S. Korea seeks to overhaul public firms to prevent lax management

South Korea on Friday unveiled guidelines to overhaul operations of public firms in a bid to improve their productivity and prevent lax management amid a sharp rise in personnel and debt. The guidelines called for a total of 350 public firms to reduce their non-core business and lower the maximum number of employees for 2023, according to the finance ministry. Public firms should also sell non-essential assets and cut business costs by more than 10 percent in the second half. Large welfare benef

July 29, 2022

Hyundai Motor names new CEO for US operations

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker, said Friday it has named a new chief executive for its US operations amid the prolonged chip shortage. Hyundai has promoted Randy Parker to be CEO of Hyundai Motor America effective Aug. 1. He will be in charge of Hyundai's commercial automotive operations in the US market, the company said in a statement. Parker will report to Jose Munoz, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America, it said. "Randy is the perfect person to continu

July 29, 2022

POSCO raises $1b via overseas debt sale

POSCO, South Korea's top steelmaker, said Friday that it has raised $1 billion by selling debts overseas. The two-tranche debt comprises three-year bonds worth $700 million and five-year bonds worth $300 million, according to the steelmaker. POSCO said the proceeds from the debt sale will help beef up its cash flows down the road amid rising market rates. (Yonhap)

July 29, 2022

Card spending climbs 15% in Q2 on eased COVID-19 curbs

Credit card spending in South Korea jumped in the second quarter, buoyed by eased antivirus measures, data showed Friday. Spending made with credit, debit and prepaid cards came to 280.7 trillion won ($216.2 billion) in the April-June period, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association (CREFIA). During the cited period, the number of approved card settlements climbed 11.4 percent on-year to 6.61 billion cases. "The eased COVID-19 cur

July 29, 2022

Samsung SDI logs best-ever results in Q2 on robust EV battery sales

Samsung SDI Co. said Friday it posted record high operating income and sales in the second quarter, driven by strong sales of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Operating income reached 429 billion won ($330.4 million) in the April-June period, up 45.3 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales came to 4.74 trillion won, also up 42.2 percent from the previous year. The figures are the highest ever for the South Korean battery maker. Its net income also soared 42 pe

July 29, 2022

Tax revenue up W36.5tr in H1 amid economic recovery

South Korea's tax revenue increased 36.5 trillion won ($28 billion) in the first half from a year earlier as the economic recovery boosted the collection of corporate and income taxes, the finance ministry said Friday. Tax revenue amounted to 218.3 trillion won in the January-June period, compared with 181.7 trillion won the previous year, according to the ministry. In June alone, tax revenue rose 1.7 trillion won on-year to 21.7 trillion won. South Korea has continued to post a surplus of

July 29, 2022

Korean Air to resume routes to Rome and Barcelona in Sept.

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Friday it will resume flights to Rome and Barcelona next month as travel demand grows amid eased virus curbs. It will operate three flights a week on the Incheon-Rome route starting Sept. 1 and three weekly flights on the Incheon-Barcelona route from Sept. 2, the statement said. Korean Air suspended flights from Incheon to the two European cities in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The national flag carrier resumed flights to

July 29, 2022

Exports of passenger cars rise 2.5% in H1

Exports of South Korean-made passenger cars expanded 2.5 percent in the first half of the year, thanks mainly to brisk overseas demand for green cars, data showed Friday. Local carmakers shipped passenger cars worth a combined $22.3 billion during the January-June period, up from $21.7 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service (KCS). The number of exported units, however, decreased 2.7 percent on-year to 1.07 million. South Korea's imports of passen

July 29, 2022

Hanwha Life Insurance Q2 net income up 92.8% to W318.6b

Hanwha Life Insurance Co. on Friday reported its second-quarter net profit of 318.6 billion won ($245.5 million), up 92.8 percent from a year earlier. Operating income for the April-June period was 458 billion won, up 90.2 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Revenue rose 38.5 percent to 8.17 trillion won. (Yonhap)

July 29, 2022

SK Innovation Q2 net profit up 589.8% to W1.33tr

SK Innovation Co. said Friday its second-quarter profit more than quadrupled from a year earlier, boosted by robust sales of petroleum products amid higher oil prices. Operating profit reached 2.32 trillion won ($1.78 billion) in the April-June period, up 318.9 percent from 556 billion won the previous year, the South Korean refiner said in a regulatory filing. Sales increased 76.9 percent to 19.9 trillion won. Its net profit grew by nearly sevenfold to 1.33 trillion won from a year earlier. For

