Kia halts 2 domestic plants following confirmed COVID-19 cases

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, said Thursday it has suspended two of its domestic plants as at least eight workers have been confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus. Kia halted the operations of two plants in Gwangmyeong, just south of Seoul, from late Wednesday and sent all of the 6,000 plant workers home, a company spokesman said over the phone. "As of 3:30 p.m., nine assembly line workers were confirmed to have been infected with the virus," he sai

EconomySept. 17, 2020

[Graphic News] Sales of food delivery app hit fresh high amid virus pandemic

　South Korean food delivery applications saw their sales hit a fresh high in August as more people refrained from dining out and stayed home amid the stricter social distancing scheme, data showed. 　The combined transactions made through the country‘s four major food delivery applications came to 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) in August, up 28 percent from a month earlier, according to the industry tracker WiseApp. 　Sales from the four applications reached a whopping 7.6 trillion won

BusinessSept. 17, 2020

Seoul, Beijing begin irregular flights amid pandemic

South Korea and China on Thursday began to operate irregular flights to allow Korean residents in China who returned here due to the coronavirus outbreak to go back, the transport ministry said. Korean Air Lines Co. and Xiamen Airlines will offer a total of seven flights from Incheon, west of Seoul, to Qingdao, Zhengzhou and Xiamen from Thursday until Oct. 15, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. All passengers are required to submit the results of a coronavirus te

EconomySept. 17, 2020

Finance minister asks lawmakers to approve extra budget by next Tuesday

SEJONG -- Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Thursday asked the National Assembly to approve a fourth supplementary budget by early next week, in order to give emergency handouts to small merchants ahead of the Chuseok holiday season. The ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition People Power Party reached an agreement earlier this week to vote on the fourth extra budget bill this coming Tuesday. That day is a potential deadline for the government to provide relief handouts to small mercha

EconomySept. 17, 2020

Retail investors pour huge money into domestic, overseas stocks

South Korean retail investors have poured nearly 100 trillion won ($85.2 billion) into domestic and overseas stocks this year amid ample liquidity and low interest rates, data showed Thursday. Individual investors' net buying of shares traded on the country's main KOSPI and secondary KOSDAQ markets came to 55.9 trillion won as of Wednesday this year, according to the data from the Korea Exchange. Investor deposits at brokerage houses for stock investment stood at 56.7 trillion won as of Tuesd

EconomySept. 17, 2020

Seoul stocks open lower on Wall Street losses

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street that stemmed from tech valuation concerns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 11.69 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,424.23 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Despite the US Federal Reserve's signal to keep the near-zero rate till 2023, the local stock market remained bearish. The Nasdaq Composite retreated 1.25 percent to 11,050.47 points on Wednesday (New York time). The S&P 50

MarketSept. 17, 2020

KB Financial chief Yoon Jong-kyoo likely to serve 3rd term

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo should keep his seat for a third term, the banking group’s outside directors decided Wednesday, bolstered by his bold moves in expansion of nonbanking businesses and acquisition. The group’s chairman recommendation committee, made up of KB’s seven outside directors, chose Yoon as the sole and final candidate for the next chairman role. The incumbent chief would have to gain final approval at a shareholders meeting scheduled Nov. 20 t

MarketSept. 16, 2020

Kakao launches corporate messenger Kakao Work

Kakao, operator of South Korea’s top mobile messaging platform, announced Wednesday that the company has launched a new enterprise messenger. The new corporate messenger developed by Kakao’s artificial intelligence unit Kakao Enterprise has combined existing user interface of popular messenger app Kakao Talk with AI and cloud technologies to support digital transformation of work environment and to improve work efficiency, according to the company. Kakao Enterprise has made the b

TechnologySept. 16, 2020

US expresses concerns over Korea’s ‘Netflix law’

US officials expressed concerns over South Korea’s revised Telecommunications Business Act, which would require foreign platform operators to share the cost of ensuring stable services, business community representatives and government officials said Wednesday. According to the sources, the concerns that the rules unfairly targeted foreign platofrms were raised don Sept. 10 during a videoconference on information and communication technology policy attended by officials from both n

TechnologySept. 16, 2020

S. Korea to take top spot in economic growth for 2020: OECD

Acknowledging South Korea’s relatively effective control of COVID-19 and its appropriate fiscal response, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently increased its outlook for Asia’s fourth-largest economy this year, officials said Wednesday. It also reiterated the need to sustain expansionary fiscal policies, warning that hasty belt-tightening as the economy is slowly recovering could dampen growth prospects for next year. In its biannual Interim Economic

