Seoul shares open almost flat amid eased Fed rate woes

South Korean stocks opened nearly unchanged on Wednesday amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve may ease up on its hawkish interest rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 1.14 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,236.21 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Softer data on home price growth and consumer confidence, released Tuesday, renewed speculation that the Fed could start scaling down the rate hikes after its November monetary policy meeting set for next week. In Seou

MarketOct. 26, 2022

SK hynix posts sharp drop in Q3 profit, cuts investment by half next year amid chip downturn

SK hynix Inc. reported its third-quarter earnings Wednesday, falling short of analysts' expectations on the top and bottom lines, amid a cyclical downturn of the global semiconductor industry. The chipmaker's third-quarter net income was 1.1 trillion won ($769.4 million), down 66.7 percent from a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing. Operating profit for the three months ending in September came to 1.65 trillion won, compared with 4.17 trillion won a year ago. Sales fell 7 pe

IndustryOct. 26, 2022

Hyundai holds groundbreaking ceremony for US EV plant

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday it has held a groundbreaking ceremony for its dedicated electric vehicle plant in the United States as it seeks to make a presence in the North American EV market. Hyundai Motor Group's Chairman Euisun Chung attended the ceremony held in Bryan County, Georgia where the plant named Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America will be built, the company said in a statement. Chung said Hyundai and the state of Georgia will make HMGMA into a "

IndustryOct. 26, 2022

Philip Morris Korea launches new heated tobacco device that needs no cleaning

Philip Morris Korea on Tuesday launched Iqos Iluma, its new flagship heated tobacco product that requires no cleaning process, saying it hopes to enhance customer experience. “Our new heat-not-burn cigarette uses smart core induction technology that doesn’t require heating blades like previous models. Since the tobacco sticks are not inserted into the blades, you don’t have to clean the ashes caught in the blades and there is no risk of damaging them,” said Baek Young-jae

ConsumerOct. 25, 2022

[Newsmaker] Dashed dreams: Young Koreans' leveraged investments backfire

When stock and crypto markets were hot and borrowing costs were cheap, many younger South Koreans, who typically had strong risk appetite but little capital to invest, dabbled in leveraged investing, known as “bittoo” in Korean. Many of these young investors had dreamed of getting rich quick and retiring young to become a new member of “FIRE tribe” -- the acronym standing for financially independent, retire early. But many are now suffering, as markets have tanked and int

Social AffairsOct. 25, 2022

Seoul shares nearly flat ahead of major earnings reports

South Korean stocks closed little changed Tuesday from the previous session, as investors took a breather ahead of earnings reports to be released by major companies later this week, amid worries over global inflation and US monetary tightening. After bobbing in and out of positive territory, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 1.09 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,235.07. Trading volume was moderate at 448.8 million shares worth 6.92 trillion won ($4.82 billion) with decliners

MarketOct. 25, 2022

S. Korea scrambles to prevent real estate PF liquidity crisis

South Korean authorities are trying to contain a possible liquidity crunch from an overheated real estate project financing market, with Legoland Korea’s debt payment default rising adding to perceived risk levels. The total value of loans extended for the purpose of real estate project financing has rapidly grown, but the central bank’s aggressive rate hikes have increased borrowers’ debt repayment burdens. The rising costs of raw materials added to the worries. Finance Mini

BusinessOct. 25, 2022

Seoul holds 1st World Bio Summit

The South Korean government on Tuesday kicked off the first World Bio Summit, a joint event with the World Health Organization to gather leaders of the vaccine and biotechnology industry to discuss innovations and ways to strengthen global health security. President Yoon Suk-yeol highlighted the importance of solidary and cooperation that go beyond the borders to prepare for humanity’s common adversity of new infectious diseases and pandemics. “Global society should work together

TechnologyOct. 25, 2022

Lawmaker claims Netflix Korea may have been evading tax

Netflix Korea, a Korean subsidiary of the global streaming platform Netflix, saw over 1.2 trillion won ($836 million) in sales for last three years but paid only 0.5 percent of its revenue in tax, a ruling party lawmaker said on Tuesday, raising suspicion that the US company may have been evading local taxes. According to an audit report of Netflix Korea released by Rep. Kim Seung-su of the People Power Party, from 2019 to 2021, Netflix Korea gained 1.23 trillion won and transferred 959.1 billio

IndustryOct. 25, 2022

Overseas flight bookings soar over 14-fold, with a half heading to Japan

Overseas flight bookings skyrocketed during the first three weeks of this month by 1,336.3 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Interpark on Tuesday. The noticeable increase of overseas travel bookings comes after COVID-19 travel restrictions have been lifted not only in South Korea but in other popular tourist spots as well, says the online ticketing site. Japan was topped the list of popular travel destinations with 48.2 percent of flights booked heading there. The numbe