July 29, 2022

Seoul shares open higher on expectations over Fed's less aggressive rate hikes

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday, as investors speculated that a second consecutive quarterly contraction in the US economy may prod the US Federal Reserve to take rate hikes that are less aggressive than previously expected. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 17.81 points, or 0.73 percent, to trade at 2,453.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came off to a solid start after a 1.03 percent gain on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a 1.08 percent adv

July 29, 2022

S. Korea's consumption falls for 4th month amid high inflation

South Korea's industrial output rose in June from the previous month, but retail sales declined for the fourth straight month as high inflation and rising interest rates weighed on consumption, data showed Friday. Industrial output grew for the second straight month in June as it rose 0.6 percent on-month, following a 0.8 percent increase in May, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The June increase was led by robust production in the manufacturing sector, the backbone of the economy. M

July 29, 2022

Widodo asks Hyundai Motor to join capital relocation project

  Indonesian President Joko Widodo requested the head of South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Group to provide clean mobility in the Southeast Asian country’s grand administrative city project during their meeting in Seoul, the company said Thursday. Earlier this year, the Indonesian parliament passed a bill to relocate the country‘s capital city from Jakarta to the East Kalimantan province in the island of Borneo to level out overpopulation. The new capital will be constructed

July 28, 2022

LG Chem, GS Caltex join hands to build white bio ecosystem

LG Chem and GS Caltex on Thursday held a ground-breaking ceremony at GS Caltex Yeosu plant for its new bio-material demonstration plant, which would contribute to building a white ecosystem, officials said. The demo plant at GS Caltex‘s Yeosu complex will mainly produce 3-Hydroxypropionic acid prototypes, key raw material in the production of biodegradable plastics. The construction is set to be finished by 2023, after which both companies will produce various 3HP prototypes to accelera

July 28, 2022

[Newsmaker] Starbucks Korea admits giveaway bags had cancer-causing chemicals

Starbucks Korea on Thursday admitted that its summer giveaway bags had cancer-causing chemicals, and vowed to provide compensation to its customers with gift coupons. “We deeply apologize to our customers who are disappointed in us for the recent issue (surrounding the giveaway bags),” Starbucks Korea said in a statement. “On July 22, we have requested state-approved institutions to run tests on six unopened samples and five opened samples of our giveaway bags and detected

July 28, 2022

SK On to attract $2b loan to back 3rd battery plant in Europe

South Korean lithium-ion battery cell maker SK On announced Thursday that it plans to attract a combined $2 billion loan to ramp up its push for a new battery plant in Europe. The green financing will come from seven commercial banks with three export credit agencies -- Korea Trade Insurance Corp., Export-Import Bank of Korea and Allianz Trade (formerly known as Euler Hermes) -- supporting loans, loan guarantees and insurance. The borrowing will go to SK On‘s third European battery plant

July 28, 2022

Posco Chemical signs W13tr cathode deal with GM

Posco Chemical, a chemical materials unit of South Korean steel giant Posco, signed a deal to supply General Motors with 13 trillion won’s ($10 billion) worth of cathode materials on Thursday. Cathode materials determine the capacity and average voltage of batteries. With the deal, Posco will now supply high-nickel cathode materials, largely used as electric car batteries, to LG-GM joint venture Ultium Cells for three years. Posco chemical also plans to build production lines in North

July 28, 2022

Seoul shares up for 4th day to over 1-month high on eased uncertainty over Fed's rate hikes

South Korean stocks advanced for a fourth consecutive session Thursday as the chief of the US Federal Reserve has hinted at slowing the pace of its interest rate hikes down the road. The Korean won sharply rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 19.74 points, or 0.82 percent, to close at 2,435.27 points, the highest figure since June 17. Trading volume was a bit heavy at 477.4 million shares worth some 9.01 trillion won ($6.93 billion), with gain

July 28, 2022

Fiscal chief downplays capital outflow concern despite Fed’s rate hikes

SEJONG -- The nation’s top economic policymaker on Thursday downplayed the possibility of an active capital flight among foreign investors, saying that the US Federal Reserve’s latest rate hike, which now stands higher than South Korea’s, was carried out within the market expectation. “The US Fed’s decision generally accords with market expectations,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, adding the international financial markets abs

July 28, 2022

LG, SoundHound team up for in-car voice assistant system

LG Electronics said Thursday it has teamed up with US audio experts SoundHound to develop an artificial intelligence-based voice system for vehicles with demand growing for both driving convenience and safety. Best known for its music recognition service, Santa Clara, California-based SoundHound supplies voice assistant systems to a slew of automotive, mobile devices, smart home and robotics companies. As part of a memorandum, SoundHound’s voice recognition technology will be applied t

July 28, 2022