Seoul stocks finish record-high again on chip, auto gains; Korean won soars

South Korean stocks set another all-time high Thursday despite a resurgence in new coronavirus cases, led by strong advances by chip and auto heavyweights. The Korean won sharply rose to an almost 30-month high against the US greenback. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 20.32 points, or 0.76 percent, to close at 2,696.22. Stock trading hours were pushed back by 1 hour due to the nationwide college entrance exam. Trading volume was moderate at about 810 million shar

MarketDec. 3, 2020

Fiscal chief reiterates drive to nurture chips, biotech, fuel cell vehicles

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Thursday reiterated his call to foster the non-memory semiconductor, fuel cell vehicle, and bio-health industries to create new growth in the post-coronavirus era. Presiding over a meeting with ministers for economic affairs in Seoul, Hong discussed strategies to nurture the so-called “big three” sectors and lead the global digitalization, among others. “The government and private sector should join forces to revitalize the coronavirus-hit econ

MarketDec. 3, 2020

SKT CEO made vice chairman of SK hynix

Park Jung-ho, current chief executive officer of South Korea’s leading mobile carrier SK Telecom, has risen to the chief position of chipmaker SK hynix, the group announced Thursday. According to SK Group’s organizational restructuring and executive reshuffling plan for 2021, Park was promoted to vice chairman of SK hynix as he retains the SKT CEO post. “Synergy between ICT expert Park and semiconductors expert SK hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee is highly anticipated,” the grou

TechnologyDec. 3, 2020

[Time to Play] Smilegate’s Magical Atelier, adorable but overly exclusive to target users

Just like how the idea of magic rails against common knowledge, Magical Atelier appears to defy the odds, being an unconventional game that transgresses the basic laws of typical Korean mobile games. For busy commuters, mobile games are supposed to be simple and easy to play. Also, they must include elements that can trigger competition among as many users as possible to guarantee profitability. Magical Atelier, developed by Smilegate, meets neither of the two criteria. Released in South K

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

China opens door to Korean game, issues 1st license in 4 years

China has granted a license to a game made by a South Korean company for the first time in nearly four years, finally lifting an implicit ban on Korean games that has persisted since 2017. According to Korean mobile game developer Com2us, Summoners War: Lost Centuria has been given a foreign game service license from China‘s National Press and Publication Administration, the first such license issued since March 2017. In 2017, Korea deployed the US anti-missile Terminal High Altitude D

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

Posco hits lithium jackpot in Argentina, accelerates EV battery material value chain

Posco Group said Thursday its salt lake in Argentina contains 13.5 million metric tons of lithium reserves, more than six times greater than initial calculation of 2.2 million tons. Based on the massive reserves, which are enough for 370 million electric vehicles, the group aims to establish a robust value chain of EV battery raw materials. According to the South Korean steel giant, the latest exploration of the Hombre Muerto salt lake in northern Argentina conducted with a US consulting firm

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

[Newsmaker] How Korea held its nationwide college entrance exam with COVID-19

South Korea on Thursday held the nation’s annual rite of passage -- the Suneung, the standardized college entrance exam -- on which it’s an understatement to say that students stake their future. The question of how to hold a college entrance exam during a global pandemic has been a headache for many. In the US, the Educational Testing Service has made its graduate admissions test, the GRE, available at home in the interest of social distancing, while the College Board went back on

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

Kospi rally continues as Samsung Electronics shares hit W70,000 mark

South Korea’s main bourse Kospi continued its bullish run on Thursday with shares of market bellwether Samsung Electronics touching the 70,000-won mark during the intraday trading. Kospi started off at 2,686.38, up 10.48 points, or 0.39 percent, from the previous session’s close. Buttressed by both retail investors and foreigners’ buying spree, the index set an all-time high record of 2,696.22, at the closing bell, breaking the previous record high of 2,675.90 set a day earlie

MarketDec. 3, 2020

K bank brings lending business back on track

South Korea‘s first mobile-only lender K bank has secured some 650,000 new users over the past five months as it showed signs of business normalization after it resumed its lending business in July, the company said Thursday. The news brought K bank’s accumulated number of bank accounts to over 2 million as of Wednesday, according to the company, which was founded in 2017. From July to November, K bank is estimated to have attracted an average of 130,000 new users each month,

MarketDec. 3, 2020

Starbucks opens Korea’s first store staffed mostly with disabled

Starbucks Korea opened a new store on Thursday with a commitment to prioritize disabled workers, in a first in the country. The new location at the Seoul National University Dental Hospital will run with a staff of 12, six of whom are employees with disabilities The coffeehouse giant also said sign language training and disability awareness education was given to staff as part efforts to improve the perception of those with disabilities. Launching on the International Day of People with Disa

