Daewoo Shipbuilding bags $160m order for 2 ships

Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine & Engineering Co., the world's second-largest shipbuilder by orders, said Tuesday that it has secured a $160-million order to build two liquefied petroleum gas carriers.Under the deal, Daewoo Shipbuilding will build two very large gas carriers for Avance Gas Holding Ltd., the company said. Daewoo Shipbuilding said the two carriers, each with a capacity of 91,000 cubic meters, will be delivered to the Bermuda-based company by the first quarter of 2022. With the late

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

Household income grows in 2018, wealth gap narrows

South Korea's household income rose in 2018 from a year earlier, and the income gap between the haves and have-nots narrowed, as employment situations of the low-income bracket improved amid efforts to bridge the income gap, a government report showed Tuesday. The average household earned 58.28 million won ($49,688) last year, up 2.1 percent from the previous year, according to the report by Statistics Korea.The report showed household income earned through wages rose 3.9 percent on-year to an a

EconomyDec. 17, 2019

Samsung, SK hynix hit fresh yearly highs amid rosy outlook

Shares in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix -- South Korea's two largest chipmakers -- soared to close at fresh yearly highs on Tuesday, buoyed by expectations for growing demand and a recovery in global chip prices. Samsung, the world's No. 1 memory chipmaker, spiked 3.66 percent to close at a fresh 52-week high of 56,700 won ($48.40) and SK hynix advanced 4.74 percent to end at a new yearly high of 92,800 won after rising as high as 93,800 won.The broader KOSPI, advanced 1.27 percent to close a

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

LS Cable & System to list EV parts arm on Kosdaq

LS Cable & System said Tuesday it is pushing ahead with the initial public offering of its electric vehicle parts unit LS EV Korea, with the aim of achieving sales of 1 trillion won ($858 million) in 2030 in the global market.The Korean cable firm plans to file for preliminary screening of the EV unit at the nation’s tech-heavy secondary Kosdaq bourse. LS EV Korea was established in November 2017 after LS Cable & System spun off its electric vehicle parts business to nurture i

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

S. Korea aims to expand prowess in artificial intelligence

South Korea is aiming to stay ahead of rivals in the field of artificial intelligence by 2030 to bolster its economy and improve the living standards of its citizens, the science ministry said Tuesday.Under the national strategy, the country plans to leverage its prowess in memory chips to build the world's most competitive AI chip industry, with new semiconductors having 25 times the processing speed and just one-thousandth the power consumption of existing integrated circuits.Asia's fourth-lar

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

Korean firms suffer further setback in Q3 sales, profit

South Korean companies continued to suffer heavy setbacks in their sales and profits in the third quarter, central bank data showed Tuesday, apparently due to a sharp decline in exports and slowing demand at home.The average sales of local companies plunged 2.8 percent from a year earlier in the three months that ended Sept. 30, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.It compares with a 1.1-percent on-year dip in the second quarter. The BOK did not provide any specific reason for the drop,

EconomyDec. 17, 2019

HHI Group finalizes 17% stake sale of oil refining unit to Aramco, raises W1.37tr

The world’s biggest oil company Saudi Aramco has become the second-largest shareholder of Hyundai Oilbank by paying its parent group Hyundai Heavy Industries Group 1.37 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for a 17 percent stake, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.This is in line with the investment agreement signed between HHI Group and Aramco on Jan. 28. HHI Group said it plans to use the proceeds to pay off borrowings to improve its financial structure and to invest in new business

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

China biggest buyer of Korean cosmetics in 2018: report

China was the biggest buyer of South Korean beauty products last year, accounting for more than 60 percent, a report showed Tuesday.The report compiled by the Korea International Trade Association showed that 65.6 percent of outbound shipments of locally made cosmetics products headed to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2018.Exports of cosmetics products to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations market only accounted for 10.6 percent last year.  The report expressed concerns tha

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

S. Korea facing trade barriers in 29 nations: data

South Korea faces non-tariff and anti-dumping barriers in 29 countries, the trade ministry said Tuesday, vowing to resolve or lift such trade hurdles to promote exports.As of this month, a total of 208 trade barriers targeting South Korea are in effect, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy.Since August, 15 new trade barriers have been launched against South Korean products, while six others were terminated, it added.  Despite growing protectionism around the globe, howev

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

Boeing to halt production of 737 Max airliner in January

(AP) -- Boeing Co. said Monday that it will temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet starting in January as it struggles to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air.The Chicago-based company said production would halt at its plant with 12,000 employees in Renton, Washington, near Seattle. But it said it didn't expect to lay off any workers "at this time."The move amounts to an acknowledgement that it will take much longer than Boeing expected to win appr

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

LG CNS unveils real-time verification solution using actual transaction data

LG CNS Co., an IT service subsidiary of South Korea's LG Group, on Tuesday unveiled a real-time system verification solution that utilizes actual transaction data. LG CNS claimed PerfecTwin is the world's first IT system verification tool that conducts tests entirely with actual transaction data. After capturing data from an existing system, the tool automatically applies data on a new system and runs tests to detect errors, allowing engineers to compare and verify system in real-time, according

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

Airlines to freeze fuel surcharges on int'l routes in Jan.

