SKT aims to become first to debut air taxi by 2025

BUSAN – SK Telecom, the nation’s leading telecom carrier, said Friday it aims to debut air taxi service by 2025, calling UAM or urban air mobility a “game changer” for future mobility innovations. “Our rivals also plan to launch air taxi services in the coming years, but we are confident that we will be the first to bring UAM aircrafts to the market,” said SK Telecom’s Chief Development Officer Ha Min-yong during a press conference held at the 2022 Bus

July 17, 2022

Coway wins appeal against patent infringement ruling

Coway, one of the nation’s leading water purifier makers, said Friday it has won an appeal against a 2015 patent infringement ruling, which ordered the company to pay its smaller rival Chungho 10 billion won ($7.53 million) in compensation. Chungho had filed a lawsuit against Coway for infringing its patented ice water purifying technology back in 2014. A year later, the Seoul High Court ruled in favor of Chungho’s claim. Coway immediately appealed. On Thursday, the court overtur

July 17, 2022

S. Korea to push to exempt taxes on foreigners' investment in govt. bonds

South Korea will push to exempt taxes on interest income and capital gains from foreigners' investment in government bonds and monetary stabilization bonds in a bid to help stabilize the debt market, the finance minister has said. Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho made the remarks on the details of the government's planned tax code revision at a meeting with reporters Saturday (local time) in Bali on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G-20) gathering of finance chiefs. "The government p

July 17, 2022

HanAll's myasthenia gravis drug enters phase 3 trial

HanAll Biopharma’s antibody therapy candidate for myasthenia gravis -- HL161, also known as batoclimab, a subcutaneous anti-FcRn antibody designed to treat autoimmune diseases -- has entered phase 3 clinical trials in the United States, the South Korean biotech said Sunday. Myasthenia gravis, or MG, is a rare autoimmune disease that happens when the nerve impulses are not properly transmitted to the muscles, eventually leading to weakness in the skeletal muscles. According to a research

July 17, 2022

Over half of Korean exporters concerned by lack of ESG preparedness

Over half of Korean exporters believed that their contracts with customers could be scrapped due to the lack of preparedness for environment, social and governance management, a survey conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed Sunday. According to the KCCI’s survey, 52.5 percent of the 300 participating companies said they felt that there is a high chance for their contractors to back out from deals with inadequate ESG management levels in their supply chains. Aske

July 17, 2022

Samsung beats TSMC in advanced smartphone chipset foundry market

Samsung Electronics’ contract-based chip manufacturing operations have surpassed Taiwan-based foundry rival TSMC in terms of smartphone chipset shipments on advanced nodes in the first quarter, data showed Sunday. Samsung captured some 60 percent of market share in the leading nodes of 5-nanometer or more sophisticated manufacturing process for chipsets going to smartphones from application processors to system-on-chips in the first quarter, according to data by market intelligence Count

July 17, 2022

‘Myeongdong to recover from pandemic woes’

The empty, desolate streets of Seoul’s Myeong-dong shopping district have become a real estate nightmare for its landlords and inhabitants since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. But hope is not lost, according to Robert Wilkinson, managing director of Colliers’ Korea, the local branch of the Canadian commercial real estate firm. He said the area -- which had once been a tourist hotspot -- is slowly coming back to life and its recovery will gain speed once China eases trave

July 17, 2022

Hankook Tire to supply high-performance tires for German Big 3

Hankook Tire & Technology, the world’s sixth-largest tire-maker, said Friday that it has started supplying its tires for high-performance sedans and sports cars of the so-called “German Big 3”: Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. The tire-maker will supply its Ventus S1 evo Z tires to BMW’s X3 M and X4 M models, while also supplying its Ventus S1 evo 3 and Winter i cept evo 2 tires to Audi’s RS lineup. Multiple SUVs of the Mercedes-Benz AMG lineup, including GLC an

July 17, 2022

Samsung's wind-free air conditioner sales exceed 7 million units

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday its accumulated wind-free air conditioner sales have exceeded 7 million units in the domestic market since its launch six years ago. Samsung launched the "no-wind" air conditioner for the first time in the world in 2016 and has expanded its lineup of the product both for commercial and household use, the company said in a statement. The company has been fully operating its domestic production facilities since February to meet soaring demand during th

July 17, 2022

[Photo News] Travelers flock to airport despite surge in COVID cases

Gimpo Airport was busy with passengers on Friday morning as the number of COVID-19 cases continued to rise in South Korea. The photo shows travelers waiting in line to get on board their train. Earlier this month, data from the transport ministry showed that the number of domestic and international flights reached 4.6 million, up 4.6 percent from the previous month. The country saw 41,310 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, including 287 from overseas, according to the Korea Disease Control

