Samsung, Vodafone launch first 5G open RAN site in UK

Samsung Electronics said Thursday that the Korean tech giant and UK’s telecom carrier Vodafone have launched the first fifth-generation open radio access network site in the UK. Supported by Samsung‘s virtualized RAN solutions, Europe’s first scaled commercial open RAN project built on Vodafone‘s architecture enabled the first virtual call on the open RAN infrastructure between Vodafone and UK government officials on Jan. 11. The deployment marks a milestone following V

TechnologyJan. 20, 2022

Korea aims to become 5th-largest metaverse market by 2026

South Korea will nurture 40,000 professionals and 220 companies specialized in metaverse technology to achieve its goal of becoming the fifth largest country in the global metaverse market by 2026, the government said Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the country’s pan-governmental strategic blueprint to lead the new industry to respond to economic and social changes that will be brought by the metaverse and prepare for the future. In particular, authorities laid out

TechnologyJan. 20, 2022

Over one-third of S. Koreans paid subscribers to OTT platforms last year

Over 34 percent of South Koreans were paid subscribers to over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services, a survey showed Thursday. Paid subscribers to OTTs stood at 34.8 percent last year, up 20.4 percentage points from the previous year, according to a survey of 6,834 people over the age of 13 by the country's media regulator, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). South Korea's OTT usage rate rose to 69.5 percent, compared with 66.3 percent from the previous year, amid the stay-a

TechnologyJan. 20, 2022

Eased regulations eyed to increase investment in fintech industry: regulator

The head of South Korea's financial regulator said Thursday he is seeking to ease restrictions on financial companies' investment in fintech firms as part of efforts to expand support for the fast-growing industry. Jeong Eun-bo, chief of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks in a meeting with leading officials of the fintech industry, saying his agency will push for the enactment of a relevant law on the matter. "We will push for the enactment of the so-called fintech

MarketJan. 20, 2022

[Herald Interview] Pernod Ricard Korea looks to infuse Korean culture into drinking

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced pubs and bars to close early and limited private gatherings, more people have been drinking at home. Frantz Hotton, CEO of global wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard Group’s Korean affiliate, saw a silver lining in the virus-driven trend. “Our sales and marketing teams have made great efforts to respond well to the growing needs of off-trade market and caught up rapidly to grab opportunities in line with new drinking patterns,” Hotton said i

ConsumerJan. 20, 2022

KB Kookmin Bank makes inroads into Singapore

South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank opened a branch in Singapore, which will work as its gateway into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and global markets, the firm said Thursday. The launch of the branch came eight months after KB Kookmin was granted a license to operate a wholesale bank from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, according to the firm. The new branch’s key focuses are retail, corporate and investment banking and will partially deal with brokerage services. Wi

MarketJan. 20, 2022

Hyundai Glovis launches online platform for used car purchases

Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai Motor Group’s logistics arm, said Thursday that it has launched Autobell, an online platform for used car sales and purchase, to diversify its business portfolio.  Hyundai Glovis has been operating a used car business since 2001, mostly focused on B2B sales of secondhand cars through auctions. Its parent company Hyundai Motor sought to enter the certified used car market lately, but it seems blurry whether the automaker can launch B2C business as planned this

IndustryJan. 20, 2022

Residents' foreign currency deposits decline in December

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea declined in December as companies reduced foreign currency holdings for investment, central bank data showed Thursday. According to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK), outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents came to $97.27 billion as of end-December, down $5.75 billion from a month earlier. Residents include local citizens, foreigners staying here for more than six months and foreign companies. The data excludes i

EconomyJan. 20, 2022

S. Korea expected to have more productivity growth potential from wider use of working from home: BOK report

South Korea has more room for improving productivity with a wider use of working from home, given its high internet connectivity and long commuting time caused by chronic traffic jams, a central bank report showed Thursday. According to the report by the Bank of Korea (BOK), the number of people using the working-from-home system soared to 1.14 million, 4.2 percent of those employed, last year, from about 95,000 people, or a mere 0.3 percent, tallied in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic brok

EconomyJan. 20, 2022

Jobs in public sector grow by largest number in 2020

Jobs provided by the government and state-run companies grew by the largest-ever amount in 2020, as the number of public servants rose and state-arranged jobs for vulnerable people increased amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. A total of 2.77 million people were employed in 2020 by the public sector, up 164,000, or 6.3 percent, from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Jobs offered by the public sector are positions in central and provincial governments, social

