Samsung Pay to stay commission-free to counter Apple Pay’s expansion

Samsung Electronics announced Wednesday that it will not charge any fees to card issuers in Korea for its digital wallet service, Samsung Pay. "We have decided to keep Samsung Pay commission-free," a Samsung official said in a statement. “Samsung Electronics is dedicated to enhancing the development of the domestic payment ecosystem by maintaining ongoing partnerships with local card companies, all while delivering the finest Samsung Pay service to consumers.” Samsung has

July 20, 2023

Seoul shares open lower amid rate hike woes

Seoul shares opened lower Thursday, bucking gains on Wall Street, as investors remain concerned over the US Federal Reserve's additional rate hikes to tame inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 15.79 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,592.45 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.31 percent to 35,061.21 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.03 percent to 14,358.02. Investors see no major risk of recessi

July 20, 2023

[Graphic News] Number of airline passengers in H1 reaches 84% of 2019 levels

South Korean travelers using Korean air carriers reached nearly 84 percent of pre-pandemic levels in the first half of this year, government data showed. From January to June, the number of passengers on domestic and international routes amounted to 53.4 million, or 83.9 percent of the tally reported during the same period in 2019, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a press release. The number of passengers on domestic routes in the first half of 2023 stood at 32.7 millio

July 20, 2023

Adidas rolls out limited edition Son Heung-min football cleats

Adidas launched limited edition soccer cleats dedicated to Tottenham’s Son Heung-min on Tuesday, to commemorate 15 years of sponsorship. The Son Heung-min edition, called the HMS Pack, is available at the official online stores, the Adidas flagship store in Myeong-dong, Gangnam Brand Center, Hongdae Brand Center and soccer gear stores. The HMS Pack comes in three models. The laceless FG model is priced at 319,000 won ($252), TF models for male adults at 129,000 won, and TF J models for wom

July 19, 2023

Seoul shares end almost flat amid rate woes

Seoul shares ended almost flat Wednesday as investors remain watchful on whether the Federal Reserve will continue its aggressive rate hikes this year to tame inflation. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.62 points, or 0.02 percent, to close at 2,608.24. Trading volume was moderate at 433.9 million shares worth 11 trillion won ($9.5 billion), with decliners outpacing gainers 599 to 272. Institutions and foreigners offloaded a combine

July 19, 2023

HD Hyundai scores world’s biggest LCO2 carrier order

HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering, an intermediate holding company of South Korea’s heavy industries conglomerate HD Hyundai, said Wednesday that it has scored an order to build the world’s largest liquefied carbon dioxide, or LCO2, carrier. According to HD Hyundai, the shipbuilder recently signed a 179 billion won ($141 million) contract with Greek ship operator Capital Maritime Group to build two 22,000-cubic-meter-class LCO2 carriers. The carriers are 159.9 meters in

July 19, 2023

KAIST researchers develop world’s 1st humanoid pilot

Korean researchers have developed the world’s first humanoid pilot, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said Wednesday. According to KAIST, a group of researchers led by professor Shim Hyun-chul demonstrated a human-like robot’s successful flight simulation operation while sitting in the pilot seat of an existing airplane’s cockpit, without making any adjustments for the robot. Dubbed “Pibot,” the humanoid pilot, which combines artificial intelligence

July 19, 2023

[Photo News] Fly with BTS

South Korean budget air carrier Jeju Air on Wednesday unveiled a BTS-themed airplane as an official partner for the 2023 BTS Festa, a celebration of the K-pop group’s 10th anniversary. The airplane will fly passengers on Jeju Air’s international routes until the year-end.

July 19, 2023

LG touts expertise, reliability of Exaone 2.0

LG Group’s artificial intelligence think tank LG AI Research on Wednesday unveiled the upgraded version of its hyperscale AI multimodal Exaone that was designed to learn expertise data and use it for research and development and marketing across industry sectors. The Exaone 2.0 is the first upgrade of the AI language model that launched in December 2021. It understands both language and images simultaneously to generate image-to-text and vice versa. The latest hyper AI has learned about 45

July 19, 2023

Minimum wage set at 9,860 won: No one's happy

Korea has set its minimum wage level for 2024 at 9,860 won ($7.80) per hour, up 2.5 percent from this year’s 9,620 won. The raise would translate to a monthly income of 2.06 million won, based on a 40-hour workweek. The decision was made early Wednesday following a 15-hour meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission, composed of members spanning labor, business and the general public. Though eyes were on whether the minimum wage for next year would surpass the 10,000 won barrier, considering so

