GS E&C deploys AI-based robot guide for show house tours

GS Engineering and Construction said Tuesday it has deployed artificial intelligence-based robot Xibot to facilitate non-face-to-face show house tours of its new apartments. According to the Korean construction company, Xibots will give visitors show house tours of its new apartments that will on sale staring next month: DMC Art Foret Xi, DMC Fine City Xi and DMC Central Xi. Xibot is based on LG Electronics’ autonomous driving-based serve bot CLOi, which has ISO 13482 certification,

IndustryJuly 28, 2020

Ssak3 ride helps Volvo lure younger drivers

The global carmaker Volvo is rejuvenating its brand image in South Korea via successful collaborations with popular dramas and variety shows. In the currently airing tvN drama “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay,” starring Seo Ye-ji and Kim Soo-hyun, Volvo’s premium sports utility vehicle XC90 and S90, a mid-sized luxury sedan, are heavily featured, gliding along the coastal roads of Goseong, Gangwon Province. The Volvo cars have also stood out on other TV programs, with popula

MobilityJuly 28, 2020

Rise in domestic travel helps smaller airlines

As the impact of the coronavirus pandemic lingers on, some low-cost airlines in South Korea are ramping up domestic flights and cautiously launching new air routes within the country to soften the blow. Low-cost carrier Air Seoul said Monday it would fly four flights between Gimpo and Busan per day starting Aug. 21, as it touted an “extra 3-inch seat pitch” compared to its rivals. “As figures show, the number of passengers at Gimpo Airport is rising and given the trend, we&r

MobilityJuly 28, 2020

Posco prepares corporate citizenship guideline

South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco vowed to strengthen efforts to contribute to society on Tuesday as it announced the Corporate Citizenship Management Standards, a guideline for its employees in pursuing its principles of corporate citizenship. Posco said it held a strategic conference for the first half of 2020, during which CEO Choi Jeong-woo went over the performance on this front in the past two years. Addressing the difficult industry situations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ch

IndustryJuly 28, 2020

Daewoo E&C enters EV charger market, invests in Humax EV

Daewoo Engineering and Construction said Tuesday it is entering the electric vehicle charging infrastructure industry by investing in Humax EV. The construction company said it has decided to purchase a 19.9 percent stake in the firm that specializes in the segment, as part of its Build Together Startups Program, designed to make investments in future promising firms to expand into new business sectors. Daewoo E&C has established a department for new business sectors, and invested in ast

IndustryJuly 28, 2020

S. Korean stocks rally on stimulus hopes, foreign buying at 7-year high

South Korean stocks rallied by almost 2 percent Tuesday on the back of massive foreign buying with techs and market heavyweights leading the market gain. The Korean won slightly fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 39.13 points, or 1.76 percent, to close at 2,256.99. Trading volume was high at about 851 million shares worth some 17.2 trillion won ($14.4 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 495 to 344. The market continued a bullish r

MarketJuly 28, 2020

Older Koreans hope to work until age 73: survey

Nearly 67 percent of South Koreans between the ages of 55 and 79 want to keep working, a survey showed Tuesday. Their preferred retirement age is 73 on average.  According to a survey conducted by Statistics Korea, some 9.62 million respondents, or 67 percent of the 14.27 million citizens surveyed, said they want to keep working, up 2.5 percentage point from the previous year. They hoped to earn a monthly wage between 1.5 million won ($1,270) and 2 million won. Nearly 60 percent of the

EconomyJuly 28, 2020

SK’s market value surges from bio units

SK Group has solidified its market valuation -- just behind No. 1 South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group -- due to the initial public offering of its bio units, according market tracker FnGuide on Tuesday. As of Friday, its listed affiliates had a combined market cap of 120 trillion won ($100 billion), while Samsung Group had 480 trillion won. SK Biopharmaceuticals, which was listed on July 2, recorded 15 trillion won in market cap. Accordingly, SK Corp., which owns 75 percent of SK Biopha

IndustryJuly 28, 2020

Hyundai Motor seeks to acquire GM plant in Russia

Hyundai Motor confirmed Tuesday it is seeking to acquire General Motors’ production facility in St. Petersburg, Russia. “We are discussing acquisition of the plant with GM,” a Hyundai official said. The South Korean carmaker has sought approval from the antitrust agency in Russia, an essential measure to take over the factory. The agency will decide on granting permission if it does not violate the law. The St. Petersburg plant opened in 2008 with an investment of about $30

