Netflix sales jump 52% in Korea

Netflix’s South Korean arm raked in 631.7 billion won ($513 million) in revenue through 2021, up 52 percent from a year prior, a filing showed Friday. The platform’s blockbuster performance in Korea reflects its increasing clout over the streaming service market here, largely thanks to Korean-language hits such as “Squid Game” and “Hellbound.” It also however highlights the “network usage fee” debate in Korean court and parliament. According to

April 15, 2022

Inflationary pressure growing amid Ukraine war: finance ministry

The South Korean economy is on a recovery track on robust exports, but it faces growing inflationary pressure as the protracted war in Ukraine has jacked up energy prices, the finance ministry said Friday. External economic uncertainties have heightened as global price pressure has risen due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while major central banks are expected to accelerate monetary tightening, the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called the Green Book. "The Sout

April 15, 2022

Seoul stocks open lower on concerns over Fed's aggressive tightening

South Korean shares opened lower Friday, tracking overnight Wall Street losses amid concerns that the Fed may raise rates at a faster and stronger than expected pace. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) shed 25.4 points, or 0.93 percent, to 2,691.31 as of 9:15 a.m. Overnight, the US stock markets ended down as investors faced renewed risks of the Fed's monetary tightening to curb the highest inflation in four decades. The 10-year Treasury yields rose to 2.8 percent, the highe

April 15, 2022

Foreigners to face tighter scrutiny in real estate deals

South Korea will step up checks on foreigners buying and selling homes here amid accusations that some of them deliberately evaded property taxes because of lax oversight, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition committee said Thursday. The team said once the Yoon government takes over on May 10, foreigners will have to report to authorities how many homes they have here, because multiple-home owners pay more taxes. Whether they have family members living with them here will be reporte

April 14, 2022

At NY autoshow, Hyundai Ioniq 5 wins World Car of the Year title

Hyundai Motor‘s first all-electric car Ioniq 5 was named World Car of the Year by the World Car Awards for solidifying its position as the carmaker’s signature EV in global markets as well as for creating its unique vehicle design, the company said Thursday. On the announcement made on the eve of the New York International Auto Show, its chief Chung Euisun said the carmaker will continue to push for making competitive all-electric vehicles and also speed up the establishment of the

April 14, 2022

[Weekender] Back to normal?: ‘It will never be the same’

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of suffering for all, but it has offered an unexpected opportunity too -- to experience what relaxed mornings are like on weekdays. Without having to take that subway from hell while suppressing a hangover from the company dinner the night before, not to mention the shirt-ironing and face-to-face meetings, many workers in South Korea -- known as one of the hardest working countries in the world -- spent more than two years free from fitting themselves into

April 14, 2022

Court halts Seoul city’s 8-month business suspension order on HDC Hyundai

Seoul Administrative Court on Thursday ordered the Seoul city government to halt its plan of an eight-month business suspension on HDC Hyundai Development over its building demolition project that killed nine. The court order is in effect until the end of this month. HDC Hyundai Development filed a lawsuit on March 31 to nullify the Seoul city government’s suspension order issued just a day before. The order was imposed at the request of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transpor

April 14, 2022

Seoul stocks almost flat amid eased monetary tightening woes

South Korean stocks closed largely unchanged Thursday as high-flying inflation is balanced against eased concerns over faster-than-expected rate hikes. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.22 point, or 0.01 percent, to close at 2,716.71. Trading volume was moderate at around 650.95 million shares worth some 11.25 trillion won ($9.18 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 540 to 307. Foreigners offloaded a combined net total

April 14, 2022

Foreign population to rise to 4.3% in 2040

SEJONG -- South Korea is projected to see the portion of foreign population increase by 1.2 percentage points to 4.3 percent by 2040, state demographic data showed Thursday. The data also forecast that the portion of Korean seniors, aged 65 or over, will far outstrip that of elderly foreigners residing in the nation in 2040, suggesting that local people are aging faster than foreign residents. According to Statistics Korea, the number of foreigners posted 1.6 million as of 2022, which accounte

April 14, 2022

PTSD treatment mechanism unlocked for 1st time

The Institute of Basic Science has identified the scientific mechanism of post-traumatic stress disorder treatment for the first time in the world through animal experiments, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday. According to the ministry, the researchers used the PTSD treatment NYX-783, which is currently under clinical trials by the US biopharmaceutical company Aptinyx, for animal experiments using mice and discovered the principle of its treatment effects. In doing so, the resear

