BOK cannot stop tightening before Fed, governor says

The Bank of Korea will tighten policy to corral inflation but cannot end it before the US Federal Reserve, BOK Gov. Rhee Chang-yong said Saturday at the annual Jackson Hole meeting in Wyoming -- a three-day global economic retreat of central bankers held in-person this year after a pandemic hiatus in 2020 and 2021. “We are now independent from the government, but we are not independent from the Fed,” Rhee said on the last day of the gathering, in an interview with Reuters, noting th

EconomyAug. 28, 2022

S. Korean firms pressured by global buyers to use renewable energy

Amid the importance of renewable electricity highlighted in global supply chains, 28.8 percent of large South Korean manufacturers are facing pressure from global buyers to use renewable energy in the production process, a survey from the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed Sunday. Regarding the requested timeline by the global buyers, the survey showed that 33.3 percent of South Korean manufacturers were asked to use renewable energy by 2025 while 9.5 percent of foreign companies de

IndustryAug. 28, 2022

Dong-A Pharma releases skin cleansing products

Fation, the cosmetics brand of Dong-A Pharmaceutical, said Friday it has launched its weak acid cleansing products – Nosca9 Cleansing Gel and Nosca9 Cleansing Water – to cater to customer demand for skincare products that counteract skin damage caused by wearing face masks in the summer’s heat and humidity. South Korea’s summers are notorious for being hot and humid. Humidity causes dust particles and other harmful substances to attach to the skin more readily, blocking

ConsumerAug. 28, 2022

Kumho Tire to commercialize smart tire system

South Korean tiremaker Kumho Tire said Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with local auto retailer Van Korea on July 29 to accelerate the commercialization of its smart tire system. As part of the business agreement, the tire company will supply its “Majesty X Solus“ tires for the retailer’s Hyundai Carnival lineup, while also providing tire monitoring and sensing technologies. The tire company has been working with local communication firms to develop a smar

MobilityAug. 28, 2022

S. Korea ranks 9th among nations with trade surpluses with US in H1: data

South Korea was ranked ninth among countries with trade surpluses with the United States in the first half of the year, as Asia's fourth-largest economy recorded strong on-year growth in shipments to the US during the period, US government data showed Sunday. According to the Department of Commerce, South Korea's trade surplus with the US during the January-June period amounted to $21.67 billion, up 86.9 percent from a year ago. The trade surplus grew as South Korean shipments to the U

EconomyAug. 28, 2022

Brand-name apartment builders lose face over flood damage

South Korea’s largest builders have lost face after Seoul’s worst storm in a century earlier this month caused flood damage at luxury apartments and exposed other construction mishaps at residential buildings. The record-breaking torrential rain on the night of Aug. 8 flooded the basement parking lots of several large apartment complexes in southern Seoul and Seongnam, a city just southeast of Seoul, not to mention hundreds of smaller dwellings, farms, barns and shops across s

IndustryAug. 28, 2022

[Weekender] Sleep-deprived Korea

Whether chasing a lifestyle of low sleep and high output or due to the sleep deprivation synonymous with parenthood, many South Koreans are sleep-deprived. For Kim Yu-ri, a nurse in her 30s with two children, sleep has long been a luxury. Raising a 3-year-old and 1-year-old while commuting two hours daily from home in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to Jamsil in Seoul, her days are already overpacked. “I think seven hours of sleep at night is what I really need, but it never seems to be a po

TechnologyAug. 27, 2022

Samsung heir opens up about his first vacation with mom

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong revealed that he recently went on a summer vacation with his mother for the first time in his life, local reports said Friday. The notoriously private Samsung heir told his employees that his six-day trip with his mother involved watching a lot of TV shows. The 54-year-old added that he watched dramas she recommended and once stayed in for the entire day. Lee was responding to questions from millennial and Generation Z staffers working at Samsun

IndustryAug. 26, 2022

Korea kick-starts bid to host Busan Expo 2030

SEJONG -- South Korea on Friday finalized its bid to host the World Expo 2030 in its second-largest city of Busan, and announced it would send in the formal bid to the Bureau International des Expositions on Sept. 7. The bidding committee, led by the co-chairs Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Chey Tae-won, hammered out the last details of the bidding plan at a meeting in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. A task force

IndustryAug. 26, 2022

Korea to abolish some corporate punishment laws

SEJONG -- South Korea will push for the abolishment of law provisions, which stipulate criminal punishment on businesses despite meager rule-violations, as part of effort to promote wider scale corporate activities and vitalize foreign investments. Before seeking criminal punishment, the government will issue administrative sanctions in the first stage, the Finance Ministry and the Justice Ministry said during a meeting for revamping regulations in Daegu on Friday. According to the two ministr

