Over 310,000 students benefit from Mirae Asset founder’s donation

Mirae Asset Financial Group founder Park Hyeon-joo has backed a total of 315,119 students over two decades as Park donated his dividend income, the group said Monday. The fund was offered through Mirae Asset Park Hyeon-joo Foundation, established in 2000. The donations went to scholarships to over 9,000 college students, or roughly 700 students each year since 2007. Of the total, some 60 percent of students participated in exchange student programs, for which the Mirae Asset Park Hyeon-joo

MarketJune 8, 2020

BAT Korea offers discount for Glo Pro, Glo Mini

BAT Korea said Monday it will kick off a promotional event for its latest product Glo Pro and Glo Series 2 Mini, offering them at discounted prices on its website and at convenience stores. BAT Korea said it planned the event to mark the successful launch of Glo Pro and to express appreciation to online customers. The tobacco maker said it is starting the event at its official website from Monday, and for convenience stores across the country from June 29. From the website, customers can

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Posco supports SMEs with smart factory

South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco said Monday its smart factory support program for small and medium-sized enterprises has been seeing positive outcomes, such as in their revenue growth. Since 2013, Posco has been running its “Productivity Innovation Program” initiative to assist SMEs in building their “smart” capacity. As of last year, the company said it had supported 1,094 companies with investments worth 22.8 billion won ($19 million). The companies in

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Ministry moves for stronger investigative right in tech infringement against SMEs

The Korean government will toughen probes into large firms infringing on the technologies of small and medium-sized enterprises, officials said Monday. For this, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced it will move to revise regulations related to companies’ technology infringements to reinforce the investigative power. Currently, authorities have to suspend an investigation on alleged technology infringement in certain cases, including when a business is temporarily closed or a

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Hyundai, Kia record highest sedan sales in three years

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday that with the launch of new models and shifting consumer tastes seeking more driving comfort, sales of its sedans recorded a three-year high.  According to South Korea’s largest automaker, sedans accounted for 48.5 percent of total passenger car sales in the January-May period, the highest figure since 2017, when it hit 50.1 percent.  In 2018 and 2019, sedan sales during the first five months accounted for 43.8 percent and 43 percent, respective

MobilityJune 8, 2020

Market rally likely to continue despite concerns over Covid-19 impact

The South Korean stock market has been bullish in recent weeks thanks to abundant liquidity here and abroad given efforts to boost the coronavirus-battered economies. The nation’s main bourse Kospi has recovered to pre-coronavirus levels while the tech-heavy Kosdaq market has recently hit a new high. Although some experts warn of another big drop in the stock market, it is widely forecast that with the ample liquidity the crash will be more subdued than in March. “The stock mar

MarketJune 8, 2020

GS Caltex gas stations kick off drone delivery services

GS Caltex said Monday it has launched drone delivery services at its gas stations on Jeju Island, utilizing them as logistics hubs. According to the South Korean oil refiner, drones will deliver daily necessities to customers living in rural areas after they place orders through the app of its convenience store chain GS25. “Gas stations are easy for cargo trucks to enter, have enough storage space and are located all across the country, making them suitable for logistics bases,&rdquo

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Kainos Med completes Kosdaq listing

Kainos Medicine completed listing in Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq, Monday, vowing to inject more power to its ongoing pipeline developments for Parkinson’s Disease and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome treatments. Kainos Medicine merged with Kosdaq-listed Hana Financial Eleventh Special Purpose Acquisition Company by which it became a listed company on Kosdaq. “Becoming a publicly-traded company is an impetus for Kainos Medicine to add fuel to its on-going novel drug dev

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Seoul stocks extend winning streak to 7th session despite Samsung losses

South Korean stocks closed higher Monday, extending a winning streak to a seventh consecutive session despite losses in Samsung Electronics and other Samsung affiliates' shares. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 2.42 points, or 0.11 percent, to close at 2,184.29. Trading volume was moderate at about 842.9 million shares worth some 12.9 trillion won ($10.7 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 444 to 393. Institutions s

MarketJune 8, 2020

Authorities to open up public financial database to public for innovation

As part of its move to nurture the data-based financial industry and financial technology businesses, Korea’s financial authorities will open up 44.5 million pieces of public financial data to the public for free, starting Wednesday, regulator Financial Services Commission said Monday. The range of public financial data consists of large sets of information stored at the FSC and eight other public financial institutions in Korea -- the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Developmen

