Job losses unavoidable amid pandemic: finance minister

South Korea is likely to see a visible decline in job creation despite the government’s continued efforts to shore up the economy in the face of the novel coronavirus, according to the top fiscal policymaker on Thursday. “There is a high possibility that unemployment may rise among part-time workers and small business owners,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki in a meeting of economy-related ministers held at Seoul Government Complex. “The vo

EconomyApril 9, 2020

Electricity bill payments deferred to alleviate coronavirus shock

State-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. said Wednesday it would delay electricity bill payments for small businesses and underprivileged families struggling from the coronavirus outbreak. According to Kepco, small business owners using residential, industrial and general electricity and the underprivileged currently receiving fixed welfare discounts on electricity bills will be eligible for delaying their monthly payments for three months each from April to June. The application period

IndustryApril 9, 2020

Hyundai Oilbank takes full responsibility for medical bills of ‘stench’ incident victims

South Korean refiner Hyundai Oilbank apologized Thursday to the victims of “stench” incident at its refinery located in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, promising full medical support for their recovery. The company said it would pay the medical bills of local residents affected by the stench that originated from its refinery around 10:20 a.m. Wednesday, while the facility was burning remaining LPG inside the pipes to prepare for the upcoming regular turnaround. “Hyunda

IndustryApril 9, 2020

GS Caltex pledges ESG to reduce carbon footprint

GS Caltex CEO Hur Sae-hong said Thursday the company will strengthen its environmental, social and governance strategy by reducing greenhouse emissions and air pollutants, speeding up its green management policy based on energy-efficient production facilities. The company said its facility in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, has replaced its fuel to liquefied natural gas from low-sulfur fuel oil after improvements on its production line. The move is expected to reduce carbon emissions significa

IndustryApril 9, 2020

Fila Korea collaborates with BTS to launch Love Yourself Collection

Fila Korea said Thursday that it had collaborated with BTS to launch the Love Yourself Collection -- 12 new items of clothing and shoes celebrating the K-pop boy group’s hit album. The FILA X BTS Love Yourself Collection is inspired by the artwork and graphic elements in the music videos for BTS hits “DNA” and “Idol,” released respectively in 2017 and 2018, the company said. According to the South Korean sportswear brand, the FILA X BTS Love Yourself Collection

ConsumerApril 9, 2020

Over 10m use McDonald’s drive-thru platform in Q1

McDonald’s Korea said Thursday more than 10 million cars made orders from McDrive, its drive-thru platform, in the first quarter of this year, surging sharply amid the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the burger chain, March saw the highest number of users for the drive-thru service, and sales went up by 30 percent on-year. The average value per order also rose by 15 percent. As people avoid face-to-face transactions with the social distancing trend, the burger chain said about 60 percen

ConsumerApril 9, 2020

Foreign banks report 11.8% rise in assets

The South Korean branches of foreign banks held a combined 305.2 trillion won ($250.9 billion) in assets last year, 11.8 percent increase from the previous year, mainly due to derivative products and securities, latest data showed Thursday. The increase was mainly attributable to their derivative product assets which rose by 14.3 trillion won, according to the Financial Supervisory Service in its report on 36 foreign banks here. Their securities and cash and deposits also increased by 7.7 tril

MarketApril 9, 2020

Businesses brace for liquidity crisis by selling assets

Facing a looming liquidity crunch due to the coronavirus crisis, South Korean companies have sold off their assets, including real estate and equities, to keep enough cash in their vaults, according to the Korea Exchange on Thursday. From January to April 7, 29 companies sold a combined 1.5 trillion won ($1.23 billion) worth of tangible assets, compared to 481.6 billion won worth assets sold by 18 companies during the same period last year, the bourse operator said. Most of the asset sales we

MarketApril 9, 2020

Kia’s midsized SUV Telluride named 2020 World Car of Year

Kia Motors’ midsized, eight-seat sport utility vehicle the Telluride is the 2020 World Car of the Year. This is the first time the Korean auto brand has won the top award. The automaker also took home the World Urban Car award for its subcompact crossover the Soul EV, which beat the Volkswagen T-Cross and the Mini Cooper SE Electric.  The Toronto-based World Car Awards, launched in 2004, are one of three major global automotive award programs, the others being the North American Ca

MobilityApril 9, 2020

BOK freezes rates at record low, projects bleak economic outlook

South Korea’s central bank on Thursday decided to freeze its policy interest rate at 0.75 percent, hinting its willingness to review the effects of last month’s big rate cut coupled with quantitative easing efforts. Following a monetary policy board meeting earlier in the day, the Bank of Korea decided to keep its base rate steady after it slashed it by half a percentage point to a record low on March 16. It was the first emergency rate cut in more than a decade to combat the risk

