Doosan Bobcat releases new mowers in N. American market

Construction equipment maker Doosan Bobcat Co. said Wednesday it has launched new mowers in the North American market. Doosan Bobcat aims to increase its sales to 100 billion won ($84 million) this year and double the sales by 2024 in the landscape equipment market in the region, the company said in an emailed statement. Doosan Bobcat bought the zero-turn mower business division from US landscape gear company Schiller Grounds Care last year. The zero-turn mower market in North America is es

EconomySept. 9, 2020

Banks' household loans increase by record amount in August

South Korean banks' household loans increased by the largest amount on record in August amid rising home prices and a rally in the stock market, central bank data showed Wednesday. Outstanding bank loans to local households came to 948.2 trillion won ($796.9 billion) as of end-August, up 11.7 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the largest monthly gain since 2004 when the BOK began compiling related data. In July, such lending gre

EconomySept. 9, 2020

Initial volume of Galaxy Z Fold2 to grow threefold

The initial volume of the Galaxy Z Fold2, the third foldable device by Samsung Electronics, is estimated to grow at least threefold from its predecessor, owing to positive market reaction, according to telecom industry sources Wednesday. Around 10,000 units of the Galaxy Z Fold2 will be allotted for the three mobile carriers in South Korea and independent stores, the sources say. Compared to the first Galaxy Fold edition, that marks three times the volume. “Samsung’s productio

TechnologySept. 9, 2020

FTC takes aim at Google’s OS monopoly

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has set out to determine whether Google’s monopoly on mobile operating systems and app markets blocks the emergence of rival OSs and app markets. “Currently, the regulator is focusing its investigation on whether operators who dominate the mobile OS market obstructed the production of devices equipped with rival OS, or by forcing app developers to exclusively launch their apps on its app markets,” Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh S

IndustrySept. 9, 2020

Han Sung Motor paints mural to improve regional environment

Han Sung Motor, an official dealer of Mercedes-Benz Korea, said Wednesday that it has completed work on a mural near its Seongnam exhibition hall. The automotive dealer said it had painted an old wall measuring about 50 meters wide and created the mural to improve the regional environment. The mural was painted under the voluntary initiative of Han Sung Motor’s Seongnam unit to re-create the alley as a street where people want to walk and a “street of youth,” according to

MobilitySept. 9, 2020

Doosan Heavy signs deal to provide artificial sun project with pressurizers

South Korea's power plant builder Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Wednesday that it has signed a deal to provide pressurizers to the global artificial sun project consortium. Under the deal signed with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) consortium launched in late 2006, Doosan Heavy Industries along with its British subsidiary Doosan Babcock will provide pressurizers by 2022, the company said in an emailed statement. The pressurizers will be use

EconomySept. 9, 2020

S. Korea to allow reopening of ASF-hit farms

South Korea said Wednesday it will allow pig farms hit by the African swine fever (ASF) last year to resume their operations, as no additional cases among domestic pigs were reported for about 11 months. The move will pave the way for 261 farms in the Gyeonggi and Gangwon Provinces, which have been closed due to the massive outbreak in 2019, to gradually raise pigs again, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The ASF swept through pig farms in the inter-Korean borde

EconomySept. 9, 2020

Job losses extend into August amid pandemic, unemployment rate up to 3.1%

SEJONG -- South Korea lost about 274,000 jobs in August, marking a decline in the number of the employed for the sixth consecutive month, as the coronavirus pandemic hammered job markets, data showed Wednesday. The country's jobless rate rose by 0.1 percentage point on-year to 3.1 percent in August, with the number of employed people falling to 27.08 million, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the longest fall since the eight months of decline posted in 2009 amid the

EconomySept. 9, 2020

[Monitor] Over 10,000 restaurants in Seoul go out of business amid pandemic

With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of commercial facilities such as restaurants and PC rooms have shut down in Seoul, a survey by the Agency for Traditional Market Administration shared by Real Estate 114 showed. As of the second quarter of this year, the number in commercial districts dropped by 5.4 percent to 370,321 from 391,499 in the first quarter. By type of business, restaurants shut down the most, followed by retailers such as convenience stores and supermarket

ConsumerSept. 9, 2020

Korean Air begins using converted planes to transport cargo

Korean Air Lines Co. said Wednesday it has begun to use two converted planes to transport cargo on routes to the United States in the latest move to offset a sharp decline in air travel demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. The biggest carrier in South Korea has recently converted two B777-300ER jets into cargo planes after obtaining approval from the transport ministry. "One of the two converted aircraft flew to the Rickenbacker International Airport in Ohio on Tuesday, and the other is

MobilitySept. 9, 2020

[Graphic News] Retail sales up 4.4% in July on online sales of groceries amid pandemic

