Duty-free shops see customers return as tourism normalizes

With the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic’s endemic phase, South Korea’s duty-free shops are starting to see their long-awaited business recovery with a growing number of group tours, industry sources said Tuesday. According to a Lotte Duty Free official, some 150 tourists from Malaysia shopped at the Myeongdong branch for an hour on Tuesday before returning to their country. “It’s the first time in two years since COVID-19 started that a group of over 100 tourists

June 7, 2022

Bottom 20% households spend 42% of monthly disposable income on food

SEJONG -- The nation’s high inflation, which has led to a spike in consumer prices since the latter half of 2021, is weakening the purchasing power of households in the low-income bracket, as they spend a large portion of their monthly disposable income on daily necessities, state data showed Tuesday. According to the Finance Ministry and Statistics Korea, households which belong to the bottom 20 percent in terms of income level spent an average 42.2 percent of their monthly disposable in

June 7, 2022

Samsung Biologics inks $81m deal with Novartis

Samsung Biologics has signed an intent letter for a contract manufacturing organization deal worth $81 million with multinational pharmaceutical firm Norvatis Pharma, the South Korean company announced Tuesday. According to the contract manufacturing giant’s regulatory filing, the two sides on Friday signed the initial contract, which is equivalent to 6.41 percent of the company’s annual sales of 1.57 trillion won ($1.25 billion) last year. It did not reveal which of Novartis&rsquo

June 7, 2022

All eyes on Lee Jae-yong’s Europe trip

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Tuesday left for Europe, home to key partners of the world’s largest memory chip maker’s renewed push for chip supremacy.  Upon his departure from Seoul’s Gimpo Airport earlier in the day, some 50 journalists shouted questions on the purpose of the trip and plans for any new deals, but the Samsung chief declined to answer any of them. Lee’s Europe trip comes six months after his last trip to the Middle East in Dec

June 7, 2022

LG Innotek supports partner firms’ ESG

LG Innotek said it has agreed to support some 200 partner firms’ efforts to improve their environmental, social and corporate governance. The electronic component maker signed a deal with the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership to jointly develop ESG indexes for its partner companies, provide education, assessments and consulting services. The commission has signed similar agreements with 11 companies in chemicals and retail among others, and the one with LG Innotek was the first

June 7, 2022

Jeju Air to offer cheaper tickets, modernize aircrafts: CEO

Jeju Air, South Korea's biggest budget carrier, will provide cheap tickets, modernize aircraft and expand its business spectrum to secure its future growth in the post-pandemic era, its chief executive said Tuesday. As both domestic and international travel demands are slowly picking up, Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae said the company has come to a point where it should make a decision on how to maintain its leading role in the low-cost carrier market. "As an LCC, our key competitiveness lies in

June 7, 2022

Hole-in-one insurance product sales on the rise

A hole-in-one should be a cause for rejoicing on the golf course, but the cost of such celebrations are driving more golfers to insure themselves against their own success. An ace can be costly in Korea, as the golfer traditionally pays for an after party, donates a commemorative tree, pays for a follow-up match and tips the caddies. Short-term golf insurance products that cover holes-in-one are becoming increasingly popular in South Korea. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, the insurance

June 7, 2022

LG Uplus to release limited 'Diablo Immortal' Galaxy S22

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's third-largest mobile carrier, said Tuesday it plans to release a limited Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone model themed on the newly released "Diablo Immortal" mobile game by Blizzard Entertainment Inc. LG Uplus said it plans to exclusively sell 100 units of the Galaxy S22 Diablo Immortal Package to customers selected through an online lottery across the world. The company will accept applications through its official online mall starting at 7 p.m. Friday

June 7, 2022

SPC Group acquires French restaurant chain Lina's

South Korean food and beverage giant SPC Group said Tuesday it has acquired French restaurant chain Lina's to ramp up its global business. SPC Group, operator of bakery chain Paris Baguette, said its European holding company SPC Euro bought a 100 percent stake in Lina's Developpement, the owner and operator of the restaurant chain that offers sandwiches, salads and specialty coffees. Lina's, founded in 1989 in Paris, is operating in three countries: South Korea, Columbia and Leban

June 7, 2022

Imported car sales down 2.4% in May amid chip shortage

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea fell 2.4 percent last month from a year earlier as a chip shortage continued to affect vehicle production, an industry association said Tuesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles stood at 23,512 units last month, down from 24,080 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were Mercedes-Benz's E 350 4MATIC sedan, Mercedes-Benz's E