MobilityJuly 28, 2020

K bank eyes IPO in 3 years with new funding

South Korea’s first internet-only bank K bank plans to go public in three years, according to industry sources Tuesday. The company recently raised new funds worth some 400 billion won ($334.5 million) by issuing new stocks and convertible preferred stocks with its capital increasing to 900 billion won. “Although the firm’s capital has grown with the new fundraising, it would need additional funds to bring operations back on track,” said a company official. “

MarketJuly 28, 2020

[Herald Interview] ‘Crypto-based fintech firms will emerge amid COVID-19 pandemic’

Despite the economic impact of the new coronavirus outbreak in South Korea, the fintech industry is bustling as it has been relatively unaffected. The nation’s gross domestic product in the second quarter fell 3.3 percent from the previous quarter, the biggest drop since the Asian financial crisis in late 1990s. Riding the wave, the fintech industry combined with blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies will also gain momentum, according to a seasoned crypto consultant. “Som

MarketJuly 28, 2020

Local crypto firm combines health care with digital coin

A diet store may not appear to have anything in common with cryptocurrencies on the surface. For Cryptocurrency Rebalancing CEO Baek Chun-soo, however, it means the expansion of his coin investment business. The Gaindiet Shop is a new business that CEO Baek has just launched,which he plans to link with the digital coin technology. He plans to make coin-based payments available at the shop, which he aims to set up across the Korean market. The shop is designed to offer diet programs based on h

MarketJuly 28, 2020

Stock transactions driven by retail investors jump in H1

Stock trading transactions on mobile platform Stockplus more than doubled in the first half of the year, mainly due to retail investors, platform operator Dunamu said Tuesday. The transaction volume between in the January-June period rose 117.5 percent on-year, with the accumulated transactions exceeding 100 trillion won ($83.9 billion). The transaction volume reached 24.4 trillion won in the six months, surging from 11.2 trillion won in the same period last year. The figure is even higher t

MarketJuly 28, 2020

Gold prices soar to all-time high

Gold prices surged to a record high on Tuesday, as investors sought to park their money in safer destinations amid the continued spread of coronavirus and renewed US-China tensions. According to the Korea Exchange Gold Market, the price stood at 80,100 won ($66.70) per gram at the closing, jumping 2,640 won, or 3.41 percent, from the previous session. Gold prices rose for a fifth consecutive session. The price hit an intraday high of 82,970 won in early morning trading, the highest figure si

MarketJuly 28, 2020

S. Korea's trade terms sharply up in June

South Korea's terms of trade sharply improved from a year earlier in June with its import prices falling at a faster rate than export prices, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's terms of trade index for products came to 98.03 last month, up 9 percent from 94.32 in the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index measures the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports, showing how the country's exports are doing

EconomyJuly 28, 2020

S. Korea's daily FX turnover sinks in Q2 on eased market rout

The daily foreign exchange (FX) turnover by banks in South Korea dropped sharply from three months earlier in the second quarter, central bank data showed Tuesday, amid an eased market rout stemming from the new coronavirus pandemic. The daily FX turnover came to an average $52.02 billion in the April-June period, down 12.4 percent from a daily average of $59.37 billion in the first quarter, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Such a drop is "largely attributed to a cut i

MarketJuly 28, 2020

[Monitor] Samsung likley to fall behind TSMC in H1 operating profit

While US-based Intel has maintained the top spot in the global semiconductor market in terms of sales and operating profit in the first half of 2020, South Korea’s No.1 chipmaker Samsung Electronics seems to be falling behind of its Taiwanese rival TSMC. Although Samsung outstripped TSMC in terms of sales, raising an estimated 36 trillion won ($30 billion) in the first six months of the year, the Korean chipmaker is expected to achieve a smaller operating profit of 9.3 trillion won than

TechnologyJuly 28, 2020

FTC postpones decision on Apple’s self-correction plan to August

The Fair Trade Commission has postponed its decision on Apple’s corrective measures regarding its unfair practices in business with Korean mobile carriers, according to the antitrust watchdog on Tuesday. The FTC has been deliberating Apple’s consent order, applied on June 4 with the intention to close the case by taking self-corrective measures. “Due to the prolonging discussion on the details of the matter, the FTC has decided to put off the deadline for its decision, whic

IndustryJuly 28, 2020

Seoul stocks open sharply higher on hopes for economic rebound

South Korean shares opened sharply higher Tuesday on hopes for an economic rebound, as well as slowing new coronavirus infections in the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 28.17 points, or 1.27 percent, to 2,246.03 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor sentiment ran high on large-scale stimulus plans in the US and Europe. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.43 percent on Monday (New York time), with the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite up 1.67

MarketJuly 28, 2020