Amorepacific shares ‘ABC Spirit’ pledge with employees worldwide

Amorepacific Group, a leading cosmetics firm here, said Tuesday it has set a new action principle “ABC Spirit” for employees in South Korea and around the world to share. Holding a proclamation ceremony at the Seoul headquarter in Seoul on Monday, the company’s Chairman Suh Kyung-bae announced the “five action plans” connected with the ABC spirit, to its employees in both South Korea and overseas branches. “I will do my best to get through this period of

ConsumerJune 2, 2020

[News Analysis] How far along is Korea in solid EV batteries?

Despite daunting competition against market giant China and tech-savvy Japan, South Korean battery makers -- LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation -- have been making headway in the global electric vehicle battery industry. In the first quarter this year, buoyed by several consequences including the COVID-19 pandemic, LG Chem even seized the top spot with a 27.1 percent share of the global market. But they may face a harsh shift in dynamics if they fall behind in developing next-generation

IndustryJune 2, 2020

Airlines cautious about resuming US flights over growing protests

South Korean air carriers that had planned to resume flights to the US this month amid the slow spread of COVID-19 are cautious and taking a “wait and see” approach due to growing protests in the US over the death of an African American man in police custody, according to industry sources Tuesday.  Protests against the death of George Floyd and police brutality have spread to over 100 cities since last week.  The country’s flag carrier Korean Air’s flight dep

MobilityJune 2, 2020

S. Korea’s GDP shrinks by 1.3% amid falling per capita income

South Korea’s real gross domestic product shrank 1.3 percent on-quarter in the first quarter of this year, nearly missing its previous forecast of 1.4 percent, data from the Bank of Korea showed Tuesday. Through the contraction was 0.1 percentage point lower than the earlier estimate, it marked the largest on-quarter drop since the fourth quarter of 2008, when the country was reeling from the global financial crisis and the corresponding figure stood at 3.3 percent. The country’s

EconomyJune 2, 2020

Korea faces first dip in annual inflation in 8 months

South Korea’s consumer prices shed 0.3 percent on-year in May, marking the first annual contraction in eight months, due to the fall in global oil prices and the persisting COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The consumer price index for May stood at 104.71, down 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier and down 0.2 percentage point from a month earlier, according to data tallied by Statistics Korea. This was the second time that the annual inflation rate fell below zero since th

EconomyJune 2, 2020

Seoul stocks up for 3rd day on recovery hopes

South Korean stocks rose by more than 1 percent Tuesday, extending a winning streak to a third consecutive session on hopes for economic reopening, despite uncertainties from the spreading protests against police violence in the United States. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 22.11 points, or 1.07 percent, to close at 2,087.19. Trading volume was heavy at about 985.1 million shares worth some 10.1 trillion won ($8.2 billion

MarketJune 2, 2020

Hanwha Asset bets on e-commerce, data, health care stocks amid coronavirus

Seoul-based Hanwha Asset Management said Tuesday it is betting on new growth opportunities of companies dedicated to e-commerce, data infrastructure and health care by creating a fund investing in such stocks at home and abroad. The strategy comes amid consumer concerns about face-to-face contact amid the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, which rather translates into higher demand for companies in such sectors, company officials said. The demand stems from changes in people’s lifestyle,

MarketJune 2, 2020

Laundry service startup Laundrygo snaps up W17b

South Korea’s same-day laundry service startup Laundrygo said Tuesday it had raised a 17 billion won ($13.9 million) series B round funding from multiple venture capital houses, amid growing demand for daily life services offered without physical contact in the pandemic era. New investors in the latest round include Korea Investment Partners, Aju IB Investment, KT Investment, Samsung Venture Investment, DS Asset Management. Existing investors Altos Ventures and Hana Ventures also joined

MarketJune 2, 2020

Hana execs join legal battle against penalties for derivatives-linked funds

Tension mounted Tuesday as executives of Hana Financial Group joined the legal battle against financial authorities for imposing penalties for misselling derivatives-linked funds. Jang Kyung-hoon, president of Hana Card as well as Park Se-gul, general manager of Hana Bank’s wealth management unit, have reportedly filed separate suits at a local administrative court to nullify the Financial Supervisory Service’s punitive measures.  In March, Hana Bank was slapped with 16.78 bi

MarketJune 2, 2020

ESG bond market to benefit from KRX’s fee-waiver

The stock market operator’s move to offer benefits to companies running socially conscious bonds is likely to add vitality to the environmental, social and governance-related bond market in South Korea, according to industry sources Tuesday. The Korea Exchange is slated to waive listing fees and yearly managing costs for the socially conscious bonds of local firms for three years from June 15. It will also open a website to provide investment details and disclosures of each bond on the s

