Foreign currency deposits dip for 2nd month in Jan.

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea dropped for the second straight month in January due mainly to decreased corporate deposits, central bank data showed Monday. Residents' outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits reached $93.17 billion as of end-January, down $4.1 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It represents the second consecutive month of on-month decline. In December, the country's foreign currency deposits decreased

MarketFeb. 21, 2022

LG Energy Solution hires Nvidia data scientist as chief digital officer

LG Energy Solution said Monday it has appointed Pyun Kyung-suk, a data scientist from Nvidia, as the new chief digital officer to lead the digital transformation of the South Korean battery giant. Before joining LG Energy Solution, Pyun was one of the five principal data scientists at Nvidia. He has over 20 years of expertise in machine learning, according to the company. “As our new CDO, Pyun will be tasked with the digital transformation of LG Energy Solution’s global battery

IndustryFeb. 21, 2022

S. Korean telcos to take part in MWC 2022 next week amid virus fears

South Korea's three major mobile carriers said Monday they will participate in the upcoming mobile technology trade fair in Spain to showcase their latest technologies despite growing coronavirus woes. The three telecommunication companies -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- said their respective CEOs will participate in the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022, set to take place from Feb. 28 to March 3 in Barcelona. The MWC is one of the top three tech events in the world, along with

IndustryFeb. 21, 2022

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance net soars 42.5% in 2021

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. said Monday its earnings soared more than 42 percent in 2021 from a year earlier on the car insurance division's switch to profit. Net income came to 1.09 trillion won ($910 million) last year, up 42.5 percent from a year earlier, the leading non-life insurer said in a regulatory filing. Operating income stood at 1.55 trillion won, up 36.9 percent from a year earlier, with sales edging up 1.9 percent to 19.65 trillion won. Samsung Fire & Marine Insuran

IndustryFeb. 21, 2022

Seoul stocks open sharply lower on Ukraine risk

South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Monday, as investors took to the sidelines over the Ukraine risk, which stemmed from concerns about Moscow's potential invasion of Ukraine. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) lost 43.15 points, or 1.57 percent, to 2,701.37 points as of 9:18 a.m. Most large caps traded lower in Seoul due to foreign and institutional sell-offs, with tech and chemical sectors leading the KOSPI's retreat. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics decreased 2.

MarketFeb. 21, 2022

S. Korea to hold annual meetings with Moody's this week

South Korea will hold its annual consultation meetings with global rating agency Moody's Investors Service this week over the country's economic conditions, Seoul's finance ministry said Monday. The Moody's credit rating team, led by Gene Fang, associate managing director of the agency, will hold a series of meetings with the finance ministry, the central bank and other agencies starting Monday through Feb. 28. During the meetings, the two sides will discuss the country's recent economic situati

EconomyFeb. 21, 2022

Exports rise 13% in first 20 days of Feb.

South Korea's exports grew 13.1 percent on-year in the first 20 days of February on the back of demand for chips and petroleum products, customs data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $34.30 billion in the Feb. 1-20 period, compared with $30.34 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports rose 12.9 percent on-year to $35.98 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.68 billion during the cited period, the data showed. By sector, ou

EconomyFeb. 21, 2022

Probe expands into workplace accidents amid confusion over new rules

Authorities are widening investigations into a series of severe workplace accidents under a new industrial safety law, with businesses on high alert for its impact across industries. According to the Labor Ministry Sunday, authorities have launched probes into a total of six cases, involving 11 deaths, since the law took effect on Jan. 27. Many of the accidents occurred at construction sites. Three died in a landslide accident at Sampyo Industry’s quarry in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province on

IndustryFeb. 20, 2022

[Newsmaker] aT CEO at vanguard of global green food campaign

Going green is not just about having more electric vehicles or shutting down old factories powered by fossil fuels, says the head of South Korea’s food distribution and export promotion agency, but also extending that eco-friendly thinking to the table. Not just reducing food waste but also choosing to eat more local production would make a greater impact on the Earth, said Kim Choon-jin, president of Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. Kim and his agency have been taking an ini

ConsumerFeb. 20, 2022

CEOs call on next government to offer tax incentives for growth

Business leaders here called on the next government to raise tax revenue by boosting the economy rather than seeking tax hikes on businesses, according to a survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry released Sunday. Of the 252 CEOs surveyed, 70 percent said economic growth should be prioritized for the next government to revamp the nation’s taxation policy, calling for more tax incentives for businesses. The CEOs urged to reduce corporate taxes overall, expand support for st

