[Advertorial] Coca-Cola Korea launches limited summer editions

Coca-Cola Korea on Sunday said it has launched summer editions of its widely loved drinks Coke and Sprite, decorated with signature colors and graphics depicting summer activities. The company said it tried to add an uplifted spirit to its drinks against the backdrop of the new normal after the COVID-19 outbreak. Coca-Cola also expressed hopes that its drinks accompany people’s summer activities that people now tend to enjoy while staying indoors. Coca-Cola Korea’s limited edition

IndustryAug. 23, 2020

Posco seeks premium value with steel brand Innovilt

South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco said it aimed to provide premium value to customers with its new construction steel brand Innovilt, which launched in November last year. The name Innovilt is a combination of innovation, value and built, which means to increase the value of construction steel materials through technological innovation, eco-friendliness and originality, Posco said. Construction steel materials are used in buildings and other infrastructure projects, such as roads

IndustryAug. 23, 2020

Expectations high for Jakarta’s seawall projects

Expectations among Korean construction companies are high as the Korea Rural Community Corporation completed the design of a seawall project to prevent flood damage in Jakarta, Indonesia, in July and is set to submit a final report to the local government by the end of this year. In Indonesia, due to ground subsidence caused by rising sea levels and underground water development, the Jakarta coast is sinking 18 centimeters on average every year. Even when dikes are built, seawater repeatedly cr

IndustryAug. 23, 2020

[Herald Interview] Singaporean antibody firm draws throngs of Korean investors

Singapore-based antibody discovery firm Hummingbird Bioscience is drawing attention from South Korean investors for its computational systems biology-driven drug candidate discovery technology. “We have secured more than $65 million in investments for our company (and) are seeing increasing interest from South Korea-based venture and asset firms,” Hummingbird Bioscience CEO Piers Ingram said in an email interview with The Korea Herald. The growing list of South Korean investors in

IndustryAug. 23, 2020

Nano-x’s Nasdaq IPO adds fuel to SKT’s medical device biz

Nano-x, a medical imaging company in which SK Telecom is the second-biggest shareholder, has made an initial public offering on the US’ Nasdaq, SKT said Sunday. SKT preemptively invested a total of $23 million in Nano-x, first in June 2019 and second in June 2020, securing over 2.6 million shares in the company. As the second-biggest stakeholder to Nano-x after the company’s founders, SKT said it is actively participating in the management and global business expansion of Nano-x.

IndustryAug. 23, 2020

Korea Investment & Securities to divest coal assets

South Korean brokerage firm Korea Investment & Securities has decided to stop its investments in coal, in line with the Moon Jae-in administration’s “Green New Deal” initiative, one of the key pillars of the so-called “Korean New Deal” economic stimulus package. “We will stop investing in coal from now on. To fulfill our social responsibility as a firm, we’ll strengthen ESG -- environmental, social and governance -- investments instead,” a KI

MarketAug. 23, 2020

[Weekender] The golden dream: What it takes to be ‘rich’ in South Korea

“Since I was a teenager, I have always dreamed of becoming rich. In my standard, having 10 billion won ($8.43 million) worth of assets could be considered rich but this goal is almost impossible to reach on an annual salary,” Park Jee-hye, a 33-year-old, said. Eager to save at least 100 million won before her 30s, Park chose to get a job at a big firm, where she has saved about 200 million won so far. The real problem is where to park this amount, besides investing in stocks and f

MarketAug. 22, 2020

S. Korea's net foreign assets contract in Q2

South Korea's net external assets in debt instruments shrank in the second quarter, according to government data on Saturday, with its external assets growing at a slower pace than its external debt. The nation's net external assets in debt instruments, which are considered reserve assets, stood at US$449.8 billion at the end of June, compared with $464.2 billion three months earlier, according to the data from the finance ministry. The figure refers to the difference between Korea's total ex

EconomyAug. 22, 2020

Eastar to cut workforce to find new owner

Eastar Jet will cut down on its workforce as part of efforts to find a new owner after Jeju Air Co. scrapped its plan to acquire the smaller budget carrier amid the coronavirus' impact on the airline business, industry sources said Friday.    Eastar plans to lay off nearly 70 percent of its 1,200 employees in restructuring before it begins the process to find a new investor, Eastar Senior Vice President Kim You-sang said over the phone.    "Our lead managers and two p

MobilityAug. 21, 2020

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 now available globally

Samsung Electronics said Friday that it has officially launched its flagship Galaxy Note 20 phablets globally. The South Korean tech giant’s newly launched lineup, available in 70 countries, comprises the standard Note 20 and the high-end Note 20 Ultra. Samsung Electronics added that the products will be available in a total of 130 nations worldwide by mid-September. The company plans to hold launch events and promotional activities depending on the COVID-19 situation in each nation.