　Retail sales in South Korea advanced 4.4 percent in July from a year earlier as online platforms enjoyed a spike in demand for groceries and home appliances amid the new coronavirus pandemic. 　The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 11.46 trillion won ($9.67 billion) last month, up from 10.98 trillion won a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 　Online platforms led the growth, with their revenue advancing 13.4

BusinessSept. 9, 2020

Seoul stocks open sharply lower on Wall Street plunge

South Korean shares opened sharply lower Wednesday, taking a cue from a drop in tech stocks on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 27.2 points, or 1.13 percent, to 2,374.71 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor sentiment worsened as key US stock indexes tumbled, with tech shares in particular falling deep. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite plummeted 465.44 points, or 4.11 percent, to 10,847.69 on Tuesday (New York time). The Dow Jones Industrial Av

MarketSept. 9, 2020

Kakao Games to debut on Kosdaq on Thursday

Kakao Games, the game developing unit of South Korean mobile giant Kakao, will debut on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market Thursday, the Korea Exchange said Tuesday. The company's public offering price is 24,000 won per share. It logged record-breaking IPO subscription early this month, far outperforming SK Biopharmacueticals, which went public in July. Subscription deposits for Kakao Games shares were estimated at 58.55 trillion won ($49.4 billion), almost double the 30.99 trillion won deposited fo

MarketSept. 8, 2020

Fitch lowers S. Korea growth forecast 0.2% on COVID-19 fallout

Fitch Ratings lowered the growth forecast for South Korea this year by 0.2 percentage point due to the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, the credit appraiser said Tuesday. The downgrade, would mean Asia's fourth largest economy will backtrack 1.1 percent this year from 2019. Fitch earlier predicted Seoul's economy to post negative growth of 0.9 percent. This is slightly better than the 1.3 percent contraction announced by the Bank of Korea last month. Fitch predicted that while the impact o

EconomySept. 8, 2020

BOK to buy up to W5tr in state bonds to combat market uncertainties

South Korea’s central bank announced Tuesday that it plans to directly purchase state bonds worth some 5 trillion won ($4.2 billion) by the end of this year to combat uncertainties stemming from the resurgence of the coronavirus here. “With the resurgence of the coronavirus leading to bigger market uncertainties, the government is expected to issue additional bonds,” the Bank of Korea said in a statement. “This is a preemptive move to alleviate risks from a possib

EconomySept. 8, 2020

Korea reveals details of ‘Netflix law’

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Tuesday provided advance notice of its ordinances under the revised Telecommunications Business Act, which includes clauses that will bind foreign platform operators like Netflix and YouTube to share costs in securing stable services. The revision, dubbed the ”Netflix law,“ passed the National Assembly in May after local network operators raised complaints over foreign platform operators being exempt from costs for operating, expanding and using

TechnologySept. 8, 2020

CLSA derides Moon’s New Deal fund

A report by Hong Kong-based investment bank CLSA lashed out at President Moon Jae-in‘s Korean New Deal initiative and the 20 trillion-won ($16.8 billion) fund to finance the projects, claiming his scheme promotes moral hazard and is designed to win votes. In the report titled “Moon’s debut as a fund manager,” Paul Choi, head of Korea research at CLSA, addressed possible negative impacts due to the government’s fund scheme, such as the “blowing of a bubble&rd

MarketSept. 8, 2020

Seoul’s housing prices show signs of cooling: finance minister

Home prices in Seoul and the neighboring area have shown some signs of stabilizing on the back of the government’s price-curbing measures, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Tuesday. He also rolled out plans to provide some 60,000 new public apartments in greater Seoul in 2021-2022, with subscriptions due to start next year. “A month passed since taking effect, the Aug. 4 (housing) supply measures appear to be paying off to a certain extent,” the

EconomySept. 8, 2020

BOK to buy 5tr won worth of state bonds by end-year to stabilize market

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Tuesday it plans to buy state bonds worth 5 trillion won ($4.2 billion) directly from the market by the end of this year in a bid to stabilize the debt market. The move is aimed at tackling potential market jitters and easing a sharp rise in market rates in a preemptive manner as the government is expected to increase bond issuance, the BOK said in a statement. The government plans to sell more bonds to finance the fourth extra budget designed to cushion the fallo

MarketSept. 8, 2020

Korean Air rolls out strict rules for mask-wearing on board

Korean Air announced Tuesday it will enforce stricter rules for passengers to wear masks on board planes as part of safety efforts to prevent COVID-19. Starting Sept. 8, the national flag carrier will not allow passengers to board if they refuse to wear a mask, in an effort to stop the spread of the virus, with the exception of toddlers younger than 24 months and those with health conditions. The move is part of the airline’s Care First program, which consists of prevention and disinfec

MobilitySept. 8, 2020