S. Korea approves Celltrion's COVID-19 treatment for conditional use

South Korea‘s Drug Safety Ministry announced Friday it has approved Celltrion’s COVID-19 treatment candidate for conditional use. Conditional approval of Celltrion’s CT-P59, an anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment candidate, has become the country’s first homegrown COVID-19 treatment. Celltrion’s CT-P59 will be administered only to COVID-19 patients at higher risk, including those over the age of 60 or with vascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases,

TechnologyFeb. 5, 2021

Samsung Bioepis biosimilars sales in Europe grow 7.8%

Sales of biosimilars developed by Samsung Bioepis in European countries reached 866 billion won ($795 million) last year, the South Korean drugmaker said Friday, citing an earnings report from US partner Biogen. Samsung Bioepis is a joint venture between Biogen and Samsung Group’s biopharmaceutical unit Biologics. Its biosimilar sales are shared by the two companies. According to Biogen’s earnings report, sales of Samsung Bioepis’ three major autoimmune biosimilars -- Bene

TechnologyFeb. 5, 2021

NCSoft 2020 net income up 63.3% on popularity of major mobile titles

NCSoft Corp., a major South Korean online and mobile game developer, said Friday its net profit soared 63.3 percent in 2020 from a year earlier thanks to the continued popularity of its major mobile titles. Net profit stood at 586.6 billion won ($522 million) last year, compared with 359.3 billion won a year earlier, NCSoft said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit came to 824.8 billion won for the year, compared with 479 billion won the previous year. Annual sales rose 42 percent on-year

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Lotte Chemical Q4 net more than doubles on robust demand

Lotte Chemical Corp., a major South Korean petrochemical company, said Friday its fourth-quarter net profit more doubled from a year earlier on strong demand for its petrochemical products. The petrochemical unit of Lotte Group posted a net profit of 97.2 billion won ($86.5 million) in the October-December period, up 104.1 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its operating profit jumped 49.4 percent on-year to 212.5 billion won, while sales fell 12.5 percent to

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Hankook Tire net falls 12% in 2020 on FX losses

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's seventh-biggest tiremaker by sales, said Friday its net profit fell 12 percent in 2020 from a year earlier on foreign exchange losses. For the whole of 2020, net profit fell to 379.2 billion won ($337 million) from 429.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement. "The won's weakness against the dollar drove up the company's dollar-denominated debts and weighed on the annual bottom line," a company spokesman said over th

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Hyosung, Linde kick off joint ventures for world’s largest hydrogen facility in Ulsan

Hyosung Heavy Industries, the machinery maker arm of South Korea’s textiles and chemicals conglomerate Hyosung Group, will build the world’s single-largest liquid hydrogen facility in Ulsan. The project, carried out together with global chemical company Linde, comes in line with the country’s policy road map to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. “Hyosung Heavy and Linde Group have signed an investment agreement on creating joint ventures in order to push ahead with th

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Doosan Heavy sells stake in Doosan Infracore for W850b

South Korea's power plant builder Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Friday that its board of directors has decided to sell the company's 35 percent stake in Doosan Infracore Co. for 850 billion won ($757 million) to global shipbuilding holding company Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. (HHIH). Cash-strapped Doosan Heavy disposed of 76 million shares of its construction equipment unit Doosan Infracore to improve business efficiency and management structure, the company said

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Seoul stocks rebound amid global stock rally

South Korean stocks rebounded Friday in line with rallies in global stock markets, as signs of recovery from the pandemic boosted foreign buying of local stocks. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 33.08 points, or 1.07 percent, to close at 3,120.63 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.2 billion shares worth some 19.4 trillion won ($17.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 504 to 339. Foreigners bought a net

MarketFeb. 5, 2021

Korean tech employees complain about insufficient bonuses from profit-sharing programs

Tech industry employees in South Korea are outraged at the opaque payment systems that some companies use when administering profit-sharing programs. Employees at leading tech companies such as Samsung Electronics and LG Energy Solution were observed Friday to have posted complaints on online communities and social media about their bonuses and how they were calculated. The conflict came in the wake of an announcement by SK hynix that it would provide profit-sharing bonuses equivalent to 20

TechnologyFeb. 5, 2021

Samsung applies for tax breaks for new chip plant in Austin

Samsung Electronics has asked local governments in Texas to provide tax breaks for its new chip plant in Austin, raising speculation that it is about to expand its production capacity in the US, according to news reports Friday. Reuters reported that the South Korean chipmaker is seeking combined tax abatements of $805.5 million over 20 years from Travis County and the city of Austin, among other tax breaks, citing documents filed with Texas state officials. There were rumors that Samsung