TechnologyAug. 21, 2020

New NTS chief pledges to support COVID-19-hit businesses

Kim Dae-ji, the new chief of South Korea’s tax authority, the National Tax Service, vowed Friday that the tax office would give full support for small and midsized businesses reeling from the lingering coronavirus pandemic while strictly enforcing rules against tax evasion. “The tax office will try to deploy measures to help overcome the coronavirus crisis and prop up the economy by lightening the tax burden on entrepreneurs and small-business owners,” said Kim at his inau

MarketAug. 21, 2020

Busan to proceed with AI expo in September

The Busan government said Friday it would proceed with AI Korea 2020, despite the resurgence in new coronavirus cases in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The Busan government said it would strengthen COVID-19 prevention measures for the event, scheduled between Sept. 17-19 at Bexco in Busan. The expo, which will be held at 13,000 square-meter exhibition areas, has been designed to attract leading scientists, developers and entrepreneurs in related sectors. The Busan government said it would show

IndustryAug. 21, 2020

Seoul stocks rebound on bargain hunting

South Korean shares rebounded Friday on bargain hunting after stock prices recently plunged amid fears over the fast-spreading coronavirus. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 30.37 points, or 1.34 percent, to close at 2,304.59. Trading volume was high at about 855 million shares worth some 14 trillion won ($11.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 600 to 237. Foreigners bought a net 197 billion won, ending a two-da

MarketAug. 21, 2020

NCSoft launches entertainment subsidiary Klap

NCSoft said Friday it has launched an entertainment subsidiary Klap to expand its business portfolio. According to the South Korean game company, it established Klap on July 13 and invested 800 million won ($675,000) to control 66.7 percent of the subsidiary. Klap has 14 business objectives including video, webcomics, an online music service and internet broadcasting. Kim Taek-hun, senior vice president and chief publishing officer at NCSoft, has been appointed as the CEO of Klap. Also, N

IndustryAug. 21, 2020

US Congressman seeks investigation against SK Innovation for suspected illegal employment

SK Innovation’s battery business is facing uncertainties in the US as Congressman Doug Collins is accusing the firm of hiring Korean workers illegally to displace American workers at its two factories under construction in Jackson County, Georgia. On Wednesday, the congressman sent a letter to the directors of Immigration (ICE) and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to investigate an alleged illegal employment scheme surrounding two battery plants worth $2.6 billion

IndustryAug. 21, 2020

S. Korean private equity market needs higher transparency: Preqin

Despite managing $61 billion in assets, South Korea‘s private equity industry is considered a relatively immature market, compared to global financial hubs like London, New York and Hong Kong. The segment, however, has growth potential if it is able to improve transparency by addressing issues, including a lack of standardized reporting practices and inconsistency in the portfolio valuation methodology by private equity fund managers, according to Preqin, a London-based financial data prov

MarketAug. 21, 2020

S. Korea to continue financial aid for cash-strapped small biz amid COVID-19 resurgence

In response to a deepening economic slump due to the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases, South Korea on Thursday said it will keep providing financial lifelines for coronavirus-hit small business owners. “Due to a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, a growing number of small business owners are likely to be in need of cash despite the government’s initial support programs,” Kim Yong-beom, first vice minister of finance, said in a meeting with related officials held at

EconomyAug. 21, 2020

LG Display provides transparent displays to Chinese subways

LG Display said Friday that the company has provided its transparent organic light-emitting diode panels for windows of subway trains based in Beijing and Shenzhen, China. The 55-inch OLED display windows installed in trains can show information ranging from news and a weather forecast to subway transit maps and flight schedules. LG Display said the company aims to collaborate with train window makers to increase its transparent OLED panel supplies. The company added it would diversify tran

TechnologyAug. 21, 2020

GM Korea CEO visits Changwon plant to monitor facility investment

GM Korea CEO Kaher Kazem visited the automaker’s Changwon plant on Thursday to review the investment status of its next-generation products, the firm said Friday. GM Korea said, “The visit was made to check whether facility investment for new global products is progressing as planned amid the uncertainty in the business environment, such as heavy rain, heat wave and the pandemic. Kazem and a group of officials visited the construction site to monitor safety compliance and whethe

MobilityAug. 21, 2020

[Monitor] SK hynix restores 30% share in DRAM market

SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory provider, restored its share in the global DRAM market with over 30 percent for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2018. According to data from TrendForce, more than half of the DRAM market was occupied by Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in the second quarter of 2020. Samsung cemented its solid lead with 43.5 percent, followed by SK hynix with 30.1 percent. SK hynix’s presence in the DRAM market was redu

TechnologyAug. 21, 2020