EconomySept. 16, 2020

Korean investors close in on US student housing acquisition

South Korean investors are inching closer to taking over a student housing facility in the United States from US real estate developer Lincoln Ventures for roughly 140 billion won ($119.37 million), local brokerage arm Korea Investment & Securities said Wednesday. The 18-story building, Moontower, has four underground levels and houses 166 units with 567 beds. The high-end student residential facility will serve the University of Texas at Austin starting in the fall 2020 semester. Its 19,0

MarketSept. 16, 2020

Carousell snaps up $80m from Naver-led investors

Singapore-based online marketplace platform Carousell said Wednesday it had raised a combined $80 million funding from an investor group led by South Korean internet giant Naver. Along with Naver, other Korean investors, including Mirae Asset-Naver Growth Fund and NH Investment & Securities, took part in the consortium. Credit Suisse advised the deal. The funding enabled Carousell to exceed a $900 million valuation, according to the startup. Since launching in 2012, Carousell has been

MarketSept. 16, 2020

LG Chem to split off Battery Biz: sources

LG Chem will split off its battery business, in an apparent move to shore up investments through an initial public offering, according to industry sources Wednesday. LG Chem has decided to carve out the battery business division as a wholly owned subsidiary and finalize the agenda at a board meeting scheduled for Thursday, they said. “For LG Chem to digest battery orders, it needs to increase its production capacity, which will cost billions of dollars. To deliver required funds, goi

IndustrySept. 16, 2020

S-Oil opens mega-scale hybrid charging station

S-Oil said Wednesday that it has launched a mega-scale hybrid charging station in the Unjeong area of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, so it can offer comprehensive services to its customers. According to the South Korean refiner, it merged four gas stations and liquefied petroleum gas filling stations into a single charging station on a 9,900-square-meter site. With 10 DIY fuel dispensers and four LPG dispensers, the charging station can service about 30 vehicles simultaneously. “On the 9,9

IndustrySept. 16, 2020

Head of Incheon Airport refuses to resign despite pressure

In a direct hit against the Transport Ministry‘s move to oust him, Koo Bon-hwan, chief executive officer of the state-run Incheon International Airport Corp., on Wednesday refused to step down for “ungrounded” reasons. “During a meeting with a senior official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport earlier this month, I was asked to resign on my own. I was told a dismissal would be recommended if I don‘t leave immediately,” he said during a pre

MobilitySept. 16, 2020

S. Korea’s food prices hike to third highest among OECD states

South Korea’s food price inflation last month ranked the third highest among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, due to the record-long summer monsoon season soon followed by consecutive typhoons, data showed Wednesday. The prices for groceries and nonalcoholic beverages for August was up 6.6 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the OECD and Statistics Korea. This on-year rise was third highest among the 22 OECD member states th

EconomySept. 16, 2020

CJ Group's Lee Mie-kyung elected as vice chairwoman of Academy Museum

South Korean entertainment giant CJ Group executive Lee Mie-kyung, widely known as Miky Lee, has been chosen as vice chairwoman of the board of the Academy Museum opening next year in Los Angeles. According to the homepage of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wednesday, its board of trustees has appointed Netflix's CEO Ted Sarandos as chair and Miky Lee as vice-chair. Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos was named treasurer, while producer Kimberly Steward was reelected as secretary.

EconomySept. 16, 2020

KB Financial chairman likely to serve another 3-year term

KB Financial Group said Wednesday it has selected chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo as the final candidate for the post of chief of the South Korean banking giant. Yoon, who has been leading KB Financial since 2014, will begin a third three-year term as KB Financial chairman if approved at the KB Financial's extraordinary shareholders' meeting in November. Under his leadership, KB Financial has been racing to expand non-banking business in a bid to diversify its revenue sources. (Yonhap)

EconomySept. 16, 2020

Seoul stocks snap 4-day winning streak on profit-taking

South Korean stocks ended their four-session winning streak on Wednesday, as investors rushed to reap profits from the recent stock rally. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 7.66 points, or 0.31 percent, to close at 2,435.92. Trading volume was moderate at about 755 million shares worth some 11.6 trillion won ($9.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 543 to 308.' Institutions dumped a net 328 b

MarketSept. 16, 2020

KT to build 5G test facilities in S. Korea

KT Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, said Wednesday it will build 5G test facilities nationwide as part of the government's initiative to support companies developing new services on the high speed network. The 28.5 billion-won ($24.2 million) project is expected to be completed by 2023 and targets to provide small and medium-sized firms access to research versions of the 5G network to test nascent services, such as connected vehicles, drones and smart factories. The testing sites

TechnologySept. 16, 2020