KAI seeks to supply 20 TA-50 fighters to Air Force

Korea Aerospace Industries is set to sell 20 TA-50 fighters to the South Korean Air Force, according to industry sources Thursday. South Korea’s sole aircraft manufacturer and a committee under the Defense Acquisition Program Administration are set to discuss the sales of 20 units of TA-50 lead-in fighter trainers to the Korean Air Force on Friday, they said. “If the defense project promotion committee approves the deal, KAI and DAPA are expected sign a 700-billion-won ($580 mill

IndustryJune 25, 2020

WeMade wins IP lawsuit in Singapore against Chinese copycats

WeMade said Thursday that it has won a lawsuit against Chinese rivals in a Singapore-based arbitration court for breaching a software license agreement (SLA) for its game The Legend of Mir 2. According to the South Korean game company, the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Court of Arbitration confirmed that the SLA on The Legend of Mir 2 that WeMade signed with Korean game company Actoz Soft and Chinese game company Shanda Games’ affiliate Lansha Information Techn

IndustryJune 25, 2020

India finally allows LG Chem employees to go home

LG Chem said Thursday that an Indian court granted a conditional return home to eight company officials who had been stopped by local police from boarding a chartered flight back to Korea last month. According to LG Chem, the Indian High Court lifted a travel ban on the special task force comprised of eight officials, accepting a petition the company filed on Wednesday, on the condition that they appear in court if subpoenaed and cooperate with police investigations regarding a deadly gas leak

IndustryJune 25, 2020

[News Focus] After a year of restricted trade with Japan, Korean materials industry has grown stronger

It’s been nearly a year since Japan imposed restrictions on its exports to South Korea of key high-tech materials used in chipmaking, the economic pillar of Asia’s fourth-largest economy. At the time, Korea panicked. But one year on, Korea has made significant efforts to reduce its dependence on Japan, which is a close neighbor but also a rival on many fronts, by diversifying its import channels and localizing its materials technologies. On July 1 last year, Japan abruptly moved

IndustryJune 25, 2020

Guinness World Records accredits Paris Baguette for roll cake

South Korea’s SPC Group, which operates bakery franchise Paris Baguette, said it has bagged a Guinness World Records certification for its bestselling roll cake brand. Paris Baguette’s sales of Silky Roll Cake topped 12.49 million from January 2015 to December 2019 in five countries -- Korea, China, the US, Singapore and Vietnam. It is the largest number of roll cakes to be sold and hence got the honor, the company said. When converted to distance, it is 3,000 kilometers when con

ConsumerJune 25, 2020

GS E&C enters precast concrete business

GS Engineering and Construction said Thursday it is officially entering the precast concrete business by building a precast concrete factory in North Chungcheong Province. According to the company, it signed an investment agreement with the North Chungcheong provincial government and Eumseong County on Wednesday, to build the factory in the region. The factory will be built on a 150,000-square-meter plot of land inside the General Industrial Complex in Eumseong County, and it will be capabl

IndustryJune 25, 2020

Daelim Industrial seeks patent for noise-control tech

South Korea’s Daelim Industrial said Thursday it has applied for a patent for its new technology that drastically reduces sound between apartment floors. According to the construction company, it analyzed the impact patterns of the footsteps of adults and children to develop the new method of topping two layers of mortar and one layer of insulation material on top of the concrete slab, which is the basic frame of a building. Dubbed the Noise Free 3-layer System, the extra mortar and h

IndustryJune 25, 2020

Amorepacific, Bokwang Investment to become related via marriage

Amorepacific Group Chairman Suh Kyung-bae’s eldest daughter is getting engaged to the first son of Bokwang Investment Corp. Chairman Hong Seok-joon this weekend, according to industry sources Thursday. Suh Min-jeong and Hong Jeong-hwan, who started dating early this year after being introduced by an acquaintance, are set to hold an engagement ceremony at Shilla Hotel in Seoul at around 6 p.m. on Saturday. Both work at their fathers’ companies. Suh is the second-largest sharehold

IndustryJune 25, 2020

Coupang opens recruitment for 200 tech positions

Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said it is recruiting about 200 tech talents, starting from Wednesday. The positions include software developers, product owners, product designers and more, with over five years of experience in their respective fields, Coupang said. For those hired in this recruitment, Coupang said it will also offer a signing bonus, starting from 50 million won ($41,600) upon joining the company. Coupang has tech development offices in the Silicon Valley in California as

ConsumerJune 25, 2020

S. Korea to impose tax on all financial investment gains

South Korea will impose a new income tax on all gains made from financial investments, while reducing the securities transaction tax rate, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday. The move came in line with the government’s efforts to alleviate the widening socioeconomic gap here and to revitalize the stalled market amid the COVID-19 fallout. “(The government) will establish a new taxation category for financial investment gains, starting 2022,&rdqu

