Homeplus rolls out Lunar New Year gift sets

South Korean discount store chain Homeplus on Wednesday said it will start selling 2024 Lunar New Year gift sets from Saturday through Feb. 11, as the season of gift-giving is once again upon us. During this holiday season, Homeplus offers a curated selection of some 1,060 items at discounts of up to 50 percent. Based on consumer purchase data collected during about three weeks of pre-orders, the retailer has prepared a variety of gift sets, ranging from budget packages to high-end meat or seafo

Jan. 24, 2024

HD Hyundai Oilbank seeks bigger footing in N. America's lubricants market

South Korean oil refinery and petrochemical firm HD Hyundai Oilbank said Wednesday it is making significant inroads into the North American lubricants market by supplying its XTeer products for HD Hyundai XiteSolution's industrial vehicles. The strategic push by the two subsidiaries of HD Hyundai aims to secure a foothold in the lubricants market traditionally dominated by major industry players, where Korean manufacturers currently hold less than a 0.1 percent share. The refinery company&#

Jan. 24, 2024

[Photo News] First Samsung experience store in India

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that its flagship brand experience store, dubbed “Samsung BKC,” has opened at Jio World Plaza Mall in Mumbai, India. The 732-square-meter site is the first of its kind in India where visitors can experience and purchase Samsung’s latest devices. Samsung said preorders for the new Galaxy S24 series exceeded 250,000 units in three days in India -- a record for the flagship smartphone there. (Samsung Electronics)

Jan. 24, 2024

LG Display raises OLED sales target

LG Display said Wednesday it would focus investment on OLED displays this year, seeking to continue growth momentum after it posted the first profit in seven quarters in the October-December period last year. “The panel demand, which has been volatile over the past three years due to COVID-19, is expected to stabilize this year. … We have raised our internal OLED panel shipment goal for this year by 20 percent on-year,” an LG Display official said during the company’s

Jan. 24, 2024

W4tr of damaged notes, coins destroyed in 2023

The total face value of damaged bills and coins discarded by the Bank of Korea reached nearly 4 trillion won ($2.98 billion) last year, marking a sharp rise from previous years as more in-person business transactions occurred with the end of the pandemic, the central bank said Wednesday. A total of 483.85 million damaged bills and coins were pulled out of circulation by the central bank due to damage in 2023, up 71.17 million from 412.68 million tallied a year earlier. The face value of the de

Jan. 24, 2024

Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun hits record sales in 2023

The nation’s No. 1 ramyeon seller, Nongshim, said Wednesday that its flagship Shin Ramyun product posted record sales of 1.21 trillion won ($903 million) in 2023, a 14 percent jump from the previous year. The feat marks the second consecutive year that product sales surpassed 1 trillion won. Shin Ramyun sold about 1.66 billion packs last year globally, which is equivalent to 53 packets sold per second, the company said. Since its launch in 1986, its cumulative sales have amounted to 17.51

Jan. 24, 2024

[From the scene] Immersive ‘Squid Game’ challenge thrills fans in LA

LOS ANGELES -- For fans of the Netflix series "Squid Game," the "Squid Game: The Trials" immersive experience at the CBS Television lot in Los Angeles is a must-visit spot for putting their competitive spirits to the test. Spanning about 3,000 square meters, the venue features "Squid Game"-inspired games, including the dalgona, marbles and glass tiles challenges. Visitors have to pass a total of six games to become the final winner. The 70-minute gameplay is made po

Jan. 24, 2024

Seoul shares open lower on profit-taking

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday as investors sought profits. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 12.29 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,466.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.25 percent lower as investors cashed in profits, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.43 percent. In Seoul, top tech giant Samsung Electronics moved down 1.2 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shed 1.21 percent. Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor

Jan. 24, 2024

Posco Holdings 2023 net tumbles 48.5% amid steel slump

South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO Holdings Inc. said Tuesday its 2023 earnings nearly halved from a year earlier amid a global industry slump. Net profit stood at 1.83 trillion won ($1.37 billion) last year, down 48.5 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales declined 9 percent on-year to 77.13 trillion won, with operating income falling 27.2 percent to 3.53 trillion won. POSCO Holdings' 2023 operating profit was far below a median estimate of 4.09

Jan. 23, 2024

Amazon's French warehouses fined over employee surveillance

France's data protection agency said Tuesday that it had fined Amazon's French warehouses unit 32 million euros ($34.9 million) for an "excessively intrusive" surveillance system to keep track of staff performance. Amazon France Logistique monitored the work of employees in particular through data from scanners used by the staff to process packages, according to the agency, known by its initials CNIL. Scanners alerted management of inactivity exceeding 10 minutes or the handl

