Seoul stocks open higher on eased omicron woes

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday as investors attempted to buy oversold stocks amid the potential impact of the omicron coronavirus variant. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 28 points, or 0.96 percent, to 2,937.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The new variant has not been detected in South Korea, which has been battling a recent surge of coronavirus cases. Global stock markets rebounded Monday, partly recouping their losses made last Friday amid inv

MarketNov. 30, 2021

Industrial output falls by most in 18 months in Oct.

South Korea's industrial output fell by the most in 18 months in October as production in the manufacturing sector lost steam amid global supply chain bottlenecks, data showed Tuesday. Industrial output declined 1.9 percent in October from the previous month, a turnaround from a 1.1 percent on-month gain in September, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the largest on-month fall since April 2020, when industrial output fell 2 percent. From a year earlier, industrial

EconomyNov. 30, 2021

Banks' nonperforming loan rate down to record-low in September

The nonperforming loan rate of banks in South Korea fell to a record low in September due to the expanded provision of credit and debt rollovers for small businesses and merchants, the financial watchdog said Tuesday. The rate of bank loans more than three months overdue in interest or principle payment had stood at 0.51 percent as of end-September, down 0.03 percentage point from three months earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the rate

EconomyNov. 30, 2021

Korean businesses see no major breakthroughs in Japan ties

Most South Korean companies trading with Japan were pessimistic over the possibility of the two neighboring countries improving their chilled ties anytime soon, despite the urgent need to do so, an industrywide survey found Monday. According to the survey conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 92.6 percent of 202 domestic companies agreed that bilateral economic cooperation was absolutely necessary to facilitate trade between the two nations. But the majority of the firms s

IndustryNov. 29, 2021

Seoul stocks down for 5th day amid virus woes

South Korean stocks ended down for the fifth straight session on Monday as investors remained worried over the impact of the emergence of the omicron variant of the coronavirus on the global economy. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) retreated 27.12 points, or 0.92 percent, to close at 2,909.32 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 832 million shares worth some 12.9 trillion won (US$10.8 billion), with losers outnumbering

MarketNov. 29, 2021

[Law Talk] Recent internal control issues facing foreign financial companies

Globally, internal control is a hot issue for financial companies on several fronts, including environmental, social and governance -- or ESG -- issues as well as cybersecurity. This is because internal control is the process implemented by companies to ensure compliance with the law and the reliability of its information and financial reporting, therefore it is an area of law that must adapt to the changing legal and business environments. Accordingly, as the world focuses on a sustainable futu

MarketNov. 29, 2021

[Hydrogen Korea] S-Oil looks to bring world’s cheapest clean hydrogen from Saudi Arabia

With just one-fifth of its barren land, Saudi Arabia can generate sufficient renewable energy to produce 530 million tons of green hydrogen. That is equivalent to the entire world’s green hydrogen demand in 2050. Ironically, the world’s biggest exporter of fossil fuels is gifted with the cheapest solar and wind power on Earth, as the sun shines reliably every day and the wind blows constantly every night in the desert. Thanks to its almost unlimited sunshine and wind, Saudi Ara

IndustryNov. 29, 2021

SK chairman’s younger brother likely to return to management

Speculation is growing over the possibility of SK Chairman Chey Tae-won’s younger brother Chey Jae-won returning to management to take the helm of the group’s refining and petrochemicals unit SK Innovation, according to industry sources on Monday. The junior Chey, who served a three-and-half year jail term for embezzlement in 2014, faced employment restrictions for five years. Chey Jae-won, who holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Brown and a master’s degree in

IndustryNov. 29, 2021

Kakao marks 10th anniversary of emoticon biz

KakaoTalk, South Korea’s top mobile messenger, celebrated the 10th anniversary of its emoticon service, highlighting the jobs it has created for freelancers. KakaoTalk emoticons that can be purchased and used in the mobile messenger have raised 700 billion won ($586 million) in sales revenue since their launch in 2011, according to the company. More than 300,000 emoticon sets have been sold, and 220 billion emoticons have been sent among users. Five emoticon sets have each collected mo

TechnologyNov. 29, 2021

S. Korea to closely monitor omicron woes on financial market

South Korea’s vice finance minister said Monday that the government plans to keep close tabs on the financial market for possible volatilities and woes caused by the emergence of the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. “There is a possibility that the volatilities in the global financial market could be expanded by the emergence of the omicron variant,” First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-won said at a macroeconomic meeting of government officials and the private sector.