EconomyJune 25, 2020

Seoul stocks sink 2.27% on renewed virus woes

South Korean stocks tumbled more than 2 percent Thursday as the new cases of the novel coronavirus surged, dimming investors' hopes for a quick global economic recovery, analysts said. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 49.14 points, or 2.27 percent, to close at 2,112.37. Trading volume was heavy at 1 billion shares worth 10.6 trillion won ($8.8 billion), with losers far outnumbering winners 732 to 145. Foreigners and insti

MarketJune 25, 2020

LabGenomics develops world’s first 35-minitue COVID-19 test kit

LabGenomics, a molecular diagnostics health care company, developed the world’s first 35-minute real-time polymerase chain reaction test kit for COVID-19. The company’s shares, listed on the tech-heavy Kosdaq, hit the daily growth ceiling of 30 percent on the day of the announcement Wednesday and continued to be upbeat in early morning trading Thursday, rising by 14.17 percent. Before, RT-PCR test kits for COVID-19 could yield results as fast as 2 1/2 hours. LabGenomics’ 35

IndustryJune 25, 2020

Hanmi Science envisions ‘Cydio Cigma’ for post-COVID-19 era

Novel drugs developer Hanmi Science vowed Thursday to rev up its engine for Cydio Cigma -- six goals, standing for cyber education, digital bio, oral bio, city bio, green bio and marine Bio. “Where there is no innovation, there is no development. Those who turn their backs on challenges are branded as cowards. Cydio Cigma is our goal and commitment for the post-COVID-19 era,” said Hanmi Science CEO Lim Chong-yoon at a meeting with executives in June. Lim promised to reward employe

IndustryJune 25, 2020

Kia Motors tops J.D. Power Initial Quality Study in US

South Korean automaker Kia Motors has topped the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study in the US, securing the highest rank for six consecutive years as a mass market auto brand, the firm said Thursday. The J.D. Power IQS is a US study that began in 1987 and assesses vehicle product quality based on the problems experienced by owners during their first 90 days of ownership. Using the 223 criteria, a total of 189 vehicles from 31 brands -- 13 premium brands and 18 mass market brands -- have been eva

MobilityJune 25, 2020

Urban dwellers moving to rural areas down for 2nd year

The number of urban dwellers seeking to resettle in farms or fishing towns has decreased over the past two years, but the new coronavirus pandemic is expected to push the figure back up as more people will search for new job opportunities, data showed Thursday. The number of South Koreans resettling in farms or fishing villages reached 461,879 in 2019, or 329,986 households, according to the data compiled by the agricultural and oceans ministries. It marked a drop from 347,665 and 341,221 hou

EconomyJune 25, 2020

[Herald Interview] COVID-19 to reshape logistics: DHL exec

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic outbreak around the world has had a profound impact on global supply chains and logistics. For example, the South Korean automotive, aviation and heavy industries that rely on foreign demand have shut down their operations and are suffering from constrained inventory control and capacity at sites. But the latest crisis is not the first time that the global supply chains have been significantly affected. Over the last decade, disasters like volcanic eruptions, tsu

MobilityJune 25, 2020

Unlicensed frequency band to boost Wi-Fi speed, smart factory penetration: ministry

South Korea's move to offer an unlicensed 6 gigahertz (GHz) frequency band will lead to superfast Wi-Fi services across the country and the building of 5G network-based smart factories, the science ministry said Thursday. The spectrum, ranging from 5,925 MHz through 7,125 MHz, will open for indoor use in September, with the entire frequency to be made available by 2022, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. South Korea, the first country to begin commercial 5G services in April 3 last

TechnologyJune 25, 2020

[News Focus] Tough apartment, stock rules frustrate ordinary Koreans

SEJONG -- A number of salaried people and ordinary households in South Korea have been resorting to stocks and real estate as their two main investment. But their investments according to market principles have been restricted under the Moon Jae-in administration, which has dumped a variety of regulations on the market. Following a series of regulations to the real estate market over the past three years to 2017, the Moon government is poised to tackle the stock market in terms of enhanced ta

MarketJune 25, 2020

[Monitor] Half of married couples have double income

About half of married couples in South Korea earned two incomes in 2019, data from Statistics Korea showed. Among 12.305 million households led by married couples, 5.662 million were dual-income, while 6.644 million were single-income. The ratio of dual-income families had inched down by 0.3 percentage points to 46 percent from 2018. The agency said although there was a slight decrease, the overall ratio of dual-income couples has been high in recent years. Last year’s decline is attr

IndustryJune 25, 2020

S. Korea to expand capital gains tax for more retail investors from 2023

SEJONG -- South Korea said Thursday it plans to revise a law to expand capital gains taxes to all stock investors beginning in 2023, while lowering a stock transaction tax. Under the plan, all investors who hold listed stocks will be subject to a tax rate of 20 percent. If they hold stocks worth more than 300 million won ($250,041), the tax rate will be raised to 25 percent. However, the proposed tax revision allows a retail investor to be exempted from a capital gains tax when profits from

EconomyJune 25, 2020