Hotel Shilla closes $121m deal to buy stake in 3Sixty Duty Free

Hotel Shilla, a South Korean operator of luxury hotels and duty-free shops, has closed a $121 million transaction to buy a 44 percent stake in US duty-free shop operator Travel Retail Group Holdings, known for the in-flight retailing service 3Sixty Duty Free, a filing showed Wednesday. The deal, closed Tuesday, allowed the hotel and duty-free unit under Samsung to become the second-largest shareholder after 3Sixty Chairman Bernard Klepach. It marks Hotel Shilla’s first investment in a No

MarketApril 8, 2020

Moon vows another massive stimulus package against coronavirus

President Moon Jae-in unveiled plans Wednesday for another economic relief package aimed at stimulating exports and domestic demand stifled by the coronavirus pandemic. The government will provide South Korea's exporting companies with at least 36 trillion won ($29.5 billion) of trade finance for their credit and capital liquidity, he said during the fourth emergency economic council session at Cheong Wa Dae. It's meant to support exporters suffering a heavy blow due to the collapse of global

EconomyApril 8, 2020

Airlines struggle to tide over virus impact

South Korean airlines, one of the hardest-hit industries by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, are taking unprecedented measures, such as unpaid leave, job cuts and asset sales, to overcome the COVID-19-triggered crisis, industry sources said Wednesday. Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest airline, said Tuesday it will have 7 out of 10 workers take paid leave for six months beginning April 16 as part of the company's self-help efforts. In other self-rescue plans announced last month

MobilityApril 8, 2020

Coronavirus-hit small biz owners rush to nonbanking lenders

Small business owners have increasingly turned to nonbanking lending despite the higher-interest loans to withstand the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. According to the Korea Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, a mutual financial institution, its banks extended emergency rescue loans worth 15.5 billion won ($12.67 million) to coronavirus-hit small business owners without credit ratings between March 11 and Friday. The demand for loans from KFCC

MarketApril 8, 2020

School zone fears make drivers gear up with navigation apps, insurance

Spooked Korean drivers are seeking navigation apps that can bypass school zones and are buying insurance with greater coverage, after the passage of a contentious child safety bill that imposes harsher punishments for accidents. SK Telecom said April 1 it has completed the development of a school zone detour function on its navigation app Tmap, in response to rising demand. Under a new law, widely known as the “Min-sik law,” effectuated on March 25, a driver who injures a child u

IndustryApril 8, 2020

KT signs partnership with Taiwanese telco on 5G services

KT Corp., a major South Korean telecommunications firm, said Wednesday it has a signed a partnership with a Taiwanese telecoms operator on 5G services and digital content development. Under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. (FET), KT will collaborate in developing 5G-related solutions. FET, an affiliate of Taiwan's major conglomerate Far Eastern Group, said the business cooperation will help the company become a market leader in 5G services. "

TechnologyApril 8, 2020

Seoul stocks open lower on US losses

Seoul stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street amid woes over the new coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 15.95 points, or 0.87 percent, to 1,807.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The main index jumped 8.2 percent in the past four sessions, helped by signs of the COVID-19 outbreak slowing. But analysts said investors remain cautious, as there is still a lot of uncertainty involving the coronavirus outbreak and its im

MarketApril 8, 2020

Korean Air calls for 6-month work stoppage for 70% of workforce

South Korea's No. 1 flag carrier, Korean Air Lines, said Tuesday that it will start a six-month-long work stoppage for more than 70 percent of its workforce, as the novel coronavirus wreaks havoc on the airline industry. The measure is part of an ongoing effort to survive the worsening business environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused air passenger movement to nosedive with countries around the world restricting movement of people. The stoppage, which will go into effec

IndustryApril 7, 2020

[Market close-up] Market eyes KDB's bail-out plan on coronavirus-hit companies

A number of companies in South Korea, both big and small, are standing on the edge of a cliff due to a liquidity crisis stemming from the ongoing virus pandemic. With dark clouds hovering, the Korea Development Bank, a state-owned development policy bank that finances industrial projects, is bending over backward to prop up Korea Inc., injecting vast amounts of emergency public funds into cash-strapped businesses. The industry is keenly watching the next moves of KDB Chairman Lee Dong-gull,

MarketApril 7, 2020

[Graphic News] Retail sales up 9.1% in Feb. amid virus pandemic

　Retail sales in South Korea rose 9.1 percent in February from a year earlier as more people purchased daily necessities through online platforms amid the spread of the new coronavirus here, data showed. 　The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 10.6 trillion won ($8.68 billion) last month, compared with 9.71 trillion won a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. 　The sharp increase came as online stores enjoyed a w

