BOK to extend loans to brokerages in unprecedented move

South Korea’s central bank has decided to launch a new loan program for brokerages, temporarily broadening its range of collateral to corporate bonds, officials said Thursday. The move aims to provide cushion for the local market, which has been struggling to deal with the economic fallout of the new coronavirus. Under the program worth 10 trillion won ($8.1 billion), local brokerages and nonbanking financial institutions including brokerages and insurers will be allowed to borrow funds

EconomyApril 16, 2020

[Herald Interview] What AI can do for medicine

AI assistance can dramatically change the medical landscape for the better, said Jung Kyu-hwan, chief technology officer and co-founder of medical AI company Vuno, in an interview with The Korea Herald. What AI can do is becoming clearer, giving show recommendations on Netflix and book recommendations on Amazon. It may seem inscrutable how AI works, but really, when simplified, what it does is perform multiplications and additions in colossal volumes, simultaneously. In short, it is a task tha

IndustryApril 16, 2020

Meritz Securities tops salary scale in finance biz

Meritz Securities paid the highest average remuneration among financial companies last year, industry data showed Thursday. According to online job information provider Saramin, the average annual paycheck of employees at the company stood at 130 million won ($105,940), outrunning the industry average of 96 million won. The data was compiled on the annual reports of 26 commercial banks, life insurance companies, reinsurers and brokerage houses. Local reinsurer Korean Re ranked second with 12

MarketApril 16, 2020

[Herald Interview] ‘Foreign investors will flock back to Korea in hopes of an IT boom’

Amid the new coronavirus fallout which crashed global economies and forced foreign investors to exit emerging markets, South Korea’s stock market was bound to face a blow. What marks Asia’s fourth-largest economy, however, is the signs of recovery, as foreign investors have begun scooping back local shares, focusing largely on IT sectors, judging that the country has moved past its epidemic peak and is now about to engage in heavy economic stimulus. “The stock market is rebo

MarketApril 16, 2020

89% of 20-40s shop online for their parents: Auction

With online shopping booming amid the COVID-19 pandemic, elderly parents are also taking part in the shopping culture with the help of their children, data showed Thursday. According to Auction, an ecommerce platform operated by eBay, over 89 percent of 2,564 customers aged 20-49 surveyed, have shopped online for their parents. The survey was conducted from March 28 to April 4. For reasons to shop on behalf of their parents, 35 percent of the respondents said it was because their parents we

ConsumerApril 16, 2020

Why red ginseng is chosen as gift by president, PM

South Korea’s traditional superfood red ginseng is gaining prominence during the COVID-19 outbreak as a favorite gift item by government leaders as a token of thanks. In February, President Moon Jae-in presented Korea Ginseng Corp.’s red ginseng products to 500 public servants working at Incheon International Airport’s quarantine station and at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to encourage them to keep up the good work. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun als

IndustryApril 16, 2020

Mirae Asset makes $22m earnings from BioNTech investment

Mirae Asset Financial Group said Thursday it has sold Nasdaq-listed German biotechnology firm BioNTech for $37 million, earning a hefty profit from its previous investment of $15 million. The German company is known to hold one of the three mRNA-based substance that is currently a candidate for COVID-19 vaccines. Three months after making its deal, the biotech firm went public on Nasdaq through the American Depository Receipt -- the way of making hard-to-trade foreign stocks available to inve

MarketApril 16, 2020

Foreign land ownership here grows 3% in 2019

The value of land owned by foreign nationals here came to 30.8 trillion won ($25.1 billion) last year, and accounted for 0.2 percent of the nation’s total area, government data showed Thursday. Foreign land ownership in South Korea as of end-2019 rose 3 percent from a year earlier in terms of area, with the aggregated total at 248.7 square kilometers, according to data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The corresponding area is equivalent to 0.2 percent o

MarketApril 16, 2020

Refiners find silver lining in profitable lubricants

Amid the slump in global demand for petrochemical products triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, South Korean refiners are diversifying, according to industry sources Thursday. SK Lubricants, an affiliate of domestic refiner SK Innovation, has introduced its new premium lubricant SK ZIC, as lubricant products are more profitable than general petrochemical products. Last year, the company showed an operating profit rate of 9.8 percent, more than seven times higher than the 1.3 percent post

IndustryApril 16, 2020

Poongsan to export machine gun bullets to Middle East

South Korean defense firm Poongsan said Thursday it has bagged orders in the Middle East to supply ammunitions worth 95.7 billion won ($77.9 million). The company will export three types of 50-caliber machine gun bullets to the region by 2021. The armor-piercing 50-caliber bullet is one of the most powerful rounds of ammunition, typically used for M2 machine guns and K6 heavy machine guns to perforate or penetrate hardened or bullet-resistant targets such as armored fighting vehicles. &l