IndustryFeb. 20, 2022

South Korea’s fiscal deficit tops W100tr as spending surged amid COVID-19

South Korea’s fiscal deficit reached over 100 trillion won ($83 billion), while national debt logged a deficit of 240 trillion won, as the country was bogged down by COVID-19 woes in the past two years, data from the Finance Ministry showed Sunday. With an additional 70 trillion won in fiscal deficit and 100 trillion won of national debt projected to be added this year, based on the size of the supplementary budget currently being discussed by officials and lawmakers, onlookers are expre

EconomyFeb. 20, 2022

Samsung Electronics No. 1 in global TV market for 16 years straight

Samsung Electronics has maintained its lead in the global TV market for 16 consecutive years by pursuing a premium strategy with its QLED TVs, the firm said. According to market tracker Omdia Sunday, the South Korean tech giant last year topped the global TV market, commanding 29.5 percent by sales amount and 19.8 percent by market share. “Samsung Electronics propelled the No. 1 position via a premium strategy centered on QLED TVs. Since their launch in 2017, more than 26 million units

IndustryFeb. 20, 2022

SK On aims to be global No. 1 EV battery player: CEO

SK On co-CEO Jee Dong-seob said Sunday he will make the company the world’s No. 1 electric vehicle battery player with products that excel in safety, performance and price competitiveness. During an interview, the SK On official laid out three core strategies to take on market leaders such as CATL and LG Energy Solution and become No. 1 by 2030. Jee first pledged to offer the safest, the cheapest and the most high-performing EV batteries to clients. “Thanks to its technology and

IndustryFeb. 20, 2022

Naver’s webtoon dominance continues

South Korean IT giant Naver’s webtoon business is continuing its dominance in the global market, getting recognized as the world’s best webtoon application while posting a record high number of users. Naver Webtoon has been honored as the world’s best webtoon application in the mobile app market by analyzer Sensor Tower’s 2021 Asia-Pacific Awards, the company said Friday. Sensor Tower said Naver Webtoon is the most successful webtoon application in Asia, adding that i

IndustryFeb. 20, 2022

[Weekender] Investing in the metaverse: Look before you leap

Touted as the next big thing, the metaverse has been undeniably the talk of the global town since last year. The metaverse frenzy accelerated further when Facebook changed its name to Meta in October. Hoping to take the lead in the new online virtual world, all sectors regardless of their specializations have jumped on the metaverse bandwagon. This has led to lofty projections luring individual investors. The global metaverse market is forecast to reach $829 billion (993 trillion won) in 202

MarketFeb. 19, 2022

SillaJen granted second grace period amid calls against delisting

SillaJen, a local biotech company that was given a one-year grace period and avoided delisting in November 2020 over embezzlement accusations involving its key executives, will be put on another six-month grace period, the Korea Exchange said Friday. A 22-month trading halt that began in May 2020 will remain in place. The KRX, which decided to take the firm off from the junior Kosdaq board a month ago after the initial grace period had ended, said SillaJen will be required to prove to have live

MarketFeb. 18, 2022

Samsung faces shareholder call for more radical green push

Despite a series of actions and pledges to make its business more environmentally sustainable, Samsung is still facing calls for a more aggressive approach to reducing greenhouse gases from global institutional shareholders of the tech titan. The latest to do so was APG, a Dutch pension fund that oversees nearly 630 billion euros ($716 billion). On Thursday, APG revealed that Samsung Electronics was one of the 10 South Korea-based investees to which it has sent a letter urging a greater effort

TechnologyFeb. 18, 2022

Biometric technology halves payment costs, Boston Consulting says

Alert credit card companies in Korea. Biometric technology using facial, iris, voice, fingerprint and finger vein recognition could halve the current money transfer costs through credit card and mobile transactions totaling at 2.7 trillion won ($2.2 billion) annually, Boston Consulting Group said Friday in a report. “The 2.7 trillion won is an approximation of the sum of 290 million hours and 110.7 million square meters, time and space annually needed to process payments in the convention

TechnologyFeb. 18, 2022

Korea to make public food prices at franchises to tame inflation

SEJONG – Economic policymakers are moving to tame consumer prices under their assessment that inflationary pressures would continue this month, Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said Friday. Several policy measures set to be taken include making price tags of food products at large-scale dining franchises publicized and extending fuel tax redemption. “Prices of dining out increased by 5.5 percent in January on-year. This marked the highest growth (in almost 13 years) since 5.

EconomyFeb. 18, 2022

Seoul stocks edge up on expectations of US-Russia talks

South Korean stocks edged up on Friday after choppy trading amid expectations of a US-Russia meeting next week about the standoff over Ukraine. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 0.43 point, or 0.02 percent, to close at 2,744.52 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 506 million shares worth some 8.4 trillion won ($7 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 622 to 225. Institutions bought a net 103 billion won and reta

MarketFeb. 18, 2022