ConsumerApril 7, 2020

Tax payment deferred for petroleum industry

The South Korean government has initiated a temporary tax relief program for domestic petrochemical companies as global demand has plummeted amidst the worsening coronavirus pandemic. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday it will allow 54 petrochemical companies to delay their tax payments on oil imports and sales of petroleum products for 90 days, giving financial room to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. “Tax payments for April, May and June will be p

IndustryApril 7, 2020

South Korean research institute develops low-cost cold-chain safety sticker

The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology on Tuesday announced that it has invented a cold-chain safety sticker that allows one to tell whether frozen food products have been mishandled during delivery. The nanofiber-film sticker, which costs around 120 won (1 cent) to produce, can be used when transporting different types of frozen foods, as well as expensive medicines and medical supplies, the research team said. The cold-chain sticker is designed to indicate how long frozen food

TechnologyApril 7, 2020

FSS urges retail investors to shun loan stock buying

The Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday cautioned local retail investors to refrain from borrowing money when investing stocks, pointing at the excessive market volatility. In a rare message, the financial regulator noted that the current market condition is somewhat different from the 2008 global financial crisis, stressing that it has become more unpredictable than before. “Some existing investors think that now is the time to purchase undervalued shares, since they have seen e

MarketApril 7, 2020

Seoul stocks up for 4th day on hopes for virus slowdown

South Korean stocks ended higher Tuesday, extending their gains to a fourth straight session as investor sentiment improved over signs that the spread of the coronavirus could be slowing. The Korean won sharply rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 31.72 points, or 1.77 percent, to 1,823.60. Huh Jae-hwan, a strategist at Eugene Investment Co., said expectations for the slowing spread of the coronavirus in the United States and Europe pushed u

MarketApril 7, 2020

Beauty app Zamface accumulates over 10m clicks on AI service

Zamface, a beauty video app, said Tuesday that its “Time Jump” service function accumulated over 10.17 million clicks from users since its launch in June 2019. The app’s Time Jump service allows users to skip ahead to parts of beauty YouTube videos to search out specific information, without having to watch the whole video. Time Jump, which is based on artificial intelligence, automatically analyzes a video to mark different chapters and create the time jump options -- shad

IndustryApril 7, 2020

FTC vows for strict evaluation of Baemin-Yogiyo merger

The Korean Fair Trade Commission, which is currently investigating the corporate merger of the nation‘s No. 1 and 2 delivery apps, Baedal Minjok and Yogiyo, respectively, vowed stricter evaluation Tuesday, after Baemin’s attempt to change the commission system took flak. Baemin restructured its fee system starting April 1, basically changing from a flat-sum system that requires restaurant owners to pay a monthly fee to a fixed-rate commission of 5.8 percent per order made on the a

IndustryApril 7, 2020

S. Korea’s national debt hits record W1,700tr in 2019

South Korea’s national debt last year surpassed 1,700 trillion won ($1.39 trillion) for the first time, weighed down by increased treasury bond issuance coupled with the government’s consequent fiscal expansion, a government report showed Tuesday. The national debt jumped 60.2 trillion won on-year to 1,743.6 trillion won as of end of 2019, according to the annual national financial report reviewed and endorsed by the Cabinet. The Cabinet meeting was presided by Prime Minister Chung

EconomyApril 7, 2020

Can Lotte Food’s leveraging plan be litmus test for stimulus package?

South Korea’s food service firm Lotte Food saw a moderate success in raising cash through investment-grade corporate bonds, as a state fund has helped fend off risks from the escalating coronavirus crisis. But analysts said Tuesday Korea is still a tough test bed to check whether the government’s stimulus package can normalize the funding market. On Monday, Lotte Food decided to raise 100 billion won ($81.77 million) after it carried out an institutional investor tranche for its AA

MarketApril 7, 2020

Are chaebol owners making use of stock plunge for succession plans?

Owners of large South Korean conglomerates have been buying their low-priced shares amid the stock plunge caused by the coronavirus pandemic, raising questions as to whether they are taking advantage of the situation for their succession plans. Over the past two months, Korean stocks have tumbled and major firms have lost their market value by a third. Amid the stock market crash, the repurchase of treasury stocks has been on the rise. The cumulative spending on treasury stocks amounted to aro

IndustryApril 7, 2020

German firms in Korea face revenue drop over COVID-19

German companies doing business in South Korea are concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business operations but are likely to retain their local workforce, a survey showed Tuesday.  The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry released the results of a survey measuring the impact of COVID-19 on its member companies. It was conducted from March 19 to April 2, and 82 companies took part.  According to the chamber, one-third of respondents said the curre

IndustryApril 7, 2020