MarketJune 8, 2020

Hanwha mulling entering US hydrogen ecosystem

Hanwha Energy Corp. and three other affiliates are considering entering the US hydrogen ecosystem, Hanwha said Monday, after a successful investment in a US hydrogen truck maker. In 2018, Hanwha Energy and Hanwha General Chemical Co. each invested $50 million for a combined 6.13 percent stake in Nikola Motor. Nikola Motor's market value stood at $12.2 billion on the day of its debut on the US Nasdaq market Thursday. Nikola's market debut raised the value of the stake held by Hanwha Energy an

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Hyundai offers W55.7b to help dealerships

Hyundai Motor Group announced Monday that it will provide its sales and auto parts dealerships 55.7 billion won ($46 million) in subsidies to stabilize their operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Auto dealerships of its main affiliates -- Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis -- will be given the subsidies to help them overcome the economic downturn. The size is a 70 percent increase from last year’s funding. Some 1,860 Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors dealerships across the country

MobilityJune 8, 2020

Volvo Cars Korea offers lifetime warranty, wider service network

Betting big on the South Korean market with a focus on superior customer service, Volvo Cars Korea has introduced a lifetime auto parts warranty here -- the first such guarantee by a carmaker here -- while vowing to increase its network by 25 percent. “The introduction of lifetime warranty will dramatically decrease consumer concerns over the maintenance cost of an imported vehicle, as well as enable them to enjoy the attractive features of our vehicles for a long time,” said Volvo

MobilityJune 8, 2020

S. Korea's corporate bond sales jump 54% in May

Corporate bond issues in South Korea soared nearly 54 percent to recover to pre-coronavirus levels in May, with foreign bond holdings hitting a new high, data showed Monday. South Korean companies floated bonds of 11.4 trillion won ($9.47 billion) last month, up 54.1 percent from the previous month, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The amount is close to the corporate debt sales of 12.3 trillion won in February, a month before the World Health Organizatio

EconomyJune 8, 2020

Housing prices to climb as lower interest rates drive up demand

Housing prices in South Korea are expected to rise in the latter half of this year due to growing demand buoyed by lower interest rates, the Eugene Investment and Securities said in its quarterly report Monday.  “Cash flow into the housing sector will continue to rise amid the prolonged period of low interest rates here, with a rise in demand triggering higher apartment prices,” said Kim Yeol-mae, an analyst at the brokerage. Meanwhile, the average apartment price in Seoul du

MarketJune 8, 2020

Hyundai Heavy promises improved safety measures at workplaces

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, South Korea's top shipbuilder, said Monday it will make improving safety for its workers its top priority amid a series of accidents at its workplaces. The move was followed by its decision last week to spend an additional 300 billion won ($244 million) to beef up safety for its workers over the next three years. The group now plans to spend a total of 1.64 trillion won during the cited period to improve safety at the facilities of its nine affiliates, includ

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Banks' average capital adequacy ratio down in Q1

South Korean banks saw their average capital adequacy ratio fall slightly in the first quarter from the previous quarter, data showed Monday. The average capital adequacy ratio of 19 commercial and state-run banks stood at 14.72 percent as of the end of March, down 0.54 percentage point from the end of December, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). A key barometer of financial soundness, the ratio measures the proportion of a bank's capital to its risk-weighted

MarketJune 8, 2020

Over half of virus-hit Korean firms to cut R&D spending in H2: poll

More than half of South Korean firms plan to cut their spending on research and development (R&D) and hiring of researchers in the second half of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Monday. The survey of 1,221 companies, taken by the Korea Industrial Technology Association (KOITA) from May 22-25, showed 58 percent of the respondents have plans to scale down their R&D investment in the July-December period. The figure is up 10.3 percentage points from a similar surv

IndustryJune 8, 2020

Remdesivir shortens COVID-19 recovery time, but limits exist: experts

Remdesivir shortens recovery time for novel coronavirus patients, but the experimental drug conventionally used for treating Ebola has limited efficacy in severe cases, health experts said Monday. Last week, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, South Korea's drug safety watchdog, approved the use of Remdesivir as a treatment drug for COVID-19, allowing special imports by using its special measures procedure. Following the approval, controversies arose on whether Remdesivir, medication develo

IndustryJune 8, 2020

[Monitor] New apartments in Seocho-gu most expensive in Seoul

The most popular apartments in Seoul are new and located in Seocho-gu, according a recent report. Local real estate company Real Estate 114 surveyed the average price of apartments by year and district in Seoul as of last month. By year, it found that new apartments in the first to fifth year of occupancy were the most expensive at an average of 1.38 billion won ($1.14 million). By district, Seocho-gu had the highest average sale price of 2.57 billion won. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

IndustryJune 8, 2020