July 19, 2023

Woori Bank to compensate Mirae Asset's HK fund investors

With the increasing likelihood of losses occurring for investors of a fund worth 250 billion won ($197 billion) for a Hong Kong office building managed by Mirae Asset, Woori Bank has decided to provide partial compensation to its clients. Back in June 2019, Mirae Asset Securities financed the Goldin Financial Global Centre located in eastern Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, using 250 billion won acquired through mezzanine financing. The 27-story landmark building with a gross floor area of 900,000 square

July 19, 2023

[Photo News] Support for multicultural families

Winners of the 15th Multicultural Family Award, hosted by Hana Financial Nanum Foundation, pose for a photo at the ceremony held at the financial group’s headquarters in central Seoul, Monday. Since its launch in 2009, the award aims to support the integration of immigrant women in South Korea. This year’s top winner is Ra Ji-won from Vietnam with 13 years of marriage with his Korean husband, who has served as a reliable mentor for newlywed immigrants in the country.

July 19, 2023

[KH explains] How to stay safe driving through flood water

Flooding due to monsoon rains in South Korea has resulted in dozens of casualties this week, raising the issue of vehicle safety during storms. Drivers need to take extra care and be vigilant to avoid getting trapped in submerged cars, according to experts. “It is recommended to reduce speed, almost by 20 percent of the speed limit to prevent the car from skidding on wet roads,” said Lee Ho-geun, a car engineering professor at Daeduk University. “Also, keep longer stopping di

July 19, 2023

Korea-ASEAN startups to compete for sustainable development goals

South Korea’s SMEs and Startup Ministry and Indonesia’s Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry are set to co-host the fourth Korea-ASEAN Business Model Competition for SDGs 2023, which will run from August through October. According to the organizing committee Wednesday, the annual competition, launched in 2020, aims to support the development of startups and SMEs from South Korea and Southeast Asian countries dedicated to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

July 19, 2023

[Photo News] Jumbo size at Starbucks

A Starbucks employee hands a customer a Trenta-sized drink, with nearly a liter of beverage, at a Starbucks outlet in Seoul, Wednesday. Starbucks Korea said it will start sales of the jumbo-sized beverages on its popular summer menu from Thursday. The promotion, initiated in the Asian market for the first time in commemoration of Starbucks Korea's 24th anniversary, will be for takeout drinks only, through Sept. 30.

July 19, 2023

S. Korea seeks participation in Turkmenistan's plant construction projects

South Korea's top industry official on Wednesday asked for Turkmenistan's support for Korean companies in winning major plant construction projects in the central Asian country, the industry ministry said. Minister Lee Chang-yang made the request during a meeting with Baymyrat Annamammedov, Turkmenistan's deputy prime minister for construction, industry and electric power, in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Currently, South Korean companies are work

July 19, 2023

Asiana pilots' union tentatively OKs wage deal

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-biggest carrier by sales, said Wednesday it has reached a tentative wage deal with its pilots' union for the 2019-2022 period. The tentative agreement came after two international and 10 domestic flights were canceled as around 100 Asiana pilots began a work-to-rule protest on June 7 for higher wages. Pilots only did what is stipulated by company policies and rules during the work-to-rule campaign. The campaign includes such tactics as the &qu

July 19, 2023

Seoul shares open higher on US gains amid rate woes

Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, as investors remain concerned over the Federal Reserve's additional rate hikes to tame inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.46 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,608.08 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1 percent to 34,951.93 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8 percent to 14,353.64. Investors are keeping an eye on the US central

July 19, 2023

ADB slashes S. Korea's growth outlook for 2023 to 1.3%

The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday slashed its growth outlook for the South Korean economy to 1.3 percent, citing sluggish exports and investment. The downward revision came three months after the Manila-based bank suggested a 1.5 percent rise for Asia's fourth-largest economy. Earlier this month, the South Korean government also cut its growth forecast for this year by 0.2 percentage point to 1.4 percent. In June, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lowered its 2

July 19, 2023

Prestige BioPharma joins White House-led Cancer Moonshot Project

Prestige BioPharma, a Singapore-based Kospi-listed pharmaceutical company said Tuesday that the company has joined the Cancer Moonshot Project, a White House initiative aimed at advancing cancer prevention and treatment. The Cancer Moonshot initiative was first launched in 2016 and relaunched in 2022 by US President Joe Biden. The goal of the initiative is to cut the cancer death rate by 50 percent in the next 25 years. Its first project will aim to reduce the cost of cancer care and research by

July 18, 2023