EconomyAug. 26, 2022

AMCHAM forum urges sustainable regulation for Korea‘s digital growth

While touting South Korea’s unrivaled position as a digital hub in the Asia-Pacific region, foreign executives and experts called for a need to create sustainable regulatory environment to foster the country‘s digital prowess at a forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce on Friday. “Korea is a optimal place for digital transformation, and will rise as a regional digital hub for Asia Pacific,“ said James Kim AMCHAM Chairman & CEO, at the Digital Innovation For

IndustryAug. 26, 2022

Busan city hosts Global Healthcare Week to promote health industry

A global healthcare exhibition kicked off in Busan on Thursday to test the southeastern port city’s potential of becoming a healthcare hub in Northeast Asia, organizers said. The three-day 2022 Global Healthcare Week, which is taking place at BEXCO, brings experts, companies and hospitals specializing in senior care, beauty, bio, food and fitness together to provide the latest information, products and services on how to live well and happy, they said. A total of 145 organizations are par

IndustryAug. 26, 2022

Hyundai Motor Group brands score top in satisfaction survey by JD Power

Hyundai Motor Group’s Hyundai, Kia and Genesis received top scores in a major product satisfaction survey, beating out global competitors, according to the US consumer research firm JD Power on Friday.  According to the JD Power’s US Tech Experience Index (TEI), Hyundai Motor Group’s luxury brand Genesis scored 643 points, outpacing Cadillac (584), Mercedes-Benz (539) and Volvo (526), topping the luxury brand list. Genesis has topped the list for two consecutive years.

MobilityAug. 26, 2022

FSC deputy chairman is S. Korea's wealthiest civil servant

　South Korea’s deputy finance policymaker was identified as the civil servant with the highest-value personal assets in the country, including shares worth some 20 billion won ($15 million) in a family business, a government ethics committee said Friday. 　Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kim So-young’s net assets – including real estate, stocks and savings -- amounted to a total of 29.2 billion won, making him the “richest” civil servant in the Yoon Suk

MarketAug. 26, 2022

Construction of Posco’s recycling plant in Poland completed

South Korean steelmaker Posco Holdings said Friday that it has completed construction of a used secondary battery recycling plant in Poland, which will serve as a base for Posco to expand its eco-friendly business to around the world. The Poland Legnica Sourcing Center (PLSC), located in Brzeg Dolny, some 30 kilometers northwest of Warsaw, can annually process 7,000 tons of used batteries and scraps of waste left after battery production. Used batteries shredded to a powdery black mass at the

IndustryAug. 26, 2022

Samsung SDI chief meets with Indiana state over EV battery JV

South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI Co. said Friday its management has met with a group of government officials from the U.S. state of Indiana in Seoul and discussed the ongoing battery joint venture with Stellantis N.V. Choi Yoon-ho, CEO of Samsung SDI, met with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and Bradley Chambers, the secretary of commerce for the state of Indiana, during the delegation's visit to Samsung SDI's production site in Cheonan, about 90 kilometers south of Seoul, on Thursday,

IndustryAug. 26, 2022

S. Korea to take steps to stabilize FX market to curb market volatility: official

South Korea plans to take measures to stabilize the foreign exchange market in a timely manner if market volatility increases, driven by herd behavior or speculative bets in the currency market, a senior government official said Friday. The government will also buy back Treasury bonds and take steps to help curb a rise in bond yields, when needed, if the bond market shows jitters amid global rate hike drives, according to First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun. The finance ministry said the Sou

EconomyAug. 26, 2022

Seoul shares open higher ahead of Powell's Jackson Hole speech

South Korea's stock market opened higher Friday as investors awaited the gathering of central bankers in the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 9.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to trade at 2,487.08 as of 9:15 a.m. Investors will be closely looking for the clue into the pace and the scale of the US central bank's monetary tightening plan at the meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, slated for Friday (US time), where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is

MarketAug. 26, 2022

BOK makes 4th consecutive rate hike

The Bank of Korea returned to its usual 25 basis point rate hike Thursday, half the historic size seen in July, while slashing its growth forecast for the year amid the persistent inflation forcing the central bank to back a raise for a fourth time in a row for the first time. The unanimous decision reached by all seven board members comes as the country fights inflation at an almost 24-year high. In July, prices jumped 6.3 percent on-year. The policy rate now stands at 2.5 percent, up fro

EconomyAug. 25, 2022

Female bank worker forced to cook, wash dishes at work

A bank employee in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, was forced to cook, wash dishes and clean clothes at her workplace over the last two years, a civic group said while filing the case to anti-corruption and labor dispute agencies. According to Gapjil 119, a civic group that campaigns against workplace abuses, one of the female employees working at MG Community Credit Cooperatives said she had to cook rice at 11 a.m. and report to her branch manager how well the rice was done. She also claims sh

IndustryAug. 25, 2022