South Korean airlines will freeze their fuel surcharges on international routes in January because there has been no change in jet fuel prices, industry sources said Tuesday.The surcharges for one-way tickets on long-haul international routes will be capped at 34,800 won ($30) next month, almost unchanged from December.If the average jet fuel price on the Singapore spot market rises over $1.50 per gallon, local airlines are allowed to impose fuel surcharges, starting one month later.Jet fuel pri

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

S. Korea to nurture industry for eco-friendly vessels

South Korea's Cabinet approved a motion on Tuesday that centers on nurturing industries for eco-friendly vessels to better deal with tightened international regulations and reduce emissions of fine dust.The trade ministry said it would roll out a set of measures to speed up the development and supply of such ships using an array of resources ranging from liquefied natural gas, methanol, to hydrogen.The country will gradually replace 140 state-owned ships with those utilizing clean energy sources

IndustryDec. 17, 2019

Viva Republica gets preliminary approval for 3rd internet-only bank

The consortium led by Viva Republica, operator of the popular mobile money transfer service Toss, was granted preliminary approval by the financial authorities Monday to launch the nation’s third internet-only bank.Following the Financial Services Commission’s decision, the company said it plans to establish Toss Bank soon after final approval in the first half of 2021. The move is expected to increase competition in the online-only banking sector which has only two operators now --

MarketDec. 17, 2019

[Graphic News] Korea has 33m pay TV subscribers: ICT Ministry

　The number of pay TV subscribers in South Korea reached 33 million in the first six months of the year - up 540,000, or 1.67 percent, from the second half of last year - data from the Ministry of Science and ICT showed.　The figure includes paid subscriptions to system operators, satellite broadcasting services and internet protocol television service providers.　Fixed-line and telecom operator KT had the largest market share, over 21.4 percent, with just under 7.1 million subscribers. SK Broadba

BusinessDec. 16, 2019

Korean drug safety authority reviewing metformin

The Korean drug safety authority said Monday that it is directly reviewing products containing metformin, the Type 2 diabetes treatment whose commercialized variants in Singapore have been tested to contain an unacceptable level of a cancer-causing impurity. This impurity, called N-nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, was found in three out of 46 metformin finished products sold in Singapore. Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority recalled the products. Metformin is widely used to treat Type 2 di

IndustryDec. 16, 2019

Korea's trade volume exceeds $1tr mark for 3rd year

South Korea's annual trade volume exceeded the $1 trillion mark for a third consecutive year on Monday despite growing protectionism around the globe, the trade ministry said.Accordingly, South Korea is anticipated to remain as the ninth-largest player in terms of trade for the seventh consecutive year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The annual trade volume first hovered above the mark in 2011, but the country failed to attain the threshold in 2015 and 2016 amid global

EconomyDec. 16, 2019

Hyundai’s Sonata named best sedan in Saudi Arabia

The freshly revamped Sonata by Hyundai Motor was named the best sedan at a motor show held in Saudi Arabia last week, raising prospects for its sales performance in the Middle East.In a vote by a group of auto journalists in the country Sonata won high scores in overall categories that examined the sedan’s design, safety technology and entertainment features, the company said. The result came amid the carmaker expanding its presence in the region’s largest auto market of 400,000-500,

IndustryDec. 16, 2019

Shipbuilders, chipmakers tipped to turn around in 2020: analysts

South Korea's major exporters such as shipbuilders and chipmakers are likely to see their business performances improve next year as eased uncertainties over the Sino-American trade dispute help jack up demand overseas, analysts said on Monday.Last week, the United States and China announced a much-awaited phase-one deal for their protracted trade war, which has weighed heavily on the global economy since early 2018, although details have not yet been unveiled and there are still lingering uncer

IndustryDec. 16, 2019

Rigid mortgage loan regulations roil real estate market

In a surprise move on Monday, the South Korean government announced unprecedented real estate regulations to offset previous ones that have failed to curb rising housing prices.But as the newly introduced measures largely focus on loan restrictions, skepticism also mounted that the wealthy will continue their speculative buying in cash.The latest measures include a ban on mortgage loans for apartments priced 1.5 billion won ($1.28 million) or more, effective Wednesday. The real estate tax rate f

EconomyDec. 16, 2019