EconomyJan. 20, 2022

Number of layer chickens rebounds in Q4

The number of layer chickens raised in South Korea rebounded in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as it gradually recovered from the impact of the bird flu outbreak, data showed Thursday. The number of layer chickens came to 72.61 million in the October-December period, up 33,000 from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The tally compared with an on-year fall of 3.13 million in the third quarter. It was also up 1.89 million from three months earlier as chicken

EconomyJan. 20, 2022

Kakao names Nam Koong-whon as new CEO

Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said Thursday it has named Nam Koong-whon as its new CEO following the resignations of two former nominees. Kakao said its board of directors accepted the resignation of incumbent co-CEO Yeo Min-soo, who was earlier named to lead the tech giant for another four years. Nam, who has served as the chief of Kakao's new organization aimed at finding new growth engines, will be officially named as the CEO during a board of di

IndustryJan. 20, 2022

S. Korean investors' holdings of foreign securities hit new high in 2021

South Korean investors' holdings of foreign securities touched a new all-time high in 2021 on an overseas investment boom, data showed Thursday. Local investors had held overseas stocks and bonds worth $100.59 billion as of end-2021, up 39.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). Of the total, South Koreans' ownership of overseas stocks came to $77.91 billion, 65.5 percent more than a year earlier. The value of US stocks held by South Ko

EconomyJan. 20, 2022

Honda joins SES-led lithium-metal battery project

Honda has become the third global automaker after General Motors and Hyundai Motor to jointly develop next-generation electric vehicle batteries with SES, a Boston-based startup set to go public in the US this year. According to SES Thursday, the Japanese automaker agreed to acquire a 2 percent stake in the startup and jointly develop lithium-metal batteries, which are 30 percent more powerful than the strongest lithium-ion batteries in the market. “Honda has joined General Motors and

IndustryJan. 20, 2022

Seoul stocks open tad higher on bargain hunting

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Thursday as investors sought to buy oversold stocks after the recent stock plunge. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 4.19 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,846.47 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks edged up after a choppy start, following the key stock index's four-day losing streak. Steel and chemical heavyweights led the gain. Steelmaker Posco added 2.64 percent, battery maker LG Chem advanced 1.23 percent, and SK In

MarketJan. 20, 2022

Producer prices nearly flat in December

South Korea's producer prices remained almost unchanged in December as an increase of prices in the service sector was offset by falling prices of manufactured goods, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 113.22 last month, compared with 113.23 the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It is the first time since October 2020 that the figure marked an on-month decline. Compared wit

EconomyJan. 20, 2022

China's CITIC Capital invests in plant-based food company Organica

　CITIC Capital, a global investment company managing $16 billion worldwide, has invested in Organica, a plant-based food company in Korea, the companies said on Wednesday. 　It is the first case of CITIC Capital of China making a direct investment in a Korean company, they added. 　CITIC has shown interest in Organica’s vision for sustainability and its plant-based product lines, ranging from clean juices and snacks to ready-made meals, the Seoul-based company said. It aims to gain a glob

IndustryJan. 19, 2022

Seoul stocks down for 5th session on rate hike concerns

South Korean stocks extended their losing streak to a fifth consecutive session Wednesday as rising US yields and rate hike forecast weighed on investor sentiment. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 21.96 points, or 0.77 percent, to close at 2,842.28 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 457 million shares worth some 9.6 trillion won ($8.1 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers 653

MarketJan. 19, 2022

LG Energy Solution IPO draws record retail bids

Over 114 trillion won ($95.5 billion) in cash deposits from about 4.4 million retail investors flowed into a mega initial public offering by LG Energy Solution during a two-day subscription that ended Wednesday, reflecting explosive interest in the company’s market debut. The world’s second-largest battery maker has already attracted the highest amount of deposits from a total of 1,988 domestic and foreign institutional investors, which pledged some 15,000 trillion won in total to b

MarketJan. 19, 2022

Metaverse scramble exposes Samsung's software weakness

Samsung Electronics’ obsession for foldable smartphones is drawing market concerns as the South Korean tech giant is missing out on what’s coming next: The metaverse. According to market tracker Counterpoint Research Wednesday, Samsung remained as the No. 1 global smartphone brand by market share in 2021, but its smartphone business by sales grew just 0.9 percent on-year, drawing a big comparison with Apple’s 25.5 percent and Xiaomi’s 35.1 percent. Though growth has ap

TechnologyJan. 19, 2022