Jan. 23, 2024

Beer sees steepest price hikes since 1998 financial crisis

Beer prices at restaurants saw the steepest price hikes last year since the 1998 financial crisis, according to the Korean Statistical Information Service on Tuesday. The consumer price index for beer products at restaurants increased to 114.66 points last year, up 6.9 percent from a year ago. The growth rate was the highest since the 1998 financial crisis when the CPI for beer soared by 9.7 percent. In the meantime, the prices of beer products sold at discount or convenience stores saw 2.9 perc

Jan. 23, 2024

Kurly turns profit for first time

Kurly, the operator of e-commerce platform Market Kurly, said Tuesday that it posted a profit in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, in December last year – its first since its establishment in 2015. The company said that EBITDA for December increased by more than 10 billion won ($7.5 million) compared to the previous year. The specific amount of the earnings was not immediately disclosed due to confidentiality issues. The company stressed that the fi

Jan. 23, 2024

Kakao Bank hits $1b in outbound remittances

South Korean internet-only lender Kakao Bank said Tuesday that the annual international transfers made on its app exceeded $1 billion last year. The figure is the highest annual overseas remittance via Kakao Bank since the company started its service in July 2017, the firm said, adding that the cumulative amount of outbound remittances on the app had reached $5.4 billion. Users of Kakao Bank can make international wire transfers to 22 countries in 12 currencies via the company's own foreign

Jan. 23, 2024

Korea to expand tax benefits for advanced chips, OLED

The Korean government plans to expand tax incentives for the nation’s strategic technologies such as advanced chips and displays as part of a tax revision that takes effect next month. The Finance Ministry on Tuesday unveiled a set of tax reform plans, including tax cuts worth up to 950 billion won ($711 million) per year, in a bid to attract more investment into new growth drivers and boost the local economy. The chip and display sectors have already been protected as strategic industries

Jan. 23, 2024

Seoul shares close higher following stellar performance of US stocks

South Korean stocks closed higher Tuesday as investors scooped up undervalued shares after US stock indexes closed at an all-time high overnight. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 14.26 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,464.35. Trading volume was moderate at 461 million shares worth 7.87 trillion won ($5.89 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 482 to 379. Foreigners bought shares worth 137.9 billion won, while retail investors offload

Jan. 23, 2024

Korean banks ready to step up their game in India

Local lenders are expanding their presence in India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, as Korea-India economic ties deepen amid the global supply chain reshuffle. KB Kookmin Bank, one of the top five lenders in Korea, will launch two new branches in India this year in Chennai and Pune. The lender has deployed six employees in the country for the setup. “An approval from local authorities came in October. We plan to open the branches in the early third quarter,” an official f

Jan. 23, 2024

SK becomes No. 2 in market cap

SK Group has reclaimed its title as the nation’s second-largest conglomerate in terms of market capitalization, largely buoyed by its chipmaking unit SK hynix’s strong performance in recent months. According to market tracker Korea CXO Institute on Tuesday, SK Group’s market cap surged to 171.87 trillion won ($128.8 billion) as of Friday’s close, surpassing LG Group’s 167.77 trillion won on the nation’s main bourse Kospi. The figures included the value of pref

Jan. 23, 2024

Samsung exec touts Galaxy S24 as true phone camera revolution

SAN JOSE, California -- The Galaxy S24 series is the "ultimate collection" of Samsung Electronics' artificial intelligence technology for cameras, allowing users to become "expert photographers" with just a few intuitive taps on the screen, according to the tech giant's visual solutions chief. Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President Cho Sung-dae, who is in charge of the visual solutions team, explained how the latest Galaxy S24 series employs 112 visual AI mode

Jan. 23, 2024

[Herald Interview] Thoughtful approach keeps winning Korean investments in Indiana

"Breaking bread for some good talks has been super important in building solid relationships with Korean businesses, creating a trust that keeps them coming back to invest more," said Jillian Turner, the senior vice president of global partnerships and investments at the Indiana Economic Development Corp. Turner emphasized the importance of interpersonal dynamics in understanding the nuanced needs of Korean companies during a recent phone interview with the Korea Herald. Her primary re

Jan. 23, 2024

Kia plant completes upgrade for EV production

Hyundai Motor Group’s smaller affiliate Kia’s second auto manufacturing plant in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, will resume operation in February, after an eight-month refurbishment to prepare the plant for electric vehicle production, industry sources said Tuesday. The company reportedly announced to the factory’s production line staff, who were on paid leave during the monthslong shutdown, that they would start working from Jan. 30. An official from Hyundai Motor Group confi

Jan. 23, 2024