Seoul shares open higher on eased rate woes

South Korean stocks started higher Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's dovish comments eased rate woes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 11.84 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,792.7 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, Wall Street closed higher as Powell said recent economic data represented "significant progress," boosting investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.84 per

MarketJuly 3, 2024

Naver CEO says to not sell its stake in LY in 'short term'

Naver Corp. CEO Choi Soo-yeon confirmed Tuesday the company will not sell its stake in Japan's LY Corp., the operator of popular mobile messenger Line, in the "short term" amid LY's push to lessen its dependence on Naver. "We don't plan to sell the stake in the short term," Choi said, while noting the company cannot give confirmation on its mid-to-long term strategy. Naver, South Korea's biggest internet portal operator, holds a 50 percent stake in A H

CompaniesJuly 2, 2024

Samsung to boost display investments in Vietnam

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Tuesday renewed his commitment to boosting investment in Vietnam, where the company remains the biggest foreign investor, during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Seoul on Tuesday. In the private meeting, the Samsung chief pledged massive investment to set up the tech giant’s biggest display module production base in the Southeast Asian country over the next three years. "Vietnam's success is Samsung's su

IndustryJuly 2, 2024

Korea soft-launches longer forex trading hours

South Korea’s won-dollar trading on the first day with extended trading hours has gotten off to a smooth start with ample liquidity and no significant increase in volatility, the country’s financial authorities said Tuesday. Starting from Monday, Korea has extended won trading hours to make the currency more tradable and accessible to global investors. Dollar-won trading hours are changed to 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., compared to 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. earlier. Choi Sang-mok, Korea's depu

MarketJuly 2, 2024

Veteran singer’s rice wine production halted over labeling issue

South Korean ballad singer Sung Si-kyung's newly launched Korean rice wine, Kyungtakju, has been suspended from production for a month by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety due to labeling irregularities. According to the regulator, information such as the product name, manufacturer, individual manufacturing number and the volume of the product were missing. This information is required on product labels even for sample products. Sung can still sell products that have already been pro

ConsumerJuly 2, 2024

Posco chief vows W200tr market cap by 2030

Posco Group Chairman Chang In-hwa announced that the group plans to integrate advanced materials into its core operations, alongside steelmaking and secondary battery materials, aiming to double sales to 5 trillion won ($3.6 billion) by 2030. "Let’s restore our core competitiveness and trust across our business, management and organizational culture, boldly innovate beyond our limits, and strive toward the future," Chang said during a meeting in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province,

CompaniesJuly 2, 2024

Seoul shares fall sharply ahead of key economic events in US

South Korean stocks fell sharply Tuesday ahead of key economic events in the United States later this week. The local currency traded weaker against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 23.45 points, or 0.84 percent, to 2,780.86, ending a two-session winning streak. Trade volume was moderate at 532.3 million shares worth 11.5 trillion won ($8.28 billion), with decliners sharply outnumbering gainers 691 to 195. Foreigners and institutions sold a net 30 billion won a

MarketJuly 2, 2024

Hana Bank’s extended forex trading kicks off on smooth run

Hana Bank’s foreign exchange trading room in Seoul, the largest in South Korea, completed its first extended trading session on Tuesday. Starting Monday, Korea extended its foreign currency trading hours, pushing the closing time from 3:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. the following day. This move is part of Korea’s strategy to enhance its financial market and attract more foreign capital, with won-dollar trading now available until 5 p.m. in London and 1 p.m. in New York. Additionally, foreign fin

EconomyJuly 2, 2024

[Herald Interview] Vietnam's MB Bank bets big on Seoul-Hanoi ties

Vietnamese state lender MB Bank, also known as Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank, will launch a mobile app for South Korean nationals living in the country in August, seeing potential in the strengthening ties between the two countries. “Vietnamese banks are yet to offer specialized service for Koreans living in the country, making them rely on the branches of Korean banks,” MB Bank Chairman Luu Trung Thai said during an interview in Seoul on Tuesday. Luu Trung Thai was in Korea w

IndustryJuly 2, 2024

[Business Diplomacy] Time matters more than money in engineering lobbying prowess

Korean companies should focus on boosting their "still-nascent" lobbying power by spending the time to understand policymakers' needs and by building a strong network regardless of the outcome of the upcoming US presidential election in November, according to legal and trade advisers from Lee & Ko, a prominent law firm in Korea. Companies around the globe are paying keen attention to how US policy directions will diverge depending on who becomes the next US president: the incu