IndustryApril 16, 2020

Poland to bring back LG Chem technicians on special flight

South Korean battery maker LG Chem said Thursday that the Polish government would open its airways to allow LG Chem employees to resume the expansion of the company’s electric vehicle battery plant in Poland. It is an exception to the country’s strict measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak. According to LG Chem, the company will dispatch some 200 employees on a special LOT Polish Airlines flight Friday to the construction site in Wroclaw, Poland, to restart the work to expan

IndustryApril 16, 2020

SKT T1 inks sponsorship deal with BMW

South Korean esports company SK Telecom T1 said Thursday that it had signed a sponsorship deal with BMW Group, becoming the first sports club in Korea to do so. According to SKT T1, BMW will provide T1 players at home and abroad with the latest vehicles, including the BMW X7. The T1 players will wear uniforms bearing the BMW logo as part of a joint marketing effort. “BMW will develop hardware and software for T1 players with its innovative technology to promote the long-term growth o

IndustryApril 16, 2020

Samsung Bioepis’ breast cancer treatment biosimilar launches in US

Samsung Bioepis’ breast cancer treatment Ontruzant (trastuzumab) was launched in the US via local partner Merck, Thursday. Ontruzant references Roche’s blockbuster original Herceptin, which recorded annual global revenue of approximately 7.2 trillion won ($5.8 billion) in 2019. The US accounts for about 45 percent of Herceptin sales. Samsung Bioepis strategizes to sell Ontruzant at a 15 percent more affordable rate than Herceptin, as well as to offer doses of 150 milligrams and 4

IndustryApril 16, 2020

Seoul stocks end flat on retail buying

Seoul stocks ended flat on Thursday, unchanged from a session earlier, as institutions and individuals' buying offset foreign selling. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended flat to close at 1,857.07. Trading volume was moderate at 864.4 million shares worth 10.52 trillion won ($8.6 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 452 to 401. The main index closed unchanged after US shares fell overnight following the International Mon

MarketApril 16, 2020

S. Korea's economy shows 'deepening contraction' over coronavirus pandemic: KDI

The South Korean economy shows signs of a "deepening contraction" as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures have halted global businesses and ravaged consumer demand, a state-run think tank said Thursday. "The Korean economy is showing a deepening contraction and mounting uncertainties as COVID-19 spreads," the Korea Development Institute (KDI) said in its English-language Monthly Economic Trends publication. South Korea's overall industrial output contracted the

EconomyApril 16, 2020

BOK names 3 candidates for new members of its rate setting body

The Bank of Korea said Thursday that South Korea's former top envoy to the US and two others have been named as candidates for new members of its monetary policy board. The three are Cho Yoon-je, who served as the South Korean ambassador to the United States between 2017 and 2019; Suh Young-kyung, head of the Sustainable Growth Initiative; and Joo Sang-yong, an economics professor at Konkuk University. Suh served as the first female BOK deputy governor for three years until 2015 before headi

EconomyApril 16, 2020

Moon’s economic policy to gain momentum on ruling party’s victory

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s landslide victory in the latest national assembly elections is expected to work as a catalyst for President Moon Jae-in’s economic policy agenda -- including more emergency cash handouts and housing market regulations. Thursday’s preliminary election results allowed the Democratic Party and its satellite Platform Party to secure 180 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, which is likely to expand the scope of the government's e

EconomyApril 16, 2020

Air carriers resume domestic routes for spring travel season

South Korean air carriers have resumed their domestic operations for the spring travel season, according to industry sources Thursday.  While resumption of international flights is uncertain over prolonging concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic, local air carriers are planning to reopen flight services to popular tourism destinations across the nation, such as Jeju Island. According to budget airline Jeju Air, it has newly launched Gimpo-Yeosu and Yeosu-Jeju routes on Thursday. The routes wi

MobilityApril 16, 2020

Airlines halt in-flight beverage service in domestic flights

Korean Air has suspended its in-flight beverage service for passengers on domestic flights, according to industry sources Thursday.  Free beverages -- including water, soda, coffee and tea -- have been suspended as the Transport Ministry recently requested airlines to minimize the number of passengers taking off their face masks in flights, in order to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection. Korean Air said it will not provide beverages on domestic routes. Another full-service carrier

MobilityApril 16, 2020

Extra budget bill of W7.6tr proposed to aid virus-hit households

The government on Thursday unveiled a second extra budget bill worth 7.6 trillion won ($6.2 billion) to provide emergency relief to households amid the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The amount will be provided entirely by slashing other expenditure and readjusting government funds, without issuing additional bonds, officials said. “In order to finance the 9.7 trillion won required to pay out the emergency disaster relief funds, (the government) has drafted a 7.6 trillion

EconomyApril 16, 2020