July 16, 2022

Seoul shares end higher on auto, tech gains; Korean won at over 13-yr low

Seoul shares ended higher Friday as investors scooped up auto and tech stocks on bargain hunting amid concerns over further rate hikes to tackle inflation and a global recession. The Korean won sharply fell to the lowest level in over 13 years against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 8.66 points, or 0.37 percent, to close at 2,330.98 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 310.56 million shares worth some 7.25 trillion won ($5.5 billion), with decl

July 15, 2022

Coffee delivery robots roll into Incheon airport

Travelers with little time to wait in long queues at airport cafes can now pick up a cup of coffee and a sandwich from delivery service robots at Korea‘s largest airport. Local food delivery app Baemin said Friday it launched a robot delivery service for airport cafes and bakeries located in Incheon International Airport’s Terminal 1. Air-dilly, a service robot made by LG Electronics, will deliver food and beverages from Baskin Robins, Paris Baguette and two Dunkin’ location

July 15, 2022

Korean won sinks to 13-year low against US dollar

The South Korean currency fell below the 1,320-won mark against the US dollar for the first time in more than 13 years during morning trading on Friday, with analysts warning that the won could lose further value. The won was trading at 1,326 won against the greenback at around 2:30 p.m., after breaching the 1,320 won-mark per dollar in the morning for the first time since April 30, 2009. The won’s plummeting value came with the weakening of the euro and the Chinese yuan against the s

July 15, 2022

Korea to provide W68tr in policy financing to small merchants, young borrowers

SEJONG -- The government will offer policy financing worth 68 trillion won ($51 billion) to small merchants and the underprivileged on a step-by-step basis, starting from the end of July, the Finance Ministry said Friday. Government-initiated low-interest loans will be divided: 43 trillion won will go to small merchants and 25 trillion won to young people and low income households. “The government has set consumer prices and stability in people’s living conditions as the primary ad

July 15, 2022

Lotte, Shinsegae to build whiskey distilleries in Jeju

Retail giants Lotte and Shinsegae are set to enter the whiskey business by constructing distilleries on Jeju Island, home to some of Korea’s best-quality water. Lotte Chilsung Beverage, Lotte Group’s beverage arm, said Friday that it has recently received the green light from Jeju to change a former tangerine farm into whisky distillery. “After getting advice from experts, we picked Jeju Island because its natural environment, clean water and temperature are optimal con

July 15, 2022

Policy financing in store for vulnerable people amid rising rates

South Korea said Friday it aims to provide policy financing worth 68.3 trillion won ($51.4 billion) this year to small merchants and other vulnerable people in a bid to help ease the burden of rising borrowing costs. The move is a follow-up to the 125 trillion-won measure that was unveiled Thursday to support people troubled by high inflation and hikes in interest rates amid the central bank's monetary tightening. The government plans to offer policy financing worth 43 trillion won to small

July 15, 2022

FDI pledges to S. Korea fall 15.6% in H1 amid global uncertainties

Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges to South Korea fell 15.6 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier amid global uncertainties caused by the prolonged crisis surrounding Ukraine and surging inflation, the industry ministry said Friday. The country received $11.09 billion worth of FDI commitments during the first six months of this year, compared with $13.14 billion logged a year earlier, when the amount hit an all-time high for any first halves, according to the Ministry o

July 15, 2022

Auto exports hit 8-yr high in 1st half on popularity of eco-friendly cars

South Korea's car exports reached an eight-year high in the first half of this year on the back of global popularity of eco-friendly cars, data showed Friday. The value of outbound shipments of automobiles grew 3.2 percent on-year to $24.35 billion during the January-June period, which marked the highest figure since 2014, when the figure came to $25.23 billion, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of volume, a total of 1.07 million vehicles were s

July 15, 2022

Hyundai to launch 1st all-electric high-performance IONIQ 5 N in 2023

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday it will launch its first all-electric high-performance IONIQ 5 N model in the domestic market next year. Hyundai has strengthened the high-performance N brand and the N Line brand to compete with its bigger rivals in terms of performance cars. The N models bring full performance capability to daily driving, while the N Line brings performance-inspired elements to base model vehicles. The N Line models sit between Hyundai's high-performance N

July 15, 2022

Sales of short-term bonds rise 11.3 pct in H1

Sales of short-term corporate bonds in South Korea climbed more than 11 percent in the first half of 2022 from a year earlier on a spike in securitized debt issuance, data showed Friday. Local firms floated 642.7 trillion won ($486 billion) worth of bonds maturing within one year in the January-June period, up 11.3 percent a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. Compared with the second half of last year, however, the amount was down 3.5 percent. Short-term bo

July 15, 2022