MobilityOct. 25, 2022

Mercedes-Benz CSR Committee continues to reach out to communities in need

Mercedes-Benz Korea has donated vehicles to local communities for seven consecutive years as part of its social outreach project called Mercedes-Benz All Together, according to the company on Tuesday. Mercedes-Benz Korea launched its Mercedes-Benz CSR Committee in 2014 to make a systematic and continuous contribution to Korean society such as donating cars to social welfare institutions. The committee has donated a total of 44 vehicles to 43 institutions as of this year, the German carmaker said

MobilityOct. 25, 2022

SK hynix samples fastest next-gen standard memory module

South Korean memory chip supplier SK hynix said Tuesday it has shipped the world's fastest DRAM module under the double data rate 5 standard, considered a next-generation memory technology. SK hynix shipped memory module samples that boast up to a 6,400-megabit-per-second data transfer speed and 32-gigabyte memory density earlier this month, according to the company, without specifying the date. It added the integration of the clock driver in the new samples has improved the signal integrit

TechnologyOct. 25, 2022

Samsung still tight-lipped on Lee Jae-yong's succession

A memorial service honoring the late Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee was held Tuesday, without a major announcement made by the electronics giant in regards to a succession plan for his son to ascend to the top leadership. Speculation has been building recently that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong might be promoted to the chairman post, using the memorial service for momentum. Lee has held the "vice chairman" position for the past decade. Lee's eventual ass

TechnologyOct. 25, 2022

Eximbank kicks off annual development cooperation workshop

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) kicked off its 26th Economic Development Cooperation Fund Annual Workshop on Tuesday, in which 14 government officials from 14 different developing countries are participating. The EDCF Annual Workshop is hosted by Eximbank to introduce development officers from developing countries to Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund. The fund was created in 1987 as part of the South Korean government’s official development assistance initiativ

EconomyOct. 25, 2022

Renault's QM6 becomes newest addition to police fleet

Renault Korea said Tuesday it has supplied 67 of its popular sport utility vehicle QM6 to law enforcement, to be used by local detectives and riot police officers. Renault Korea’s QM6 model was recognized by police officials as being fit for police operations for its low noise levels and spacious interior, the automaker explained. QM6 boasts the most spacious back seat among SUVs in the similar range. With the back seats folded, it opens up 2,000 liters of cargo space when including the tr

MobilityOct. 25, 2022

Seoul shares open higher ahead of major earnings reports

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, as investors await quarterly earnings reports from major companies this week, including tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., amid worries over global inflation and monetary tightening. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 7.74 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,243.90 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top companies are set to release their third-quarter earnings later this week. The results will likely offer investors a clue as to how they a

MarketOct. 25, 2022

Inflation expectations inch up in October amid interest rate hikes: Bank of Korea survey

South Korea's inflation expectations edged up on-month in October amid the Bank of Korea's aggressive rate hikes to bring price growth under control, a central bank survey showed Tuesday. Ordinary people expected consumer prices will grow 4.3 percent over the next one year, up 0.1 percentage point from 4.2 percent polled the previous month, according to the poll conducted by the BOK. This represented the first on-month rise in three months. Those polled cited possibly rising public fee

EconomyOct. 25, 2022

SK Group chief apologizes over data center fire

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won on Monday apologized over massive disruptions of online services in South Korea following a fire at a data center run by one of the group's subsidiaries earlier this month. "I would like to deliver an apology to the people," Chey said during an audit at the parliament's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. "I feel very responsible for the blackout. The entire SK Group is making efforts to deal with the situation."

CompaniesOct. 24, 2022

Uncertainties behind recent liquidity crunch: FSC

A liquidity crunch South Korea is currently facing has to do with multiple factors, mainly led by uncertainties about where the economy is headed amid soaring interest rates and the rapidly depreciating local currency, the country’s top financial policymaker said Monday. “We had prepared the contingencies but the market conditions were worse than what we had expected,” Kim Joo-hyun, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said at a National Assembly audit. Kim referred t

MarketOct. 24, 2022

Kakao founder considers sweeping compensation for service blackout

Kim Beom-su, founder of South Korean online platform behemoth Kakao, said Monday that he will consider providing across-the-board compensation for users who suffered damages due to the company’s unprecedented service malfunction caused by a fire at an SK C&C data center on Oct. 15. "We are currently accepting damage reports from the users, so it is difficult to specifically tell the type and size of our compensation. We are reviewing all measures to help (users) recover,”

TechnologyOct. 24, 2022