IndustryJuly 2, 2024

LG Energy Solution lands major LFP battery deal with Renault

LG Energy Solution, South Korea's largest electric vehicle battery maker, has secured its first major order for lithium-iron-phosphate batteries from French auto giant Renault Group's EV unit Ampere. The contract, announced in Paris on Monday, will see LG Energy Solution supplying pouch LFP batteries for Renault’s next-generation electric vehicles over five years, from late 2025 to 2030. It involves producing about 39 gigawatt-hours of batteries, enough to power approximately 5

MobilityJuly 2, 2024

Cyber attacks using generative AI on rise: SK Shieldus

Cyberattacks using generative artificial intelligence, or targeting the weak points of the new technology are on the rise, SK Shieldus, a leading security service company in Korea said on Tuesday. In a media seminar, SK Shieldus and EQST, the company's white-hat hackers group, presented its findings on the rising hacking trends using AI and underscored the importance of raising awareness and taking preventive measures to reduce damage. “Large Language Models are being used actively to

IndustryJuly 2, 2024

Unionized Samsung workers to stage 3-day walkout

Unionized workers of Samsung Electronics have said they will stage a three-day walkout beginning July 8, as their negotiations with management over wages and working conditions have so far failed. The National Samsung Electronics Union, the largest among multiple Samsung Electronics unions with some 28,400 workers, or 22 percent of the total workforce, announced the decision on Monday evening livestreaming on YouTube. “Any further peaceful strike is meaningless,” said Son Woo-mok, pr

IndustryJuly 2, 2024

LG Energy Solution secures mass supply of lithium from Australian firm

LG Energy Solution said Tuesday that it had struck a deal to secure a large-scale lithium supply with Australian mining firm Liontown Resources, bolstering its global supply chain of key raw materials for electric vehicle batteries. According to the Korean firm, the contract guarantees about 1.75 million tons of lithium spodumene concentrate over the next 15 years. The supply is enough to produce batteries for approximately 5 million EVs with a range of at least 500 kilometers per charge. LG Ene

CompaniesJuly 2, 2024

LS Cable wins W1tr submarine cable deal in California

LS Cable & System said Tuesday that it has signed a deal worth 100 billion won ($72 million) with LS Power Grid California, a transmission network operator in the US. LS Power Grid California, a subsidy of LS Power -- a New York-based energy and power infrastructure operation and investment company -- will be a key partner in the venture. With the contract, LS Cable & System will be the first supplier of submarine cables to the western region of the US. The newly secured deal involves th

CompaniesJuly 2, 2024

KITA opens Dallas center to boost business ties with US

The Korea International Trade Association announced Tuesday the opening of its new US office in Dallas, Texas. The opening event held on Monday was attended by 50 dignitaries and representatives from both governments and related businesses, including KITA Chairman Yoon Jin-sik, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson and Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Houston Jung Young-ho. The Dallas center, which aims to support trading issues of Korean firms from their market entry to building local

IndustryJuly 2, 2024

Seoul shares start lower despite US gains

South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Tuesday despite overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 7.76 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,796.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, Wall Street closed slightly higher, while investors awaited US labor market data and the Federal Reserve minutes due later this week to seek clues about the interest rate outlook. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.13 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq went up 0.

MarketJuly 2, 2024

Inflation slows to 11-month low of 2.4% in June

South Korea's consumer prices slowed to an 11-month low in June, though prices of fresh food items and petroleum products remained high, data showed Tuesday. Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.4 percent on-year last month, compared with a 2.7 percent on-year rise a month earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It was the third consecutive month that the price decelerated and stayed below 3 percent, and June's figure marked the lowest level since July 2023,

EconomyJuly 2, 2024

Samsung Electronics union in South Korea declares strike

A workers' union at Samsung Electronics in South Korea said on Monday it would launch a general strike until its demands for better pay and time off were met, warning of more damaging action against the country's most powerful conglomerate than its one-day walkout last month. The National Samsung Electronics Union, whose roughly 28,000 members make up over a fifth of the firm's workforce, is planning to begin the strike on July 8, asking the company for commitments such as improve

EconomyJuly 1, 2024

Business arrears of self-employed hits all-time high in Q1: report

The amount of overdue business loans taken by self-employed business owners in South Korea surpassed 10 trillion won ($7.2 billion) for the first time ever in the first quarter of this year, marking the highest figure ever since the government started tallying the figure in 2009. Overdue business loans of self-employed business owners were an accumulated 10.8 trillion won as of late March, according to a report the Bank of Korea submitted to Rep. Yang Bu-nam of the main opposition Democratic Par

EconomyJuly 1, 2024