is Cho Hyun-bum, the youngest of senior Cho’s four offspring and CEO of the

IndustryMarch 3, 2021