EconomyNov. 29, 2021

SK Square now 2nd-largest shareholder of Korbit

SK Square became the second-largest shareholder of Korbit, one of South Korea’s top four cryptocurrency exchanges, by investing about 90 billion won ($75.5 million) to acquire a 35 percent stake, the company announced Monday. The largest shareholder of Korbit is NXC, the holding company of local online game maker Nexon. SK Square expects that holding a stake of Korbit itself will increase the net asset value of SK Square, as the volume of cryptocurrency transactions has rapidly increase

IndustryNov. 29, 2021

Samsung to nurture young executives to usher in ‘New Samsung’ era

Samsung Electronics is poised to employ a new personnel management system starting in 2022 that could foster young executives, in a move to lay the groundwork for a “New Samsung” era under Samsung’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong, the South Korean tech giant said Monday. Under the new system, Samsung will abolish a set of requirements before an employee gets promoted to a certain level, such as a minimum term of service that lasts roughly eight to 10 years. Instead, excellent em

TechnologyNov. 29, 2021

Smaller firms' biz confidence edges up for Dec.: poll

The business outlook of South Korea's smaller firms inched up for December on eased social distancing measures and hopes of higher year-end domestic demand, a poll showed Monday. The survey of 3,150 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) showed that the small business health index amounted to 83.5 for the coming month, up 2 points from November. It marks a turnaround from November's decrease that came after the second straight month of increase, but the reading remains below par. A reading

EconomyNov. 29, 2021

[Herald Interview] Korean startup turns leather scraps into yarn

The need to reduce humanity’s carbon footprint is a pressing issue in the textile, fashion and sportswear industries, and a South Korean startup has come up with a way for them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ATKO Planning gained attention in the global market relatively recently as the world’s first company to reuse leather scraps to produce yarn products. “The company’s technology helps reduce carbon footprints by reusing the sheer amount of leather that is dest

IndustryNov. 29, 2021

Where did all the taxis go?

As the “living with COVID-19” strategy has opened up the economy, more people are now heading back to restaurants, bars and clubs. But while the streets are bustling and lively again, hailing a taxi at night has become a headache. Lim Bong-gyun, secretary-general of the Federation of Korean Taxi Workers, said many drivers employed by public hire taxi operators quit during the pandemic as they felt that continuing to work in the industry would mean working at a loss. “When th

MobilityNov. 29, 2021

Daewoo Shipbuilding opens virtual training center for ship painters

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Monday it has launched a virtual center to train ship painters. The shipbuilder said the virtual training center will give painters the same experience as actual workplaces and will reduce costs. In addition to the heavy costs and time required to train painters, the current system also causes environmental problems due to the use of organic solvents, Daewoo Shipbuilding said. The virtual training system will cut costs and require l

IndustryNov. 29, 2021

Retail sales up 14.4% in October on sales events, cold weather

Retail sales in South Korea surged 14.4 percent in October from a year earlier as more consumers opened their wallets amid various promotional events and cold weather, the industry ministry said Monday. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 13.6 trillion won ($11.41 billion) last month, compared with 12.01 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Sales from offline stores rose 10 percent on-year in

ConsumerNov. 29, 2021

S. Korea to closely monitor financial markets amid worries over omicron-sparked volatility

South Korea will closely monitor global and local financial markets for any impact from the emergence of the omicron variant of the coronavirus and take action in a preemptive and active manner, if necessary, to reduce market volatility, a senior finance ministry official said Monday. First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon made the remark at a meeting to discuss macroeconomic issues amid concerns that financial market volatility could intensify due to the spread of the potentially more transm

EconomyNov. 29, 2021

S. Korea holds annual consultation meeting with S&P

South Korea kicked off annual consultation meetings with global rating appraiser Standard & Poor's Global Ratings (S&P) on Monday to discuss the country's credit valuation and economic outlook, the finance ministry said. The delegation, led by Kim Eng Tan, senior director of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings at S&P, visited South Korea for four days of consultations through Thursday, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It will be the first face-to-face meetings between th

EconomyNov. 29, 2021

Samsung Heavy ties up with Microsoft for shipyard digitalization

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Monday it has signed a deal with Microsoft Korea to cooperate on the digitalization of its shipyard. Samsung Heavy said it plans to build up a collaboration system among each shipbuilding sector in its shipyard by using cloud computing service Azure, artificial intelligence, group chat software Teams and metaverse technologies, which will be provided by Microsoft under the deal. Samsung Heavy said the latest deal will accelerate the digitalization of its shipy

IndustryNov. 29, 2021