EconomyApril 9, 2020

Seoul stocks hike 1.6% on eased coronavirus woes

South Korean stocks rose more than 1 percent on Thursday on hopes that coronavirus infections around the globe are nearing a peak. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 29.07 points, or 1.61 percent, to 1,836.21. The main index tracked overnight gains on Wall Street. US stocks soared amid the possibility that the coronavirus death toll and infections in the United States could peak this week, Huh Jae-hwan, a strategist at Eugen

MarketApril 9, 2020

Shin Poong Pharm’s uterine myoma tablets cause ‘serious liver damage’

Shin Poong Pharm, the sudden and sole Korean beneficiary of the recent news of parasiticide ivermectin’s purported coronavirus-killing powers, is facing business uncertainties. The company’s uterine myoma treatment, a tablet of 5mg ulipristal acetate traded globally as Esmya, was found to have caused “serious liver injury” in a number of patients in Europe, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Esmya’s license is suspended in Europe until the Pharmac

IndustryApril 9, 2020

Commercial paper sales jump 34% in March

Sales of commercial papers (CP) in South Korea surged more than 34 percent on-month in March as brokerages rushed to secure cash to brace for the fallout from the novel coronavirus outbreak, data showed Thursday. The country's CP issuance came to 21.2 trillion won ($17.4 billion) last month, up 34.2 percent from the previous month's 15.8 trillion won, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. Securities companies led the sharp increase in March sales of CP, a short-term debt

EconomyApril 9, 2020

LG offers sneak peek of ‘raindrop’ camera phone

LG Electronics on Thursday unveiled a render image of its upcoming flagship smartphone that is expected to be more focused on design, after more than a monthlong delay in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The released image highlights the design of the rear triple camera module that evokes the image of falling raindrops. The company has nicknamed it as “raindrop” camera, and will be released next month in South Korea. The main camera sits slightly above the surface while

TechnologyApril 9, 2020

Coronavirus testing time to shorten from 6 hours to 20 minutes: DGIST

South Korean scientists in Daegu have developed a diagnostic kit that will cut down the COVID-19 testing time from previous six hours to 20 minutes. This diagnostic agent has been transferred to a diagnostic kit maker called Mmonitor, whose website crashed due to heavy traffic as of 11 a.m., Thursday, upon the announcement by Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology. According to DGIST, its new diagnostic agent makes it possible to amplify genetic information of the coronavir

IndustryApril 9, 2020

Togo Comm. to hire new employees through online interviews

Togo Communication, a local PR agency based in Seoul, will hire new employees by conducting video interviews online as part of efforts to participate in nationwide campaign to contain COVID-19 virus, the company said Thursday. The agency will continue so-called “untact” job interviews with applicants for internships and accountant executive posts, until the government declares an end of the pandemic. “Even though we face the danger of COVID-19, we decided to conduct untact j

MarketApril 9, 2020

[Herald Interview] ‘Materials key to stepping up flexible displays’

South Korea has secured flexible displays that are durable enough for partial commercialization. But the current level of technologies can improve durability and expand diversity in display types by applying new cutting-edge materials, according to a top academic expert. “The weakness of up-to-date flexible displays is the lacking of durability and variety,” said Han Chang-soo, professor of mechanical engineering at Korea University, in a recent email interview with The Korea Hera

TechnologyApril 9, 2020

Tourism sector reels from new coronavirus outbreak in February: data

South Korea's tourism industry took a big hit from the novel coronavirus in February due to a reduction in both inbound and outbound tourism, industry data showed Thursday. Asia's fourth-largest economy registered a tourism deficit of $365.2 million in February, down from $927.6 million the previous month, according to the data from the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute. February's deficit, however, is the lowest in 10 months as the range of decrease in spending by outbound travelers was bi

EconomyApril 9, 2020

BOK stands pat at record low after emergency rate cut to battle coronavirus

The Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday kept its policy rate frozen at an all-time low of 0.75 percent, citing the need to see the effect of steps already taken, but painted a grim growth outlook, forecasting "considerably" slower growth than earlier expected. "Gross domestic product growth is projected to fall considerably below the February forecast of 2.1 percent, and uncertainties around the future path of GDP growth are also judged to be very high," the BOK said in its mon

EconomyApril 9, 2020

Samsung unveils 5G versions of mid-range smartphones

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday unveiled 5G versions of its mid-range smartphones as the South Korean tech giant aims to boost handset sales amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The world's largest smartphone vendor introduced the new Galaxy A71 5G and Galaxy A51 5G smartphones, expanding its smartphone lineup that supports the next-generation mobile network. The LTE versions of the Galaxy A71 and the Galaxy A51 were revealed in Indonesia this January and in Vietnam last year, respectiv

TechnologyApril 9, 2020