April 14, 2022

Ex-minister, pension fund chief convicted over role in controversial Samsung merger

South Korea‘s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a two-and-a-half-year jail term for both ex-health minister Moon Hyung-pyo and Hong Wan-sun, former head of the National Pension Service, over their role in the controversial $8 billion merger of Samsung affiliates in 2015. The final ruling came over five years after the two were indicted on charges of abuse of power and crimes of obstructing another from exercising one’s rights. Moon was accused of coercing the NPS, a blockholder of S

April 14, 2022

LG Uplus’ eSIM service subscription surge 44%

An embedded SIM service launched by local mobile carrier LG Uplus since last year for foreign visitors to South Korea saw a 44 percent increase in the number of customers this year, the company said Thursday. The service became available since May to offer convenience to short-term foreign visitors to South Korea. More foreign visitors have been purchasing the service this year, the company said. It compared monthly average number of customers enrolled between May and December last year and the

April 14, 2022

BOK raises rate by quarter-percentage-point to quell inflation

South Korea’s central bank on Thursday raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.5 percent, with an official warning of growing inflationary pressure and slower-than-expected economic expansion. The Bank of Korea’s six-member monetary policy board unanimously voted to raise the base rate to 1.5 percent -- the highest level since July 2019 –- during a rate-setting meeting. It marks the central bank’s fourth pandemic-era rate hike, dating to Aug

April 14, 2022

KEF chief discusses cooperation with Heritage Foundation president

The Korea Enterprises Federation said that its chairman, Sohn Kyung-shik, met with the president of the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Wednesday, stressing the need for a similar nongovernmental think tank in Korea as well. Founded in 1973, the Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit conservative think tank with a mission to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong nationa

April 14, 2022

HJ Shipbuilding develops dual-fueled LNG container ship

South Korean shipyard HJ Shipbuilding & Construction Co. said Thursday it has succeeded in developing a dual-fueled liquefied natural gas (LNG) container carrier that meets international environmental requirements. HJ Shipbuilding said it has recently received approval from Lloyd's Register for its design on a 7,700 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container ship with a LNG-powered dual-fuel engine. The two companies have been joining hands in developing the new type of LNG-fueled container

April 14, 2022

Samsung's financial affiliates launch unified service app Monimo

Financial affiliates of South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group on Thursday launched an integrated financial service app that offers various financial plans spanning insurance to financial investment. The new Samsung app, Monimo, offers services from four Samsung financial affiliates, such as Samsung Life Insurance Co., Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, and Samsung Card Co. The app enables Samsung customers to use different financial services, including calling car insurance agents and filing

April 14, 2022

Top airline Korean Air set to issue bonds in April

South Korea's top airline Korean Air Lines Co. is poised to issue bonds worth up to 300 billion won ($245 million) in April in an effort to secure working funds, industry sources said Thursday. The amount of Korean Air's planned debt sale, which is currently estimated to range from 200 billion won to 300 billion won, could rise depending on market demand, according to the sources. The national flag carrier is expected to use the proceeds for refinancing maturing bonds and other operating purpose

April 14, 2022

Hyundai IONIQ 5 named World Car of the Year

Hyundai Motor Co.'s IONIQ 5 has been named World Car of the Year at the 2022 World Car Awards, beating models from sister brand Kia Corp. and Ford Motor Co. to claim the overall crown. The all-electric crossover beat Kia's EV6 pure electric sedan and Ford's Mustang Mach-E SUV. It was also named World Electric Car of the Year and World Car Design of the Year, the company said in a statement. In the electric car category, Kia beat Mercedes-Benz's EQS sedan and Audi's e-tron GT sports car. "Wi

April 14, 2022

S. Korea's tax revenue up in Feb. amid economic recovery

South Korea's tax revenue rose 1.4 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in February compared to a year earlier as the collection of income and corporate taxes increased amid the economic recovery, the finance ministry said Thursday. The government collected 20.3 trillion won in taxes in February, compared with 19 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The tally was lower than an on-year increase of 10.8 trillion won in January, when the government collected more

April 14, 2022

S. Korean regulator starts review of Microsoft takeover deal

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday it has started to review the proposed deal by US software giant Microsoft Corp. to buy leading US game developer Activision Blizzard. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it plans to see if the merger of the two US firms could hurt competition in the online game market. In January, Microsoft announced a plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, and it asked the FTC last week to review its proposed takeover for approval. (Yonhap)  

April 14, 2022