MarketJune 2, 2020

Korea shipbuilders win $20b deal from Qatar

Three Korean shipbuilders have won a large-scale project worth $20 billion for liquefied natural gas vessels in Qatar, according to industry sources Tuesday. Qatar’s state-owned firm Qatar Petroleum said it has signed a deal with three South Korean shipbuilders -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries -- to reserve LNG ship construction capacity. Under the agreements, the Korean shipbuilders will reserve a major portion of

IndustryJune 2, 2020

S. Korea to resume WTO complaint over Japan’s trade curbs

The South Korean government on Tuesday announced that it would resume a complaint filed with the World Trade Organization over Japan’s trade curbs placed on exports to South Korea last year, deeming the bilateral dialouge to resolve the issue is not seeing progress. “The Japanese government is not showing willingness to resolve the current issue and the discussion has not seen progress. The government deemed that it was difficult to say normal dialogue was taking place, which was

IndustryJune 2, 2020

Volvo Truck Korea appoints cargo business expert as new chief

Volvo Truck Korea said Tuesday that Park Kang-seok, who is in charge of its aftermarket business as an executive director, has been appointed its new CEO.  Park joined Volvo Truck Korea’s service division in 2006 and has led its service and retail network in Gyeongsang Province since 2014.  He has contributed to increasing competitiveness of the company’s core cargo business and rejoined the aftermarket business division last year to offer a differentiated service for cu

MobilityJune 2, 2020

Antitrust watchdog fines Yogiyo W468m for market power abuse

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has fined local delivery platform Yogiyo 468 million won (about $380,000) for abusing its superior position at the expense of small restaurants, officials said Tuesday. Yogiyo set up by German-based Delivery Hero in 2011 is a mobile and online food delivery platform that allows users to order food from restaurants. It has the second largest market share (26 percent) here following Baemin -- which was also bought by Delivery Hero last year, in a deal that

IndustryJune 2, 2020

S. Korea's corporate loans rise at over decade high rate in Q1

Loans extended to companies in South Korea jumped at the fastest rate in more than 10 years in the first quarter, central bank data showed Tuesday, apparently on a rise in demand from businesses hit by the fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic. The outstanding amount of corporate loans came to 1,259.2 trillion won ($1.03 trillion) at end-March, up 51.4 trillion won from three months earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marks the largest on-quart

EconomyJune 2, 2020

Pork price on rise amid pandemic

The price of pork increased in May from a year earlier as a growing number of people preferred preparing meals at home amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The average wholesale price of pork reached 5,115 won ($4.18) per kilogram in May, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The number of pigs slaughtered in May reached 1.4 million units, up 1.5 percent from the month's average, it added.

EconomyJune 2, 2020

S. Korea, Australia to broaden ties in green energy segment

South Korea and Australia agreed Tuesday to beef up cooperation in the energy segment to continue to expand the use of environment friendly resources despite the rising uncertainties stemming from the new coronavirus pandemic. Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo and his Australian counterpart, Keith Pitt, held a virtual meeting, and they vowed to forge deeper ties especially as the pandemic has put strain on and caused uncertainties in the global resources market, according to the Ministry of Trade,

EconomyJune 2, 2020

[Monitor] Only 3% of Korean firms consider reshoring despite overseas supply disruptions

While more than half of South Korean firms suffered operation hiccups due to disruptions in their supply chains due to the COVID-19 spread, only 3 percent said they would consider reshoring as an alternative, a survey conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries showed. The survey also showed that even in the case of radical changes in the global supply chains, one-third of the companies had no countermeasures planned. Among the respondents, 56.7 percent said they suffered from the pandem

IndustryJune 2, 2020

Korea's inflation dips 0.3% in May, first fall in 8 months

SEJONG -- South Korea's consumer prices fell 0.3 percent on-year in May due mainly to a fall in oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, marking the first annual decline in eight months, data showed Tuesday. The May tally compares with a 0.1 percent on-year gain in March, according to the data released by Statistics Korea. The nation's inflation fell 0.2 percent on-month, the data showed. Core inflation, which excludes agricultural and petroleum products, rose 0.5 percent from a year earli

EconomyJune 2, 2020

Seoul stocks open higher on US gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street amid investors' expectations for economic reopening in the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 10.03 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,075.11 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The gains were mainly attributed to the optimism over the US post-lockdown economic reopening, bucking Sino-US political tensions over Beijing's passing of a new national security law for Hong Kong.

MarketJune 2, 2020