ConsumerDec. 3, 2020

LS Cable & System releases series of new smart cables

South Korean cable maker LS Cable & System has recently released a series of new smart cables, including a long-distance Power over Ethernet cable and a hacker-proof optical fiber cable. PoE cables are capable of delivering both data connection and electric power, and are easy to install in places such as in ceilings and between gaps. But their standard distance has remained 100 meters. LS Cable & System’s SimpleWide cable, however, has extended the distance to 200 meters. The c

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

Daewoo Shipbuilding bags W282b order from ADNOC

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Thursday that it has won a 282 billion-won ($257 million) order to build three oil tankers from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC). The vessels will be delivered by the first quarter of 2023, Daewoo Shipbuilding said. The deal has an option to place an order for three additional oil tankers, the shipbuilder said. With the latest deal, Daewoo Shipbuilding has received orders worth $4.6 billion so far this year, achieving about 56 percent

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

1 in 4 companies cut head counts amid pandemic: survey

One in 4 companies in South Korea has implemented or is planning restructuring measures this year due to financial difficulties stemming from the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. According to a survey of 437 companies carried out by local job search platform Saramin, 27.2 percent of the respondents said they had conducted layoffs or planned to do so. The most common reason given for restructuring was “the worsening business situation due to COVID-19” (69.7 perce

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

Scandal-ridden hedge fund asset transfer begins as regulator revokes license

The transfer of assets associated with scandal-ridden Seoul-based hedge fund manager Lime Asset Management began Thursday as South Korea’s financial regulator scrapped its license to operate in Korea the day before. In a long-awaited move, the bridge institution WellBridge Asset Management is expected to take over all 215 Lime funds to speed up the process of minimizing losses of the assets – most of which are believed to be nearly insolvent -- a key move to mitigate the financial d

MarketDec. 3, 2020

Online shopping rises 20% in Oct. amid pandemic

Online shopping in South Korea grew 20 percent in October from a year earlier as the new coronavirus outbreak prompted people to buy goods via e-commerce platforms, data showed Thursday. The value of online transactions stood at 14.2 trillion won ($12.9 billion) in October, compared with 11.9 trillion won the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The use of online shopping has been on the rise this year amid the pandemic as people refrained from visiting offline stores on

EconomyDec. 3, 2020

US stimulus talks, vaccines boost Korea's currency to 30-month high

South Korea's won currency surged to a 30-month high against the US dollar Thursday and broke a key psychological level, buoyed by optimism over US stimulus talks and developments of coronavirus vaccines. The won was quoted at 1,097.00 won per US dollar at Thursday's closing, up 3.8 won from the previous session's close. It was the strongest level since June 14, 2018, when the risk-sensitive currency closed at 1,083.10 won against the US dollar. The won also broke the key psychological leve

MarketDec. 3, 2020

Korea Shipbuilding wins W100b order from Liberia

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Thursday it has clinched a 100 billion won ($91 million) order to build two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers from a Liberian company. The 40,000-cubic meter LPG carriers to be built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., a unit of Korea Shipbuilding, will be delivered from the second half of 2022, Korea Shipbuilding said in an emailed statement. The company also said it is in talks with the Liberian company for an additional order of the sa

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

ZEISS Korea honored with ‘Innovation in Business’ at 6th KGCCI Innovation Awards

The Korean German Chamber of Commerce and Industry held its 6th KGCCI Innovation Awards ceremony at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square on Nov. 27. ZEISS Korea was honored as the winner of the “Innovation in Business” for pioneering work in lithography optics using extreme ultraviolet light. EUV technology enables a crucial technological leap forward by significantly reducing the size of semiconductor structures in a cost-effective manner allowing the successful continuation of Moore&rsqu

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

Samsung Electronics continues to surge on rosy chip outlook

Shares in Samsung Electronics Co. continued to surge on the Seoul bourse Thursday on the back of rosy outlook for its semiconductor business. Samsung shares advanced 0.29 percent to close at a new all-time high of 69,700 won ($63). During the session, Samsung shares surpassed the 70,000-won mark for the first time, reaching as high as 70,500 won at one point. Shares in Samsung have been skyrocketing recently with massive foreign buying on expectations of a big boom in the chip industry next y

IndustryDec. 3, 2020

[Monitor] South Korea's average life expectancy reaches 83.3

The average life expectancy for those born here in 2019 came to 83.3, up by over eight years from 20 years ago, data from Statistics Korea showed. As of last year, the life expectancy for those aged 40 would be 41.3 more years for men and 47.1 more years for women, according to the agency.  (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

IndustryDec. 3, 2020