TechnologyFeb. 5, 2021

SsangYong Motor extends plant suspension amid pandemic

Financially troubled carmaker SsangYong Motor Co. said Friday it will extend the suspension of its local plant due to a lack of parts supplies from contractors. SsangYong Motor already halted its plant in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Dec. 24, Dec. 28, and Feb. 3-5 as its subcontractors refused to deliver parts due to outstanding payments. The SUV-focused carmaker filed for court receivership on Dec. 21 after it failed to obtain approval for the rollover of existing loans from i

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

BC Card names new chief executive

Credit card issuer BC Card said Friday that it has named Choi Won-seok, a former head of local financial firm FnPricing, as its new chief executive. The CEO hiring process will be complete after a shareholders meeting and board meeting slated for next month. Choi is an expert in the financial and IT segments, having developed systems that evaluate financial products at FnPricing. He has served as an outside board director for the card company for the past six years. The CEO appointee has

MarketFeb. 5, 2021

Current account surplus hits two-year high last year

South Korea’s current account surplus rose to a two-year high last year amid the prolonged economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to a sharp fall in imports and overseas trips, central bank data showed Friday.  The country’s current account surplus for 2020 amounted to $75.28 billion -- up $15.6 billion, or 26.1 percent, from the previous year -- according to preliminary figures released by the Bank of Korea.  This marked the highest current account sur

EconomyFeb. 5, 2021

S. Korea OKs Celltrion's COVID-19 treatment for conditional use

South Korea's drug safety agency said Friday it has approved pharmaceutical giant Celltrion Inc.'s COVID-19 treatment candidate on several conditions. The conditional marketing authorization of CT-P59, an anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment candidate, marks the country's first homegrown COVID-19 treatment. The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said CT-P59 can be administered to COVID-19 patients at higher risk, referring to people aged 60 or older, or with health conditions like

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Samsung seeking tax breaks for possible new chip plant in Texas: reports

Samsung Electronics Co. has asked Texas state officials to give tax breaks for its potential new chip plant, news reports showed Friday, raising speculation that the South Korean tech titan could make a big investment in the United States. The world's largest memory chipmaker has requested authorities in Texas to grant tax abatements over 20 years, which would be worth a total of $805.5 million, for its new $17 billion chip facility in Austin, Texas, according to the Austin American-Statesman n

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Line Bank gets license for Taiwan

Line, a Tokyo-headquartered mobile messenger subsidiary of South Korean tech firm Naver, said Friday that it had won a license from Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission to launch an online bank in Taiwan. Since Line received a permit to set up an online banking business in the nation in 2019, Taiwanese financial authorities had been carrying out due diligence procedures on the internet-only bank. The mobile messenger firm said it would cooperate with the Taiwanese authorities to e

MarketFeb. 5, 2021

Samsung, LG release vacuum cleaners with upgraded charging stations

South Korea's two largest home appliance makers -- Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. -- are set to begin their duel in the vacuum cleaner market, industry observers said Friday, as they released new products boasting upgraded charging stations. LG began to sell its new CodeZero ThinQ A9S stick vacuum cleaner in South Korea that comes with a charging station, which automatically cleans out the dustbin. When the vacuum cleaner is docked in the stand, which LG calls it "all-in-

IndustryFeb. 5, 2021

Consumer price of poultry goods on rise amid bird flu outbreak

South Korea plans to inject 50,000 tons of tariff-free imported egg products through June to help stabilize the price. Meanwhile, no additional confirmed cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza were reported Friday, with the total caseload standing at 85. Authorities said they are currently investigating a suspected infection from a duck farm that is raising 8,000 ducks in Yeongam, 384 kilometers south of Seoul. Of the confirmed cases from farms, Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul acc

EconomyFeb. 5, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street rallies

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday, taking a cue from overnight record gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 23.3 points, or 0.75 percent, to 3,110.85 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Market kingpin Samsung Electronics added 0.85 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix hiked 1.6 percent. Internet portal giant Naver moved up 2.51 percent, with its rival Kakao up 0.22 percent. Leading chemical maker LG Chem jumped 3.1 percent, and rech

MarketFeb. 5, 2021

S. Korea's current account surplus widens in December

South Korea's current account surplus widened on-month in December last year, mainly due to a modest recovery in exports, the central bank said Friday. The current account surplus reached $11.51 billion in December, widening from a surplus of $9.18 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. Since the country logged a deficit of $3.33 billion in April 2020, the largest in almost a decade, on faltering expo

EconomyFeb. 5, 2021