Samsung family to get massive credit loans for inheritance tax payment

Children of the late Samsung chairman are set to receive massive loans from local lenders to pay more than 12 trillion won ($10.8 billion) in inheritance taxes, the largest-ever amount in the country’s history, according to industry sources on Thursday.  Two domestic commercial banks, which were not identified, will issue credit loans of hundreds of billions of won to the family of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, later in the day, they said.  The decisions were m

MarketApril 29, 2021

Local crypto exchanges reopen offline customer centers

Amid the increasing intensity in the cryptocurrency markets, local exchanges are reintroducing offline customer centers. Coinone, one of the four largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, reopened its in-person customer center in Seoul, the company said Thursday. Coinone initially launched its customer center in September 2017, but closed its doors two years later to focus on other businesses. The recent surge in interest in cryptocurrency transactions and as well an influx of custome

MarketApril 29, 2021

LG Electronics delivers record earnings in Q1 on robust home appliance biz

LG Electronics Inc. on Thursday reported its best-ever quarterly earnings in the first quarter on the back of robust home appliance sales. The South Korean tech giant said it logged a net profit of 1.17 trillion won ($1.05 billion) in the January-March period on a consolidated basis, up from 1.08 trillion won a year ago. Its operating profit spiked 39.1 percent to 1.51 trillion won in the first three months of 2021, while sales jumped 27.7 percent on-year to 18.8 trillion won over the cited pe

IndustryApril 29, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding bags order for 4 very large gas carriers

Major South Korean shipyard Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Thursday it has won a 365 billion-won ($329 million) order to build four very large gas carriers (VLGCs). KSOE, the shipbuilding subholding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, said it has signed the contract with Asian and Liberian shipping lines. Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a unit of KSOE, will deliver the 86,000-cubic-meter carriers starting in 2023, KSOE said. The announcement of the ne

IndustryApril 29, 2021

New home permits soar 35% in March

New home permits in South Korea jumped nearly 35 percent in March from a year ago despite the coronavirus pandemic, the government said Thursday. Construction permits issued for new homes stood at 45,354 units last month, down 34.8 percent from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Construction permits spiked 44.9 percent from a year ago to 6,691 in the South Korean capital of Seoul in March. New home permits issued in the capital area, which includes th

EconomyApril 29, 2021

Samsung suffers more than W300b loss due to monthlong Texas chip shutdown

Samsung Electronics Co. said Thursday that a monthlong shutdown at its US semiconductor plant cost it more than 300 billion won ($270 million) in losses, although the facility is now fully normalized. "There was a wafer production disruption due to the stopping and recovering of the fab," Han Seung-hoon, a senior vice president at Samsung's foundry business, said in a conference call. "About 71,000 wafers were affected, and this corresponds to around 300 to 400 billion won in dam

IndustryApril 29, 2021

Trade terms up for 12th straight month in March

South Korea's terms of trade rose for the 12th consecutive month in March, as exports have shown signs of a strong recovery, central bank data showed Thursday. The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of trade terms -- increased 3.6 percent last month from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the 12th straight month of an on-year rise since April last year, when the trade terms logged the first on-year hike in over two years on

MarketApril 29, 2021

7 more firms subject to tougher filing regulation: watchdog

South Korea's corporate watchdog said Thursday seven more major firms are required to disclose detailed information on their management and business activities. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) unveiled its new updated list of large business groups with assets of 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion) or more to face tougher filing regulations. The number of such firms stood at 71, with e-commerce giant Coupang, Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI), the country's sole aircraft manufacturer, and s

MarketApril 29, 2021

Hyundai Ioniq 5 buyers face lack of subsidies

The buyers of Hyundai Motor Co.'s Ioniq 5 all-electric car could face lack of state subsidies for EV purchases as a global chip shortage affects the model's production, industry sources said Thursday. Hyundai began the delivery of the Ioniq 5 on Thursday but still lacks traction motors essential to manufacture the new model. The company has received about 40,000 preorders for the Ioniq 5 since Feb. 25 and was planning to produce 10,000 units in April to meet demand. But it cut the output targe

MobilityApril 29, 2021

Kia, SK Innovation team up for recycling of used EV batteries

South Korean automaker Kia Corp. and its battery supplier SK Innovation Co. will work together for the recycling of used electric vehicle (EV) batteries to secure valuable metals and reduce waste, the companies said Thursday. SK Innovation supplies lithium-ion batteries for Kia's EV6 and other EV models, and they have been working together to make use of spent batteries after forging a partnership in March 2020. The two companies said they will work together to process and reuse spent EV batte