June 7, 2022

Seoul shares open steeply lower on inflation concerns

Seoul shares opened steeply lower Tuesday on concerns about fast-growing inflation pressure that may strengthen central banks' policy tightening. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 21.14 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,649.51 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The local bourse was closed Monday for a national holiday. Volatility increased in the local financial markets on high-flying inflation. Most large caps traded lower in Seoul. Market bellwether Samsung Electronic

June 7, 2022

Card spending climbs 11% in April on eased COVID-19 rules

Card use for settlement in South Korea swelled 11 percent in April on softer anti-coronavirus rules with spending on travel and transportation spiking, data showed Tuesday, in a sign of the country's consumption returning to pre-pandemic normalcy. Spending made with credit, debit and prepaid cards came to 90.3 trillion won ($71.9 billion) in April, compared with 81.3 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Credit Finance Association. The number of approved card se

June 7, 2022

Foreign reserves down in May for 3rd month amid forex market volatility

South Korea's foreign reserves declined for the third straight month in May as the government unloaded the greenback to prevent the local currency from sharply weakening, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's foreign reserves stood at $447.71 billion as of end-May, down $1.59 billion from the previous month, according to the data provided by the Bank of Korea (BOK). This marked the third straight month of on-month declines. The decline is blamed on the government's effor

June 7, 2022

New GM Korea CEO faces labor disputes, falling sales

GM Korea’s new chief executive Roberto Rempel has made his first on-site inspection to the carmaker‘s No. 1 Bupyeong plant early this month, officials said Monday, making a leadership change official within the US company’s operation in South Korea. The new CEO, however, faces a series of challenges ahead. The carmaker has been making a last-ditch effort to restore its market share amid rumors circulating that it is already in the process of leaving the country. The urgent tas

June 6, 2022

Investment banks cut Kospi targets amid high inflation

Major foreign investment banks have revised down their targets and ratings on South Korea’s benchmark Kospi, which has been coping with market volatilities stemming from growing inflationary pressure and the prolonged Russia-Ukraine War. Japan-based Nomura Securities lowered its investment rating on the Korean market from “overweight” to “neutral” last week, suggesting investors to hold and not buy shares. Nomura cited the recent slowdown in the expansion of the

June 6, 2022

Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong poised for 2-week trip to Europe

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is poised to embark on a two-week trip to Europe on Tuesday, highlighting the South Korean chip-to-consumer electronics giant’s need for a breakthrough. Also under the spotlight is whether the largest conglomerate in Korea would be looking to secure a new growth driver in Europe, coupled with Samsung‘s fresh investment pledge announced earlier in May. The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday approved Lee’s absence from the t

June 6, 2022

Korea’s household debt highest among major economies: report

South Korea’s household debt topped 104 percent of gross domestic product, marking the highest level among 36 major economies, the Institute of International Finance’s data showed. Korea’s household debt fell to 104.3 percent of GDP in the first quarter of this year from 105 percent in the same period a year earlier, still outrunning rivals by a large margin, according to the report the Washington-based private financial industry association released May 18. Household debt l

June 6, 2022

[Photo News] Hybrid electric race

Hyundai Motor‘s hybrid vehicle, i20 N Rally1, is seen racing at the fifth round of the 2022 World Rally Championship held on the Italian island of Sardinia between Thursday and Sunday. Two drivers in Hyundai‘s world rally team came in first and third, awarding the South Korean carmaker its fifth win at the championship’s Italian events. The 2022 WRC is the first year in the championship’s history where hybrid electric-powered units fully replaced internal combustion engin

June 6, 2022

[From the Scene] 'Danuri' all set for Korea's first moon exploration

DAEJEON -- South Korea is gearing up to become the seventh nation in the world to carry out a lunar probe mission with its first lunar orbiter set for an Aug. 2 launch. The country's first lunar mission, which has been named "Danuri" through a nationwide naming contest, has completed the final stages of space tests including durability checkups against extreme temperatures and electromagnetic waves at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. It is waiting to be transported to its laun

June 6, 2022

Hana Financial stresses connectivity in vision for 2030

Hana Financial Group has announced a set of mid- to long-term strategic goals for 2030 as it reorganized its corporate culture and strategy departments to better prepare for future industries such as the metaverse and blockchain. For the past 11 months since June last year, some 12,000 staffers of Hana Financial took part in a bottom-up project called “New Vision” consisting of staff surveys, in-depth interviews, metaverse workshops, collecting customer opinion, outside expert inter

June 6, 2022