IndustryApril 29, 2021

SK IE Technology set to draw record-high IPO subscriptions

SK IE Technology Co. (SKIET), a battery materials subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., is set to draw a record-breaking subscription rate from retail investors for its initial public offering (IPO) on the Seoul bourse, the company's IPO managers said Thursday. SKIET, which makes lithium-ion battery separators used in electric vehicles, has allowed individual investors to subscribe to up to 5.34 million new common shares to be sold under the IPO on the main KOSPI market on May 11. The battery mater

MarketApril 29, 2021

Naver Q1 net skyrockets to W15.3tr due to accounting profits

South Korea's top internet portal operator, Naver Corp., said Thursday its net profit jumped 11,252.5 percent on-year during the first quarter due to accounting profits. Net profit reached 15.31 trillion won ($13.8 billion) during the January-April period, compared with 134.9 billion won in the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The record profit in the first quarter is due to accounting profits reflected from the business integration of its messaging firm Line Corp. in Ja

IndustryApril 29, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on Fed's comments, earnings

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday, backed by the US Federal Reserve's reiteration to keep its asset-buying schemes and earnings surprises from major companies that increased investors' appetite for risky assets. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 14.32 points, or 0.45 percent, to 3,195.79 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The stock index came to a strong start as the US Federal Reserve said Wednesday (local time) it would not roll back its asset-buying progr

MarketApril 29, 2021

Restaurants' business confidence rebounds in Q1

South Korean restaurants' business sentiment rebounded in the first quarter of the year on eased social distancing rules, but it was still below pre-pandemic levels, a state food distribution firm said Thursday. The business survey index (BSI) for the country's restaurant industry stood at a post-pandemic high of 67.26 for the January-March period, up 7.5 points from a year earlier, according to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. The first-quarter reading was also 7.93 points high

EconomyApril 29, 2021

SK Telecom to support ESG startups with Microsoft, SAP

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, said Thursday it has launched an alliance with global tech giants, including Microsoft Corp. and SAP, to support local startups in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) sectors. The alliance, named ESG Korea 2021, will offer information and communication technology-based solutions for startups that seek to solve social problems and help them measure their progress in the field, according to a statement from SK Telecom. It aims to s

IndustryApril 29, 2021

7 firms to recall nearly 14,000 vehicles over faulty parts

Mercedes-Benz Korea, BMW Korea and five other companies will voluntarily recall nearly 14,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Thursday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers operating in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The seven companies -- which include Honda Korea Co., Tesla Korea, MAN Truck & Bus Korea Ltd. and Hanbul Motors, which imports vehicles of France's PSA Group -- are recalling a combine

MobilityApril 29, 2021

Manufacturers' biz sentiment increases for 4th month for May

South Korean manufacturers' business sentiment rose for the fourth straight month for May, despite lingering concerns about sluggish consumption amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Thursday. The business sentiment index (BSI) for local manufacturers came to 98 for May, up from 91 for April, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index measures manufacturers' outlook on business conditions in the following month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber o

EconomyApril 29, 2021

Samsung sees chip recovery in Q2 after forecast-beating Q1 results

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday expected its semiconductor business to rebound in the current quarter following mediocre performance, although its mobile unit is projected to suffer a profit decline after spearheading its strong first-quarter earnings. Samsung's net profit stood at 7.14 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in the January-March period, up 46.2 percent from a year earlier, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor said in a regulatory filing. Its operating profit jumped 4

IndustryApril 29, 2021

Samsung family says no disagreement over estate

The bereaved family of Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee is not at odds over who should get what from the late tycoon’s Samsung company shares, worth 19 trillion won ($17.06 billion) in total, officials at Samsung Electronics, the flagship unit of the conglomerate, said Wednesday. The late Lee’s equity holdings have immense implications for the group’s ownership structure, influencing the Lee family’s continued grip over the colossal corporate empire, which alone acco

TechnologyApril 28, 2021

SK Broadband present new family plan in time for May, the ‘Family Month’

In time for Parents’ Day on May 8, SK Broadband is presenting a new family plan targeting adults living separately from their aging parents and looking out for them in this coronavirus pandemic. The plan, called “B tv Family,” is a package of services tailored for senior citizens who cannot go out as often as they used to and cannot meet up with their grandchildren and other loved ones. On top of the typical combination of high-speed internet, home Wi-Fi, IPTV and a TV set

TechnologyApril 28, 2021